Council wants legislature to perform its duty to table Bills

Business

By DALE LUMA
THE PNG Manufacturers Council says it would like to see the country’s legislature perform its duty to legislate.
Chief executive officer Chey Scovell said there was a significant backlog of bills and amendments, some dating back years.
“We would very much like to see them put to the floor before the pending National General Elections,” Scovell told The National.
“These include the Biosecurity Bill, Workers Compensation Bill, OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) Bill, Electronic Transactions Bill, Investment Promotion Authority Amendment, Tobacco Control Regulation and others.”
In yesterday’s parliament sitting, Moresby North East MP John Kaupa also asked Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce and Industry Minister Sam Basil when the proposed IPA Bill would be tabled in parliament.
Basil in response said a number of changes needed to be made before a bill was presented in Parliament to amend the current act which included changes to the reserve activities list for some cottage and other businesses reserved for Papua New Guineans.
According to IPA, the review process began in 2019 in line with the Government’s agenda to promote the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises to become the backbone of the economy.
It added that the proposed amendments to the Investment Promotion Act would allow the country to remain open to foreign investment and at the same time, improve processes for reviewing the Cottage Business Activities List which is the reserved activities list and also introduce a restricted activities list.
This year alone, 10 bills have been tabled and passed in Parliament.