Ian Ling-Stuckey

The Government will hand down the Budget this week and the alternate government is worried the government will keep cutting key areas while still putting out the rhetoric that everything is fine.

Shadow Minister for Treasury and Finance and Kavieng MP, Ian Ling-Stuckey, said the 2018 budget needs to deal with the foreign exchange and job crises facing PNG.

“Frankly, we are concerned by the 2018 budget strategy which indicates the government is committing to deficits that are much larger each year than even contained in the other budgets.

Shadow Minister for Treasury and Finance, Ian Ling-Stuckey, in a statement said last year the O'Neill government, lacking the usual transparency, did not allow proper debate on the 2017 budget.

"We stand ready to judge the success of the 2018 budget and urge government to give the Opposition opportunity to measure its merits.

"Government should not trivialise the most important of this annual policy statement by rushing it through because a budget translates policies into concrete actions by providing resources.

Ling-Stucky who is a  member of the National Alliance Party said that the National Alliance Party during 2003-2012, had a proud record of high rates of growth in those parts of the economy that affect most people in PNG.

He said with limited statistics, the best measure of inclusive income growth is real non-resource GDP per capita growth rates.

“This is a true measure of economic incomes and welfare in PNG. This measure excludes the effects of the resource sector which benefits few directly, removes the effect of inflation, and allows for population growth.

The petition was filed on Tuesday against the successful candidate Ian Ling-Stuckey.

Ling-Stuckey has been named as the first respondent while the Electoral Commission the second.

The notice of petition has taken effect and each respondent who wishes to defend the petition is to contact the Registrar of the National Court to obtain a copy of the petition.

It will be listed for hearing at a later date.

The National Alliance member was declared the new Member for Kavieng Open on July 20 by Returning Officer, Yuyu Lasbut.

Member for Kavieng and district development authority chairman, Ian Ling-Stuckey, said the Department of Implementation and Rural Development had confirmed at a recent meeting that the former Kavieng MP had received K40 million in District Services Improvement Program funds and K1.0 in District Support Grants between 2012 and 2017.

“We have established that at least K45.01 million has been received in the past 5 years but we still do not know where it was spent or where it was kept,” says Ling-Stuckey.