Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1694412959531.pdf (Papua New Guinea)
FOURTH DAY ______________________________ Friday 14 February 2014 DRAFT HANSARD _______________________________ Subject: Page No: PETITION ................................................................................................................................ 2 QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................ 2 GRIEVANCE DEBATE ........................................................................................................ 18 ADJOURNMENT ...................................................................... Error!
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0 FOURTH DAY Friday 14 February 2014 The Speaker (Mr Theo Zurenuoc) took the Chair at 10.10 a.m..

There being no quorum present, the Speaker stated that he would suspend the sitting until the ringing of the Bells.

Sitting suspended.

The Speaker again took the Chair at 10.30 a.m.; and invited the Member for Sohe, Honourable Delilah Gore, to say Prayers: ‘Father God in heaven, we want to acknowledge your highness this morning.
We thank you God for this time that we have in representing our people in this Parliament.

Father, this morning we bow our heads and assemble before your throne and we ask for your mercy and grace to be upon us.

We ask you dear Lord, to lead our Speaker and the Prime Minister this morning as the Speaker leads the Meeting.

Almighty God, we ask you for your presence to be in the midst of us in the four corners of this Chamber.
Father, we pray that every decisions and discussions we make today will be to bring blessings to your people whom we represent on this Floor.

As leaders of this great nation, we humble ourselves and come before you and we ask you to give all of us a portion of your wisdom from heaven above to lead in this meeting.

Thank you for sending your son Jesus to die on the cross for us.

Amen’.
Amen’.

1 PETITION CALL TO LIFT THE BAN ON BETELNUT SALE AND CONSUMPTION IN NCD Mr Kila Hoada, Governor for Central, presented a petition from certain electors of the Kairuku – Hiri District in the Central Province, that the Parliament authorise the lifting of the banning on betelnut sales and consumption.

Petition received.

QUESTIONS Mr KEN FAIRWEATHER – Mr Speaker, I direct my question to the Minister for Inter-Government Relations, Mr Leo Dion.
02/04 Mr Speaker, under any scale of judgment, the Madang Provincial Government comes out worst on Education.

We have the lowest performing educators in PNG and we have a non-existent Agriculture Department, a Health Department that works in some districts but not in others, land issues and maintenance is a mess, infrastructure provided by the Provincial Government is basically zero.
The provincial roads are no good and they have no influence on the national road funding either and it’s a complete disaster.

The Public Service morale in Madang is so low and doesn’t bother to function.

I believe the Parliamentary Accounts Committee has been visiting Madang but they are only touching the surface of the problem and looked at something of the past.

The past is no good for the last 15 years and now it’s getting worse.
My question is: Mr Minister, can you suspend the Madang Provincial Government after following the due process?

2 Mr LEO DION – I thank the Member for Sumkar for his question, who is also a member in the Joint Provincial Planning and Budget Priority Committee for Madang Provincial Government.

My short answer is that; I don’t have the power now to suspend the Madang Provincial Government.
But some time ago, I had the power but when they suspended some of the provincial governments before they didn’t agree on it and questioned the Constitution.

But it’s a good question and I had discussions with my Department regarding this issue and it was highlighted that it will be brought up to the NEC to reinstate the power back to my Department to make decisions regarding this sort of issue.
One point I want to clarify here is that; The Provincial Government is run by not only the Governor; he happens to be the authority as elected by the people but under the framework of the Provincial Government system there are provisions in empowering all the leaders of a particular province to work together.
As Members of the Joint Provincial Planning and Budget Priority Committee as well as at the lower level as Chairman of the Joint District Planning and Budget Priority Committee, and according to the law, nothing should go past the Provincial Government Joint Planning and Budget Priority Committee and PEC and the Assembly in relation to the overall administration of the Provincial Government.
03/04 My advice is that all Members of Parliament must work together and resolve some of these issues regardless of which side of the bench we are coming from.

Mr Ken Fairweather – Point of Order!

I’m not talking about politics; I am talking about the operation of the administration.

And you are just twisting words around, Mr Deputy Prime Minister to suit yourself with a bit of spin.
All I want you to say is no you can’t or yes you can to send an investigative team to investigate, not a spin about laws and stuff.

It is really up to you to make the decision.

Mr SPEAKER – Resume your seat, Honourable Member.

Mr LEO DION – Mr Speaker, I want to briefly explain our responsibilities because sometimes we are bound to forget and as Members of Parliament mandated by the people to 3 collectively run a Provincial Government in all activities.
Let us not pass the buck and it is a good question that has created some heat amongst us.

But we have to give credit where it is due.

When a Governor is working for the province and trying to improve it and others are not working with him then that is where you have the problem.

I ask the Governors and the Members of Parliament to work together with the Government.

This is the first thing that must happen.

We have to follow the rule of law and the respective legislative laws that govern that.
In relation to your question, this Government is now making some changes and the Public Service Minister will bring in legislation where we will to make improvements on and not only on a peace mill exercise but there will be a total improvement of the Public Service structure and minimising those problems in the districts and the province.
So when the law comes to Parliament, I ask the Member for Sumkar to support it as we are concerned about all areas of the system and not just one area of the Provincial Affairs Department.

So I need the support of all of you.

Your question is a good one and we are looking into the situation where we must improve some laws and bring back some of the laws of the past which were good.

Government lawyers in the Attorney General and Provincial Affairs Department will review them and bring back the good laws.
Many times there is just too much politics and we forget our responsibilities to work according to the laws that mandated us to be leaders.

Mr JOSEPH YOPYYOPY – I don’t which Minister to direct my question to so I will ask the Prime Minister.

Papua New Guineans are seeing development taking place everywhere and are happy that the Government they have been waiting is now in place.

However, there is one thing that is lacking which is a very fundamental matter.
And that is the concept of customer service which is simply not there.

There is no common courtesy in any sector of this country.

No-one even bothers to say a simple hello, both in the private sector and in government departments.

The simple greetings such as good morning, how are you and how can I help you are just not there.

Does the Government have plans to improve customer service in the country, both in public and private sector?
Mr PETER O’NEILL – I thank the Member for raising a question on the attitude issues of our people in the workforce.

Many times we take attitude for granted, even when we 4 are there to serve, we think that we are doing the people we are serving a favour.

We have to use some level of commonsense.

If you go to the bank, the teller thinks they are providing you a service.
In fact, you should be their number one priority as you are the customer to the bank and they should be able to treat you with the decency and respect that each person deserves.

04/04 Mr Speaker, that boils down now to education and I think the Government’s desire to try and improve the curriculum that we now teach in schools on the issues about attitudes that the National Youth Service is trying to introduce.
All these are about trying to bring respect and ethical behaviour and discipline into our people so that they respect each other in the community, the business environment and in the work that they do.

Mr Speaker, this Government is working very hard to try and improve that and I will be very happy to get any suggestions from the Member on how we can develop that even further.
I am sure that the Public Service Minister is hearing this and we will also try to make sure that we talk to the Department of Personnel Management so that they can also impart to our public servants that they are here to serve and that they must serve with a bit more respect to our people so that they can receive the services that they do deserve.

Mr BENJAMIN POPONAWA – Thank you, Mr Speaker, my simple question is directed to the hardworking Minister for Health.
Firstly, let me thank the O’Neill-Dion Government for providing free health services but with that health services comes a lot of problems.

You go to the public health facilities it is all full and overcrowded and some of the sick people die before getting there while others even die sitting in the queues.

The fear of dying caused some to end up in the private hospitals but, do you know what happens at the private hospitals?
They ask you to pay a consultation fee of between K100 and K200 without even looking at you, and so some of these people die because they could not afford the costs.

Is there any way we can regulate that industry to improve health services in our country?

The private hospital system is causing a lot of problems as they are charging a lot of money which our people cannot afford it.

5 Mr MICHAEL MALABAG – Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank the honourable Member for Wabag.
Mr SPEAKER – It’s Tambul-Nebilyer.

Mr MICHAEL MALABAG – My apologies, Honourable Member for Tambul- Nebilyer, I went to your Electorate and I forgot about you.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Yes, that is a just question.

Indeed the private hospitals do charge quite hefty fees.
In reality, we don’t regulate any set fees for them but as you can see under the new policy that we have we are now controlling the Public Health system especially on the rates of fees being charged to enforce the Free Health Policy that we are providing.

On the private clinics, definitely not at this stage but as the Government we know that a lot of people, when they don’t receive the services from Public Hospitals go to private clinics and I repeat the charges can be very expensive.
In answer to that, Honourable Member, through you Mr Speaker, I will indeed get our Department and look at how best we can become not only competitive but at least affordability.

It is not only the consultancy fee but the medicines that they prescribe are also costly.

We’ve been talking about the types of medicines coming into the country to our public hospitals.

05/04 I am also concerned about the type of medicine the private clinics are getting and from which source?
I hear most of them are getting their medicine from China so that is another area that I will also be looking at.

Supplementary Question Mr GARRY JUFFA – My questions are in relation to the statement that he has just made.

My questions are these; 6 (1) Is it true that in June 2013, a fundamental criteria, the ISO 9001, required for the selection of companies distributing drugs in this country was removed and was this done so that a particular company could be selected to distribute drugs in this country?
(Members interjecting!)

Mr SPEAKER – The question has been answered previously.

The Standing Orders does not allow us to make inference to a question that has been sufficiently answered and so I will not allow that question to be entertained.

Supplementary Question Mr NICK KUMAN – We do appreciate the O’Neill-Dion Government’s effort on Free Healthcare but the people of Papua New Guinea still go to private hospitals but most cannot afford it.
(1) Can the Minister clarify if the Government has any plans to subsidize private health care and if so, can the Government also clearly explain its Private Health Care Policy?

(2) Can the Minister inform the Parliament and the people of Papua New Guinea on the Insurance Policy?

