The Ombudsman Commission Presents Draft Bills of its Enabling Legislation to the Office of the State Solicitor, Department of Justice & Attorney - General
The Ombudsman Commission is pleased to announce that on 11 December 2019 it presented to the Office of the State Solicitor, Department of Justice & Attorney-General, the draft Bills of its enabling Legislation and relevant other policy documents requesting for a Certificate of Necessity.
The Ombudsman Commission also presented copies of the draft Bills to the Office of the Prime Minister of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, Hon. James Marape, MP on 30 December 2019 as the Prime Minister is the Minister responsible for the Ombudsman Commission.
The documents presented comprised of –
(1) The draft Bill to amend the Constitution (relevant provisions);
(2) The Draft Bill to amend the Organic Law on the Ombudsman Commission;
(3) The Draft Bill to amend the Organic Law on Duties and Responsibilities of Leadership; and
(4) The Leadership Code (Alternative Penalties) (Amendment) Bill.
The Commission also submitted Explanatory Notes together with other Policy documents.
Legislative Review Exercise
The Ombudsman Commission’s Legislative Review exercise begun in 2013 after the O’Neill-Dion government accepted the proposal to review the Ombudsman Commission’s roles and responsibilities and included in the Alotau Accord One (1) of 2012.
The objective of the Review exercise is to improve the Ombudsman Commission’s efficiency and effectiveness in having to fulfill its roles and responsibilities as set out under Section 218 of the Constitution. This exercise is deemed necessary to maintain public confidence as well as the government’s confidence by ensuring that our services are up to date and are useful and satisfying the current needs and aspirations of the people and the government of Papua New Guinea.
Consequently, this was the first law reform exercise of the enabling legislation for the Ombudsman Commission since its inception in 1975.
The Commission had undertaken an extensive consultation process to ascertain views of stakeholders and the broader community on how best to reform its legislation. A Discussion paper was also developed at the commencement of the review where a total of about thirty-four (34) proposals for reform were put forward relating to its constitutional responsibilities as well as its internal establishment.
The public consultations and the development of the Discussion Paper enabled the Commission to determine its way forward for the review by identifying what needed to be reformed.
Research work was a vital component in this review and helped to determine that from the thirty-four (34) proposals, fourteen (14) original proposals would progress for possible reforms. The fourteen (14) proposals for reform would comprise constitutional reforms, reform proposals for the Organic Law on the Ombudsman Commission, and reform proposals for the Organic Law on the Duties & Responsibilities of Leadership, as well as the Leadership Code (Alternative Penalties) Act 1975.
The Ombudsman Commission would like to sincerely thank the Constitutional Law Reform Commission, the Office of the State Solicitor, Department of Justice and Attorney-General, and the Office of the Legislative Counsel and its dedicated Officers for their expertise and assistance in its Legislative Review Exercise.