Address autonomy request, says Basil

Deputy Opposition leader Sam Basil has called on the Government to seriously look at the demand for autonomy by East New Britain and New Ireland.
Basil acknowledged the work of the Constitution and Law Reform Commission team touring the country to review the operations of provincial and local level government systems.
“This is an opportune time for both provinces and others such as Morobe to discuss the issues frankly,” Basil said.
Basil said the first review of the provincial government system in 1993 resulted in the 1995 reforms which replaced premiers and provincial assembly members with members of parliament and council presidents.
“In my submission to the CLRC in Lae, I made eight proposals or recommendations for consideration. One is a grading system that will enable provinces and provincial governments to perform all or certain powers and functions as stipulated in the Organic Law,” he said.
Basil said if certain provinces could not perform land transport board or physical planning board functions, then these must be retained at the national level.
“Likewise, if a province has capacity to collect GST or VAT, there must be arrangements with the Internal Revenue Commission and the State on how much should be retained and how much to be remitted to the Government.”