Mr MICHAEL MALABAG – Thank you Mr Speaker.

I thank the Member for Gumine for his questions.

I will re-iterate.
I will re-iterate.

We will look into the Private Health Care Policy in terms of subsidy definitely because we have started with public hospitals and now we will go into the private sector.

As for the Insurance Policy, the Government is still trying to come up with an arrangement but it won’t be necessarily all across Papua New Guinea.

We might start with the Public Service.


Some time ago, when Sir Peter Barter was the Health Minister and through the Labour and Industrial Relations a submission was brought before them but that has been on hold up until now even though some consultations have taken place.

My colleague Minister want to see how best we can bring that back.

Insurance cover is essential but it can be also very expensive at the same time, so we have to look at it carefully and come with a proper solution.
7 At the end of the day, can our people afford it?

These are people who do not have access, unlike some of us who can afford to pay for it and yet raise questions over here but definitely we will look into it.

Mr HAVILLA KAVO – Thankyou, Mr Speaker, for finally recognising the people of Gulf.

My question is supposed to be directed to the Minister for Works but since he is absent, I direct it to the Prime Minister.
Mr Speaker, the O’Neill-Dion Government has done very well in putting a lot of money into road constructions in the country.

I believe that millions of kina are going to the upgrade and maintenance of roads.

However, I am frightened by the way contracts are being awarded for the construction for major roads linking many parts of our country.
In the last couple of years, the same contractors were given roads construction contracts and they did a lot of work in the country and in the city but some of these roads have deteriorated very fast and there are many examples.

(1) If a contractor has not done well in its last contract, should they not be engaged again?

06/04 Several years ago, there was a Standards Unit established to monitor the quality control of the roads.

That Unit has now faded away.


(2) Can the Department therefore immediately introduce that standard so that quality control is maintained on the kind of materials that are used for the construction of roads and we do not continue to spend money on the same roads?

Mr PETER O’NEILL – I thank the Governor for Gulf for his important questions.

Mr Speaker, I agree with the Governor that it is important that we hold contractors accountable for the work that they do.
There are far too many stories about the huge variations that contractors continue to seek when they are building roads that they have bidded on.

Mr Speaker, the variation has become a sort of a culture therefore we are reforming the Central Supply and Tenders Board procurement process which includes the Board 8 memberships.

We are going to change the entire process and Cabinet has approved the new structure.

It will come to this Parliament for deliberations very soon.
As for the second question, in 1999 or 2000, under the reforms that were established and introduced by the Morauta Government at that time, they had shut done the entire Provincial Works Units throughout the country.

This resulted in the Government relying heavily on private contractors to carry our work throughout the country.

Unfortunately, this increased the costs and resulted in many of the Works programmes not completed throughout the country on time and on budget.
This was because we did not have the capacity to supervise.

The Works Department itself was depleted with no engineering capacity whatsoever and as a result, that particular weakness came about.

Mr Speaker, a lot of contractors took advantage of this and we are now trying to rectify this.

We are trying to re-establish Provincial Works Units and PTBs throughout many of the provinces and we want to extend it also to the districts as well.
This is so that District Works Units can maintain, especially, the feeder roads within the districts.

This is where we need the support of all the Members through the DSIP and National Government Maintenance Programme.

We can work in partnership to establish units.

We do not need to employ expensive contractors to do the work.
Many times when we try to get contractors to go to remote areas the mobilisation fees alone are valued more than the construction of the road itself and the contract work being done.

These are unnecessary costs that the Government cannot afford.

Mr Speaker, I would like to assure the Gulf Governor that we are looking into this.

I would like to also assure Parliament that those contractors who are not performing and finishing the jobs on time will result in Cabinet not giving them another job.
Those are some of the new standards that Cabinet has already adapted.

We are not interested in contractors getting a lot of work and not finishing some of their jobs, therefore, we will have a penalty scheme to address these issues.

Some of these contractors are nationally owned contractors and therefore we need to take ownership.

Another issue that we would like to also address is the issue of lump sum contracts.
If contractors are bidding for contracts then that will be the fixed price with no variations and the contractor must deliver the contract it has been told to deliver.

Those are some of the reforms that we are slowly introducing and I want to thank the Governor for his good understanding.

I know that there is a lot of work going on in the Gulf Province.

Through a World Bank loan we are also sealing the road from Malalaua to Kerema 9 which has already started.
The sealing of roads in Kerema town has also started taking shape, so I know that there a lot of good work that has been done around the country.

Some of the contractors are doing well but some not, and some of them are being prosecuted so that we can get better quality of roads for our people.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr WERA MORI – Mr Speaker, I thank you for recognising the people of Chuave.
Mr Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister for State Enterprises but since he is not present at the moment, could the Prime Minister answer my question.

07/04 This question may sound silly to honourable Members of this Parliament but I am asking it because the people of Chuave who have elected me are small people who live in the villages and they have been affected by the constant power surges and power failures by PNG Power.
If there are any companies on the surface of this earth that were to be awarded a medal for power failures and surges then it would be PNG Power.

Mr Speaker, PNG Power in their capacity as the State Enterprise, has become juggernauts and faceless monsters and has a very irresponsible attitude.

The amount of power disruptions along the Yonki grid is such that many small Papua New Guineans who dwell in the small communities are paying customers.

Mr SPEAKER – What is your question?


Please try and make brief statements in connection to the questions because you are wasting your own time.

Mr WERA MORI – Thank you Mr Speaker.

(1) Will PNG Power be responsible for compensating those small people who have lost thousands if not millions of kina as a result of the power disruptions?

The power disruptions have damaged many of their small electrical appliances which they have worked hard to buy.
(2) Recently, I have noticed that PNG Power is heavily investing in big centres like Port Moresby and Lae but what about the small centres where the bulk of our people are?

(3) Can they also invest in these small centres like Chuave and Maprik because the people have the right to these services?

10 Mr PETER O’NEILL – Thank you Mr Speaker, and I thank the honourable Member for Chuave for this equally important question.

Mr Speaker, I cannot agree with him more that the PNG Power has let the country down.
That is why we have recently terminated the appointment of the Chairman and we are looking for a chairman who will lead that organisation into something that is delivering to our people.

So we are looking for a capable person from the business community or with engineering background to lead that organisation.

We have not found one yet but we will.


Mr Speaker, I also know that there are legacy issues and that is what PNG Power is telling because of lack of investment into PNG Power and especially the infrastructure.

This infrastructure for organisations like PNG Power runs into hundreds of millions of kina and quite frankly, the PNG Government does not have that kind of money to invest.

That is why we are trying to talk about possibilities of getting Papua New Guineans to invest into companies like PNG Power.
I know the Opposition Leader and Deputy Opposition Leader have come out and said that we should not be selling these institutions.

We are not selling but in fact we are getting Papua New Guineans to try and own it.

It is not going to be sold in an arrangement like PNGBC and we know who sold it.

It was not Peter O’Neill but Mekere Morauta.

Mr Speaker, that been said, PNG Power is a classic example.
Like all the other institutions of Government that are supposed to be delivering services to the PNG Public, all the SOEs needs hundreds and millions of kina today to invest in the infrastructure because the demand is there from our people to get more services.

So PNG Power is approaching it in two ways and the Israeli Government has come to assist us by providing concessional funding arrangement for us to try and work through the Israeli electrical company.
It is 100 per cent owned by the Israeli Government to immediately provides us with two 26 megawatts of power generation for Port Moresby and Lae.

PNG Government has agreed to put some funding and it is parked with the Central Bank and final terms are being negotiated between PNG Power and the Israeli Government.
08/04 Mr Speaker, we are also talking to the management of Yonki Hydro and the second phase of the expansion is now rolling-out that will increase its capacity, not only for Lae and 11 Madang but also for Goroka, Mt Hagen, Kundiawa and the other areas in the Highlands.

We are also talking with Oil Search and Barrick to expand the capacity of power generation in Hides as well which is supplying Porgera at the moment.

Barrick had an exclusive arrangement with Oil Search only to supply power to Porgera.
However, we are trying to expand that to put more power generation capacity in order to supply Southern Highlands, Hela, Enga and the other cities around that area.

As per our discussions with Oil Search, we have agreed to explore the possibility of setting up a power generation in Kutubu Gas Fire because we have a lot of gas there.

Mr Speaker, that will also provide another 30-40 mega watts of power.
Mr Speaker, through a joint partnership with Hela and the Southern Highlands Provincial governments to develop the possibility of expanding the capacity of Paunda-Hydro which is now producing 12 mega watts but we are trying to expand that to 24.

We should complete this within the next 12-24 months and I can assure the people of Papua New Guinea that power problem in those respective regions will be resolved.

So let us work together and not try to frustrate the issues before us.
Let us involve the private sector because we have resources like the gas and they have the expertise.

So we can provide a better service to our people.

Mr JOHN SIMON – Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me this opportunity.

I direct my question to the Minister for Higher Education but before I ask my question, I thank the O’Neill/Dion Government for the Free Education Policy.

Mr Speaker, we have seen a lot of students coming out from Grade 12 and as such we need to build more institutions.
We have a college in Maprik namely; Bainik Agriculture College.

It is currently run by Vudal University of Natural Resources.

Can the Minister inform this Parliament whether his Ministry has any plans for that college because the former Government before my time, spent millions of kina to erect the building.

It’s been two years now and nothing has been done about it.

But if the Government is to build a University in respective regions, that is a good idea.
So can the Minister turn Bainik University of Natural Resources into a stand-alone or a more autonomous sort of University so that it will cater for both the East and West Sepik Provinces.

12 Mr Speaker, according to my record there were more then 12 000 grade 10s and 12s students last year.

Hela Province will now have a University so what about the East and West Sepik provinces, can they also have a university?
Mr DAVID ARORE - Thank you, Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for Maprik for this very important question regarding the Bainik Campus of UNRE.

