PM O'Neill Outlines Plans Moving Forward After Successful Vote of Confidence in the Government

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill  has welcomed the overwhelming endorsement by members of Parliament to defeat the Vote of No Confidence by 85 votes to 21, after the motion had been put forward by the Opposition.

The Prime Minister said now that the matter of the vote had been put to rest, the Government can move on in resolving outstanding issues and complete its policy agenda for this term of Government.

“Despite the political events of the past two weeks, and recent disquiet in some sections of the community, matters have all culminated with the vote in the Parliament and this has been resolved decisively,” the Prime Minister said.

“On behalf of our Government, I thank all Papua New Guineans for their patience and understanding as we have dealt with theses distracting matters.

“Our Government is proud of the achievements we have made in the past four years and the accomplishments we have made as part of the Alotau Accord that we set when we formed Government in 2012.

“No other Government in our history has started with such a comprehensive platform of polices, and seen these policies delivered over the course of the Parliamentary term.

“We have achieved up to 90 per cent of our Alotau Accord commitments in some sectors, and will complete this program over the remaining months of this Parliamentary term.

“The overwhelming vote of confidence from the Parliament by the majority of members ensures stability and enables our Government to continue with our programs.

“We will continue to employ more teaches and further strengthen our schools as part of our tuition fee free program that has placed an additional million children in school.

“Our universal healthcare program will continue to evolve and ensure we have healthier families.

“The number of police on our streets will continue to increase and make our communities safer.

“At the same time the development and delivery of essential infrastructure will continue, particularly in our rural areas.”

PM O’Neill said like every commodity exporting country, Papua New Guinea is facing challenges from the current global economic environment, but the Government leadership has the experience to manage and alleviate pressure.

“Between the good Treasurer, Honourable Patrick Pruaitch, and myself we have maintained oversight of the economy for well over nine years.

“We will use our experience and knowledge of what is required to mange the national economy in both the good and the challenging times.

“Before the current global downturn we had delivered one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and we have been able to double of Gross Domestic Product in that period.

“Through our management we have brought success to many businesses and citizens and we will continue to work together to strengthen our economy.

“Based on that record we are in a better place to manage current global challenges than are those individuals who wish to change the Government at this critical time.”

The Prime Minister said ultimately the fundamentals of the economy are sound.

“Our exchange rate is stable, employment is increasing, our foreign exchange is now back under control and is healthy, and interest rates are stable.

“Business confidence is high and this is a reflection of the fact that we are managing our economy effectively.”

In respect to recent domestic issues including student unrest, that has been intentionally confused with fabricated and politically motivated charges, including those sponsored by Belden Namah, the Prime Minister said he would be making a number of statements in the following week.

“We will be undertaking a restructure of our ministerial portfolio arrangements over the next week, and this is the team that will take us to the election in 2017.

“The new lineup will place our Government in an even stronger position to communicate with relevant parties and resolve outstanding issues.

“This includes dealing with any legal issues, particularly after three of these were struck out when the courts recently ruled in our favour.

“We need to resolves outstanding issues with tertiary students and move forward together.

“Importantly, there are a number landowner equity issues that must be resolved and good faith restored in many of our communities around the nation.

“This is particularly the case in relation to outstanding issues on Bougainville and the Panguna mine.

“There are unresolved LNG-related landowner issues that must be seen to, and also Ok Tedi landowner issues.

“We have to restore heart and hope to our landowners who have raised very serious concerns.

“Cabinet will address each of these matters on Thursday and I will make a formal announcement thereafter.”

The Prime Minister said the Government would use the coming weeks to complete a number of pieces of important legislation that will be presented in the next sitting of Parliament that begins August 9.

“In the next session of Parliament we will present bills on the establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and cyber security legislation amongst other new business to come before the House.”