Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698056304305.pdf (Papua New Guinea)
NINTH DAY _______________________ Wednesday 6 April 2016 DRAFT HANSARD ______________________ Subject: Page No.
MOTION BY LEAVE ............................................................................................................. 1 SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS – REARRANGEMENT OF BUSINESS .............................................................................. 2 REPORT ON PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES – PAPUA NEW GUINEA’S GROWING CONNECTIONS – MINISTERIAL STATEMENT – PAPER NOTED .................................................... 2 Papua New Guinea Leaders’ visit to other countries ............................................... 5 DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONEMENT AND CONSERVATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE – BRIEF HIGHLIGHTS AND MILESTONES – MINISTERIAL STATEMENT – MOTION TO TAKE NOTE OF PAPER...................................... 31 MOTION BY LEAVE ........................................................................................................... 36 SPECIAL ADJOURNMENT ................................................................................................ 37 ADJOURNMENT .................................................................................................................. 37 NINTH DAY Wednesday 6 April 2016 The Speaker (Mr Theo Zurenuoc) took the Chair at 10 a.m.
There being no quorum present, Mr Speaker stated that he would resume the Chair after the ringing of the bells.

Sitting suspended.

The Speaker again took the Chair at 11.06 a.m., and invited the Governor of West New Britain, Honourable Sasindra Muthuvel, to say Prayers: „Holy Creator you have no beginning and no end or the most powerful loving God, please bless us all with your love.

Please forgive us the sins we have done and help guide us now.
Please bless us with all the love for you so we remember your lotus feet.

O‟ God, we are so thankful and grateful for this great country, Papua New Guinea.

Dear God, please bless all of us representing the provinces and districts to give us the courage, wisdom and strength to think positive and move this country to bring services to all our innocent rural population.

Thank you God, for your wonderful gift of this country and our position to represent our people in this Ninth Parliament.
Amen.‟ MOTION BY LEAVE Mr JAMES MARAPE (Tari-Pori – Minister for Finance) – I ask leave of Parliament to move a motion without notice.

Leave granted.

1 SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS – REARRANGEMENT OF BUSINESS Motion (by Mr James Marape) agreed to – That so much of the Standing Orders be suspended as would prevent: (a) the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration; and (b) the Minister for Environment and Conservation and Climate Change presenting their ministerial statements.
REPORT ON PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES – PAPUA NEW GUINEA’s GROWING CONNECTIONS – MINISTERIAL STATEMENT – PAPER NOTED Mr RIMBINK PATO (Wapenamanda-Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration) – Mr Speaker, in July 2013, I presented a foreign policy statement on behalf of the Government.

The theme was Papua New Guinea‟s growing connections in a globalising world.

I rise today to report on the progress and challengers in the past years in growing important connections for our nation.
I do so at a time when our Prime Minister, the Honourable Peter O‟Neill, is chairman of the leading inter-governmental organisation in our region, the Pacific Islands Forum.

Having hosted the PIF Leader‟s meeting here in Port Moresby in September of 2015, he will continue his chair until he hands over the presidency to the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, His Excellency, Peter M Christian in September of 2016.
The past year has been an exceptionally busy and productive period for growing vital connections with other countries and international organisations.

Papua New Guinea was host to several highly level visits and events.

Our Prime Minister has made important visits to Asia and Europe.

Both the deputy Prime Minister and I have assisted the Prime Minister in providing high level representations for our nation at some important international meetings and summits.
I will briefly explain the outcome and the importance of this engagement and how they have helped to raise our profile as a responsible committed and constructive regional partner and actor.

I assure the honourable Members and the people of Papua New Guinea that 2 while we have been busy growing our country‟s international connection, we have not for a moment taken our eyes off the important agenda of safe-guarding Papua New Guinea‟s core national interest.
Papua New Guinea enjoys close, friendly and constructive relation with many countries and international organisations including those in our neighbourhood but relationships do not grow on their own.

Governments must make right choices in deciding with whom and how to engage.

It must invest the time, the energy and the resources required to develop a positive and mutually beneficial relation that support Papua New Guinea‟s national interest.
02/09 Mr Speaker, the visits by the Indonesian Prime Minister his Excellency Joko Widodo on 11-12 May, 2015 and the Foreign Minister, Honourable Retno Masudi on 27 February, 2015, where directed towards promoting mutual respect and understanding, resolving potential differences, particularly involving border management, and advancing cooperation in trade and other cross-border arrangements.
The Australian Foreign Minister, Honourable Julie Bishop, visited in November 2015 to launch two important initiatives with our significant national and regional implications the Pacific Leadership Governance Precinct, a valuable initiative design to strengthen public sector management and develop senior public servant‟s skills and the Pacific Women of Business website, a portal for women to connect and share information online.
Other important bilateral relations were discussed during the visit of the Australian Foreign Minister.
They include, the Regional Resettlement Arrangement, the Joint Understanding of additional funding of the AUS$420 million for further development of the Manus Island Asylum Processing Centre and the Resettlement Program, they also include a joint understanding of a delivery of key impact projects, including the Angau Hospital Redevelopment, Waigani Magistrates‟ Courts, the Madang-Ramu Highway, rehabilitation of the University of PNG and assistance by the Australian Federal Police.
Other issues discussed include visa arrangements, seasonal workers, the new Colombo Plan, Australia‟s assistance with dealing with the effects of the drought in Papua New Guinea as well as the regional trade related issues.
Minister Bishop took the opportunity to visit a number of projects also at the same time which the Australian Aid is undertaking in the Enga Province 3 The New Zealand Foreign Minister, the Honourable Murray McCauley, visited in August, 2015, to discuss on how New Zealand‟s bid for election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council as well as fisheries, air services and investment in large-scale agri-business and proposed mini-hydro projects as well as investments in forestry infrastructure and an LNG associated project together with the provision of support for Papua New Guineas hosting of the 2018 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders meeting here in Port Moresby.
He, too, visited the Enga Province to see current and potential project sites first hand for a partnership for a mini hydro development project is being undertaken as a pilot for all the rural communities where the river systems exists in our country.

These bilateral visits where additional to those of the large number of leaders and other high ranking officials who came to Port Moresby for the 46th Pacific Forum in September.
They included the representatives of the Pacific Island Forum Members as well as observers and post forum dialog partners.

The first three months of 2016 have also been very busy.

The Prime Minster of Tonga, the Honourable Samuela Akilisi Pohiva came to inspect our sporting facilities and seek our support for hosting the next Pacific Games in their country in 2019.
The Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, the Honourable Mannaseh Sogavare came to seek our continued support for the Solomon Islanders studying in Papua New Guinean Institutions in his capacity as the Chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
He also raised the question of West Papua and additional funding for the MSG Secretariat as well as issues concerning the MSG Humanitarian and Emergency Response Coordination Centre, airline and a shipping connecting between MSG member States and leadership of the MSG Secretariat in Vanuatu.
The Italian Minister for Environment, Honourable Gian Luca Galletti came to discuss his Government‟s 2018 bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, he also discussed Italian investment in Papua New Guinea and climate change issues.
03/09 Other important visitors included a scoping team from the Brussels based Secretariat of the 79-member African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states party to the Cotonou Agreement with the European Union, who met with our officials to discuss government plans for hosting the 8th Summit of ACP leaders here in Port Moresby on 30 May to 3 June this year In February, the Confederation of Indian Industries sent a team to discuss potential business opportunities in Papua New Guinea.
The President of India will pay an official visit 4 later this year.

Meanwhile, the Vice Minister of the People‟s Republic of China, Mr Zheng Zeguang, visited us in February 25 and 26 this year to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues, including Prime Minister Peter O‟Neill‟s forthcoming visit to China in July this year.

The Israeli Ambassador accredited from Canberra, H.E.

Shmuel Ben Samuel, visited on 23 to 25 February.


We discussed various matters of shared interest, including ratification of the agreement on visa exemption for diplomatic and other passport holders for our two countries.
It was also a very particular pleasure to receive Dame Meg Taylor, the Papua New Guinean Secretary General of the premier South Pacific regional organisation, the PIF, who came here from Suva to continue our dialogue on implementation of the framework for the Pacific regionalism and other important regional issues.
She will be visiting many of our leaders to discuss issues of mutual interest and how our countries can connect in terms of funding and resource support through the PIF on program in this country,.

Papua New Guinea Leaders’ visit to other countries Mr Speaker, heads of government meetings provide important direction and momentum in building our country‟s foreign relations.
Thus, the Prime Minister‟s visit to Japan in October included such productive outcomes as the signing of project agreements for the Port Moresby Sewerage upgrade and Nadzab Airport redevelopment.