I want to inform this Parliament that the Ministry of Education is now in a reform process.

We understand that we have high school leaver’s problem in this country but we can all have universalities in respective provinces.

However, we can only come up with a modified system like an institution in respective provinces.
These institutions can be called institutions of Higher Education.

09/04 Mr Speaker, I will be bringing to the National Executive Council a rollout program for each district to have a University Centre.

Then we will go by province to rollout an institution of Higher Education in each province depending on the needs of the province as to what subject matter to provide.
But it will be a standard minimum subjects that are offered, lets say, a diploma in education, because most provinces complain about teacher shortage.

So we make it a standard institution throughout the country.
Mr Speaker, that is the big reforms that we are doing in the country and I also want to inform the Member that I have taken up his request and we are negotiating with the UNRE to see if they can release the Agriculture College Campus so that we can make it an autonomous institution for the people of Central Sepik, if I am correct.

There is a submission before the National Capital District about six institutions to be approved in the first rollout program.
As soon as the NEC gives the approval we will look for funds to establish these first six institutions and as for the others we will go by province.

So that it can cater for the high level of school leavers we have in the country.
Supplementary Question 13 Sir MICAEL SOMARE – Mr Speaker, now that we have the problem of overcrowding in schools, can the Ministry of Higher Education reconsider re-introducing the concept of evening classes, particularly where there is electricity that is available – Mr James Marape – Point of Order!

Mr Speaker, is the Member asking the question to the Education Minister or the Higher Education Minister, as the question impinges on general education reforms.
Mr SPEAKER – It is a Supplementary Question and directed to the Higher Education Minister.

Sir MICHAEL SOMARE – Mr Speaker, I am talking about higher education when you take in the classes, you cannot complete grades 11 and 12 in many of our centres.

Can the Ministry reintroduce the evening classes?

When I was a school teacher, we were only allowed 25 students to a classroom and later on we changed that to 35 in a class.
Today, there are over 200 students to a class and as a teacher you cannot convey your message to the students because it is overcrowded, not enough desks and facilities for education.

Mr DAVID ARORE – Mr Speaker, the Honourable Governor for East Sepik’s question is more or less directed to the Minister for Education but I will answer it anyway.

10/04 At the University and Tertiary Institution level, the problem is also the same.
And so we acknowledge that our infrastructure like we all say is a leadership problem and we all understand that it’s deteriorating in most of our institutions.

And I would like to thank this Government that for the first time, funds have been allocated to our infrastructure of our institutions to build more classrooms to cater for our ever growing enrolment in institutions.
But yes, we have a Committee in place that is currently working on these different issues that are affecting higher education institutions and if they agree in their wisdom that we have a night classes for our institutions and will solve the problem of higher enrolment of students then of course we will go ahead and implement it.

14 Mr FRANCIS POTAPE – I want to direct my questions to the Prime Minister.
Mr Speaker, my people as well as many people of this country are very happy and want to thank your Government for bringing in Australian policemen and women.

Many times we complain about policemen in the country but there are many good policemen in the Force.

Whilst on that, I thank the Government of Australia for their allowing their policemen and women to come here under the current arrangement.
(1) When the term of the current Commissioner expires, can the new Police Commissioner be a foreigner, maybe an Australian?

If I can remember sometimes in 1996, the New South Wales Government had to bring in a Police Commissioner from England because the New South Wales Police Department was corrupt.

(2) Has the Government got plans now to ensure that the Provincial Police Commanders in certain areas where they are not performing, can foreigners now take up those positions as well?
I commend the Government for recruiting new police personnel now unlike in the past but we really want new Police Commanders who can really enforce strict discipline for the new recruits to follow.

(3) Can the Government now put a stop to private firms for engaging policemen for escort purposes?

Those private firms doing it must be punished because the policemen are supposed to serve the country.

They should not be engaged by Chinese or Australian firms or logging firms as their escorts.
This is one area where it is demoralising the Police Force in this nation.

Mr PETER O’NEILL – I thank the Member for Komo-Margarima for his important questions about the Commissioner’s role.

The Police Commissioner is a very important person in any Police Force; maturity, stability and respect that, that person holds in any Force will determine where the Force is heading to.
Mr Speaker, we have a current situation in PNG where we have a man who spent almost well over 40 years in his career as a policeman in the country, who has served with distinction and has got no unblemished record in anyway whatsoever form, who has been held in the highest respect by every member of the Force.

So you have a situation where now 15 a person of such character is leading the rebuilding exercise of the Police Force that is ongoing today.
The Police Force has got lot of challenges and that was highlighted in the Report done by the former Minister and now the Member for Goroka, Mr Bire Kimisopa, which past Governments have not adopted and as a result, the morale and the work of the Police Force was in decline for many years.
11/04 We have taken on board many of the recommendations of that report and we are now beginning to implement them and that includes the improvement of the training issue of the Police Force, the re-opening of the Bomana Police Training College and we are also trying to open the Officers’ Training Facility down at Igam Barracks in Lae.
Here the Joint Services conduct senior officers’ training, so a lot of work is going on and leaders at the Leaders’ Summit had a good briefing made by the Commissioner and he highlighted the work that the Force is doing about re-equipping the Police Force, increasing the capacity of the Police by introducing vehicles, communications and all other things are happening throughout the country.

Mr Speaker, the support that is being extended to us by the Australian Federal Police.
The extension of that support will not be here forever and we have to take ownership of issues in our country and that is why we cannot just continue to wait for outsiders to come and live our lives.

Whilst I note that the Member’s question was well intended I support his call and it is also very important that we need to take charge of these issues ourselves.
We want stability in the Police Force and we have confidence in the Commissioner to continue to maintain his position until his contract expires and that is subject to the NEC and the deliberations that NEC and the process of appointment that we will have to comply with but going beyond that, it is not necessary as to appointing a foreigner to head our Police Force.

I think we have to have trust and confidence in our own people.
Among the 3000-5000 police officers there certainly must be someone who wants to make a difference for his or her own country.

I think there is someone out there who really wants to step up and it is our job to find that someone.

I can assure this Parliament that we will find that person.
16 And before we go to the polls in 2017, we want a Police Force that we can all trust and one that the people will not fear and there are signs of improvement and as experienced by the good work the management team of the Commissioner is doing together with those on the ground.

Let us support them and work together.


On the issue of Security Firms, I agree that there is no need and the Constitution allows only locals to own security companies and I’m certain that many of our people are involved in the industry.

And I think it is important that we help them to build capacity.

It is not just about putting manpower but there are a lot of technologies involved so we need to get our people engaged in improving their own capacities in the firms that they own.
As the Police Commissioner is the Registrar of Security Companies, I would encourage the Police Minister to write to the Commissioner to do a total verification of the real owners of the Security firms so that only locals can own those firms.

Supplementary Question Mr TOBIAS KULANG – Can we do something about Private Companies buying guns and uniforms for the Police Force?

I think it is very inappropriate where we compromise the independence of the Police Force.
Mr PETER O’NEILL – Again, I acknowledge the good work done by the former Police Minister and Member for Goroka.

He instituted a Guns Report which was tabled in Parliament in 2011.

12/04 Parts of it recommended the control of issuing of licences for guns in the country.

Mr Speaker, my aim is that nobody should really own guns in this country.

We are not at war with anybody so why should we be allowing individuals to carry firearms around in the country?
We need to have confidence in ourselves that we are able to maintain peace and good order in our communities.

The Government will, in due course bring in a Bill that will 17 advocate for the total ban on guns in the country but allowing only security personnel to carry guns.

Mr Speaker, this will also mean that security personnel will not be carrying high- powered guns in the streets.

Many of us see policemen carrying all these very expensive and high powered firearms around.
These are totally unnecessary.

We will also try to control it in a way that guns are only available to senior policemen.

In the early 70s, 80s and I think the 90s, only when you are at a certain rank, I think sergeant or above you were able to carry a side arm.

The side arm was just a deterrent and responsibility and accountability was there so that they can record how many bullets were issued, what was the serial numbers of those guns so there were some controls in place.
Mr Speaker, I can assure you that we will be putting some very tough measures through this Floor and I ask all the Members to support them when they come here.

I know that there are certain members of community who would like to own guns but please, the well-being of our people is more important then trying to satisfy ourselves in the empowerment of owning guns.
That is not necessary, we don’t have to go to the extreme of the lobby groups in the US and many other countries in the world but let us set a new pace in our country.

GRIEVANCE DEBATE Question proposed – That Grievances be noted.

Mr GARRY JUFFA (Oro Provincial) – Thank you, Mr Speaker, I will just take up five minutes or so, like my good Minister for Environment says, it will be just a short statement.

The fundamental responsibility of any Government is to save lives.
The fundamental responsibility of any Papua New Guinean leader is to save Papua New Guinean lives and we should at all times strive to make decisions that are always going to be in the best interests of Papua New Guinea and Papua New Guineans.

My discussion is on the issue of health and at this point, I want to thank the Prime Minister and the Government for their efforts to review the activities of the Central Supplies 18 and Tenders Board.
This is an organization that has been charged with the responsibility of procurement of goods and services for Papua New Guinea and has actually failed in many instances to protect and promote the interests of Papua New Guineans.

The CSTB has been awarding inflated contracts here and there without following the proper procedures and processes and at times even removing criteria so that they could award to whoever they felt like, for whatever reason.
So, I am glad that this process is taking place and I think there are many Papua New Guineans who are happy that this long overdue effort is underway.

I would like to say that we should actually audit that organization because I tell you we will find so many interesting stories if we were to audit the Central Supplies and Tenders Board and to review how decisions were made to grant contracts to various companies.
For instance, a contract was awarded to a company that has absolutely no idea how to build a container processing facility in Lae for customs purposes.

