The topic of law and order has been the dominant topic for questions and responses in this sitting of parliament, where the question now put forth is whether there will be a real working plan put together to address it going forward. The Minister for Internal Security, Peter Tsiamalili Junior, gave a simple response to this on the floor parliament today during question time when he said the matter falls back to all Members of Parliament and what they do in there provinces and districts. "There is a need for us to be working collaboratively to address law and order," said the minister. "There must be a need for all levels of government to address, it's a holistic approach." He said each province has its own law and order issues to deal with and planning must be done at the provincial level down to ward level. He said from the ward level, leaders now must work together with district and provincial level to identify the challenges and then have the Provincial Police Commander put together an operational plan where the Police Commander can deliver to officers in the districts, so to operate from. Minister Tsiamalili said that at the national level, where he as minister, will work on getting in the funding support and putting together policies to support all law and order initiatives and efforts on ground with police, the Judiciary, NGOs and community and civil society groups.

The shared values in development and economic progress being held with the state and the private sector, is the one thing that must be further strengthened to bring about the desired outcome for Papua New Guinea (PNG) its people. This is the driving force behind the various collaborations between the government and businesses and companies over the recent past through partnerships and forums held between the state and the private sector. President of the Business Council of Papua New Guinea (BCPNG), Nuni Kulu, who opened the National Content Conference at the parliament house today, said that in a time of continuous changes in the business space, shared value must be strengthened even more. “As we are all aware, the business landscape is rapidly evolving and in changing times, business and government must adept, now more than ever, with the benchmark of shared values to define our sovereignty and our ways, which underpins national content,” said the BCPNG president. She said it is shared values that bring all leaders of business together to create dialogue and to create meaningful collaboration to strengthen and build the nation. “In the changing landscape, business values clearly define our sovereignty, and we are keen to explore market driven system at national participation, which promotes our business values.” Ms. Kulu further said that the many engagements, recently with Australia, India, New Zealand, Indonesia, the United States and other bilateral markets, has identified the priority in business in areas focusing on economic growth, on business and on economic infrastructure. “In our key interest to establish bilateral trade and investment rules, our values and collaboration would strengthen these bilateral friendships to make investment into PNG friendlier, and to promote national participation with sound national content model.” “We also formalized G2B (Government to Business) mechanism with the Clerk of Parliament with the hope to continue dialogue with the parliament committee chairs,” she said. The president added that it is through such forums held today that better dialogue is facilitated and collaboration among stakeholders in the private sector, government and development partners to identify partnership and collective action on strengthening the shared values.’ “So you, government leaders, our businesses welcome this opportunity to work with you through this partnership. We look forward to structured engagements and guaranteed certainty and regular calendar of activities moving forward.” T he BCPNG President later thanked the National Parliament for working together with BCPNG to facilitate the National Content Conference today, which was held at the National Parliament’s State Function Room.

The Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) is reminding organizations of their responsibility to comply with tax laws and regulations to ensure a fair and transparent tax system after it was revealed that some employers are not accurately deducting salary and wages tax from employees under Section 299D of the Income Tax Act 1959. IRC Commissioner General Mr. Sam Koim said that employers must ensure that all benefits paid to their employees are appropriately accounted for and tax appropriately deducted. Failing to do so may result in serious consequences, including penalties and potential legal action. Recently, one mining company has been found not taxing the benefits provided to employees appropriately and has been issued with assessment and has been penalized. “Employers, we urge you to be diligent in your reporting practices and accurately disclose all salaries and benefits provided to your employees." "It is your duty to withhold the correct amount of taxes and submit them to the Internal Revenue Commission promptly,” said the Commissioner General. “To assist you in understanding and meeting your tax obligations, we recommend seeking professional advice or consulting the relevant tax guidelines on salary wages tax provided by the Internal Revenue Commission.” He further stated that tax evasion and non-compliance not only jeopardize the financial well-being of individuals and businesses, but also impact the economy as a whole. That is because the revenue collected from taxes plays a vital role in funding public services and infrastructure that benefit all citizens. “Let us all work together to maintain the integrity of our tax system and ensure a fair and just society for everyone.” “Remember, paying the correct amount of taxes is not only your legal obligation but also your contribution to the growth and development of our nation,” Mr. Koim added.

