It is a 'shame' for PNG to request aid money from Australia : Polye

Papua New Guinea Opposition Leader Don Polye has described the government’s request to the Australian government to direct its aid into the Budget as ‘a shame.’

Addressing yet another record crowd at Sirunki in Enga province on Friday (March 10), Mr Polye said the fund was ‘not an income from Porgera Gold Mine or other projects’ in the country.
He added it was from a sovereign nation which PNG does not have a single control over.
He further said it was justifiable to ask these companies as the government partly owned them.
“Asking a sovereign nation to shift their foreign aid to address the government’s economic mismanagement is a real shame.

“This is hogwash,” he said this when commenting on a discussion to request Australia to fund PNG’s budget at a ministerial summit in Madang.
Polye has slammed the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and his government for mounting pressure irresponsibly on Australia to directly fund health and education programs in the country.
He said something which he referred to as a ‘stupid request’ should not be an excuse to affect the bilateral relationship which both countries enjoyed for a long while.
He warns that Australia is a major contributor of aid to the country and that the government must negotiate for terms and clauses within the periphery of their agreements of bilateral relationship.
“Our development budget is only K4 billion. It has been tied down to repaying the K3 billion UBS loan.

“No wander, the Prime Minister and his ministers have been so desperate to drag others in to solve self-created economic crisis,” he said.
Polye said he even warned that PNG’s economy was sinking under PM O’Neill, adding MPs in the government were only obsessed with their DSIPs without doing anything about it.
Caption: Polye speaking to yet another record crowd in Sirunki, Enga on Friday.