A payment of K3 million was made to an intending candidate who went and lost immediately and never built that facility.

Now that facility was supposed to be built so that it could facilitate cargo in a more meaningful manner.
It could assist us to improve our standing for doing business in the international community and we would have been able to process containers at the rate of two hours per 20 feet container rather than at the rate of 24 hours as is now the practice thereby cutting substantial costs for international investors.

13/04 It would have also been able to detect significant number of goods that are coming into this country that maybe unhealthy, hazardous and dangerous for consumption by Papua New Guineans.
That container facility remains unbuilt to this day.

The K3 million was paid to a company that was registered only in one year from the time that it was given the contract to an intending candidate and he is in Port Moresby.

Some of us know him and meet him from time to time.

That is one of the disadvantages of the Central Supply and Tenders Board.
The other was the granting of a contract to a driver of a hire car company in West New Britain Province and those from West New Britain may want to check this.

He was given a contract to maintain a certain portion of the Kimbe General Hospital and still there are many others if we were to dig deeper into the files of the Central Supply and Tenders Board.

19 But I am interested in a particular decision that was made in June 2013, by the Central Supply and Tenders Board.
This was a very unhealthy decision that was made with the support of the Health Ministry or Department whereby a specific criteria, ISO 9001 was removed and I don’t know why.

However its connotations are sinister.

The criteria ensured that whatever company was selected for the procurement and distribution of drugs throughout the country was complying to make sure these were genuine drugs and it was effectively done so that the health of our people was protected.

Why was that criteria removed?


It’s an interesting question.

That is why we are here as leaders and we are supposed to protect the lives of our people.

We are supposed to be promoting the interests of Papua New Guinea and its people.

The company selected did not meet that criteria and then inflated cost because it was the highest bid, not only that, Australia immediately decided to withdraw K70 million worth of funding that was supposed to be used to help distribute those drugs.
We now have to fund K70 million which is an additional cost.

(Members interjecting!)

Mr GARRY JUFFA - Relax, we are talking about the health and wellbeing of our people and it is my grievance debate.

So it was an unhealthy decision made and they did not consider the health of our people.

I will continue to speak on this issue because the lives of my people are important.

During the elections, many of us were begging the people to vote us.
We said we will get into Parliament to fight corruption but do we still remember those promises we made during the elections?

And our people were in the remote and rural areas and we went there to convince them.

We said we would make decisions in their best interest but once we entered Parliament we have totally forgotten them.

Sometimes I feel guilty that I may have forgotten them.
We are discussing issues about the lives of our people, especially those that live in very remote and rural areas who don’t have access to medical services and pharmaceutical goods.

We have a situation in many electorates where medical drugs are being delivered late and it happens in my province.

I went to the area where drugs are kept to be distributed to aids posts and hospitals and I was alarmed at the location where the drugs where kept.
Even the workers there, looked like betelnut sellers but they were public servants working in there.

20 14/04 There was no proper registration, or system of management showing the delivery of these particular items to the areas where they were most needed.

Therefore, I urge all of you to go and check your provinces and electorates and you will see that the same situation will confront you and you will be alarmed.
In the remote areas, electorates and districts where these hospitals and aid posts are, you will find that there are no people working there like there used to be.

There are no doctors, health workers, nurses and so forth.

You may find only one person and he may be the cleaner but he can administer drugs to you if you are sick and these drugs might not even be genuine.

That is the fact throughout this country.


What I am saying here is that, if we are going to make decisions in respect to the health of our people through the procurement and distributions of drugs to our people, they expect us to make decisions that are going to protect them.

This is because they trust us to make sound, transparent and honest decisions.

The counterfeit drug trade is a billion dollar industry.
Most recently, it was exposed in the media that about 30 per cent of the drugs delivered throughout Papua New Guinea are counterfeit.

That is frightening, and what happens when counterfeit drugs are put into the community?

You will have certain types of diseases that will build resistance to those drugs.

Then you will see the emergence of such diseases as drug resistant TB, which is almost a death sentence.

When you get this disease then you are surely going to die.
Apart from that, this can also happen with various other types of diseases and these are now emerging into our society.

This is because we have decided that we can allow the distribution of counterfeit drugs into our society.

Therefore, we must make a fundamental effort to correct this situation to protect our people.

It is a trans-national crime that requires our attention as leaders.
As for the company that has been selected for this country’s medical drugs procurement and distribution, I would like to say this that I have an experience with this company.

When I was the Commissioner of Customs, the CEO of that company marched into my office and he advised me that he was part and parcel of a submission to procure container screening machines from China.

If you all remember my first part of my discussion I talked about – Mr SPEAKER – Honourable Member, your time is up.
21 Mr GARRY JUFFA – Thank you, very much I will continue later.

Mr TITUS PHILEMON – Mr Speaker, I would like to bring to this grievance debate the much publicised issue in the media that appeared for nearly a week about the sad situation on Misima Island and the aftermath of the Misima Mine.

Mr Speaker, I would like to make my position and that of the Milne Bay Provincial Government, my electorate of Samarai-Murua and the people of Milne Bay clear that we are not against freedom of press.
Nevertheless, the manner in which the media publicised this issue was unsatisfactory.

The leaders in the province where never consulted that the media was going to publicise this issue.

Mr Speaker, I would like to emphasise here that we are equally concerned and whoever gave the authority for the news to come out through the media never consulted us.
Mr Speaker, in my mind this also showed through the media the failure of successive governments due to the fact that Misima Mine was the first mine that was closed down.

15/04 Mr Speaker, I would like to make it very clear here that the failure of what happened in Misima cannot be blamed on the Milne Bay Provincial Government nor the Samarai-Murua District and the people of Milne Bay Province.
The blame should go to the successive governments that continue to ignore the agreements that were signed between all parties when the Misima Mine was established.

We all know very well in this Parliament and in this country that Misima Mine came into operation where the people were forced by the company and the Government at that time because of the closure of the Bougainville Mine.

All the clauses of the agreement and MOU took place there were not done properly.
The agreement and the signing of the Mine was forced down the throat of the people.

I was a Member of the Provincial Assembly at that time in 1988 when the agreement was signed.

And it is sad to say that apart from all the mines we have in the country today, Misima has always been seen as a failure but failure on whose part?
It is the failure that allowed Papua New Guinea to improve their agreements where the lands are benefiting so much while the people of Milne Bay Province and especially the landowners of Misima Mine in Samarai-Murua have missed out on all the many benefits that would come from the mine in the future.

22 Mr Speaker, let me mention here that as a result, during the Minister for Mining’s ministerial statement, he mentioned about a mine which will be developed in Woodlark Island.
We have mentioned from time to time in Parliament about the situation of Misima Mine and are scared because a similar situation may happen in Woodlark Island.

Mr Speaker, my grievance is that it was alright for the EMTV and Kundu 2 crew to go there and interview the people but at least they should have had the curtsey to inform us as the leaders of the province and interview us.
That media publicity completely destroyed our image and showed a negative impression to the country and the world that the leaders of Milne Province are not working together and that we have no concerns for our people.

Like I said, who is to be blamed for the publicity?

Successive governments have signed agreements and none of what they promised was honoured and they left us with a big hole.
So the Samarai-Murua district should not be blamed and the people of Milne Bay Province and its provincial government.

We should all work together to see this situation improve because from that lesson, we are going to be very strict on the Woodlark Mine issues so that we do not have a repeat of what has happened in Misima.
I also want to thank the Prime Minister and the Minister for Lands that the land issue on Woodlark Island has been addressed, but such publicity like this creates negativity to those landowners who will think that they will be treated similarly in the future and as a result prevent the development of the mine on their land.

Mr Speaker, whilst I have the Floor, I also want to mention the negative publicity on some of the islands that I have mentioned.
16/04 A question was previously raised on the Floor of Parliament regarding the sale of an island on Milne Bay Province.

To date, we have not talked about this matter.

However, we have invited this gentleman who is said to have purchased the island.

He is going to come to our country to explain to the media and the people of Milne Bay whether he will serve the island or not.

Mr Speaker, let me say that media in this country is biased.
They do not research and investigate their topics thoroughly before publishing their reports.

It is to be noted that Milne Bay Province is now focusing on tourism.

We have modeled it and it is working successfully 23 so such negative publicity about my province will only destroy the good reputation of our beautiful island.
Therefore, I appeal to the media that in the future, should they visit my province or any other provinces, the MPs concerned should be informed and likewise all parties concerned must be interviewed so as to obtain a balance story.

Mr Speaker, some of these people who were interviewed at that time were landowners.

These people were partly responsible for the misappropriation of moneys given to them.

Since they have abused the moneys they are now passing the buck to us.
They blame the Government for not being responsible; and I am actually referring to the Provincial Government.

The Provincial Government has been responsible for the mining activities from day one onwards.

The districts, the LLGs as far as operation of the Milne Bay Province is concerned, the Milne Bay Provincial Government and the people were responsible.

The National Government have failed us in the past.

That is why Misima Mine should not be used again as an example of a mine failure.
Mr RONNY KNIGHT (Manus) - Papua New Guinea has changed a lot since Independence and we can seen a lot of changes in many sectors too like the logging industry having operated from small to huge operations.

Landowners and provincial governments are involved in such operations.

Mr Speaker, the proposed amendment presented by Mr Chan this week in Parliament is the direction forward.

That is where we need to go because 40 per cent is ideal for our people.

Mr Speaker, what about our islands?


We have no minerals, only timber which has been ripped off in the past 25 years.

We have nothing to showcase for.

We only have a long list of nothing which has been a product of rip-off of timbers.

This is affecting our people in the villages because they cannot wash their sago due to river contamination.

This is going to be an on-going problem for many years.
Our island stands on the beach of the atolls and we see long liners pulling 100 tons of tuna not far from the shores and I am not sure whether they are supposed to be that close to the islands.

