Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has described Sir Mekere Morautu’s comments about registering sim cards as ‘absolute rubbish’.
He said registering of sim cards is happening around the world and is not a new thing.
“Nobody is stopping people from talking as alluded to by Sir Mekere,” says O’Neill.
“That is absolute rubbish coming from a man of his standing.”
O’Neill challenged Sir Mekere to “go to his in-laws’ place’’ in Australia and see what legislations they had in terms of maintaining communications.
“He’s living in two different worlds.”
He said that Sir Mekere should now see “the world we are living in where terrorism and a lot of cybercrime are taking place’’.
O’Neill said that a lot of teenagers used social media because of lots of pressures they were getting which the government was trying to address.
“This is what the people of PNG should welcome because it is not stopping anybody from having a phone, access to internet or stop being a member of facebook, but to take ownership of what you say or do.”
He said this was not politically related but wanting the people to be educated properly about the privileges of such policies.
Sir Mekere on Sunday released a statement calling on people to be aware of the increasing threats by the current Government to the right of free speech and to the freedom and independence of the media.
He said these precious rights and freedoms were under attack as never before by a prime minister determined to silence legitimate criticism – including criticism of the official corruption that appeared to exist at the heart of government.
Sir Mekere says the Prime Minister’s use of the NICTA Act to clamp down on freedom of speech and the media was an unparalleled abuse of power.
“The nation would seem to be moving step by step towards becoming a dictatorship.”
"Freedom of speech and a fearless, independent media are the cornerstones of democracy, and must be defended by all sections of society."