PNG urged to get governance right

PAPUA New Guinea should get its good governance principles right if it wants to manage growth in the country, says ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott.
Elliott, who was in the country last week, told the Australia-PNG Business Council breakfast event in Port Moresby on Friday that as a developing country, PNG should also manage soft infrastructures like good governance apart from developing hard infrastructures like roads, bridges, ports and airports.
“From my view, the more important thing is the soft infrastructure, which is governance,” he said.
“How do you set up governance structures that … actually allows growth to be responsible and for the benefit of that growth to be shared by many.
“The issue here – like any developing, emerging economy – is how you manage growth.
“I think that the opportunity is around the corner and it is an exciting time to be.
“There are opportunities that are at our doorsteps and from what I have heard, PNG had a learning experience not that long ago about how to manage this kind of booms and hopefully that learnings can be incorporated so that the communities can maximise on those opportunities.
“It feels like PNG is on the brink of a more sustainable growth phase and, as I said, the benefits can get reinvested in strengthening both hard and soft infrastructures and making sure that they are sustainable and benefit the community.”