Business owners have been warned to immediately renew their Business Names that have expired and re-register companies or risk an automatic cancellation by the automated compliance system. The Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) through the Office of the Registrar of Companies, issued the final warning and urged them to come forward and renew Business Names by August 31st. This means that any owner who wishes to maintain or restore the same business name after its cancellation, will be required to pay a penalty of K250 plus a renewal of K150. Similarly, the Office is warning directors of both local and overseas companies to re-register their companies during the remaining four-month grace period, which ends on 30th November. Those who fail to do so will see their companies automatically removed from the registry on December 1st when the automated compliance system for annual returns is activated. “Companies have been given generous amount of time to reregister with ease to ensure records are updated,” the Acting Registrar of Companies Ms. Harriet Kokiva said. “My Office will not be held liable for inconveniences faced after your company is removed on the 1st of December.” Ms. Kokiva also advised that the Office of the Registrar of Companies would not entertain future requests to waive any more fees once this transitional period is over. The re-registration requirement is important for existing companies because: · It allows director(s) of any company to take authority over their company enabling them to file annual returns and manage their own records online. The IPA anticipates a clean registry with up-to-date entity records after the reregistration process has been completed. Based on records, over 90% of registered companies show to be non-compliant. Therefore, to boost compliance, IPA has simplified the process by removing the requirements to file outstanding annual returns and the penalties involved. The reregistration requirement was introduced instead. This gives company directors the opportunity to update their company information free of charge and have updated and valid business information available in the public domain. For companies that are non-compliant, a fee of K500 is payable regardless of how many annual returns are outstanding. The said penalty fee relief arrangement expires come 30th November. From 1st December onwards, the annual return filing fee and late penalty fee will revert to normal.

The National Parliament will be hosting a first of its kind National Content Conference with the aim to promote business and state partnership in pursuing the development agenda of the country. The Acting Speaker of Parliament, Koni Iguan said this Conference is part of the Speaker of Parliament, Job Pomat’s, initiative to engage with the business community. “I am pleased to announce the hosting of a conference by the National Parliament in collaboration with the Papua New Guinea Business Council to be held in the State Function Room on Monday 07th August from 8am to 4pm,” said the acting speaker. The theme of the conference is “Shared Values Strengthens and Builds Papua New Guinea.” Mr. Iguan went on to say that the focus of the event is to bring together the business community and members of parliament to discuss issues of mutual and national importance. Meanwhile, speakers for the National Content Conference include the likes of Business Council of PNG President Nuni Kulu, the Director Operations PNG Tribal Foundation, Ruth Kissam, and the Senior Vice President for PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, Richard Kassman. The Conference will have six sessions where speakers will be presenting on topics ranging from business to national content.

The Asian Development Bank is forecasting continued economic growth for Pacific economies heading into 2024. This week, the ADB released its latest edition of the Pacific Economic Monitor which projects collective growth of 3.3 percent for Pacific economies in 2023 and 2.8 percent in 2024. The lead author of the report Cara Tinio told Pacific Waves the growth was driven by a wide range of factors which differed from country to country. In Papua New Guinea, growth is projected to be driven mostly by output outside the resource sector. "So resource here they define mostly as their mining and their natural gas resources. So more of agricultural exports, and services as business activity normalizes with the reopening of borders," Tinio said. She said for ADB developing member states in the region such as Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands and Tonga "there is a bit more competition now" following the reopening of international borders. Tourism is at the heart of economic growth for Pacific nations, bringing in much-needed foreign exchange earnings and creating employment. "In 2019, there were 2.2. million visitor arrivals to the region which generated receipts of $US4 billion, contributing nearly 8 percent to regional GDP and directly employing over 90,000 people," according to the Pacific Tourism Statistics Strategy 2021-2023. However, the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 decimated the industry after global travel restrictions began. "I think we are looking at a lot of [countries] still working to catch up...the tourism-dependent economies, especially the ones which opened just recently. I think they are still a bit below than the arrivals in 2019, said Cara Tinio. "There was some negative growth in some of our economies during the pandemic so there were some setbacks due to the economic impacts of the pandemic; so they are still working on offsetting those." Tinio said the pandemic resulted in a "few changes" due to the impact of the pandemic. "Governments had to spend to help soften the blow to the people who lost employment or had to close their businesses," she said. "Given that we do have small economies with narrow bases and revenues may be limited, a few economists had to take on a lot more debt." "Fortunately in other economies they had access to grant financing so there was less or no need to borrow in in their cases." She said a number of the Pacific economies would be looking at options to reduce the debt that they have amassed during the pandemic. Tinio added that ensuring they "monitor spending and maintain discipline in this area" would be necessary for their future economic growth. Source: Radio NZ

