Colonial laws need to go: Kwa

THERE are about 377 colonial laws currently existing in Papua New Guinea which need to be reviewed, Secretary for Constitutional and Law Reform Commission (CLRC) Dr Eric Kwa says.
Kwa said most of these colonial laws were crafted from foreign concepts by colonial administrators and do not fit in well to the current changes taking place in society and country.
He was speaking in Port Moresby yesterday during a first consultative workshop on a full review of the Civil and Identity Registration Act 1963.
This workshop was organised by the PNG Civil and Identity Registry Office (PNGCIR) with funding support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, a non-governmental organisation based in the United States.
“The current Civil Registration was developed in 1963,” Kwa said,
“When you look at the current Act, they have originated from one of the states in Australia. It’s not an Australian law but a law from one of the states in Australia which we borrowed in 1962.
“A lot of the terms and the provisions are based on Australian perspective. PNG is 43 years old and it is a disgrace to continue claiming a law that is given to us by our colonisers as our own.
“This is embarrassing and we need to make changes to those colonial laws because at the moment, we have 377 colonial laws and this (Civil and Identity Registration Act 1963) is one of them.”
Kwa said they got rid of three colonial laws in 2015 and this was the fourth one.
“We must try to reduce the number down from 377,” he said.
“I commend the team from PNGCIR and the acting Registrar-General for approaching us to review the Act.
“We have already identified that this is one of the laws that needs to be reviewed very quickly.”