Dept warned about foreign labour, businesses

OUTGOING Labour and Industrial Relations Minister Mehrra Kipefa warned Labour officers the country’s next generation would become slaves to foreigners if the department did not do its job in regulating the influx of foreign labour and businesses.
“I’m warning Labour staff, especially of the foreign employment division, that one day you will be sitting in your children’s houses depending on your children’s wages for survival.
“And they will tell you to leave because their foreign employer that you allowed into the country, is not paying them enough.
“And then you will realise that you should have been more vigilant when you had the chance,” Kipefa said.
Kipefa made the comments on Friday during the handover of the ministry to new Minister Alfred Manase at the International Convention Centre in Port Moresby.
“You are the ones that allow foreigners into the country.
“It is not the Foreigner Affairs Department. You have a vital role to play.
“You are the gatekeepers of who comes into the country to work and do business.
“And for the benefit of our country, land and resources, you must stand up for what belongs to you.”
Manase agreed saying Labour officers needed to step up their work, heeding Prime Minister James Marape’s call to take back PNG and the economy.
“The Government was formed because of this cry and we have to work hard to create employment for thousands of school leavers leaving our educational institutions every year because if we don’t, the very people crying take back PNG will rise up.”