I can only assume O’Neill has too much time on his hands after being forced to resign from office, ejected by the Marape-Steven government and is now a fugitive on the run. So it comes as no surprise that he is desperate to have me decommissioned.

It is understandable that the likes of O’Neill and those who have been stealing hundreds of millions of kina in public funds would want me decommissioned from my position.

On what basis does O’Neill want me decommissioned?

He called on the prime minister to review the growing evidence of the ‘criminal misuse of power’ by the police minister and decommission him as a minister of state.

He went on to explain he filed three criminal complaints with documented evidence directly with police over the past year (in February, May and October) about my purported activities and referred to at least two others filed by other parties including one by the chief secretary.

“Not a single complaint against the police minister has been acted upon by police and there has been no response at all to criminal complaints filed to police,” O’Neill said.

To ask the prime minister to review evidence of a purported criminal complaint is absurd. O’Neill has not provided the prime minister with any evidence and it’s not the prime minister’s function.

O’Neill says he has filed three complaints against me: in February, in May and in October this year. So what is the significance of these dates.

In February this year O’Neill was the prime minister, so was his own appointed police commissioner reluctant to act on his complaint?

In May O’Neill was held up in Port Moresby’s Crown Hotel facing a vote of no confidence, only to end up being forced to resign from office six days later.

In October he was facing arrest after the district court issued a warrant of arrest on allegations of official corruption.

It appears every-time O’Neill finds himself in trouble he files a complaint against me.

So where is O’Neill?

He fled overseas after police moved in to arrest his lawyer. It appears he is on run to avoid being charged on serious allegations of corruption and misuse of public funds.

And what does he want me charged for exactly? Harassing him on Facebook?

Really?

On Friday, O’Neill issued another press statement pleading with the prime minister to decommission me for purportedly leaking cabinet information.

What information is he talking about exactly?

National planning data on donor funding? Hardly highly confidential information. It’s all in the public domain.

I later removed the information after I was contacted by a number of people explaining the information was not accurate.

The Marape-Steven government is committed to taking back PNG by addressing corruption and making our communities and streets safe again.

In relation to O’Neill, his complaints are being acted on with due process. The practice is, you file a complaint and make yourself available to assist police to establish your complaint is in fact genuine.

To date O’Neill has been reluctant to make himself available to police and continues to hide overseas.

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Much work underway to reform the police force

Since I have taken office as minister for police, there have been sweeping changes in the police force. Addressing law and order and fighting corruption have been the centre point of discussion in mainstream media.

These two issues have become the number one agenda of the Marape-Steven government, and the lead agency responsible for addressing them is the police department.

It is beyond question that policing has improved in the last four months.

There’s greater accountability and transparency. For the first time in a long time the welfare of our men and women in police is being addressed: better housing, mental health, outstanding entitlements, and prime minister Marape’s announcement of a ‘golden hand shake’, or financial reward, for unblemished records.

Next year, the Marape-Steven government will carry out a major reform of the police force covering administration, operations, housing and a new fleet of vehicles.

A new station of excellence project in partnership with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) is underway, where police stations will be upgraded with the introduction of the latest technology, the installation of CCTV cameras in every station, the introduction of a sector patrol program with vehicles designated to specific neighbourhoods and geo-fenced to specific locations.

Each police vehicle will be equipped with dash cameras and GPS tracking. Officers deployed on foot patrol will be also be monitored in real time and given the support and equipment they need to carry out their duties in the field.

The wider community will be engaged in a meaningful partnership to address the escalating law and order issues throughout the country.

The roll-out of a new state-of-the-art Motorolla ICT and communications project will commence in February next year.

Under the Marape-Steven government, regional command centres will be set up to monitor provincial police stations remotely in real time. Members of the public will be able to report on issues they face at police stations, including lack of attendance.

The focus in 2020 will be administration and operations reform. In 2021 it will shift to a new-recruitment drive. The plan is to train up to 50 new recruits in partnership with the AFP and deploy them to each of the 22 provinces, a total of 1,100 new recruits by end 2022.