O'Neill government agrees to repeal Judicial Conduct Act
Parliament-elected PM Peter O'Neill addressing the protesters in PNG capital Port Moresby.
Papua New Guinea’s O’Neill government has agreed to repeal the controversial Judicial Conduct Act after over a thousand protesters converged on the central government district in Port Moresby today.
The government has also agreed to stick to the June general election timetable despite parliament voting last week to defer the polls by six months.
Parliament-elected Prime Minister Peter O’Neill met the protesters at the Waigani sports stadium in Port Moresby today, not far from the 109-seat PNG parliament, and assured them his cabinet has opted to stick to the original Electoral Commission-set timetable following public outcry.
“You will make your decision (to vote) in the coming months, I am not here to engage in a debate with you but let me say this. I accept the petition I will give the best decision in the interest of our country and in the interest of our people. I know many of you are learned lawyers and some of us are not lawyers….but let me say this, let me say this. The laws on the elections are very clear and I have stated this publicly many, many times I think some of you just don’t want to listen – I have stated that the elections will be held on time. But unfortunately, the parliament on last week Thursday got a briefing that was meant for me and debated that briefing without my presence,” he said before stopping as the crowd booed and shouted him down.
The PM added that cabinet was briefed by the Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen on the status of the commission’s electoral preparations yesterday and they acknowledged that parliament did not have the power to defer the general election.
“The National Executive Council (and) Parliament does not have the power to direct the electoral commissioner – that is understood. The decision to defer the election cannot be deferred outside the five-year term of this parliament. That means elections must be conducted before August 5th which is the return of writs from the last election (in 2007). That is the law. Any decision to defer, the issue of writs or conduct an election is the decision of the electoral commission.”
Thousands of protesters at the sports stadium listen to the parliament-elected PM Peter O'Neill.
While Mr O’Neill stated that the parliament debated the Electoral Commission briefing in his absence, he was reportedly one of 63 MPs who later voted for the poll deferral, confirming the inconsistency in a number of policy decisions that his government has promulgated.
On the demands by the protesters that the Judicial Conduct Act be repealed, he told the crowd his decision to get parliament to overturn the new law will be conditional on the Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia and his colleague Justice Nicholas Kirriwom stepping down from the bench.
“I will remove it (Judicial Conduct Act); it will be removed while this parliament is in session. But I appeal to the judges; they know who they are, to step down. I ask the Chief Justice to step down, Justice (Nicholas) Kirriwom to step down,” he said.
However, the organisers of today’s protest march in response said they will not accept any conditions from Mr O’Neill as they were resolute in their demands that the law is repealed without any strings attached.
“We believe that if the Chief Justice has done wrong there are mechanisms in place to address that. The law which was enacted allows parliament to control the judiciary and that is wrong so no conditions should be made because it is wrong,” said PNG Trade Union Congress (PNGTUC) secretary general John Paska.
Students from the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) and their partners from civil society, trade unions, the PNG social media network and members of the public have vowed to keep an eye on the activities of the current parliament.
PNG lawyer Dr John Nonggorr, an expert on the PNG constitution, said parliament can repeal the contentious legislation and the six-month election deferral in the current session of parliament, though he warned that the O’Neill government has gone back on its word in the past.
The success of today’s peaceful protest march marks the re-entry of the UPNG students into PNG’s political arena after a lull of about 10 years following the fatal shooting of two student protesters in anti-land registration protests in 2001.
PNG social media network, an umbrella group representing PNG’s various Facebook discussion groups, also played a pivotal role in the protest march and ushers in a new communication platform that Papua New Guineans are using to contribute to debate on issues affecting ordinary Papua New Guineans.