PNG Politics : Opposition urges Parliament Speaker to be Neutral on VoNC
Papua New Guinea Opposition leader Patrick Pruaitch has appealed to the Speaker to be impartial when considering the motion for a vote of no confidence when Parliament meets later this month.
“Following the convention of the Westminster system of Parliament, the Speaker needs to be fair in matters of public importance and interest that are placed before him as members of the opposition are not individuals but representatives of so many constituencies around the country.
“We as an opposition have increased in numbers because in the past seven years we have seen our economy decline and our people cry for basic service delivery that is deteriorating at an unacceptable accelerated rate.
“While our revenue peaked in 2017, our services have significantly declined. This should not be the case when revenue from the commissioning of gas in 2014 caused a major spike in revenue to our country.
The O’Neill government blames the global financial crisis, but this scenario could have been avoided as previously done during the Somare government when PNG like the rest of the world faced the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and continued to grow well into 2011.
“Instead, the O’Neill government inflicted on PNG extensive borrowings and infrastructure development with little to no return on investment to government coffers.
The government of Mr O’Neill built sports infrastructure, resealed over and over again roads in Port Moresby and staged the APEC leaders’ summit that drained every toea out of Treasury.
“Therefore, Speaker Pomat, the notice for a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister stems from genuine concerns about the direction that the present leadership is taking and the future that our children have to invariably face should we continue down the present path,” he said.
Mr Pruaitch said an example is the treatment of Manus Island.
“Manus people did not have a say in whether or not their island could become the off-shore processing centre for the Australian government.
In return for this arrangement, the Australian government made lots of promises that Manus Island would get various infrastructure projects and there would be spinoff businesses for locals.
“After seven years Mr Pomat, I cannot believe that you could still support a person like PM O’Neill who has not kept his side of the bargain.
Very little has changed on Manus but its reputation has been dragged through the mud,” he said.
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“Following the convention of the Westminster system of Parliament, the Speaker needs to be fair in matters of public importance and interest that are placed before him as members of the opposition are not individuals but representatives of so many constituencies around the country.
“While our revenue peaked in 2017, our services have significantly declined. This should not be the case when revenue from the commissioning of gas in 2014 caused a major spike in revenue to our country.
The O’Neill government blames the global financial crisis, but this scenario could have been avoided as previously done during the Somare government when PNG like the rest of the world faced the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and continued to grow well into 2011.
“Instead, the O’Neill government inflicted on PNG extensive borrowings and infrastructure development with little to no return on investment to government coffers.
The government of Mr O’Neill built sports infrastructure, resealed over and over again roads in Port Moresby and staged the APEC leaders’ summit that drained every toea out of Treasury.
“Therefore, Speaker Pomat, the notice for a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister stems from genuine concerns about the direction that the present leadership is taking and the future that our children have to invariably face should we continue down the present path,” he said.
Mr Pruaitch said an example is the treatment of Manus Island.
“Manus people did not have a say in whether or not their island could become the off-shore processing centre for the Australian government.
In return for this arrangement, the Australian government made lots of promises that Manus Island would get various infrastructure projects and there would be spinoff businesses for locals.
“After seven years Mr Pomat, I cannot believe that you could still support a person like PM O’Neill who has not kept his side of the bargain.
Very little has changed on Manus but its reputation has been dragged through the mud,” he said.
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