Arrangements to allow visa-on-arrival for diplomatic and other government officials between Japan and Papua New Guinea was also signed.
Since the visit to Papua New Guinea by the Prime Minister of Japan Mr Shinzo Abe in 2014 and the commencement of LNG exports to Japan, there has been a significant increase in government and business exchanges between the two countries.

More high level exchanges are planned for later this year.

Japan is committed to expanding assistance into the PIF through meetings with the Pacific Island Leaders Meeting (PALM).
Prime Minister Peter O‟Neill also held a wide ranging bilateral talks with the United Kingdom Prime Minister, Honourable David Cameron in London in June.

In August, he met in New Delhi with Honourable Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India during the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Co-operation (FIPIC).

India is an increasingly significant regional and global actor.

These were the first such exchanges with leaders of these two important countries.
The Prime Minister‟s meetings have opened the way for increased interactions with the governments and private sectors of both countries.

5 While the Prime Minister was in Europe last year, he also visited Brussels for high level talks with the European Commission and to address the representatives of the ACP countries stationed there.
In December, I travelled to Morocco to participate on behalf of the country in a follow- up to the Crans Montana Forum on African and South-South Co-operation, in which representatives of African countries engaged with representatives of Pacific islands countries on vital aspects of shared interest in sustainable economic and social development.

04/08 Mr Speaker, PNG works very closely with our partners in the Pacific and elsewhere in various important regional and international organisations.
In August, I represented PNG at the 22nd Regional Forum of the Association of the South-East Asian Nations, which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which I chaired on behalf of the country.

While PNG continues to be an observer of ASEAN, we are full members of ARF which focusses on regional security and related issues.
The issues discussed included tensions in the Eastern South China sea, North Korea‟s nuclear and missiles tests as well as Japans proactive contributions to peace in the world including Japans continuous support for the ARF.

In September, PNG was privileged to host the 46th PIF here in Port Moresby.

This important event was held almost back to back with the Pacific Games and celebrations marking the 40 years of Independence achievement for our country.
The key outcomes of last year‟s Pacific Islands Forum are contained in two important documents; the Hiri Declaration and the Joint Communique.

They clearly reflect a simple yet effect Government strategy to add value to Regional Corporation through determined effort to implement the new framework for Pacific Regionalism and building consensus to promote the Pacific Islands agenda in the global forums.
The new framework for Pacific regionalism is a package of fresh initiatives to improve the way the Pacific Islands Forum conducts its business that follows the review of the PIF operations and its outcome over the last 30 years, following a high level panel led by former Prime Minister, Sir Mekere Morauta.
The arrangements for hosting the PIF in Port Moresby ensured that leaders could optimise the time spent here together working through much shorter and carefully selected agendas and making decisions in the best interest of our region.

6 The focus of the Pacific Islands Forum was; increase economic returns for fisheries and maritime surveillance, climate change and disaster risk management, regional information and communications technology, advisory council, cervical cancer and West Papua.
The Prime Minister has issued a progress report on the implementation of the Pacific Island Forum decisions since September 2015.

We await the response from the Republic of Indonesia on the West Papua issue and as of last week a response did come which I have not had the opportunity to discuss with the Prime Minister representing the Member State of the Pacific Islands Forum on the West Papua issue.
The Pacific Islands Forum is the main regional body and our responsibilities as Chair of the PIF continues for another six months.

We will do our utmost to ensure that the Pacific Islands Forum agendas for development is actively progressed.
In line with our Government‟s commitment to Regional Cooperation, we have made sure that our assessed contributions to the Pacific Islands Forum, the Melanesians Spearhead Group and other Regional Organisations are all paid so that this organisations can work together effectively whilst PNG is Chair of the PIF.
The Government has also made modest contributions to several Islands to assist them in meeting development challenges that they face at this time; K5 million to Niue for the construction of a new Parliament House in that country, K1.5 million to Tuvalu to co- fund construction of a Parliament House and Court House in that country, K10 million to Vanuatu for rehabilitation of the Kumul Highway in Port Villa and K350 000 for Palau for its new marine sanctuary.
05/09 We have expressed our sympathy to the Government and the people of the Republic of Fiji when struck by the devastating Cyclone Winston and offered K5.5 million to support rehabilitation work in the Fijian Islands.

A similar commitment was made to Vanuatu when it was hit by Cyclone Pam in 2015.

In the past six months, there has been a change of political leadership in several PIF Countries; Australia, Vanuatu, the Marshall Islands and Kiribati.
Our Government was among the first to congratulate the incoming leaders and Governments and express our firm commitment to continue to work together with them for our region.
7 Immediately after the 2015 Pacific Islands Forum Meeting, a series of major summits were held of which Papua New Guinea was represented: The United Nations General Assembly in September, the Meetings of the APEC Leaders in Manila and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta both in October and the promisingly productive Climate Change Conference in Paris in December of last year.
The Climate Change Agreement commits the global community to transparency in making intended nationally determined contributions to limiting Global Warming to no more than 2 degrees and preferably 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
When the higher level UN Summit met in New York in September, the Deputy Prime Minister, Honourable Leo Dion, was on hand to commit Papua New Guinea‟s support for the new Sustainable Development Goal, and I delivered the country‟s statement on behalf of the Prime Minister to the United Nations General Assembly at that time.
As Chairman of the PIF, the Prime Minister took every opportunity at the APEC Summit and the Climate Conference to promote and advance the climate declarations and other PIF outcomes both at the formal sections and at other meetings in the margins with world leaders and along with the Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for National Planning and Forest, we have supported the Prime Minister in some of these events.
I did likewise when I had the privilege of representing the Prime Minister at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Malta.

We were pleased when President Obama invited our Prime Minister and other leaders of the Pacific Islands State at the Paris Conference to discuss the challenges of Island nations who are most seriously affected by Climate Change.

Similar interactions among leaders helped us to build the global consensus that led to the adoption of the Climate Change Agreement.
This Agreement is now open for signature in New York.

Papua New Guinea is of course the first country in the world to lodge the Post 21 Climate Change instruments at the United Nations Assembly.

I am pleased to report that our contributions to building a common approach in raising the concerns and aspirations shared by Pacific Islands States in the global fora was valued and rewarding.
Mr Speaker, amid a very busy schedule meeting and with international responsibilities at home and abroad, the Government‟s very firm commitment has always been to secure Papua New Guinea‟s national interest.

My ministry is paying increasing attention to important trade and economic arrangements that bring practical benefits to our people.
They include negotiations of 8 agreements for air services, development corporations, investment promotion and protection and double taxation and reciprocal visa arrangements.

The reason is that the trend today in foreign diplomacy is trade and investment.

An engagement held earlier in March in Canberra was the Papua New Guinea- Australia Ministerial Forum.
Australia is by far Papua New Guinea‟s most significant trading partner with two-way trade valued at K20 billion per annum; aid valued at K2 billion per annum; a major source of investment; and a close and active partner in people-to-people relations.

06/09 In our Canberra meeting, we affirmed a number of important commitments in support of the Papua New Guinea Defense Force, modernising the Police Force, security arrangements for APEC in 2018 and funding of government priorities and programmes.
Our ministerial team also signified the government‟s firm determination to review and update many existing areas of cooperation to ensure that they better reflect mutual respect including our country‟s sovereignty in the implementation of aid funds.

The sensitive subject of foreign advisors engaged for work in our government is still under active consideration by the both governments.

Mr Speaker, our ministerial team also signalled that Papua New Guinea‟s dependence on aid will be reduced over time.
Trade and other economic arrangements will become the main pillars of our relations with Australia as well as other partners in Asia and in Europe.

The government is vigilant in management of our sovereign borders.

We actively cooperate with neighbours and in regional meetings such as the Bali Conference, which I attended last week that deals with security, people smuggling, money laundering and illegal cross border activities.
As the Prime Minister has made it very clear following the recent attacks at Brussels in Belgium, we strongly condemn acts of terrorism in all its forms.

Fortunately, our embassy‟s staff and assets in Brussels were not harmed or affected by the recent events that took place in that country.

The government has also voiced our concern at North Korea‟s recent bomb and missile testing.
We are also a strong advocate to the United Nations and in other forums for peace and resolution of violent conflicts through agreed principles and mechanisms specified in the United Nations‟ Charter.

