Lawmakers need to protect sea people

 I THINK it is time for lawmakers to start protecting PNG’s seas.

There is a UN “law of the sea”, but that does not fully protect our people’s traditional rights. 

And it is about time we amend the  colonial-era law stating that all minerals found 1.8m under the people’s land and sea are state-owned. 

This is one defective piece of borrowed law still in our Constitution that needs to be amended. 

The state must change ownership rights of minerals and give them back to the real owners.

The state can only partner or  own a certain percentage of it with the developers. 

Let us not be afraid of owning natural resources. 

Of course, the state can always come up with a better tax policy for our provincial and national revenue collectiion.

Only then, can our people and nation prosper for the better.

KLP Yapol

Erepia