Mr Speaker, they are getting these resources without giving anything back to our people.

The tunas are disappearing and our waters are the best but do we stand by and watch while it is depleted under our very noses?

24 17/04 Our people have tuna ingrained in their cultures too.
We have tribes and clans that have the tuna as their totem and they believe that some of their ancestors have descended from this fish.

Mr Speaker, the current system of addressing this problem is working but we are not getting much out of it for our local people and our provinces and those affected by the tuna industry.

To us tuna is what oil and gas and mining is to the Highlands provinces.
So it is only fair that all coastal and islands provinces have a royalty for these resources taken from the waters.

Affected provinces should also be awarded some percentage of the license fees.

I propose around 25 percent levy fee, equally distributed around the provinces to make sure that this applies.
The National Fisheries Authority has the technology and the data to ensure a proper recording system where it can be determined what waters have stocks been taken out off them and where they were harvested.

I do not see how it would be too difficult to get our system returning to our provinces where we would be compensated for the tuna taken from our provincial waters.
Mr Speaker, the Organic Law on Local Level and Provincial Governments clearly shows that the mechanisms are already in place and we can legislate to affect this.

I imagine the good these proceeds can do such as in mining, we can be able to do a lot of things.

For example, we would have a search and rescue operation funded by all these activities.

We could have a surveillance system to make sure that we have air support flying over our seas and coast watchers patrolling the coastline as well.
Mr Speaker, I believe we are loosing a lot on our marine resources to illegal fishing.

Just because of our incapacity in surveillance we are just turning a blind eye to things happening day and night.

If we fund surveillance, search and rescue operations that will help the National Government out a lot and also help our people to employ them and make life better for them.
Mr Speaker, it is high time we start considering drastic measures on our marine resources not only tuna and it has to be protected more and we should look into this further.

Mr Speaker, one of the biggest problems we have is the banana boats.

We hear a lot of criticisms about certain vessels that are not suitable operating in PNG Waters but we are still 25 using banana boats to travel 300 – 400 miles out at sea in open waters.

Banana boats count for more deaths than any other vessel in the country.
These banana boats are pretty much death traps.

We need to look at some sort of system where we can phase out banana boats and find an alternative something a bit bigger and seaworthy.

Mr Speaker, just this Christmas, we lost two young men in a canoe because of the heavy wind and fortunately they ended up on an island and were saved.

A whole community of school children coming to Manus High School traveled on two boats from Ninigo, North Western Island to Manus.
They sank three times but because of the operation being used and having qualified skippers and people who can help they managed to get across to Manus shores after 28 hours at sea.

If something had happened and they had not been experts in sea survival a whole community would have lost the cream of their whole crop for high school for one year.

Mr Speaker, my greatest concern is the little things like sea transportation and we have to get those things up and going and run them properly.
18/04 Sir PUKA TEMU (Abau – Minister for Public Services) – Mr Speaker, I thank you for recognizing the people of Abau.

I want to debate on two current issues which are the drug and buai ban saga.

Mr Speaker, the Member for Oro has repeatedly raised this issue whether we leaders care and have concern for our people or not.

I reassure the Governor that we all have the similar concerns as he has so if you repeatedly raise this issue then something is wrong.
May I point out some facts while I have the chance having managed that process before my life in politics.

Many people are raising this same issue and this is a quality assurance system where you look at the management.

It’s has nothing to do with the ISO requirement where manufacturers must meet quality requirement for drugs.

So we are mixing the whole debate altogether.


In terms of the actual quality, many people don’t know that the Department of Health has over the years developed what we call a Medical Supplies Catalogue.

In that 26 catalogue, we make sure that the drugs that the nation needs are imprinted in there for what we call the generic quality because many of them are manufactured differently when repackaged.
But in terms of the medical supplies in the country, we have improved this catalogue on medical supplies over the years.

Therefore, the catalogue is based on the generic so when you talk about amoxicillin the actual drug in whatever format is amoxicillin and there may be some additional but the required amount in whatever form for amoxicillin is 500mg.

And so that’s the quality which is the pre-requisite when the Medical Supplies Tenders go out.
So we already have a quality assurance program within the Medical Supplies Procurement system over the years.

Unfortunately, there is a damning report on low quality drugs have been identified through a report.

I have yet to see that report and so I will not reference that in my debate this morning.
But I assure our people that the system that has been established in the Public Health Medical Supplies Procurement system is a system that has been used by the World Health Organisation’s quality requirement.

And that is the only agency in the entire world that we must make reference to.

I further assure our people that the system that the Department of Health is managing is World Health Drug compliant.
When a bid is put like in this case where a supplier is requesting to produce aid post kits then they will have to source the World Health Organisation.

And we know cheap drugs are coming from India and China but inside the factories they must be ISO compliance.

And that’s where the real quality of drugs issue comes in.

So it’s very important for the winner of the contract on these kits to make sure that he complies with our requirements.
And those pharmaceutical manufacturers in China, India or Europe there are ISO compliance and WHO oversees all those things.

And so we assured that when our supplier goes to an ISO compliance and pharmaceutical supplier then we are assured of the quality as well.

But I salute our hardworking Minister for Health who has made sure that there is a drug quality testing equipment now provided to the Medical Faculty of the University of PNG.
So we are able to double quality check the drugs that are coming in and so in terms of the country we make sure that we develop a system so we sample not only the drugs coming in but also the Private Health Service drugs that are coming in too.

19/04 So everybody is confusing the whole issue.

Some people are even assuming that those of us in Cabinet are useless with no brains and do not worry about the health of the people.
27 So lots of accusations come in and people ride on the emotional band wagon because some countries are losing their bids and are making whole lot of emotional accusations.

We need to assure our people that as leaders, we are committed to their welfare and are concerned.

I hope that this addresses the whole complex debate over the drug supplies in this country.

The second issue is on the Betelnut ban in the city.

I am in full support for the ban put in place by the Governor of NCD.
He is providing a strong leadership that no other Governor has tried before and we are all very happy as residents of the city to see the city become clean.

We must not go back to the buai-stained city.

My concern is the impact of the buai legislation adopted by the NCD and how it is restricting the people of Gulf and Kairuku people but my Abau people, however, have not petitioned the Governor.

I want to propose some improvements.


I hope the NCD Governor can call an audience with the leaders to a discussion rather than making his own decision.

And my suggestion would be that in terms of the buai trade, I would suggest that through the legislation that he is administering, the trading of buai licenses is only given to Central Province people and no other people outside of the province should be given the license to trade buai.
Like the Honourable Minister has done for coffee growers, let us give licences to the buai growers and give them licenses to bring in buai on the terms and conditions that the three Governors agree on.

We believe that all traders should be stationed at Laloki where a business program will be developed to have a Central Province trade licensor who will then go and buy and bring them and resell them to the public in the NCD.
And the focal point for sale should be outside of NCD where there is a market for Central and Gulf people to sell their betelnut.

We have created an underworld and people have died trying to smuggle the nut in to manage that underworld of 90 per cent buai chewers because there are certain buying points at Rearea, and along the Hiri West where buai is coming in.

My observations on the betelnut trade is that buai is now being sold for K5 per nut.
20/04 Mr JIM KAS (Madang) – Thank you, Mr Speaker, before I speak, I would like to use this opportunity to apologise to the Chair and to all honourable Members of Parliament for 28 my unruly conduct.

If I had unduly interjected the Deputy Prime Minister when he was speaking, I apologise to the Parliament.

My contribution to this Grievance Debate is to assist the Governor of NCD.

I support your buai ban initiative.

I think you should maintain your stand, don’t back off.
Don’t worry about the economic argument that Members of Parliament are trying to use because this is the Gateway to Papua New Guinea.

I said this because if you say one thing and then allow something else to come in there, you are weakening the point that you made earlier on the ban that you imposed earlier.
I am from Madang, I am a betelnut chewer but when I look at the bigger picture of Papua New Guinea as a whole and the Gateway to Papua New Guinea as a whole, this city has looked very untidy over the last how many years.

It is the pride of all Papua New Guineans and if one person has had the guts to say no to the one thing that has contributed immensely to the dirt and the stink of this city, do it.

I am saying this because I want the Governor of NCD to come to Madang.
There is a group in Madang called Tropical Jam, the Madang Provincial Government and the National Government have not provided any funding for this group consisting of about 2000 to 3000 people.

It is a group that encourages people to change within and then they come out and show it physically.
I encourage all of you, including the Governor of NCD to jump on a plane and come to Madang and see Madang Town for yourselves then you will recruit the leader of that group to come and teach your rangers here for them to change first.

The rangers have to change first and maybe the Governor of NCD should change first so that they will assist him.

I am not joking, right now Madang Town is the cleanest town in the whole of Papua New Guinea and Tropical Jam does not do it for money.
This is their simple belief, they said they will go around collecting rubbish in town and if anything that is not in its rightful place and if those in authority having responsibility over the place feel that they have time to consult with us we can explain to them what we are for.

And they do this and have increased their membership.

On Tuesday, I spoke to them and told them that I as Governor of Madang and the Mayor of the town have seen your intentions and we will come and assist you.
Now that is their whole intention.

They won’t write any letters or come begging at your doorstep but they have shown some positive things physically and have drawn the attention of the people of Madang, including leaders and public servants so that we will now go and help them look after Madang Town.

29 That initiative from another province has to be brought to the city so that we can assist in looking after the city.

But on the idea of banning betelnut, you go ahead and do it.
I, as one of those from Papua New Guinea looking at the big picture must say that the picture painted by Port Moresby reflects the picture of the rest of the country.

Whatever negative thing that happens in Port Moresby paints a bad picture of the country in Brisbane, in Cairns and in Sydney.

