The PNG environmental defenders taking on Australian mining giants — what is extractive justice and its toll?

Meet the tenacious Papua New Guineans who won't give up on holding Australian mining giants to account, despite the enormous personal toll of doing so. Emmanuel Peni is fighting to protect the world's "second Amazon"- the pristine Sepik River. Theonila Roka Matbob won the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize for campaigning against the toxic legacy of Rio Tinto's Panguna copper-gold mine.

This event was hosted at the Extracting Justice: Mining, Accountability, Community Power in the Pacific Conference at the University of Sydney.

Speakers:

Theonila Roka MatbobFormer politician in Papua New Guinean parliamentWinner of the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize

Dr Luke FletcherExecutive Director of Jubilee Australia, a not-for-profit research and advocacy centre focused on economic justice in the Asia-Pacific

Emmanuel (Manu) PeniCo-producer, Sukundimi Walks Before Me documentaryExecutive Director of Project Sepik

Ben Doherty (chair)Walkley award winning journalist, Guardian AustraliaFormer foreign correspondent covering south-east Asia