We are concerned to see current issues in the East and South China Seas resolved by such methods.
9 Mr Speaker, closer to home, following America‟s lodging of a formal notice of intention of withdrawal from the South Pacific Tuna Treaty, relevant government agencies are paying careful attention to the implication and the possible ways forward in protecting our national interests and the smaller island States in the Pacific.

They are also paying attention to the issues rising from the yellow card issues by the European Union in regard to the management of our fisheries resource.
Mr Acting Speaker, in conclusion, the Department of Foreign Affairs, working with and through Papua New Guinea‟s diplomatic missions, consular post and honourary consuls abroad, is recognised first that they are the key point of contact when foreign governments seek to deal officially with the government of Papua New Guinea.

This is because of the long standing international agreement and practices.
My Ministry is responsible for ensuring that whatever issues raised are channelled to the right Ministers and government agencies on a timely basis.

Growing Papua New Guinea‟s connection makes a very important contribution to nation building.

Without strong external links, we cannot mobilise important support needed for government‟s development agenda and programmes to develop our growing economy and to best protect the security and prosperity of our people.
And as I have said, the world trend today in foreign policy is increased trade and investment.

07/09 The development of foreign relations is also a shared responsibility.

Almost all Ministers and departments have some responsibility in dealing with foreign aid donors and other governments as well as international organisations and non-government organisations.

Almost all are charged with ensuring that relevant aspects of international laws are upheld.
We are successful when we work together in a whole-of government approach.

Failure to do so can compromise vital nationals‟ interest, and give rise to the very risks of being manipulated or cheated.

As the Minister responsible, Mr Speaker, I have instructed my department and overseas missions and posts to keep making every effort to work closely together with other government Ministers and agencies to secure the possible outcomes for Papua New Guinea.
The more we engage in the globalizing world in which we live, the more we need well- qualified and committed staff in the front-line to conduct business on Papua New Guinea‟s behalf.

10 Papua New Guinea‟s representation overseas has recently been strengthened by the opening of a trade office in Taiwan.
Work in progress towards opening a diplomatic mission in Geneva, Switzerland which is home to many United Nations affiliated organisations, including the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Telecommunications Union, and many other inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations of international importance.

Training and skills development at all levels in the department must be a focus, both in the formal courses we run and at work on daily basis.
On 15-16 February, I convened a Head of Mission Post Conference to review the operations of the department and overseas mission and posts with a view to streamlining operation systems and integrating our efforts with key government agencies to provide better outcomes for Papua New Guinea.
One important follow-up of this conference is a major foreign policy review directed towards modernizing and strengthening institutional capacity, and to better defining priorities and actions required to keep growing Papua New Guinea‟s connections with other countries and international organizations.

Mr Speaker, I will present the outcome of this review later this year.

Mr DON POLYE (Kandep – Leader of the Opposition) – I move – That the Parliament take note of the paper.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, I would like to debate on the policy presented by Minister for Foreign and Affairs on behalf of the Government is not a very serious support considerations although we have a deferring view on the theme of the policy, but the policy does not entails very important grounds as to Papua New Guinea‟s approach in the international relationships that Papua New Guinea has with our neighbours and the rest of the world.
I think that is important to note that the aim of the international relationship especially, the one that Papua New Guinea has within our region, Mr Speaker, is to enhance a social economic business and political interest of Papua New Guinea.
But at the same time, respecting and recognising the theme of other nations that our partners to strike a win win situation where Papua New Guinea also in honest way flourishes under the policy and also we have the partnership with the other nations that do honest business and partnership with Papua New Guinea.

11 The Government‟s theme of Papua New Guinea Connect, growing PNG‟s connection in the globalising world is a very important theme.

However, we should look at a little bit more strategic than that.
How we view is that we should modernise and enhance strategic partnership with international partners.

08/09 We already have international partnerships through our bilateral, multilateral and other relationships like economic and trade partnerships.

Mr Speaker, the question from the Opposition‟s perspective is that, how do we modernise the existing connections that Papua New Guinea has at the dynamic global environment to have our interest enhanced at this time?
We therefore believe in modernising the existing connections that we already have.

We believe in creating strategic alliances and partnerships with neighbours within the region and abroad so that we enhance our interests and at the same time maximise our benefits in these international relationships.

Mr Speaker, every second in the changing global environment, we need to build cutting edge strategies.
Papua New Guinea needs to build the ability and 21st century compatible innovations to compete as a people.

When you talk about international relationships of Papua New Guinea, we must look at it in terms of our people.

How can our people benefit with regard to those relationships?

Are our people competent?

Are they fit to survive in businesses?

Do we have enough scientists in Papua New Guinea?

Do we have enough professional and skilled people?


This is because innovations are taking place rapidly and just in weeks or months but in seconds.

Technology is always changing like the speed of us blinking our eyes.

Competitions are so robust and so high in the world therefore when we talk about Papua New Guinea in a globalised environment, we are talking about very steep and aggressive competitions.
The partnerships that the Minister is referring to, talk about partnerships that will entail right down to the grass root Papua New Guinean.

We need to modernise the bilateral relationships that we have.

It needs to be brought right down to the least important Papua New Guinean, for example, my people in Kandep.

Most of my people do not even speak Pidgin let alone Motu or Kuanua.

These are the kind of people I am referring to.

They are the ones that should benefit from polices that we develop.
Are these polices going to really benefit them?

This is the kind of question we should ask when we are talking about foreign policies.

When you talk about globalisation, these are the real kind of questions.

12 Mr Speaker, I am grateful that the Minister for Foreign Affairs said that he has brought some projects to the people of Wapenamanda in Engan.

I want to see more happening in other parts of the country too.
From our perspective, to survive in an environment that is very dynamic and competitive, we need to do two things.

Firstly, we need to skill-link the people.

Before we talk about the interest of other nations or interests that are driven by the United Nations and other international forums, we need to ask if our people are ready to grab their share of the pie.

Skilling a Papua New Guinean must remain the number focus of any policy.
09/09 I commend the Minister for Environment, last time he gave a well-articulated statement in response to a question on what he is doing in his department as to how to help in reducing the warming of this planet.

And the Foreign Minister says, we want to decrease our temperatures.

Now if that is the case, how do we get our people to get involved in reducing global warming?

We can look at encouraging our people to plant trees in our areas.
If the Ministers in the country take the lead, it is good and we encourage that.

We are happy that Papua New Guinea is in the frontline with our world leaders talking about reducing the emission of carbon-dioxide and other dangerous gases and we need to discuss that with our people.

Mr Speaker, the more trees we have, the more carbon-dioxide the trees can absorb in the system to reduce the saturation of carbon-dioxide in the air.
I heard the Minister also talk about terrorism which is an international crime that is committed.

Papua New Guinean systems must be affluent on this issue; we must be able to intercept crime across our borders.

Papua New Guinea must have the ability to detect and arrest crime.

There is no point talking about a trade that will benefit Papua New Guinea when at the backdoor, we have crime that is coming into this country to completely disorientate the wealth we have created.
We have to see that, it is a very important issue.

Mr Speaker, about the Pacific, how much has Papua New Guinea helped the Pacific?

I agree that Papua New Guinea should show leadership as a bigger brother in the Pacific excluding Australia and New Zealand in terms of economy.

But the question is, are we sound and resilient enough to help others?

We must help them, we must be generous because that is our Melanesian culture.
These are very important issues so our people need skills 13 development in all these very important areas, we need to skill our people, and we need to upgrade the quality of education in our universities.

Look at the University of Papua New Guinea, PAU, VUDAL and UOG.

There was a question asked by Member for Anglimp-South Wahgi about the quality of education and the Minister for Education gave some good answers but we as the Parliament have to help upgrade the quality and not just the quantity.
This is where it starts when we talk about the Foreign Policy, it starts at the universities and our learning institutions.

It doesn‟t just start in business; it doesn‟t just start in money but it starts where we skill the Papua New Guinean, through learning.

Our technical institutions need to be upgraded.

We must increase or upgrade the standard of education at this level all the way to the end of the education structure.
At the moment, Mr Speaker, let me be honest, I have looked through some of the assessments done based on academic performance and academic standards in the universities and schools around the world, and they have given a list of 500 universities and our universities don‟t even come close to that category of 500 universities.

We are way down beyond the 2000 mark.

I think the best in Papua New Guinea is Divine Word University.

So, how are you going to change this?


We cannot be proud that we have a sound Foreign Trade Policy that allows interacting with rest of the world, if our universities are not properly facilitated and equipped with quality knowledge and innovation to our students.

This is very important.

Mr Speaker, the Minister talked about terrorism.

My fear and concern is that where a nation is weak, illegal things flourish.

