This is to put a view that the Westminster system of government is very relevant to PNG in its basic form. PNG people are very different from the English but there have to be the same basic checks and balances in parliament and government.

Corruption has identical features in every political system. It involves diverting resources away from the people for whom it was intended. It goes to a group of favoured people, leaving the rest of the community to go without.

There can be no alternative that varies from the basic process. Perhaps a system based on chaos may take over. The Westminster system is simply the same system that we use in every meeting in the land.

There are the office bearers, members, constitution, points of order, minutes, financial statements, motions, budgets, addressing through the chair and votes with all accompanying checks and balances. The parliamentary process is far more complex but basically the same.

The Westminster system evolved in England and involved an upper House of Lords and lower House of Commons. The carpet in the upper house is royal red.

The carpet of the lower house is the green of grass. The Witan first met under a tree in a field. So too the houses of parliament in Canberra have the same colour scheme. The upper house represents the states.

The Queen does not ever enter the lower house. When she addresses parliament, the lower house members adjourn to the upper house. Too often in the past, the lower house was raided by the soldiers of the crown. The Queen is a constitutional monarch.

PNG does not have a bicameral system of parliament with two houses. There is one house with the regal house represented by the Governor General. In this country, there is effort to include the provinces.

The political systems in Australia, England and the United States have two main party groups with various small political parties. We seldom if ever see a Liberal parliamentarian becoming Labor or vice versa. That would be political suicide.

Liberalism and socialism both have ideologies. These are the ideologies of shopkeepers and workers. Not so the political parties of Papua New Guinea.

These are based on regional agendas, tribal agendas and leaders’ personalities. How could it be different? A PNG ideology based on shopkeepers would be essentially Chinese.

So politicians in PNG have swapped party allegiances as if playing musical chairs. There is a conglomeration of parties in this country at times not unlike a can of worms.

Every procedure in the Westminster system has a tried and true purpose. It is intended to ensure uniformity and proper procedure. It can be like a beautifully maintained Rolls Royce engine.

We find the same basic procedures in most other democratic parliaments of the world. Westminster grew out of Roman law which was derived in part from Greek political thought.

What if quorum and hansard are thrown out? That is a trick question. Hansard has already been thrown out of the house at Waigani. The PNG parliamentary system is being modified with the MP discretionary vote. Is this to be a fund not acquitted?

Every procedure thrown out will weaken the system if a replacement process is not provided. I am reminded of the cement factory in Uganda under the regime of Idi Amin.

Every Friday, the workers had to climb on to the roof to hose down the cement dust. Once the British were kicked out, the workers no longer hosed the roof. After a year, the roof fell in under the massive weight of caked cement. The factory was wrecked.

Let us not talk about the Westminster System not being appropriate to PNG. Do not give the justification for more procedures to be thrown out. There is always the danger that the roof will fall in.

A major contribution to humanity of the Westminster system is the proposition that all men and women are innocent until proven guilty. The onus is on the State to prove guilt.

Let this remain in Papua New Guinea forever. This does not occur everywhere in the world. There are countries in which failure to prove innocence means automatic guilt.