21/04 The things that happen in Port Moresby destroy our country’s image overseas.

Now if this is one small thing to talk about Papua New Guinea in a very big way, we all leaders have to support it.
The betelnut chewers can go and chew betelnut at Laloki before they enter Port Moresby.

The people of Madang are prepared to support the NCD City Rangers and the Governor and if they come to Madang they must meet with the leaders of Tropical Jam to discuss how best they can change Port Moresby.

I also apologise to Parliament for coming out loud but I want to tell Parliament that my JPP & BPC only consist of the six members with me as the Chairman and we have no differences.
The issue that was raised up should have been better addressed at the JPP& BPC meeting which is scheduled for Tuesday next week.

Mr NICK KUMAN (Gumine) – Thankyou Mr Speaker for recognising me and the people of Gumine.

Firstly, I thank the Judiciary of this country in recognising me as leader of the people of Gumine.

We have a robust judiciary and I also want to thank the people of Gumine for voting me in.
I want to put on record that the election in Gumine through the recount has confirmed me as the leader for Gumine and I also want to put on record that no foul play occurred during the elections and I thank the election officials.

We had 42,000 voters and we had 99 informal votes and I think it was a transparent election in Gumine.
With that, this is 39 years of independence and looking forward to the Tenth Parliament and this Government needs to make some strong and decisive decisions with regards to the election process in Papua New Guinea.

There must be an overall reform in the process.

Many times we leaders stand here and say that we are serious about the people of this country and the way the Government does business in this country.
We also have to ensure that the process in which we are elected to come and represent the people in this Parliament must also 30 be transparent and that is important.

I know after 39 years, going through Nine elections and going to the Tenth in 2017, preparations must start this year.
I took note when I was out there during the elections that a verdict system was introduced and contracts being awarded but I believe this was for the National Identification System which is the same system that is being used.

I want to propose to this Parliament that we should by now after 39 years of experience should introduce a system that would deliver the results at the voting place.

It must link to the IT system.

22/04 This is so that it can deliver the result there and then.
We do not need to go through an expensive exercise whereby after the voting we all come back to the counting center.

Believe me when I say that, everyone has spent a lot of money trying to keep up with all the scrutineers.

Just think about how much money you will spend to bribe the policemen and electoral officers just to make sure that you are on equal par, and that is the fact of the matter.

This especially happens up in the Highlands but it is also now happening in the Coastal areas as well.
This may sound funny but all these things are really happening.

We are now living up to these sorts of things and the expectations of our people are so much that we corrupt the system to get here.

Isn’t this true or not?

(Members murmuring in agreement) Sir Julius Chan – Point of Order!

Not all of us Members carry out this practice.

Therefore, I would like the Member to withdraw his statement.

Mr SPEAKER – Your Point of Order is in order.


Honourable Member, can withdraw your statement as it deems the integrity of all the Members of Parliament and the process whereby they were mandated to come to Parliament.

Mr NICK KUMAN – Mr Speaker, I withdraw the statement.

Mr Speaker, the National ID System with the project being now in progress, I would therefore like to suggest that legislatively the Electoral Commission must not use it.
This is 31 because the Electoral Commission is a constitutional office that conducts National Elections in this country.

It can use it as background information to support what it is doing and instead use the bio-metric system to conduct elections in this country.

Mr Speaker, the third point that I would like to raise is that, during the registration of voters, I am pretty sure bio-metric system will cut out all the ghost names that since 2002.
The Electoral Commission has not done a good job concerning the Common Roll System in this country.

Just to give an example, and given the fact that one ward should have a maximum of 500 people on the Common Roll it would show it has got a voting population of 10 000 people.

How does anybody comprehend this sort of thing?

I for one think that there is a real problem in this country and I believe that this system will completely remove all the ghost names that we have in this country.
I also think that the National ID System will indeed help for planning purposes do that we can plan for our people in this country.

The Electoral Commission should also conduct a reform with respect to how we conduct our campaigns in this country.

Big rallies and parties with a lot of goods have been handed out take place at election times.

Therefore, the reform should make sure that it cuts down all these practices.
This is because every citizen in the country has the right to contest the elections because it not only meant for the rich or business people to contest elections.

We should have a reform that will cut down all the campaigns.

You have a maximum requirement of 10 candidates and consultation with the voters.

Let us not go through this ‘Big Man’ mentality and have big rallies.

We should cut down on all these.

From a district’s perspective, everybody in Gumine knows who Nick Kuman is.
From the provincial perspective I am pretty sure all the Governors will know you.

You can put your posters up and campaign through other mediums but with big rallies I believe there are a lot of things that we should not encourage.

23/04 There are lot of security issues in relation to that and bribery and undue influences.

These are foremost in the election petitions.


At the end of every election, you witness that and I think we have to do a reform within the system to ensure that there’s transparency and accountability in the conduct of elections in Papua New Guinea.

32 Mr BIRE KIMISOPA (Goroka) – Mr Speaker, I join the debate by joining my hand of solidarity to my good Governor for Central Province and congratulate him for tabling a petition this morning.
On the same token, I would also like to commend the Governor for NCDC for doing a good job in a very difficult city in Papua New Guinea.

Mr Speaker, my grievance will be very brief and it concerns the betelnut ban in NCD.

Before I do so perhaps a disclaimer, I do not chew betelnut so you will probably be wondering why someone from Goroka who does not chew betelnut is going to debate on the issue.

Mr Speaker, it seems to me that the heart of the issue is not so much chewing of betelnut.
I think, we missed the whole issue altogether.

The issue here is the economic sustenance of our people in the Central Province.

They dwell on the periphery of the National Capital District.

These are our people and they dwell there and they are watching us conduct our business here.

If I may add, they are also watching the Highlanders operate PMVs and taxi services in the city.

They also watch every other ethnic group in the country do business in the city.
They are sitting on the periphery and wondering what is their crime.

Just because they plant betelnut and sell them, is that their crime?

We are not the only ones spewing betelnuts all over the city in NCD.

It is not the people from Kairuku or Abau who spit betelnut in the city.

It’s people from all over the country who reside in NCD that do that.

Mr Speaker, we are living in very difficult times and I am asking this Parliament, where is your compassion?
The cost of living in the city is very high and I have been repeating on this Floor of Parliament time and time again.

Some of you Members of Parliament should have the courtesy of going into the supermarkets and start seeing what Papua New Guineans are buying.

They are buying 1kg of rice for K5, Ox&Palm for K12 and diesel is K3.50 per litre.
Mr Speaker, I can afford K100 and that is only a quarter of my fuel tank to drive around in the city but for the average Papua New Guinean, they either spending K10 to drive around in Port Moresby with one eye on the busy traffic and another eye on the petrol gauge.

Some of them are even buying air to put into their tanks.

Where is our compassion?

Fine, the city is clean but the people in Central Province are being ostracised.

They are human beings with families to feed.


Mr Speaker, through you, I want to appeal to the Governor of NCD, where is his compassion?

We should be worried about our people.

It is okay to allow the illegal squatter 33 settlement in the city because they have a political equity in this country.

If you remove them then you lose in the elections but kick the people from Kairuku and Abau.

What kind of practise is this?


I am ashamed, I don’t chew betelnut but they are my fellow countrymen sitting on the periphery of the biggest city in Papua New Guinea and struggling.

They have no complaints against us and accept what the Highlanders are doing in the city.

They make gardens on the side of the road which is illegal.

24/04 There is no dispute about that.

It is also alright for them to conduct illegal activities in the squatter settlements.
Mr Speaker, we cannot have one rule for someone and another for another person.

So we have to find a middle ground and therefore, my appeal through you is that where is the compassion for our people because we are struggling in this country.

For those of us Members of Parliament, it is easy for us to eat chicken every day because we can afford to but other people cannot and that is the sad reality because our people cannot.

It is very difficult as it is.


Mr Speaker, as we keep one eye on trying to have peace with the foreigners to come into our city and all of a sudden the affluent Papua New Guineans are driving through the clean city of Port Moresby in their comfortable air conditioned, cars, think that they are living in Sydney.

Come on wake up, what is wrong with you?

Some things take generations to change.

It does not happen overnight.

So we have to tag our people together slowly.


As you make laws you have to be cognitive of the fact that either it will affect them socially or economically.

So these are the issues that you have to consider first.

Mr Speaker, as an Eastern Highlander and one that does not chew betelnut and I have a very proud record because I do not know how it tastes like.

But I want to say this, as a Papua New Guinean, I am ashamed because I live comfortably in the great country of ours.
But if some of our people are making a living through selling food, then where is our compassion.

Let us find a middle ground so that we do not alienate them of our own desire because we want to demonstrate to everyone that we can do things our way.

34 Mr Speaker, this country is difficult.

Being a Member of an Open Electorate, I have firsthand experience of trying to close down an illegal market.

The market that I have in my town is called the Kakaruk Market.
Mr Speaker, affectionately it is known the world-over as the World Trade Centre and I am proud to be the Member of the World Trade Centre.

Mr Speaker, there is nothing to be ashamed of.

But the economic activity that is generated by the Kakaruk Market itself ensures that a number of businesses in Goroka survive.

Mind you, the same applies in the city of Port Moresby.

Those people in Kairuku-Hiri cannot storm into this Parliament to present their case.

But the Kina does travel a long way.


They create a lot more jobs and ensure that our people are participating in this economy called the informal sector where we hardly know them.

All these activities are on gross with the macro-economic indicators.

We can be grateful because the GDP is growing at 6 per cent because our debts are below the 35 per cent threshold but these figures belong to the white-men.

For the small population in this country, those figures are there.
There are 90 per cent of our people in the rural communities in the country who do not feature in those statistics.

They are also struggling to survive in this country.

Mr Speaker, before I come to the end, the issue is not about spitting betelnut in the city of Port Moresby, it is about striking a balance.