10/09 When a nation continues to have laws that are broken, you will find terrorism enters.
Papua New Guinea must stand up to these principles; the principle of keeping our laws is very important when we talk about international policies and relationships.

I am glad to hear the Minister talk about the foreign trade officers.

Our offices are not up-skilled properly.

Our foreign officers all around the world need very competent skilled public servants.

Many times the Parliament criticises the public servants.

I would like us to change this mindset.


Yes, some public servants I know don‟t do their job well even though they are trained but I think the duty lies with us to properly skill and train our public servants, send them for overseas training courses.

Let‟s continuously support and commit funds to train our people before we 14 place them there to market Papua New Guinea in terms of tourism, trade and business.

They will know how to do it because they will be skilled and professional.
So the first and foremost thing that the Opposition sees in a foreign policy in a globalised environment today is the skilling of Papua New Guineans; making them competent to be compatible with the rest of the world.

There is no point in signing an investment promotion partnership with Korea, Japan or Australia if that partnership cannot be enjoyed by people in this country.
For that foreign policy to work, we need to skill our people through our institutions and these are programs that we need to address very vigorously and as a matter of priority, fund it and develop those programs that would up-skill our people.

Secondly, Papua New Guinea is seen as a nation by the rest of the world.

We must strengthen our nation as a sovereign nation.

Our strength as a nation will make countries respect us.

What do we mean by sovereignty?


A nation not a nation is not a nation and a sovereignty is not a sovereignty unless we have a strong enforcement of the rule of law.

Otherwise, our nation will be like a garden whose fence has been broken down and is trampled on by pigs and other animals.

And other nations will respect a country because its laws are strong and it‟s safe to do business in.
It‟s about a country where investors can invest their money and know it won‟t go to waste because it is on a level playing field.

People will be happy and I will be getting my share of return on my investment.

The rules are straight and the field is fair, the laws are strong and the people are compliant to it, justice is upheld and human rights issues are upheld so we can invest.

Investors come in when the nation is strong in terms of the economy, the rule of law, the promotion and upkeep of justice.
The governing institutions will be strong because of the laws.

Mr Speaker, we need to address these issues internally within PNG.

The outsiders are not coming in to just help us, they are not charitable organisations or Christians or because they love us, they come here because they have an interest too.

It is us, it is Papua New Guinea that need to make the people skilled enough to meet any challenges and to do business with them and benefit from it.

11/09 But our laws must be strong enough.


The compliance to our rule of law is very important and we need a strong rule of law in this country.

Mr Speaker, the two points I have stressed are very important and that‟s what we reflect on this side of the Parliament.

We fully support those points that Minister highlighted 15 in the Foreign Policy in relation to issues and achievements made by PNG.

But we have to go further than that, not only concentrating on connecting PNG to rest of the world.
The core issue is the rule of law if we have then we will attract so much investment, businesses, strong economy and people equip mentally, spiritually and socially.

Only then they will benefit from all these partnership that we will have created, thank you.

Mr GARRY JUFFA (Northern) – Thank you very much Mr Speaker, I wish to add my two toeas worth to this important paper presented by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration.

I cannot add much to what the Opposition Leader had said.
He had made some very important points.

And I want to commend the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, it‟s good to have a very lenient active Foreign Affairs Minister.

On many occasions, I sat with him and witnessed him doing a lot of the work himself by combining and vetting them.

I will only debate on three issues; (1) overseas missions, (2) trade agreement, (3) trans- national crimes.

In regards to overseas missions; these are the faces of PNG that we pose out there.
These are the officers intended to sell PNG.

But, also they are to perform a very vital role of monitoring whatever it is that requires PNG‟s attention.

I have visited a number of these foreign missions and found out that most of them are in conditions which are deplorable.

Some of this office spaces are so small that you can barely go and sit down and yet, we have creditable officers there.
Those officers are highly educated and professional Papua New Guineans out there representing our country by promoting it.

But the office itself needs attention, Minister please take this concern into consideration.
The other issue about overseas missions is that their role is not just to attend cocktail functions and being diplomat only but also to collect, collate and analyse that information and send us that information to make informed decisions in regards to any agreements that we may have whether they be bi-lateral or multi-lateral.

In times gone by, the National Intelligence Organisations (NIO) always had a person posted in foreign missions.

But for some unknown reason these functions were removed.
So in many instances, overseas missions cannot inform us of potential threats posed by trans-national criminal organisation entities or individuals.

16 It was like removing the eyes and ears that would have warned us about impending threats or on the other side that could have also informed us about opportunities.

This function is not being played in the overseas missions adequately enough.

12/09 There must be a total review of the overseas missions on what they are doing out there.
The capacity must be developed so that in this globalised world, we are able to scan and determine what our risks and opportunities are and information that can help us make informed decisions.

Mr Speaker, let me commend the Government, especially the Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry for having refused to sign the PACER Plus Agreement, which is another form of colonization imposed on Papua New Guinea.

I thank the Minister for he has done this country great justice.
Trade agreements are concocted and cleverly put together by very intelligent people.

We have to understand exactly what the ramifications are on our people who are doing business or who live in the urban centres, or who are in hotels, drive around in flashy cars, and our ordinary Papua New Guineans.

How do these trade agreements impact on them?

Today, when you scan this country, you will see that we are losing our jobs and business opportunities.

Why?
Why?

Because without thinking, we entered into several types of agreements for which we are paying the price and we will continue to pay the price.

If we are not careful, these agreements will determine the ownership of our economy.

Who owns the economy will determine the future.

Since we don‟t own the economy we are unable to determine the future.
We open up our doors to all types of trade agreements without having our own position in place, without information that can ensure that we protect our interests, our right to develop our resources, our right to determine our destiny so that we are in charge of our destiny.

If we do not do this then we are selling ourselves short.

We are blindly turning our backs, folding our arms, shutting our mouths and letting others come in and exploit our resources to our detriment.
We will be royalty collectors forever.

When in fact, we should be profit makers, developing our own resources.

This is the importance of trade agreements.

There must be resources and capacity put into this very important aspect for a nation.

17 Trade agreements are where we determine what we want so that if we sell our pig we are not selling it for only K5 and then squabbling over that K5 amongst ourselves but we sell it for what it is worth.

Many of you will realise when you move around.


The proliferation of counterfeit products in this country as in the news recently and the Magistrate confiscated 8 passports belonging to 8 foreigners who were involved in the sale of counterfeit products.

Do you know why there are so many counterfeit products in this country?

Because we removed Anti- dumping Laws.

What are Anti-dumping law?


Anti-dumping laws, were removed because we agreed that we should remove them when we became a member of the World Trade Organization.

They were seen as impediments to trade.

But in reality, they were mechanisms that protected our people and our businesses.

When we removed these laws, any company can basically bring whatever they want and sell them here at a significant advantage to them and a significant disadvantage to our companies operating here.
Dumping occurs when an economy is able to sell its products it manufactures at very reasonable cost to themselves into another economy and they flood that economy with that product with significant advantage to them because of the cost of production.

We have allowed that to happen here.

Who did that?

Politicians.

Why?

Because they were uninformed.

They did not know what they were doing at that time.
If we enter into trade agreements without knowing what we are doing, the repercussions and ramifications are significantly negative for us.

I have been to many of these trade agreements and I can tell you that I have been appalled.

Small countries like Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga turned up prepared.

They had their country‟s position.

Our country position is usually determined the night before the agreement is actually entered into and it‟s usually at a bar over a beer.
Because that is the way we approach this matter with a very relaxed manner.

Sir Puka Temu – You were there.

13/09 Mr GARRY JUFFA – Yes, I was there and I warned against it, Sir Puka Temu, but nobody listened to me.

Nobody listened to me at that time.

18 Mr Speaker, my apologies, I am just trying to respond to Sir Puka Temu‟s, usual philosophical statement.

I am taking a leaf out of his book and being holistic towards him.

Trade agreements, my friends, we must be very careful.
I am glad that we have a Minister for Trade and Commerce who knows what he is doing and who is listening to the technocrats but he needs help.

He needs all our help both on that side and this side.

This is where we protect our nation.

Right now, I can tell you all that the developers in this nation, you may think that they are your friends but they are not.

Because are they keeping the money in this country?

What are they doing with that money?

This is the reality that we must consult.


Every country jealously protects its own opportunities to grow their economy.

We must do the same.

We have been so friendly; we have been so welcoming that we have allowed everyone and anyone into our house.

Papua New Guinea is our house and suppose we open the door and thieves and robbers come in and steal, rob and assault our families then whose fault is it?

