Paita urges MPs to attend Parliament, show respect

The National National

LEADER of Government Business Rainbo Paita has urged MPs to attend parliament sessions to show their respect for the house.
Paita told Parliament on Friday that their first job as MPs was as legislators.
He said regardless of them being just members or governors or which side of the house they were in, “your first priority was to this floor and the chair”.
He said he could imagine the things done to get to the House of Parliament but when it was time to sit for parliament sessions, most of the MPs did not turn up.
“Some of us don’t attend parliament sessions,” Paita said.
He urged the MPs from both sides of the house to support the agendas and just be on the floor to represent their people.
Paita suggested through the Speaker that the standing orders could be reviewed so if MPs did not attend parliament for a full week, their pay would be deducted.
In that way, MPs can attend parliament sessions and be there on the floor until the sessions are completed, he said.
Paita thanked the MPs who attended last week and those who sat through which gave confidence to the people that they were represented.

3 comments

  • Your first job as MPs was as legislators – how many old and out of date legislations in PNG needing updating have you parliamentarians idenified and made changes to/willing to bring up in parliament for changes? Alot of you parliamentarians see yourselves as service providers instead of legislators.

    There are some parliamentarians who go into partliament sessions and have their mouths zipped up and dont even talk at all – these should not be paid including those who dont attend parliament at all. Why do ordinary citizens put in honest hours of work and get paid whilst you parliamentarians still get paid for not attending parliament session?

  • Papua New Guineans stand for Parliament to gain access to high salaries, lavish allowances and opportunities for corruption. It is unfair to expect them to attend Parliament as well. If the Government was serious about getting more to attend, they should shift the Parliament from Port Moresby to Brisbane. Then MPs could spend their money in the casinos, brothels and shopping malls in the morning and pop into the House for a few minutes in the afternoon.

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