Prime Minister Peter O'neill speaks out on Court's ruling

The National court today stated very clearly that the Police Commissioner, under the constitution, has the power to charge, prosecute and withdraw charges based on credible independent evidence.

Now that the Court has made its judgement, it is for all citizens to respect that decision.

I will respect the decisions of the Police Commissioner in the handling of any investigation. All I have sought, as I am entitled to as is the right of any citizen, is to have an unbiased independent police investigations into any allegation.

Two weeks ago, when confronted with a highly suspicious warrant, I exercised my legal right to stay this proceeding. This was to allow time to get to the bottom of the collusion that we knew was involved.

Deferring to the judgment of the court was the responsible path for any sitting Prime Minister to take.

It would have been against the interests of our whole system of law and justice if I had not referred to the National Court to make a ruling.

I have stated to police that I am ready to assist with proper and lawful police inquiries. This is the same approach adopted by leaders in our partner countries when they have been confronted by allegations.

This whole issue over the past two weeks revolves around a photocopied letter.

I want to assure you without any qualification, that the letter did not originate from my office. Assertions by the opposition and former task force leaders otherwise, is misleading.

Even the company from Manly, in Sydney, that examined the letter, note on their own website that all they can hope to reach in such an examination is “a useful finding.” This is by no means conclusive.

When I was elected as Prime Minister almost three years ago, I demanded that our police force take action against alleged massive fraud by public servants and members of the legal profession. As part of this action, I established Task Force Sweep.

However, despite millions of Kina being spent on this task force, it became “all talk and much less action”. It achieved just one conviction in two years and had many failed prosecutions. Then, as its investigations were failing, the task force became politically compromised and sought to fabricate a case against me - as a high profile target.

The actions that they took, in colluding with the opposition, are very troubling and I have acted to end this misuse of public office.

To then have the former head of the task force calling on Australia to suspend aid is almost beyond belief. While never taken seriously, his demands would have caused hardship to small business and undermined medical and health programs in our nation.

The politicians and small group of police who colluded in this sad moment in our history should hang their heads in shame. They have put greed and ambition ahead of decency and fairness, and they have caused unnecessary tension within our community.

In time, the full extent of the collusion and illegal behaviour that led to recent events will be revealed.

It is important that despite political interests, people do not undermine the integrity of the public office they hold as either leaders or policemen and policewoman. The abuse of process in discharging of these duties by persons with vested and political interest needs to tested in Court, and that is the position I have taken.

I have a duty to not allow bad precedent to be set for the future - by allowing a sitting Prime minister to be arrested without clear and unbiased evidence of any wrongdoing.

This is a matter for our national courts to consider in the following months.

In the meantime, I want to assure you, I will focus on the job I was elected to do - to deliver better services including free education and access to healthcare, and to empower our grassroots to benefit from Papua New Guinea’s booming economy. 

The future is bright for our nation.

Through careful economic management and stable democratic government, all people of our nation will share in the benefits of our economic growth.

Rest assured, my government and I will do the job that you elected us to do.