Who was the one guarding the door in the first place?

That responsibility belongs to us as leaders.


Now, the Foreign Affairs Minister is doing a wonderful job running around marketing Papua New Guinea.

That is great but what is the reality on the ground here?

Who is in charge of the development of our resources?

Is it us?

Ask yourselves because we are always talking about how rich we are but the reality is that, we as Papua New Guineans are very poor.

The country is rich and someone else here is carting those riches offshore.
You try to tell your fellow Papua New Guinean who is living in a remote area who has to carry his son across mountains, rivers and through the jungle to an aid post that has no doctor and medicine.

And when the child dies he has to carry him back for two or three days.

You tell him that he is rich?

We are failing our people as long as we are not entering into trade agreements with the intension of protecting and promoting PNG interests.
So, Government, my appeal to you is this, put more resources into trade agreements.

Let us learn from experts and bring them together.

Let us at all times in whatever decision we make, ensure that it is for the best possible interests of protecting and promoting Papua New Guinea, our jobs, our business opportunities, our resources, our economy and therefore, fundamentally our destiny.

Mr Speaker, finally, I would like to address the issue of transnational crimes.

What are transnational crimes?


We hear a lot about these and many people are asking what transnational crimes are.

Transnational crimes basically cross borders, crimes that are committed in various countries by individuals or entities who collaborate to commit these crimes that have a significant impact on an economy.

These are transnational crimes and 19 most of them are articulated under the Customs Act, Income Tax Act and under the Police Act, sorry the Criminal Code.
Transnational criminals are extremely brilliant operators.

They are not your usual criminal that you see carrying a bush knife at Gordons market hoping to rob a car.

Transnational criminals wear suits and carry briefcases.

They speak eloquently and have a team of lawyers and accountants.

They are often very well-resourced and well-informed and when a country and its economy is not protected, they can enter and exploit an economy through the detriment of that economy and its people.
What have we done to protect ourselves and our people against these type of criminals?

They are here and operating and making a lot of money.

Some of the transnational crimes that I can tell you are laundering money.

What is money laundering?

Money laundering is where you find a means by which you can cleanse your dirty money.

14-09 Money you make from criminal activities.

Money sourced from somewhere else, you cleanse it and introduce it into the main money stream.
When investigators want to investigate, it shows that the money came from a legitimate sources.

But in reality, it did not.

It is the proceeds from crimes such as sale of arms, trafficking of women, drugs, et cetera.

The first criminal investigation unit was established in Bomana in 2000 and I was one of the key architect of that organisation.

Customs and police worked together with the assistance of the Australian Federal Police to establish that organisation.
But that organisation is not functioning anymore because it is not funded.

The great people that worked in that organisation were responsible for dismantling the horse-race machines and many other criminal syndicates.

They were at the fore-front of dismantling these organisations and deporting and prosecuting a lot of these people.

I don‟t see this happening anymore.

Transnational criminals are operating in various sectors such as fisheries, forestry and properties.

To them, it‟s just money.


What have we done to develop the capacity of our law enforcement agencies?

What type of resources are we placing in monitoring and taking actions against these type of persons?

In fact, the trajectory has been downward and the price will be paid by ourselves, especially our children.

So it is all very well to come up with all these great ideas to sell Papua New Guinea but we must also look inward to develop the capacity to protect and promote ourselves in here as well.
20 I want to say that we are also a signatory to various Agreements.

In particular, the United Nations Convention on Transnational Crimes, which we signed on 29 September 2003.

That convention binds us as a responsible country to address transnational crimes on money laundering, transfer pricing, tax evasion and others.

On the surface, it appears we are doing very well but in reality, we have not developed the capacity to address these issues.
We have not resourced the areas, the entities, the individuals that will take up this fight on our behalf.

Therefore, you can see transnational crimes taking place throughout the nation.

Every man and his dog are zooming into Papua New Guinea to operate.

This is the place you want to operate and get away with things.
So this is not about the blame-game; this is about us working together to resolve and fix this problem; to take action to support those who are making the effort to point out to those who are not and that what they are doing is going to have a negative impact on our nation and our future generations.

Every time we make a decision, it should always be for the fundamental reasons to protect and promote Papua New Guinea‟s interest.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.


Mr BEN MICAH (Kavieng-Minister for Petroleum and Energy) – I also want to commend and congratulate the Minister for Foreign Affairs for such a comprehensive statement where he outlined very extensive program where the government, under his leadership and Ministry, conducted and promoted our foreign relationships and dealings with other countries.

I must say that, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has been held by many distinguished Papua New Guineans in the last forty years.
Former Prime Ministers like the Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, Sir Julius Chan, Sir Rabbie Namaliu and our current Leader of the Opposition and many more who held that important portfolio to make sure that we carry out our foreign dealings in line with the international protocols and agreements of organisations that PNG is a member of.
15/09 These includes the United Nation, the Commonwealth and other regional bodies like APEC and Pacific Island Forum and MSG, and others where we are observers like the 21 ASEAN.

They have done so many good things for us but I want to say that the Honourable Rimbink Pato has opened up a good new deal for us.

He has made it possible for us to benefit from so many good things that since independence we have missed out on.

I will later elaborate further on some of these issues.
I think the Governor of Oro has made so many good remarks as well as the Leader of the Opposition regarding some of these issues.

What is going on in our country in terms of foreign infusion?

While we are talking about foreign affairs we must also be careful about what foreigners are impacting on us as a nation.

I did not read any diplomatic book and I am neither a diplomat but our Minister who is a lawyer by profession is so far doing a fine job.
However, I did read something about what our dear Lord had said.

When he sent his disciples, he told them to start from Jerusalem.

He said, you start from your very own area then you can go to Judea then to Samaria which are neighbouring towns, and then to the end of the Earth.

This is a very simple way of conducting ourselves and I think we should adopt this simple steps in our foreign relationships.

What are we promoting when we go out to conduct our foreign affairs?
The Prime Minister as well as the Ministers and Members of Parliament are all aware of the in-house issues that we need to tidy up in our country.

Many a times, he is promoting our name elsewhere whilst our newspapers, the social media and other outlets are spoiling our own name.

It is us who degrade our own country.

Sometimes, issues happening in our country are being used by outsiders to downgrade, degrade and humiliate our nation.
Mr Speaker, I think that it is the responsibility of our Government and us as leaders, to tidy up our country so that when we go out to promote it, we have a common agenda to address and one which truly reflects what is happening here so that our foreign friends whether they be governments or companies or international organisations can help us.

When we have completed tiding up Jerusalem then we move onto Judea, the neighbouring places.
The most important one is the country that was given the mandate by the League of Nations to help us be educated and so forth.

This country is not like England that colonised a lot of countries or France or Spain for that matter.

It colonised only one single country.

It looked after one single child.

16/09 I have travelled to European countries like France and noted something.
For instance, the Vietnamese fought the French to death and then they fought the Americans and finally 22 got their Independence.

The Algerians also fought the French and got their Independence.

Therefore, most countries fought their colonial powers and got their Independence.

Nevertheless, those former colonial countries opened up their borders for people to get their visas on arrival and even immigrants to go to those countries to settle and live.
Regardless of that, the country that colonised us and gave us most of our capacity to become a country today cannot even give visas to us when we arrive in Cairns or Brisbane even if you have a diplomatic passport or a private passport.

For instance, I have a private passport that gives me multiple entry options but it is still a hassle to enter into Australia.

On one occasion they even brought a little dog to check me at the Brisbane airport.
Mr Speaker, I am sorry but I told this female border security office at that airport that I was going to kick her dog to death.

She was surprised.

I asked her if she read what I wrote on the entry card that I am a Member of Parliament, and I had an issue with them.

I believe that we are missing out on opportunities because there is some kind of misalignment or issue with our relationship with Australia.
Maybe Australia thinks that Papua New Guinea has not grown up yet or that we are still in the Stone Age era, or that they think that we still see them as our colonisers.

Papua New Guinea has had 40 years of independence, and they say that life begins at the age of 40.

Therefore, I believe that the directives that the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs are undertaking show how stern we are.

In the past, Australians could come and go freely to Papua New Guinea.
Then when we became a bit stricter, the best that they could do for us was create another line for us at the airports in Australia.

We join the line together with the New Zealanders but the New Zealanders can go in and out whenever they want.

Even Pacific countries that were once colonised by New Zealand, Britain and France have easier access to go to Australia and not the very people that they colonised.
The people of the former colonies of France, Spain, England and et cetera have travelled thousands of miles and have easier access to their own former colonists.

