PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill has announced the deferral of debate on the proposed constitutional amendment to section 145 relating to votes of no confidence.
He said the National Parliament, which sits this afternoon at 2pm, will not touch on the amendments but allow for more debate from the people and leaders throughout the country. Mr O’Neill, who was on FM100 talkback program yesterday, also made it clear that once the bill is passed after wide consultations and debate, it will not be implemented until after the 2017 general election. He said there has been a lot of debate on the bill with some issues now before the courts to make a determination on whether it infringes on the freedom and rights of individuals. The proposal was put to the Government by the Integrity Commission registrar and board of political parties, saying it will strengthen the political party system in the country. "And part of the laws they are proposing takes into issues like the vote of no confidence and political parties that were called after the election to form government and that mandate must be respected by parliament, because this is the people’s mandate and not even parliament or individual people and myself can change that mandate," the PM said. "I think the registrar of political parties and the Law Reform Commission have travelled throughout the country and widely consulted on those issues but because the debates are still fresh I have taken a decision which I have already consulted leaders of major political parties and PNC caucus and putting forward to them and I think it is important that we give people time to debate this issue. "We will defer the debate on section 145 of the Integrity of Political Parties Bill in this session but will allow people to continue to debate it freely, give ideas on how we can structure the political structure of the country." The PM said there was a need for change and zoomed in on the current political crisis as an example of the Government trying to "manage politics", which was distracting it from its core responsibilities of addressing challenges in education, health and infrastructure. Comments are closed.
|
Papua New Guinea Breaking NewsPapua New Guinea daily News updates Let Your Voice be heard: Submit your news articles, commentaries, letters , Photos, Media Releases etc to us on this email: pngfacts@gmail.com
Mining & PetroleumTop Links |