Australia provides help to monitor honesty in govt spending
10 December 2015
KEITH JACKSON
IN a pointed reference to failures in service delivery in Papua New Guinea, the Australian High Commission has revealed the establishment of what it calls “a new and innovative public information program”.
The High Commission claims the program is “empowering communities to closely monitor government spending and ensure funds are delivering local services”.
Rod Hilton of the High Commission marked International Anti-Corruption Day yesterday by saying the so-called ‘Service and Budget Charters’ program was developed over the last year and works with communities to look at budgets as allocated by the government and compare them against the actual delivery of services.
“Publishing a series of service and budget charters has helped communities become better informed and engaged in monitoring public spending and holding public officials to account,” Mr Hilton said.
“This helps to ensure communities receive the services they deserve, to the standards to which they are entitled.”
The charters were developed following community consultations which included senior officials of national government agencies and provincial administrations.
They reflect legislative and regulatory obligations and entitlements and outline services, standards and allocated budgets and were produced by the Consultative Implementation and Monitoring Council (CIMC) in partnership with the Australian Government.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Pupaka said all Papua New Guineans are entitled to transparent information about government spending.
“It is a good checklist for those who are responsible for implementing the charter and at the same time it gives an indication of what to expect.
“It will keep officers focused in their respective roles and keep people honest and accountable,” Mr Pupaka said.
“It is an important tool for compliance and monitoring and we hope it will thrive.”
A sensitive area bound to create more resentment from their PNG counterparts. Too many new initiatives and duplication of roles and responsibilities.
Why not provide support to initiatives that already exist like the Public Sector Audit program which now applies to the local level governments or the District Development Authority (DDA)?
People in these organisations need to be empowered to carry out their work diligently and support is needed on awareness.
Posted by: Ruth Moiam | 10 December 2015 at 10:40 AM
Yesterday's The National headline "State admits arrears".
Treasurer Secretary Diari Vele says that the government is yet to pay Nambawan Super K2.5bn in superannuation.
Apparently there are two liabilities.
The Treasurer Secretary could not give the exact amounts - could not or would not? - but he says that one amount is "an old liability" and "very large" and had accumulated "for 15 to 20 years".
"The other number is smaller - K200 million or something like that."
Other unpaid figures for 2014, 2015 and 2016 were K150 million each. November to December last year alone Nambawan was owed K109 million.
The Treasury Department of Papua New Guinea eventually answers to one of the key figures implicated in the biggest fraud case in PNG history, with evidence which has not as yet been brought to court.
Good luck Nambawan Super clients.
Posted by: Michael Dom | 10 December 2015 at 08:56 AM
Sounds like an excellent idea for adoption in Australia. We could start by looking at politicians spending on travel and other 'entitlements'; the impact of lobby groups on Government policy; the avoidance of taxation by major companies, details of which cannot be revealed for fear of kidnap; the level of Government subsidies to big polluters; the awarding of infrastructure contracts to mates in the development sector; the appalling record of the delivery of services to indigenous peoples despite decades of promises - the list goes on and on.
Rod should come back home and try his ideas for transparency and accountability in Australia.
Posted by: Peter Kranz | 10 December 2015 at 07:29 AM