So, as much as those of us who can enjoy the perks and privileges of living in the city, we have must similar compassion for our people who are struggling to survive.
Mr Speaker, as we make laws, let us find the balance.

Enforce rules and regulations in this country but we must never forget our people because we are not a developed nation.

Unless and until Mr Speaker, UN produce a social security net in this country that every Papua New Guinean unemployed receives a salary of at K250 – K350 per fortnight then we can do away with betelnut altogether.

But there is nothing as such at the moment so what is the option.
When I plant coffee it takes me three years to harvest it.

I do not know about the length of planting and harvesting in Kairuku-Hiri.

If they plant banana do they harvest everyday?

I do not think so.

Thank you.

Mr GORDON WESLY (Samarai-Murua) – Mr Speaker, I thank you for recognizing the people of Samarai–Murua.

I have two grievances which I to bring to this Parliament.
35 25/04 I carry on from where the Governor for Milne Bay left regarding the media that went up to Misima without consulting either the Provincial Government or the District Administration.

They went up there for the launching of a Business Co-operative Society instead we went up there to play a bit of politics to undermine my leadership.

They went on to film the Misima General Hospital and the Misima Hydro Power.

Mr Speaker, they viewed it for about a week on Kundu Cracker – (Laughter in the Chamber!)
Mr GORDON WESLEY – Mr Speaker, I apologise.

I withdraw that word.

It is of course, Kundu TV.

That was an error and I withdraw that.

Mr Speaker, they basically played that for a week and it didn’t go down well with me.

I brought that up with the Governor and various Milne Bay politicians on issues relating to Misima or Samarai–Murua for that matter.
Mr Speaker, let me make it known to all colleague Members of Parliament that any funding or monies should come direct to the Samarai–Murua administration because we do have an authority on the ground.

We have a District Administrator and the mandated leaders such as the Ward Councillors to and the District Treasurer who are capable of administering such funds.
Unfortunately, there has been so much talk about monies since the aftermath of the Misima Mines, which was given by the National Government under the Misima Rehabilitation Program of some K20 million in 2010.

These funds were placed in the Provincial Government and were more or less monitored by the Works Unit in the province.

They were doing a good job but physically you couldn’t see anything.

The funding allocated was for health and power in the millions and not much work has been done.
Mr Speaker, that funding was regulated in Milne Bay in Alotau and these very people who are not from my district.

They don’t know what is happening in my district because we are an island district isolated from many mainland districts.

Whatever funds that the 36 Government wishes to allocate to my people must come direct to my district administration so that we can be accountable for that funding.
My District can present reports direct to the MRA and I must say that the first K20 million failed and this Government was gracious enough to give us an additional K5 million and still to date nothing tangible has happened with the Hydro power and the Hospital.

Mr Speaker, my electorate is the biggest Island Electorate and not many Prime Ministers have visited my electorate with the exception of the current Prime Minister who visited us and seen firsthand our plight.
There are many hundreds of islands that are very difficult to bring services to.

Mr Speaker, I am trying my very best and that is the basic reason why I am still here on this Floor of Parliament.

You hardly see me here in Port Moresby or even in your Office because I am always at my electorate traveling these islands.

It is very difficult and I would like to invite Members of Parliament and Ministers to come and see the plight of my people.
Mr Speaker, another issue is the ongoing closure of beche-de-mere and my good Fisheries Minister always tells me that it is based on time physics research.

One of the unanswered questions is that this is almost five years and there about 17 species of beche-de-mere.

26/04 The question is why every quota we reached our quota and the other districts that got lower quotas don’t even reach their quotas so obviously they have depleted their quota.
In our case, we don’t always go over 140 the limited we have got over and exceed to 200 tonnes.

We are not depleting the marine life but we are fulfilling that quota.

Why can’t the so called scientists conduct a study and see what species of beche-de- mere is more or less depleted and we can stop that.

You just can’t stop the whole lot because that’s the only source of income that we have.

Some of the Islands don’t have copra so we have just been spectator’s year in and year out.
There is nothing else we can do but just sit and be spectators and watch all the ships come and go.

It’s really affecting my people financially and we are not moving forward but backwards.

Can I use my DSIP and create a Social Security Benefits scheme and give them some money?

Some of the parents can’t afford to send their kids to school and can’t even pay a boat fare.

These are some of the problems that we go through.


37 When there is drought we got nothing to survive on yet we keep quiet and don’t complain of hunger or anything of that sort.

We will still fish but what if they stop fishing now?

Soon or later they are going to stop us from doing our gardening.

And we survive both on land and sea so I want this Government to seriously consider some of our concerns because we islanders depend on nothing but beche-de-mere.
And to date I don’t have any answers why they keep on closing it when we reach our quota.

Mr KILA HAODA (Central) – Thank you Mr Speaker, for giving me this opportunity for me to speak on this issue of betelnut.

I think I am the right person to speak because it affects my people.

When we talk about the ban of betelnut we are talking about the livelihood and economy of my people.

Suddenly this benefit has been cut and families are suffering.
I am not saying we bring back betelnut to Port Moresby; I fully support my Governor because it’s my city too and I want us to live in a safe city.

But the effects of the implementation are a concern to me.

My people are hurt, harassed and intimidated and I am worried about this intimidation.

Mr Speaker, my Governor moved too fast to open this market.

When it was opened there was no water, toilet and security.
Central Province is full of rubbish and when I went there and looked down at my feet there were rubbish everywhere.

My people don’t deserve this, they have a standard of living and this is not their way of living.

The rubbish has not come to my Province, checkpoints for betel nus have become a nightmare for my people.

There is no more freedom and peace but harassment and intimidation, women and children are sitting there for hours for the vehicle to be checked.
Law enforcers and agencies has become an agent for themselves and getting betelnut and selling them in Port Moresby.

This movement of betelnut to my Province has attracted settlements in my province because my people cannot just go to another province and grab land.

27/04 All you need to do is go to Laloki and see what I am talking about.

The roads are getting narrower and there are market stalls everywhere.

All these stalls should belong to the people of Central and Gulf.
38 Mr Speaker, the Buai ban is in NCD and is not in Central Province and my people are being harassed for taking buai around in Central Province.

The enforcing agents must not go around harassing the people in the province who are doing their business or visiting families.

We do not need permits, it is our province.

Perhaps they need proper provincial boundaries to see for themselves where Central Province begins and ends, so that they will not harass my people.
And when we go and sell betelnut in any other part of the province we do not need to seek permission from anybody.

The ban has gone beyond the good intentions of the City Governor.

Central Province and NCD have a unique relationship because the city is surrounded by the Province.

Whatever I do will affect the city and whatever the city does will affect the province.

It is therefore important for us to work together and there was only one meeting that was when I called for it.
I want us to work together because it affects the livelihood of my people.

The markets were set up without my knowledge.

They went straight to the landowners and negotiated to set up the market.

I cannot go to New Ireland and set up a market as I wish.

I have to go to the Government and show respect to the authority there.

We have to work together and I want to be respected as the landowners of the city.
You have taken our city and a decision has been given on our favour and you have to appeal for it but we are waiting for our money.

You have taken our land and water, what more do you want to take from us?

We feel that we are now pushed to the edge where I will have little option but start utilising every avenue possible to bring back the respect for my people of Central Province, thank you.
Mr ANDERSON AGIRU (Hela Regional) – The Minister for Mining presented a policy statement on what his Department is doing in the mining industry, which was a timely statement and it reflected the good work that he is doing within his department to ensure the laws which were enacted in 1992 reflect the changes which are happening today.

It also generates the intelligent ears of this Parliament who also debated and demonstrated at great length, a debate which we need to take heed of.
The glaring verocity of loopholes in the Mining Act is evident and the current law does not provide for State participation in the mining leases but only provides for in special mining leases.

39 I want to make a proposal for the Parliament to take note of and for the Minister to work on.

The Provinces like Milne Bay, New Ireland and East Sepik have potential due to the medium sized ore deposits which can eventually become mining leases.
28/04 The current law provides for special mining leases, therefore I want to propose that when there is a mining lease being applied and developed, Provincial Governments and landowners be given free carried equity so that we can use those resources to develop our provinces.

When Members of Parliament continuously talk about lack of development capital, these resources from the extractive industry, like from mineral development are god-given resources for our people.
In the search for those minerals our people can receive development such as health care, education, roads etc.

For the maintenance and development of the provinces, I think the equity interest carried in those free carried equity will go a long way in helping the provinces raise revenue.

So, I want to encourage the Minister to include that in his legislative reforms he is going to bring to Parliament.

Secondly, the alluvial gold exports.

That is an industry that should be left exclusively to our people.
Why should white men and foreigners, sorry for the colour reference, have all the fun in exporting our raw materials, including alluvial gold which our people pan for spending painstaking hours in the creeks and rivers of our country.

Mr Speaker, I want to propose to the Department of Mining to ensure that alluvial gold export is left exclusively to the people of Papua New Guinea.

The time has come for us to take stock of where we have gone wrong, reflect on the past and move forward.
The O’Neill Government is bringing reforms and interventions to all sectors of society and all strata of the communities.

One of the things that we can do as part of those reforms is to give the alluvial gold exports to Papua New Guinea business houses and Papua New Guineans and landowners.

40 I want also that mining leases should be granted as a condition of the licence that at least 10 per cent equity free carried should be given to the landowners.
Another 10 per cent free carried to the Provincial Government directly.

The State does not need to be involved in every small business.

You are a regulator, you can collect taxes but let part of the devolution of powers to the provinces s provided for under the Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Governments we should empower our people as well as our provincial governments.

Those are my two points in relation to the good statement brought in by the Minister for Mining.
While I have the time I want to add a bit more.

I want to commend you, Mr Speaker.

Our country has 850 cultures and customs such as carvings and many other things that reflect our good country.

