Parliament sitting

The sitting resumed this afternoon at 2pm, proceeding with normal Government business.

The Deputy Speaker, before adjourning Parliament, confirmed that he has received a notice of motion of no confidence filed by the Opposition on Prime Minister Marape.

“I wish to inform the Parliament that today at 1:45pm, at the Speaker’s lounge, I received a notice of motion of no confidence on Prime Minister James Marape Member for Tari Pori.

This round of sitting is critical as the 18-month grace period for the Marape-led government has expired and the door is open for a motion to be moved for a Vote of No Confidence (VONC) against Prime Minister James Marape.

A VONC only takes place when a motion is filed before the Private Business Committee (PBC) who must sit and vet the motion to ensure all criteria is met.

He said the 2024 Budget is more of the same of last year where the Treasurer promised the record spending would make our people’s lives better and our country safer.

“In 2023, despite the record taxes, spending and debt, we have endured one of the worst years in our history with people now experiencing outright poverty and violence on the increase.”

“We are being told by the Treasurer and PM all is well and to be excited about more of the same in 2024.”

As he highlighted the session's significance, particularly the presentation of crucial Ministerial statements, including those related to education.

Marape is scheduled to be out of the country yesterday, August 6, 2023, and returns on today on Monday, August 7, 2023, Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso will serve as Acting Prime Minister.

PM Marape will be visiting a close friend who is currently hospitalized with a serious medical condition in Gold Coast, Australia.

Treasurer Ian Ling Stuckey responded saying that it is not a straightforward issue but the government is getting there, stating ‘hopefully’ he will have some good news to report to Governor Muthuvel in the near future.

“Kimbe hospital will cost around K300 million. That’s a very large project so that requires a lot of assessment. To get straight to the point, the status of the Kimber hospital, treasury is now finalizing an NEC submission to take to cabinet to endorse this particular project.

Treasurer says there are five other similar large projects totaling K1.2 billion.

Since it opened for signature on 24th of September 1996, Papua New Guinea was amongst the first states to sign the comprehensive test ban treaty, but remains to date one of the only 10 states that have yet to ratify it.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty opened for signature in 1996 by which states agree to ban all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian purposes.

“Within the region, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Island and Tonga are the only Pacific Island Forum nations yet to ratify the treaty,” said PM Marape.

He stated it was the best agreement the country has ever signed.

“I’d like to highly commend Prime Minister James Marape for the partnership between PNG and USA agreement. While my committee the Permanent Parliament Committee for Foreign Affairs International Trade Immigration and Defence didn’t have a preview for this agreement by just looking at it and following Prime minister on the statement I believe this is the best agreement that our country has ever entered into.

This was in response to "online trolls" who criticized his eldest daughter’s Tiktok video of a lavish trip to London.

Tkatchenko made the comment to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) amid a nationwide outrage over the member’s daughter Savannah and her taxpayer-funded trip to the King’s Coronation.

He stated, “A lot has been said in the media and on social media in the recent weeks and the people of our nation want to know the truth of what was said and how it was intended and how this was manipulated and what was actually meant by my words.

The Bill makes provision to empower the provinces, apart from the State, to reserve land for certain purposes and compulsorily acquire land in the province.

Although power is given to the provinces to reserve land for certain purposes and compulsorily acquire land located within their provinces, the State still has the power to reserve land for certain purposes and compulsorily acquire land.

One of the agendas that will be debated during Parliament is the Constitution (Amendment) Law and the Organic Law on the Autonomous Governments.

The amendment was being proposed by the New Ireland Provincial Government, East New Britain Provincial Government and Enga for enactment to establish the constitutional basis for the autonomy arrangement for the Provinces and the country.

The Constitution (Amendment) Law inserts a new Part XV in the Constitution to authorize the granting of an autonomous status for the provinces in Papua New Guinea.