Another thing that Australia told us is that our people could become fruit pickers and that we could export food items but it was just talk on their behalf.

Nevertheless, Australia is still bringing in immigrants like the Chinese, Indonesians and other Pacific Islanders who go and over stay in Australia.
But you will find no Papua New Guinean who has over stayed in Australia.

I am just picking little issues that I think the Foreign Minister should look at.

We must tell Australia that they either treat us as a sovereign nation that has grown up and should be respected in the role that we play or we re-look at the relations between Australia and PNG.

23 We go to all these ministerial forums and all these bilateral discussions but these have amounted to nothing.
I think that this is an area that we really need to work on.

This is because I believe that there is so much opportunity for the Australians that exist in PNG and so much opportunity for us that exist in Australia.

Therefore, I think we need to work on that so the people of these two countries can mutually benefit from an amicable relationship.

The area in which I would really like to commend the Prime Minister and the Minister is to do with our dealings in the Pacific Region.
I believe that Papua New Guinea has truly reflected our position as a country that has a little bit more resources than our neighbours with a growing economy that is capable of sharing a little bit of our wealth and resources with other Pacific countries.

17/09 We helped Fiji to finance their elections so that they can transit from military rule to democracy.

We help Vanuatu and Solomon Islands as the Minister has already mentioned.
I think our position in the Pacific with our neighbouring Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesian countries and some of the meetings that I have been able to attend has really grown to a level where respect is very mutual in terms of the good work that we are doing and congratulations to the Foreign Affair Minister for the work that he has done.

Like the Samaritans were to the Jews, PNG was to Indonesia for 50 years.

There has been no direct dealings with Indonesia at a political level.
The most important country to us because about 15 million of our Melanesian people are citizens of that country.

And six million of them are on the other side of our big island.

I think former Governments for some reason, maybe it was the advice from Australia or USA that have not really opened up direct talk at the highest political level.
Prime Minister deserves to get the credit for the breakthrough of discussions at the Bali Democracy Forum in 2012 where the Minister for Foreign Affairs and I also attended.

A new opening emerged from our dealings with Indonesia.

Indonesia is the only country where we share a huge land border and there are so many problems and challenges existing along that border that affects us.
These dialogues opened up under President Susilo Bambang Yudyhono In 2013, the Prime Minister received a first official State visit to the great country of Indonesia after 30 years.

The Prime Minister led a large delegation to Indonesia where 11 agreements were signed.

Part of those agreements included opening up flights to the Bali 24 Airport and Jakarta back to Jayapura.

Air Niugini is now negotiating and finalising all these deals with Garuda in order to enter into these ports in the next five years.
The most important arrangement was the visa free arrangement where citizens of both countries can travel between the two countries freely.

And for the first time, the 300 Melanesians from five different provinces in Indonesia participated in the Melanesian festival of Arts held here in Port Moresby and it was an emotional day when they arrived in that huge Jumbo Jet.

So the people to people and country to country relationship has opened up thanks to the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Prime Minister.
All those 11 agreements in the economic, education, health sector and infrastructure has opened up this relationship.

Today, we also have Air Niugini flights to Vanuatu and onward to New Zealand.

Air service agreements headed by the Foreign Affairs are being finalised.

Discussions with the United States to open up flights into Guam and maybe into Honolulu will enable Air Niugini to fly into those ports that we have not been able to go into for so many years.
This is because of the negotiations and discussions by the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

So I just want to acknowledge all these developments that are taking place.

Internally, we have a huge challenge to tidy up the way we behave and the way foreigners are coming into our country and making use of the opportunities sometimes legally and illegally too.
There are also foreigners misrepresenting our country in the media so it is very important that we solve our issues internally and then we establish good neighbourly relations with our neighbours before we go and start talking about big things in foreign countries.

The way this Government has laid out our dealings and the activities and relations with the foreign countries has changed our positions after 40 years of Independence but now we are beginning to gain that respect that we deserve.
18/09 Just three weeks ago, I was in Japan on an official trip to discuss with the Japanese companies engaged with our LNG gas and had a deep discussion for possibilities of gas supplies from Papua LNG on upstream investment.

It was a very big delegation consisting of the parent company Kumul Petroleum.

And for the first time, I was able to sense a feeling of respect by the Japanese‟s because I brought a nationally owned company.
And it‟s not ExxonMobil or Total, but a fully owned PNG company lead by a PNG Chairman and Managing Director, talking to Japanese about financing gas projects and selling it.

After that meeting I came away a proud man.

25 I first went to Japan when I was a student than as a Member of Parliament followed by as Chairman of Privatisation Commission.

In that discussion I could sense their body language was totally different from my current trip there.
Mr Speaker, the time is now right for us all to flex our muscles, because we have every right to do that and we don‟t care who says what.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr PETER O’NEILL (Ialibu-Pangia – Prime Minister and Minister for Autonomous Region of Bougainville) – Thank you Mr Speaker, I too want to join in with our other colleagues in commending the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration for his excellent statement.
Not only on his statement but job well done that he has been doing in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Immigration.

In fact, when we took over from the previous Government and appointed him in 2012 to this Ministry, the Ministry and the staff were in fact wondering around in the city in many different offices and you wouldn‟t know where they were operating from.

That particular Department was completely rundown.

It used to be the pride of our country.


Mr Speaker, it used to be the Department of choice for many young Papua New Guineans, but after years of neglect, I want to commend the Minister and his Secretary for rebuilding that Department.

Now, they will be moving into a new building that will house all the other various divisions of Foreign Affairs and Immigration.

One thing that impresses me most is the recruitment of young Papua New Guineans into the Department.
Who are going to take over the leading roles of representing our country in many parts of the world?

Mr Speaker, with those young people we have now introduced what we called PNG Connect Policy into the global community.

That Policy has been well accepted by our developing, foreign partners and many Governments.

Foreign Missions are working closely with the Minister and his Department in making sure that PNG rebuilds its image as a country of destination and choice for tourism investment.
As a result, you can see the increased number of activities in those sectors and a number of visitors visiting PNG.

Those numbers have consistently increased over the last few years.

And we are now estimating towards 200 000 visitors per annum.

This is an indication of a Department that is starting to function and take its rightful place in the bureaucracy of our country.
26 Mr Speaker, not only do I commend the Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister but I also want to commend the work of the other Ministers as well.

And they are; Trade, Commerce and Industry, Petroleum and Energy, Forest and Climate Change, Treasury and all the other Ministers who continue to engage meaningfully with our development partners.

Of course, bilateral partners and our international organisations like the United Nations, IMF World Bank and IFC.
These are institutions that are very useful to PNG.

19/09 Our Ministers and also the Chairmen‟s of Permanent Parliamentary Committees are engaging with them at a high level.

Recently, Member for Kerowagi represented our country at a meeting in Rome for agriculture sector and he got a signatory to some of our agreements that is going to open up opportunities for the agriculture sector in our country.

Those are engagements that Papua New Guinea is now starting to play a leading role.
Mr Speaker, our role in the Pacific Islands has increased since we took over the chairmanship and also one of our own becoming the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum and she is here in the Public Gallery.

Let me welcome her with her delegation and thank her for the opportunity to be here.

She is doing a great job, reforming the organization.

Papua New Guineas should be proud.


Mr Speaker, Papua New Guinea continues to extend the regional assistance to many countries in the region even though we have our own problems but their problems are also bigger, even for smaller countries, the small assistance we give to them goes a long way.

Mr Speaker, as a result of many issues of Climate Change, all the cyclones that are taking place, we are assisting them where we can.
Mr Speaker, one thing I am now proud of is over the past 4 years, we have seen an increased number of Papua New Guinean investments in those countries.

You now look from Samoa all the way to Papua New Guinea and beyond.

You see institutions like the Bank of South Pacific, our own Bank having branches across these countries.

It‟s a great sight when you are in those Pacific countries and you see the green and gold colours flying in the streets of those countries, we should be very proud.
Mr Speaker, we are expanding in other sectors like insurance, the tourism industry, our superannuation funds like the NasFund and Nambawan Super who are investing in large sums of money to those small economies and becoming a huge investor.

27 Papua New Guineans place in the region is very well respected by the leaders and throughout the communities abroad.

In fact, we will play a leading role under the leadership of the Minister himself.
Mr Speaker, the recent South Pacific Games that we recently hosted is the talk of the whole Pacific.

It does not matter where you go.

Everybody talks about the success of that event.

And also how we hosted the Pacific Island Leaders Meeting, these are things they have never seen before.

