Reaction to court decision worries AG

Minister for Justice and Attorney-General Davis Steven is worried about the way some people in Mendi, Southern Highlands, reacted to an election petition court decision last Thursday.
Steven said the mayhem caused in Mendi should been seen as a serious wake-up call for everyone, from the leaders to citizens alike.
“When you attack the judiciary in the way our people are reacting up there, you are basically disregarding the importance of the rule of law,” he said. “I am worried that as a nation, if we don’t make serious decisions about how we behave, what sort of values we have, then it’s a serious problem.”
He said the rule of law was the thing that held a nation together.
He said “disregard” for the rule of law was a very serious concern for a modern state like PNG.
“Declaring a state of emergency will not solve the root cause of the problem, Steven said.
“This is a second emergency now, first it was an emergency caused by natural calamity. Now we have another state of emergency and how many more state of emergencies could we have before we see that the root cause is about a society that’s frustrated about the systems that are failing already.
“I do not want to go into the blame game but my appeal is that those of us who are concerned about the country, must wake up now and start asking the serious questions or what are the causes of this?”