Nation needs quality public service, says Barker

National

By GYNNIE KERO
INSTITUTE of National Affairs executive director Paul Barker says the nation needs a “quality” public service made up of skilled and professional people.
He was responding to a statement by Public Service Minister Elias Kapavore this week that the wage bill in the public service over the past four years had increased substantially to K4.5 billion.
Barker said the estimated payment of wages and salaries for public sector workers this year was forecast at K4.4 billion.
“PNG needs a quality public service, made up of skilled and professional public servants,” he said.
“There are about 100,000 public servants, of which somewhat over half are teachers.
“It should also be noted that, while they form a large portion of total public expenditure, as you would expect for over 100,000 largely professional staff, providing the basic public goods and services, they also provide a major portion of the government revenue collected from the income tax on their salaries, as well as their GST payments on goods and services they buy.