Cabinet

He said this is a message to all Government MPs as he prepares to announce his full Cabinet on Tuesday (23 August) and as a week-long Parliament induction for new MPs starts Monday (22 August).

PM Marape stressed that an ordinary MP could transform PNG for the better if he or she put “200 per cent” effort into their job.

“We are now almost 47 years old as a nation and we will be 50 soon, yet, our country is in a diabolical state,” was his message to Government MPs.

“We all have to work very hard to fix it. 

The veteran politician, Bob Loughman was voted in by fellow MPs Monday and will lead a coalition made of three larger parties and a handful of independent MPs and micro-parties.

Mr Loughman unveiled his new cabinet last night, with 12 ministers including Ishmael Kalsakau, who is the new deputy Prime Minister and also Minister for Internal Affairs.

Mark Ati has been handed the Foreign Affairs portfolio.

While Vanuatu has no confirmed COVID-19 cases, it's borders have been locked down, leaving thousands of people out of work in the valuable tourism sector.

The sitting has been called by the Speaker Esmon Saimon on the advice of the Prime Minister Charlot Salwai who wants to amend the constitution to that end.

Currently, the size of the cabinet may not exceed a quarter of the number of parliamentarians.

However, Mr Salwai wants this to be increased to a third, which means cabinet can be increased from 13 to 17 ministers.

He said some ministers have been assigned too many portfolios.