PNG Fuel Plan Criticised as O’Neill Warns of “Scam Pattern”

Papua New Guinea former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has accused the Government of following what he described as a repeated “blueprint” in its handling of national crises, as he criticised the proposed K1 billion fuel subsidy.

Speaking yesterday, Mr O’Neill claimed the Marape administration often responds to disasters with large but unclear spending, followed by little impact and later investigations that fail to deliver outcomes.

 PNG Fuel Plan Criticised as O’Neill Warns of “Scam Pattern”

He said the current fuel relief proposal reflected that same pattern, warning it could again come at the expense of ordinary Papua New Guineans.

“This government has sat idle while fuel, public transport, and food prices skyrocketed. To come out now—two months too late—with a billion-kina Band-Aid proves they have no plan and no grip on the economy,” he said.

Mr O’Neill described the response as delayed, noting that households had endured eight weeks of rising costs without intervention while global fuel prices surged.

He also questioned the revenue earned by the State during the period, pointing out that Papua New Guinea, as a petroleum exporter, should have benefited from higher international prices.

“While our people suffer, the Government has enjoyed a two-month windfall from skyrocketing global oil prices. As a petroleum exporter, the PNG Treasury and Kumul Petroleum have seen their coffers swell while our families are bled dry at the pump.”

He called for full disclosure of the additional earnings, asking why such funds were not directly used to ease fuel prices.

“We want to know exactly how many hundreds of millions in 'extra' revenue this Government has made from the suffering of our people. Why is this windfall not being used openly to lower prices instead of being hidden in a K1 billion 'black box' for unknown importers?”

Mr O’Neill warned that allocating K1 billion to unnamed fuel importers risked creating another major corruption issue.

“We are seeing the groundwork for another COVID-style scam. Throwing a billion kina of public money at mystery middlemen with zero transparency is not a solution—it is a payday for cronies while the grassroots suffer.”