Budget debate gagged – for what?

THE November session of Parliament is when we see next year’s budget tabled, debated and passed.
Hours prior to its tabling, the Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey, relevant ministers and department staff discuss the numbers and their implications with people making important decision in the operation of the national economy, plus the array of commentators.
Of course the media gets invited to hear and report on the proceedings and get the opportunity for side interviews with experts to pick their brains on how they see the country’s economy faring in the next 12 months.
That has been tradition we have always looked forward to each year. But thanks to the turn of events at the start of the November session, all that tradition was bypassed. There was no budget lock-up, no debate, no Opposition response to the money plan.
In fact the 2021 budget could be one of the few which was passed without any debate at all in the history of this country. It was passed on the day it was presented, first on Nov 17 and again yesterday.
The Supreme Court had ruled that the Nov 17 budget session was unconstitutional therefore all decision then at that sitting including the passage of the 2021 budget were invalid and ineffective. The court then directed Parliament to sit this week.
Yesterday, Ling-Stuckey presented the same budget and again it was passed without any debate.
Yesterday’s session again demonstrated how fluid and unpredictable PNG politics, or rather PNG politicians, can be.
Only a couple of days earlier, the Opposition announced its alternative prime minister in Aitape-Lumi MP Patrick Pruaitch after what must have been a tense few weeks of negotiations among the major parties in the Opposition camp.
Something must have happened after that and all the work over the past two weeks at the Opposition camp came undone.
As the doors opened, Sam Basil returned to his Deputy Prime Minister seat and others headed back to the Government benches.
With the Government numbers beefed up again, the Treasurer was able to table the same budget document again, albeit with interjection by Opposition Leader Belden Namah and the 2021 budget was passed a second time.
While the country appreciates that the budget has been passed and will hopefully be never challenged again in court, it is unfortunate that there was never any debate on it.
We should not undervalue the importance of constructive and meaningful debate on a matter so important such as the annual budget. It is something that will affect every household and business in the country.
The debate is necessary so that the people are aware of the different economic perspectives that the two sides of the house present. All educated Papua New Guineans should develop an interest in such parliamentary debates and educate themselves about politics and the economy.
Such knowledge is critical when it comes to electing learned men and women into the people’s house.
Knowing what they stand for, the voter is then able to make educated decisions when going to the polls.
Politics and politicians do have a terribly important sway in the way the country is heading. Politicians determine what people pay in taxes and who gets basic things like running water and sanitation.
We have missed the chance to publicly analyse the money plan this year and should not make that mistake again.