PM O'Neill tells Opposition leader Don Polye to be constructive and responsible

PM Peter O'Neill

The Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill has called on the Leader of the Opposition to be constructive, and accept the overwhelming rejection of his no confidence motion by the National Parliament last Friday.

"For a week the Leader of the Opposition, misled the people of this nation with his claims that he had the numbers to remove me as Prime Minister," PM O'Neill said.

“He never had the numbers to do so, and the 21 votes he secured is arguably the weakest an Opposition has achieved in a no confidence motion.
"I urge Don Polye to leave fantasy land, stop pretending he has only narrowly lost, stop misleading the people.
"The Leader of the Opposition should start being honest and try and be constructive in his criticism of the government.

"Instead of being a bad loser, he needs to start putting forward constructive and considered policies we can debate in Parliament, and that he can put before the people when the national elections are held in the first half of 2017.
"The Opposition Leader and his colleagues, need to think carefully over their strategy of seeking the intervention of the courts when they don't have significant parliamentary support," he said.
"Under our system of Government, the National Parliament is the supreme law making body in Papua New Guinea.
“Under the same system of government one has to have majority support to remove Prime Ministers, or Ministers, and introduce, or amend laws.

"The Leader of the Opposition needs to respect the will of the National Parliament, on this occasion expressed in the most overwhelming way by the elected representatives of the people.
"Talk about looking at other 'tactics' is totally irresponsible, and simply indicates the Leader of the Opposition has no capacity to respect the National Parliament and its Members.

"I call on the Leader of the Opposition to start respecting the will of the National Parliament, and start respecting each and every Member who freely and openly cast their vote last Friday.
"The National Elections are effectively about nine months away.
“We are already in the pre-election period, the rolls are being prepared by the Electoral Commission," he said.
"With the elections now so close, it is up to every Leader to ensure there is harmony, goodwill and stability in our democratic system.”
The Prime Minister said it was overwhelmingly in the national interest for Mr Polye to stop trying to stir disharmony.
"Under our system of parliamentary democracy, the position of Leader of the Opposition is a responsible one.
"If Mr Polye cannot accept that, and accept the clear expression of support for me by the National Parliament, he should hand over to someone who will do so," the Prime Minister concluded.