The Rejects’ Shop – aka: the Opposition

By PNG Echo In most western democracies – certainly ones with a two-party system – the Opposition opposes the Government primarily on political ideology. That ideology provides the guiding principles for their policies. In Papua New Guinea that has a 40-something-party (and goodness knows how many independents) system, the leading political ideology is self-serving pragmatism with a nod to expediency – so what exactly does the Opposition oppose? The raison d’être In the main, they are in Opposition because the Government doesn’t want them. In fact, the Opposition ranks (and they are meagre) consist of the rejected, swelled by the Continue reading The Rejects’ Shop – aka: the Opposition

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Is payback the only game in town? Votes of No Confidence

By PNG Echo. Unless it is sure that a Vote Of No Confidence (VONC) will be successful, I doubt that any one MP, with the exception of those already on the opposition and middle benches, will vote for it – and numbers there are miniscule – not nearly enough for a successful outcome. Voting against a government that you are a part of displays disloyalty and NO party/coalition ANYWHERE will put up with vipers in their ranks – and rightly so. A ruling party needs to be able to count on the loyalty of its members or get rid of Continue reading Is payback the only game in town? Votes of No Confidence

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