PNG parliament told to ‘move on’ as vote fails

PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Papua New Guinea’s prime minister has welcomed the support of parliament after a failed vote of no confidence – calling for the government to “move on” after months of protests calling for his resignation that turned violent in recent weeks.

The PNG parliament voted 85 to 21 in favour of retaining Peter O’Neill as leader on Friday, despite nationwide unrest including strikes by pilots, transport workers and doctors.

On Saturday he released a statement saying the leadership issue had been decided.

“Despite the political events of the past two weeks, and recent disquiet in some sections of the community, matters have all culminated with the vote in the parliament and this has been resolved decisively,” O’Neill said.

“On behalf of our government, I thank all Papua New Guineans for their patience and understanding as we have dealt with theses distracting matters.”

O’Neill said he was proud of the achievements of his government to date.

“No other government in our history has started with such a comprehensive platform of policies and seen these policies delivered over the course of the parliamentary term.”

The deputy opposition leader, Samuel Basil, accused O’Neill of not allowing parliament to debate issues, citing the no-confidence motion – which occurred under order by the supreme court after being blocked by the government – as an example.

“He is destroying parliament’s right of debate, right of decision making and right to hold the leadership accountable,” Basil said.

The political crisis largely began with a 2014 arrest warrant for O’Neill over a long-running corruption investigation into government payments made to the Paul Paraka law firm. O’Neill has been accused of authorising the payments.

Some Papua New Guineans have been angered by O’Neill refusing allow himself to be questioned and the reaction to the warrant, including sacking top government ministers and officials and disbanding anti-fraud bodies.

Students at the University of Papua New Guinea began boycotting classes and tensions came to a head last month when police fired live ammunition into a crowd of demonstrators attempting to march on parliament, wounding a number of people.

The students had been calling for O’Neill’s resignation. Protests escalated across the country as cars and buildings were set alight at other universities, and one man was killed.

Airline pilots, transport workers and doctors and nurses later joined in strikes, and several former prime ministers joined the opposition in calling for O’Neill to step aside.

However, O’Neill survived the vote by an overwhelming margin, securing his leadership until the elections scheduled for next year.

It’s unlikely to be the end of the matter as civil society groups have reportedly suggested protests will continue despite the result and doctors intend to go ahead with a planned strike next week over budget cuts.

The academic year remains cancelled at UPNG and it’s not yet clear how the university will handle the extra students held back for 2017.

On Saturday O’Neill accused the opposition member Belden Namah of sponsoring “fabricated and politically motivated charges” which had been “intentionally confused” with the student unrest.

He said the government must “resolve outstanding issues” with the students and “move forward together”.

Meanwhile, Paul Paraka, the head of the law firm at the centre of the investigation, this week announced the establishment of his own political party.

Parak said he was not worried about the fraud office allegations against him, PNG’s Post-Courier reported. - PNC