Papua New Guinea is lifting the standards and putting its mark in the international community and international organizations as such.

Mr Speaker, recently we hosted the Melanesian Festival of Arts.
Again, all who came here arrived here safely, enjoyed our hospitality and went home with fond memories.

We must be proud of our country on how we are taking our position in the region and our view is being respected.

Mr Speaker, we continue to become active in the APEC Meeting led by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and his team who have done an excellent job.

Institutions like the ACP, excellent work has been done by Ambassador Kalinoe, who very ably represents our country in Brussels.
In fact, he has lifted the level of interaction by Papua New Guineans in that organization.

As a result, our involvement in the European Union has increased.

Mr Speaker, this is because we are now investing heavily in resourcing the Department of Foreign Affairs and Immigration.

We have gone from renting premises in many of these countries to now owing properties.

Papua New Guinea is not going to disappear tomorrow.
It will be around for a long time, in fact, thousands of years, so we need to have some permanency in what we are doing.

That is why we are building embassies, institutions and appointing the right experienced people in representing us throughout the world.

Mr Speaker, one thing I want this Parliament to appreciate is that our performance in the United Nations Meeting COP 21 in Paris.
The Foreign Affairs Minister and Minister for Environment led the discussions where Papua New Guineas views were recognized well.

We represented the Pacific Islands well.

Many of the recommendations we did to that particular conference were adopted and accepted.

World leaders were beginning to listen to what Papua New Guinea contributed.

Mr Speaker, these countries views are well regarded and we must not be inward looking.

28 20/09 Do not think that we are by ourselves in a country.
We live in a global community.

We must take our rightful place, Mr Speaker, in the global community, Papua New Guinea has got a strong view on many issues like Climate Change, peace keeping, international issues on nuclear weapons and et cetera.

Mr Speaker, even leaders from Israel contact Papua New Guinea for our support in discussions about nuclear and nuclear disarmament and so forth.

Mr Speaker, therefore, I would like to commend the Minister.
Our bilateral relationship with countries like Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Fiji and et cetera are very strong because the good Minister, his team and the Foreign Affairs Ministry are working very hard.

Yes, there are some issues like visa arrangements but we are clearing them as we are going along, making it flexible for Papua New Guineans to go and attain education, training and build capacity that they require to bring back to build our country.
Mr Speaker, recently the Minister announced the visa-on-arrival for Indonesia.

Indonesia is not an easy country to enter as many of you would have experienced in the past.

Now, Papua New Guinean citizens can go to Bali, Jakarta or Jayapura and get a visa on arrival.

Likewise, Singapore, Malaysia and many countries in the APEC community are starting to relax because of our standing in the APEC community.
Mr Speaker, one thing that we have to be proud of is that for the first time, we will be hosting the 2018 APEC meeting.

Mr Speaker, 22 world leaders will be in our country.

These nations control over 50 per cent of global trade of the global economy.

So, 50 per cent controlled by only 22 countries out of the 180 or 200 countries in the world.

So, that is a significant recognition of Papua New Guinea‟s standing in the international community.
Today, we have APEC: The Transport Sector, where I think we have 300 or 400 people who are here in Port Moresby and wanting to see Papua New Guinea‟s best.

Therefore, let us show them the best by looking after them and they can leave our country with good memories, so that they can recommend to their leaders that when you go there, they can say that these people are friendly.

And that they will look after you and that this is a country worth visiting.
Mr Speaker, we are making sure that our bilateral relationship with many of our countries in the region and around the globe is strong and beneficial to both Papua New Guinea and the country concerned.

29 Mr Speaker, I also would like to touch on some of the issues on some of the markets that we are entering.

We have a preferred status market in Europe for all our exports allowing Papua New Guineans to export into Europe without much of the difficulties that we face in the region.
This is the sort of access that we want to have in the markets like in Australia and New Zealand.

They are not very far and we must have the same treatment that the European Union and others give us.

That is why I commend the Minister for Trade for taking a tougher stand.

Sometimes we have to take a tough position.

We do not have to necessarily agree to everything that is put forward to us.
We must continue to protect our people‟s interests, our people‟s businesses and give them an opportunity to enter their markets as well.

That is why our Trade Minister refused to sign the Pacer Plus because we have seen the disadvantages for our people, exporters and our business community.

Mr Speaker, just recently Japan has also opened up its market for us.

We are a preferred supplier of LNG into the Japan market.
Meaning that whatever we produce, they will give first preference for us to supply to them.

That preferential treatment is not very easy to get and as the Petroleum Minister has stated, the relationship between the Japanese energy industry and Papua New Guinea is one that is very beneficial to us.

We must continue to develop that because Japan is the third largest economy in the world.

Even if they are struggling, you would not even notice it.
That is why, Japan continues to attract many global investments around the world.

And I think that there are a lot of opportunities for Papua New Guineans there.

We are also trying to have a similar arrangement with China so that our produce whether it be fish, resources or other manufactured items can enter that market.

About 1.4 billion live there and they must eat, sleep and wake up at some stage.

21/08 Mr Speaker, we must supply that to meet the demand of the growing market.
These are big opportunities Mr Speaker, that we must continue to develop and I comment the Minister for that.

Finally, let me say one thing that the Governor for Oro and the Minister for Mining and Petroleum have said.

There has been influx of illegal migrants into PNG since 2000 who are now living in many communities in our country.

That is because some of our systems were weak, systems of bureaucracy were compromised.

As a result, people who are not 30 supposed to migrate into PNG have migrated.
They have now adapted into our communities doing businesses that our people should be doing so we need to stop this.

This is not the sort of migration this Government is promoting.

We are creating big investments that is going to create jobs and wealth for Papua New Guineans.

Mr Speaker, as a result, our government is setting up inter-government team to visits all provinces and districts to make sure people have the right documentation and the right to be here.

We must start up the cleaning process.


Mr Speaker, the Foreign Affairs and its team will be leading that.

It is important because in many cases, it is taking away jobs for our people.

This is some of the initiatives the Minister and his team are doing; and our government fully support the Minister.

We urge him to continue with the good work he is doing, clean up the Department and bring in more young Papua New Guineans into the career of foreign services for our country.
Motion – That the question be now put – agreed to.

Motion – That Parliament take note of the paper – agreed to.

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONEMENT AND CONSERVATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE – BRIEF HIGHLIGHTS AND MILESTONES – MINISTERIAL STATEMENT – MOTION TO TAKE NOTE OF PAPER Mr JOHN PUNDARI (Kompiam-Ambum – Minister for Environment and Conservation) – Mr Speaker, I, thank you for giving me the Floor to speak.
For the benefit of all you honourable Members of this Parliament, I will briefly highlight the milestones that have been attained since the enactment of the Climate Change (Management) Act 2015 by this Parliament on 28th July 2015.

In so doing, I will also briefly touch on the way forward regarding its implementation in the light of the recently adopted Paris Agreement.
Mr Speaker, before I may do so, allow me to paraphrase a passage from the Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 of the Bible where it states that “our Heavenly Father and Creator has given mankind “dominion” over the Earth”.

Entailed in that passage is the command to mankind to manage and sustain the flora and fauna, and generally to upkeep the environment above, below and around us.

However, greed and quest for happiness of mankind has destroyed the environment contrary to what God initially intended.
Amongst others, climate change is the 31 direct result of mankind‟s mismanagement and abuse of the environment by polluting the atmosphere with the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Take note, Revelation chapter 1, verse 18 says that “those destroy the earth, those that destroy the environment, God will destroy”.

Honourable Members, this issue needs urgent attention now that later because its effects are real and our people are being affected on a daily basis.
22/09 Mr Speaker, as you may know, the Honourable Prime Minister led the official PNG delegation to the Conference of Parties (COP 21) Meeting in Paris last year where I also attended as Deputy Head of Delegation.

At this point, I am humbled to take this opportunity to thank the Prime Minister for this leadership in setting the pace in the first few days of the COP and for delivering the national Statement during the opening plenary.
After the Prime Minister as the Head of Delegation department, I led the high level negotiations with support from the Foreign Affairs Minister, his Foreign Service officers and other civil servants.

Mr Speaker, in the national statement delivered by the Honourable Prime Minster during the high level session, there were six (6) items we, as a country, identified as priority areas to be captured in the new Paris Agreement.
Firstly, the Agreement declares that an increase of above 1.5 degrees Celsius would severely exacerbate the particular challenge facing the most vulnerable smaller island states such as countries in the Pacific including Papua New Guinea.