I am proud of my people’s wigs.

I am referred to as a wigman, but I cannot bring my wig to Parliament and say that this is a symbol of Papua New Guinea.

It only belongs to the Hela people.

Carvings belong to our cultural centres such as museums.
We are proud of them and we should not destroy them but Parliament must reflect the goals and directive principles.

Parliament must also reflect the foundations that bring us together, 850 nations together under one country 29/04 Mr Speaker, I support what you have done.

I couldn’t go out to the media because they were many arguments in the media.

This Parliament belongs to the people of Papua New Guinea, it is a holy House.
This is God’s House, we cannot talk about one culture, there is no dominant culture in Papua New Guinea.

We have 850 cultures and if we were to put up 850 signs in this Parliament there would be no space.

Let’s educate our people, let us place God’s ways before us.

Mr Speaker, go for it.


Mr SPEAKER – May I also remind Parliament that you will have time to debate on that matter as I will be bringing a report next week so I want you to refrain from debating this matter in this Grievance Debate but you can go ahead with other debates.
41 Mr MARK MAIPAKAI (Kikori-Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations) – I will debate on the issue of betelnut because that also directly affects the people of Gulf and most importantly the people of Kikori because a lot of the betelnut suppliers are from my electorate.

On record, Kikori district hosts two very important State assets, the pipeline of oil which has been there for 20 years and now the gas pipeline.

We are one of the highest logged over areas.


We have some of the most important potential projects that have transformed the economy such as Inter Oil Project, Purari Hydro and many others.

When we talk about micro level, who is building this nation?

The Gulf people do not have a thing to celebrate.

For the first time, I thank the Prime Minister for transforming the economy of Gulf by getting a road link right from the Southern Highlands into my electorate.

We do not have hard wares or supermarkets.


All our business is done in the National Capital.

The National Capital is built at the expense of the little Gulf people.

We are not violent like our other tribes.

We don’t come and stone Parliament or run petitions on the streets because we respect the democracy and we have mandated people like myself to come and air their voice in this Parliament and this ban of course without my direct consultations has directly affected my people.
I thank the Government, I am now going to freeze freight subsidy with my boats that were purchased.

I am opening up a private market arrangement for my people because my people can’t be intimidated in the markets in Port Moresby by people bidding for all sorts of betelnut prices and get bashed up and lose their money.

This betelnut ban is a big setback for my people.


They risk their lives travelling the high seas because we don’t have a road coming from Kikori to Baimuru, Ihu to get the link into Port Moresby by way of road connections into Kerema.

My good Governor, we are not going to go back.


We stand together for the cleanliness but whatever legislation you want to bring before this Parliament, I think it’s only fair that Members of Central and Gulf sit together to form a new legislation that will affect the livelihoods of our people.

On the issue of VAT, the two provinces Central and Gulf both don’t have a town, even Kerema town is a rural village virtually, without any services and yet we are building this city.
What will this city give back to us?

We are talking about micro business because the informal sector is where our little people make their ends meet.

I’m not going to dwell on this, we are all mandated by our people and it is only fair if there is any new legislation we 42 want to introduce and if there is a ban let us ban everything including gardening on State land and the illegal sale of alcohol in the settlements.
30/04 I speak as a leader of the Southern Region because I think that it is a very unfair decision that has been made.

Of course, we did it for the nation as this is the nation’s capital and Port Moresby is the image of our country.

The first impression that we give to a foreigner when he or she arrives for that matter is the city’s cleanliness.

With that, we stand with you and salute you but in terms of boundaries I believe that we have to discuss those issues a little bit better.
Another issue that I would like to raise is that, I think that it is very unfair that there is no fish plant in the Southern Region.

There is unfair development in the fishing industry and I am in support of the Member for Samarai-Murua.

I am one of those privileged Papua New Guineans who has travelled the country.

I have travelled from Morehead to Woodlark, Rossell Island, Buin all the way to Vanimo, Wutung, Bewani, Manus, and as for the Highlands I have gone as far as Kopiago.
I do not think any Papua New Guinean has ever travelled the length and breadth of Papua New Guinea.

(Members interjecting!)

Mr MARK MAIPAKAI – New Ireland is a small place and I have been there already.

What I mean to say here is that, I support the Member for Samarai-Murua.

There is no other industry in their area.

How many people from the Samarai-Murua Electorate have applied under the NFA applications?

The answer is that, they do not give them anything.
It is a very unfair distribution of development.

All the fish processing plants are in the Momase Region.

You have the Wewak tuna plant, Madang tuna plant and two more or three more coming up in Lae.

And yet, there is nothing in Southern Region.

The Minister for Fisheries is not here but I think the Department needs to take stock.

I was once a former manager of Baimuru Seas Plant.

I used to export barramundi and at that time we had fisheries in Tufi, Samarai and the Samarai Islands.
They were very successful but the problem with the donor agency was that they only put up the infrastructure 43 and capital.

They hardly groom the people to take over and that was why I said programmes fail very badly.

Then came JICA and I had Kikori Fish Plant worth a couple of millions just sitting there idle.

I want a fisheries officer to come and tell me or a Minister to make a statement.

Why can’t we build a tuna plant in the Southern Region?

Don’t we have enough tuna stocks?


How then will these little islanders survive?

Their reefs are full of fish as I have travelled most of these places and seen for myself.

Why can’t we give a substantial amount of those fisheries loan that we are giving to develop the fisheries industry in the Southern Region like Milne Bay, Gulf or Central province?

A poor fisherman from Hula has to drive all the way from Hula just to come and sell his fish here.
There is so much fish in Abau and in Kairuku-Hiri electorates but they cannot be transported here to the nation’s capital.

Why then can’t we put money to get the road link from the Hiritano Highway into Delena or somewhere near?

So that fish can be transported out there to here.

31/04 I am unhappy about the way the Fisheries sectors are running their affairs.

They are very ones who wanted fish processing plants in the country when Southern Region has missed out a lot.
If you are banning sea cucumber for whatever reasons, at least give the Southern Region a good loan as a compromise and even create something sustainably viable.

I think it has been very unfair because I have been in here for 11 years but I never heard any fishing proposal for the Southern Region.

So, if you have to lock in half of whatever you are lending to the people in terms of small micro loans, please consider us.
We are a nation and our forefathers attended to development issues better and that is why we gained our independence.

When appointing public servants, they ensured that there was equal share of appointments.

Even the project developments were shared equally.

This is why we remain united as Papua New Guinea.

Gentlemen, we’ve got to be considerate and try to balance the development where it is needed most.

We should not come here and accuse each other and create regionalism.
I am a true Papua New Guinean but sometimes you come to a stage where you cannot stand it.

I am sorry but I have to express my opinion.

44 Mr JAMES MARAPE (Tari – Minister for Finance) – Mr Speaker, there are lot of issues on the betelnut ban and we acknowledge a lot of sentiments raised by the leaders from Central Province and the petition that is on foot whilst at the same time commend the Governor of NCD for the good intentions that he has in banning betelnut in the city.
Mr Speaker, the issue is not banning of chewing or selling of betelnut, it is the location of business and I think that has come out in a manner in which a reaction is now coming from the Central Province leaders.

I propose few recommendations for all of us to consider in light of this debate.

You know that in this city garden, food is a K700 million industry and this just for the sale of raw food alone.
So whilst betelnut is a necessity for many, I propose an intervention program for Central Province so that things like banana and vegetables which can immediately fetch money can be promoted.

We open a special facility in the National Development Bank and a credit facility for only the people of Central and Gulf Provinces and specific markets for them to seel their produce.

So instead of us drumming on the betelnut issue alone, let’s ensure that their market facilities are opened clearly.
Central provincial leaders can designate their DSIP and PSIP, and allow the National Government to make specific allocation for that and also NCDC to do likewise and park them in the National Planning or micro facility so that they can venture into agriculture on a bigger scale.

What is stopping them from turning the plains near Tubusereia, Gaire and Mekeo into agricultural land and sell their produce in a designated market for Central Province alone.
This is one proposal that I am suggesting for us to think about.

Mr Speaker, my second proposal is that for all the jobs in the city, specific quota must be for the people of Central and Gulf Provinces.

32/04 Mr Speaker, my second proposal relates to quarterly casual jobs which can be performed by the indigenous people of Central Province and the Motu Koita-tabu people.

The designated quarter job is for every employee in the private sectors especially those in NCD.
I want to also inform the good leaders of Central Province that the Minister for Planning and I will endeavor to support the Central City in 2015.

50-60 million was given the in last few years so we need the progress report on what has transpired.

We can build the 45 hospitals, the roads, and the facilities needed on the site and of course at your choice of location of the Central City Concept.

Fifty million is big enough for the proposed plan so that plan must come to us as soon as practical.
You must report on what has happened so that we can support you in the quest and ensure that you have the city you want designated with the facilities.

So that is something that we proposed.

The people of Central and NCD will have a brand new city.

Mr Speaker, we have to help them in the next budget and give them what they deserve because Port Moresby is the capital city of our nation.
I have proposed that and especially in light of the food consumption in the city, this is a K700 million plus industry and as a government we can offer solutions to our people from Central Province.

They can go into planting bananas, cassava and the vegetables needed because a betelnut tree will take time to grow and bear fruit.

Betel-nut is a good means of generating income because the trees do not need much cultivation.

The nuts can be picked from the tree and sold.


So betel-nut will only come in with the arrangement made with the NCD Governor and the Central Province leaders.

But in the meantime, a better and good proposition is the food security approach.

This can be assisted by a good agriculture base which the people of Central Province can provide to the city.

Motion – That the grievances be noted – agreed to.

ADJOURNMENT Motion (by Mr James Marape) agreed to – That the Parliament do now adjourn.
The Parliament adjourned at 12.40 p.m. 46