Transcript
CHARLES ABEL: John, obviously we're going through the usual motions after the election of the prime minister and the speaker to install an interim cabinet, install a deputy prime minister, and then the prime minister will have further consultations with our coalition partners and the independents. Perhaps by next week, he'll come up with the permanent cabinet. But obviously the caretaker cabinet that's been appointed is some indication towards what the final line-up will be.
JOHNNY BLADES: Treasury of course is a very important portfolio in any country. You've got a tall task though, haven't you? Things aren't great in Papua New Guinea at the moment, are they, fiscally, there's some real strain.
CA: Yes. Look we've got to be realistic. We've got to acknowledge there are issues going on, issues which relate to external circumstances that we described previously, particularly around commodity, oil and gas prices and the recent prolonged drought. But I think we've also got to take a good look at some of the ways that government has been conductintg itself, and review some of these processes. And as I move into Treasury, I'm certainly going to conduct an immediate review. There are concerns around our revenue streams, and there are concerns about fulfilling the existing budget and the status of our deficit and so on. There's certainly some challenging times ahead, but we intend, as the incoming government, to put the issues around managing the economy first and foremost on the list.
JB: Do you think there'll be more cuts to the public service?
CA: I'm not going to pre-empt anything. AsI said I'm just having meetings now with Treasury officials and I'll just quickly get abreast of the situation. But it's my intention over the next few days ad leading into the first full session of parliament to come out with some pronouncements around what we are going to do. But there's not going to be any knee-jerk reaction. There'll be a considered series of actions. I want to announce a one hundred-day plan, including some short term measures and also some medium and longer term measures. But I won't pre-empt anything now, just suffice to say that it is the first thing, first priority on my list and that of the new government.
JB: Can I ask a long-term question, because you did mention a long-term point of view thing there. Will be PNG be able to become less reliant on the sort of big-ticket developments like the mining and the gas; and put more into agriculture and tourism, because they are two things which PNG has massive potential in, but it seems to have been neglected?
CA: That's right. The country continues to struggle to sort of wean itself off the easy way out, so to speak, and that is relying on the extractives industry and the quick gains from just delivering these larger one-off projects. The challenge is to meaningfully start to make the necessary steps and investments and put in the yards to attract the investment, and also to direct government investment into the more sustainable basis for ourn economy. I think there's been too much lip-service in that regard, particularly around agriculture and tourism, and fisheries as well.. and forestry. There's massive wealth that we have in terms of the basis for a much better longer-term economy. And there's things that we've embedded in some of our longer term (plans), being formerly the Minister of Planning. We want to move things, take some of the hard steps, like banning the export of round logs by 2020, for example; stopping the trans-shipment of tuna; bringing these resources onshore and adding value and creating jobs in Papua New Guinea; utilising our own gas resources to generate cheaper and more sustainable power in the country. I think there's many obvious steps we can take, rather than just the lip-service we've been providing to move to this longer-term economic foundation.
JB: The agenda of the government ion that last parliament term, does that change a lot going into a new term? I mean, you've got some of the same coalition partners in the mix again, but it's still a bit different. Do things change much?
CA: I think there are certain things that we do have to change. "We've got to realise that there's a limit to borrowing. We've got to realise that we've got to live within our means. We've got to realise that... I think some of our procurement processes, and some of our investments into infrastructure are good, but there needs to be perhaps more emphasis on other aspects of human development and get back to some of the basics: like ensuring there's medicines in our hospitals, ensuring that whilst we provide access to education, it's quality education; and getting more development down into the rural areas, continue that emphasis that our government has already brought. The public has raised concerns. And I think as a responsible government we need to respond to those concerns. There are concerns around continued issues of corruption. Our government's commitment to introduce ICAC (Independent Commission against Corruption) legislation into parliament and set up that Independent Commission against Corruption. And general issues around procurement that I've already mentioned. I think as an incoming government, we've got to to respond to some of these concerns, and certainly make the necessary adjustments and changes while continuing to build on some of the good things the government has done.