The Member for Jimi Open, Wake Goi wants to see the plantations for cash crops like cocoa, coffee, and copra are revived to the state where they once were in the country during a time when the agriculture sector contributed a whole lot to Papua New Guinea's (PNG) economic growth and development. The member acknowledged the significance of the mining and petroleum sectors and what they can contribute to the country, but he said the focus should be given more to the agriculture sector and he appreciated what the government is doing now for this particular sector. He stressed that striking a balance between the renewable and the non- renewable resources is the way forward. “We must encourage our plantations to return, and we must help out with good funding support so that the farmers can get a good return from their crops,” said the member. The member went on to say that the government’s effort to revive the agriculture sector is being complemented by its Connect PNG program. “Thank you for connecting the missing links which Jimi shares with the border of seven electorates, at least we give priority to our roads and other infrastructures. It’s a good investment that has been made.” He further thanked the government for the program because now it has opened up access for cash crop farmers in his electorate to access and reach better markets outside to sell their produce. The member said this during Grievance Debate on the floor of parliament today when supporting calls to further strengthen the agriculture sector.

The issues of unemployment and law and order needs a holistic approach by various sectors of the economy to address. Prime Minister James Marape made mention of this in Parliament today when responding to questions from the Opposition Leader during question time. Marape said the matter of the vagrancy act enforcement, law enforcement and creating employment for the people, especially youths, comes back to the justice section, police and the government through its relevant departments to work together to address. He said the government is working on this through the current upgrading of the Judiciary system with the restructuring going on, and the engagement of more judges from overseas. This to improve the justice system so it works effectively in dealing with law breakers and their rehabilitation. For the police, PM Marape said the police and the Minister for Justice have been tasked to relook the vagrancy act and how it can be implemented going forward so to control the increased migration of people from rural to urban centers, which is the cause of increased settlements and crime in cities and towns. For employment, Marape said his government since taking office in 2019, has put in initiatives and programs in the SME sector, agriculture sector and resource sector to create employment for Papua New Guineans. "All of these has to be looked at in totality, the population is at 10million and poses a major challenge," said the PM. He added that the law and justice sector is not functioning effectively and is the reason behind the poor state of law and order seen over the past years; however, his government continues to work towards addressing it. Meanwhile, the PM said he will be giving a full statement on what his government is doing regarding rural urban drift, unemployment, law and order and the vagrancy act on a later parliament sitting date.

The Cardiac Outpatient at the Port Moresby General Hospital has since improved on its services to the public with over a thousand patients being attended to so far, since it received support from the Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited (KPHL) in 2020. This was made known today by the Chairman of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Health Matters, Elias Kapavore, when presenting the Preliminary Report on the Committee’s fact finding mission on the Provincial Health Authorities of East Sepik, Eastern Highlands and the National Capital District (NCD), in parliament today. Mr. Kapavore said since the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed on the 19th of August 2020, KPHL has provided K10million each year from the total of K50million to be spent over a period of five years as per the MoA. From the funding over the period of years since the signing, the facility was fully upgraded and completed and equipped with new cardiac equipment. However, although some improvements have been made, Kapavore also made mentioned that a human resources structure has not been approved yet for the Cardiology unit by the Department of Personnel Management, despite submissions made. “The Committee noted funding support of K50million received from KPHL and K12million funding from PIP for the year 2022 for the Heart Centre. Between 2021 and 2022, the Cath lab took on a total of 703 cases (547 males and 156 females). He further added that the Cardiac Outpatient received and diagnosed over 1, 600 patients mostly between ages 1 and 11 years, old and young adults between the ages of 21 and 31. Meanwhile, Mr. Kapavore also made mentioned that the Committee is aware of the Port Moresby General Hospital’s efforts of working towards a standalone National Heart Centre in the future and supports it.