Therefore, all effort must be made to stay within the global temperature goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
To hold the increase in global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius or 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, this long term mitigation goal of the Agreement is in accordance with the latest science as reflected in the assessments of the Inter- governmental Panel on Climate Change to phase out net global greenhouse gases.
However, at 1.5 Degree Celsius, Pacific Island countries are facing adverse effects of climate change such as sea level rising, inland flooding and vector borne diseases amongst others.

So for PNG, our position will be to continue to urge development countries to maintain a range of just 1.5 Degree Celsius.
Secondly, adaptation is critical for PNG and the Pacific as it allows us to develop our region to be climate resilient; in terms of addressing the impact of climate change through building sea walls and other climate compatible infrastructures and activities.

32 Thirdly, loss and damage was intended to address issues that go beyond adaptation and mitigation activities.
This was a challenge for PNG and the Pacific because under the previous Kyoto Protocol which PNG ratified, issues associated with los and damage, such as climate change refugees, were not recognised.

Therefore, it was difficult for PNG to get proper recognition and support to assist our sinking islands such as Catarets Islands in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

Catarets Islands is a classic example where you cannot adapt or mitigate the effect of climate change.
That is, we cannot reverse this phenomenon through adaptation and mitigation programs and activities.

Unfortunately, all we have to do is, find a way to assist the people to settle somewhere, somehow.

Fourthly, REDD+ is a mitigation activity that encompasses efforts from reducing emissions from deforestation, forest degradation, conservation and environment sustainability.

It is significant because PNG is already implementing all these activities under various State entities.
Honourable Members, as you can see, REDD+ was non-negotiable for PNG and therefore, we had to fight hard to include it in the Paris Agreement.

Negotiating REDD+ brought us to sit up to odd hours from early in the morning to the next day, something I have never been exposed to on an ongoing basis but that was the only way where myself and the State Team could work to protect and ensure REDD+ was captured.

23/09 Mr Speaker, the State Team could work hard to protect and ensure REDD+ was captured.
It even became a showdown between Brazil and Papua New Guinea where Brazil was strongly opposing REDD+.

But, I am grateful Mr Speaker, for the support of countries like Guyana, Panama, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo that ensured REDD+ became a reality for all rainforest nations.

I was pleased with the inclusion of the REDD+ as a separate article to establish REDD+ as an implementation framework.
Fifthly, Climate Change financing was another critical element for the Pacific Region including Papua New Guinea, because of the central issue regarding the accessibility to finance.

Climate Change financing has never been easy for our region in the past, with so many stringent processes imposed by the international delivery partners.
Papua New Guinea with others in the Pacific Region and good friends championed the fight for accessibility to finance and therefore, the new agreements compels the countries 33 to simplify the stringent requirements so the developing countries can have reasonable accesses to finances.
Mr Speaker, we also had a key bilateral with a Green Climate Fund officials and we invited them to visit Papua New Guinea to assist us with the readiness and preparatory stage for the purposes of accessing Climate Change finance.

In response, the senior GCF official has arrived in the country and discussions are underway to discover agreements on privileges and immunities which will enable GCF Officials to travel into the country to kick start capacity building, amongst others.
Finally, our final provision was to ensure that the Paris Agreements has a legally binding effect against the member countries and organisation.

For the first time, Mr Speaker, the global community have agreed to a legally binding commitment to curve carbon emissions and maintain a temperature goal below a 2 Degree Celsius through their commitment based on the National targets and circumstances.
Mr Speaker, I am pleased to inform this Parliament and the people of this great nation that the mentioned priority areas were successfully negotiated and are now captured in the Paris Agreement.

This is a historic milestone we achieved as a country and a region together with the global community and is a testimony to the leadership and political support and insofar as our country is concerned, the political support given by the Prime Minister and the National Government.
On this note, Mr Speaker, credit must always be accorded to the Grand Chief, Sir Michael Somare for his leadership and initiating in addressing Climate Change issues in Papua New Guinea and abroad during the formidable years.

Further, I have never been so grateful for being supported by the State Team on the ground who from assessment were aggressive as the Prime Minister said, visionary and above all smart, and tactful.
Mr Speaker, given the successful negotiations, the obvious questions that comes to mind are, “When will the Paris Agreement be implemented and what benefits will we draw from it?‟.

These questions though seem so simple but by nature are cross cutting and complex.

What I mean by that is that the questions require a paradigm shift in the way we do things and conduct ourselves.

Holistic and coordinated approach is needed now then later to implement the Paris Agreement and realise the benefits offered by it.
34 This is not the time, Mr Speaker, for us to close our eyes and focus only on the monetary benefits offered by the Paris Agreement.

24/09 No, let us think beyond the monetary veil.

It‟s about mankind losing their home called planet Earth.

So much is at stake.

If we do not save this earth from the effects of climate change, will it be possible for you and myself and our future generations to migrate to planets like Mars?

No, Mr Speaker, you don‟t think so and I don‟t think so too.
NASA‟s Mars exploration vehicles have never returned to Earth and we will never migrate there because that planet and others for that matter were never intended for our inhabitation in the first place.

Mr Speaker, may I also remind the Parliament that some years back, NASA actually sent to space a vehicle with a recorded message of more than 50 languages found on planet Earth carrying greetings from here to the universe and Mr Speaker, no one out there in the universe sent out a greeting back in response.
Therefore, this might be the only planet that you and I have and is dearly to our heart as our home.

There might never be a plan B for us to rescue ourselves by our own activities demise of our one and only home we call planet Earth.

Therefore we ought to do the right thing.


So, Honourable Members, we must find a common ground, a focal point through which we can work together as a team in the common interest of our people and others .Unlike many other countries, we are fortunate to have legally established a focal point and that is the Climate Change and Development Authority, thanks to the Prime Minister and thanks to the honourable Minister and Members.
This is the sole entity that is recognised by the United Nations framework convention on climate change to deal with climate change issues.

UNFCC allows only one focal point in any country.

To me the reason for that is obvious, why set up a main focal point when mankind‟s primary goal is to reverse the effects of climate change to a manageable level?

Honourable Members, let‟s not gamble with our lives and that of our future generation.
Mr Speaker, I encourage us to work with CCDA to implement the Paris Agreement and utilise the opportunities presented by it.

With respect, I cannot think of any other way in which we can manoeuvre that requirement for whatsoever reasons.

Mr Speaker, we are amongst the few countries in the world and the region to put together an overarching climate change legal policy framework.

So far, as legal and policy framework is concerned, we are ready to implement the Paris Agreement.
Though the 35 Climate Change Management Act 2015 pre-empted the outcome of the Paris Agreement it gave the Honourable Prime Minister and the legal team to speak and negotiate since it represented our sovereign country‟s position.

Apart from the ratification process, I am advised that our present legal and policy framework sufficiently caters for implementations of the Paris Agreement.

On that note, I inform this Parliament that my Ministry through CCDA has completed this alignment process.
This is to ensure that the Paris Agreement is effectively aligned with our current policies and legislative framework.

Now that we have the institutional structure in place, the main goal is to ensure transition into a low carbon economy.

25/09 To achieve this aim, our planning and implementation efforts must be climate compatible and to this end, I must thank the Minister for Planning in his endeavours to ensure that we are climate smart in our planning as well.
I also thank the Planning Minister for introducing the Planning Act recently.

The Climate Smart Agriculture Policy formulated by my brother who is sited on the right and his Department is a classic example of our sectors to develop policies and strategies to align with our overarching climate change policies that we have and the legislative framework.

This will enormously benefit our country and our people.
Mr Speaker, my Ministry acknowledges the Paris Agreement as a landmark and a historical milestone we attained for our country and our global community.

And in that regard, Mr Speaker, may I pledge for the continued support and commitment from all stakeholders to work together to achieve the objective of the Paris Agreement.

I believe that such actions are needed not only for the benefit of our people but also for the greater benefit of mankind as initially planned by our Heavenly Father and Creator.
Mr Speaker, may God bless you, me, all of us and our beautiful country.

Debate (on motion by Mr James Marape) adjourned.

MOTION BY LEAVE Mr JAMES MARAPE (Tari-Pori – Minister for Finance) – I ask leave of the Parliament to move a motion without notice.

36 Leave granted.
36 Leave granted.

SPECIAL ADJOURNMENT Motion (by Mr James Marape) agreed to – That Parliament at its raising, adjourn until Tuesday 31 May 2016 at 2 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Motion (by Mr James Marape) agreed to – That the Parliament do now adjourn The Parliament adjourned at 1.10 p.m.. 37