CLUSTER 5: STATE LAXNESS TO CRITICAL BILLS

20 CASES LANDING PAGE/ CLUSTER 5: STATE LAXNESS TO CRITICAL BILLS

These bills are considered essential to the progress and future prosperity of Papua New Guinea.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and whistle blower legislation lay at the center in PNG’s fight against corruption, while the Sovereign Wealth Fund will ensure the nation’s riches are protected for the future generation.

Failure to give these bills priority and move them in the National Parliament could have long-term ramifications for PNG citizens.

Independent Commission Against Corruption	Case 5.1-Independent Commission Against Corruption In February 2014 the O’Neill government made the first step to set up the ICAC when it introduced and passed constitutional amendments to put in place the basic framework for the legislation (Allens, 2014). The organic law bill is still in the National Parliament for final reading and was supposed to be tabled before the last parliament rose for the 2017 General Election. Read Details
Whistle-Blower Legislation	Case 5.2-Whistle-Blower Legislation The 2009 Commission of Inquiry into the Department of Finance has, among its recommendations, called for the introduction and enactment of whistle-blower legislation to boost the fight against corruption in PNG. There have been cases in the PNG bureaucracy over the years where whistle-blower civil servants were terminated from their employment (Tokunai, 2011). In February 2017 the Department of Defence sacked 9 staff for revealing details of the controversial Manumanu land deal (Yapumi, PNG Loop, 2017). Read Details
Sovereign Wealth Fund	Case 5.3-Sovereign Wealth Fund Papua New Guinea’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, developed in anticipation of the country’s expected income from resource projects, especially the PNG LNG project was first introduced in a Parliament sitting in 2010 by the then Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare where he promised a robust framework for effective and transparent governance of future revenues from the PNG LNG project (Kolma, The National, 2010).  Read Details