The government continues to put in efforts to create more employment opportunities for Papua New Guineans through various policies and plans, including capturing it in the new Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) 4. Minister for Labour and Employment, Kessy Sawang made mention of this during question time in parliament this morning when responding to questions from the Member for Nipa Kutubu on the matter of unemployment in the country. "I want to place on record that the Marape- Rosso Government is aware of the challenging times as we deal with employment and in the recent MTDP 4, the government has achievable plans to create jobs," said the minister. "My job is to come up with a strategy to support private sector to come up with employment opportunities." The minister plans on doing this through amending the country's labour laws and the minimum wage threshold, which is at K3.5. These will be done in alignment with the MTDP 4. Minister Sawang also said a correct data on the labour market in the country is lacking and her ministry will be looking into that as well, so to have a well informed data available to guide decisions on addressing unemployment going forward. She also said from other reliable data available, about 41, 000 jobs in the country have been taken up by foreigners, but she has assured that her ministry will ensure that 10, 000 of those jobs come back to Papua New Guineans.

The Minister for National Planning, Rainbo Paita has given his assurance to parliament that he will be working on putting out a full and detailed report on how the development budget has been implemented so far for transparency purposes and to inform the country how funding has been used so far. Minister Paita when responding to questions from the Governor for Southern Highlands, William Powi, said the revised development budget figure for 2023 is K6. 72million and the report will contain details of projects and funding at different levels, sector by sector, district by district and province by province. "I assure I will table a very detailed report to come on the back of MTDP 4 and the government setting up a national monitoring aunthority," said the minister. The minister also made mention that implementation of projects has always been a challenge as per the report from the last Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) 3, which was something that has been taken into consideration in this latest MTDP 4. Meanwhile, Governor Powi said the tabling of a report on development is vital because the leaders and the people have the right to know how the funding has been used, in which sectors and whether some of these projects have already reached completion and how are they impacting the communities. The governor suggested that the minister look at putting out the report quarterly or every six months in a year.

The fuel saga has gone to the point where the Minister for Petroleum and Energy, Kerenga Kua, declared an emergency on fuel starting today for the whole country. The minister made the declaration of emergency under Section 136 (1) of the National Emergency Act 2021 and Section 4 of the Essential Services Act 2002, in relation to the supply of fuel and petroleum products and the provision of foreign currency. Under this emergency, the plan of action now will be a roundtable conference between the state and the parties involved to take place on Wednesday 02nd August onwards to find possible means to resolve this matter once and for all. Under the plan of action, the minister for a month will be chairing roundtable conferences with the parties involved; Puma Energy and the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG), to look into the allegations of fraudulent activities by the fuel distributor, get responses from parties involved, and ultimately come up with a possible solution to the whole fuel situation in the country. All parties involved are urged to cooperate and reach a solution going forward in this prolong fuel crisis. Meanwhile, during the 30 days emergency period any party who fails to comply with direction, prohibition, or requisition under this Act, will be guilty against this Act and will be liable for a penalty of not more than K500, 000 of a body corporate, or not more than K100, 000 and imprisonment of not more than six months for a natural person. The fuel emergency starts today and will go on for a month; however, the declaration of emergency can be extended, if necessary. Meanwhile, PNG Hausbung is expecting a response from the Managing Director and Chairman of Puma Energy PNG Limited later this evening, on the current fuel situation.