The West New Britain Governor, Sasindran Muthuvel, is calling on the National Government to support Governor Ipatas’ plea, to bring Australian Police to PNG to address the deteriorating law and order situation in the country.
“It’s a major concern throughout the country with the recent Mendi incident, the burning down of Kiriwina terminal saga amidst countless cases across the nation that has spiralled out of proportion due to deteriorating Law and Order in our beautiful country,” said Muthuvel.
He said investors’ are losing confidence in PNG because of Law and Order issues while businesses are left with no choice but to spend huge sums of money, hiring private securities for their operations.
“This increases the operating costs and lessens the profit margin for individual businesses.”
He said while appreciating the vital role that private security firms have played to help the police in upholding Law and order over the years , it would also be an opportunity for more exposure alongside the Australian Police.
“They (Australian Police) will work under our PNG Constitution, whereas part of their drill while in the country can be to conduct training for our police force, and build our capacity to empower our Law enforcers,” said Muthuvel.
Muthuvel said an added advantage of bringing in the Australian Police, apart from the core function of improving Law and Order issues, is that it will also help improve the economy by restoring investor confidence.
“It will also be a bonus for local businesses to have the Australian forces that will be renting properties and spending money locally, said Muthuvel.
Muthuvel said another sector that has been seriously affected by these on-going issues are the airline companies.
“They are being deprived of increasing profits by doing night operations, with the hesitancy to fly to high risk areas, with the fear of being attacked. “
“If we fix Law and Order in the country, we can be one of the most sought after tourism and investment destination in the Pacific” he said.
Muthuvel is appealing to the Government to seriously consider bringing back Australian Police for a worthy cause.
“I do understand the issue of giving immunity to Australian Police, but we have to analyse the pros and cons of this measure, to see if the benefits of bringing them back outweighs the disadvantages, if we are serious about addressing this issue we must thoroughly analyse the immunity issue” he stressed.
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