by Jack Lapauve Jr – EM TV, Port Moresby
Opposition members fired vocally at the government as Treasury Minister Patrick Pruaitch presented the 2015 budget on the floor of parliament yesterday.
Opposition leader and Vanimo MP Belden Namah declined to move motions in the 2015 budget, claiming Minister Pruaitch’s presentation was incomplete. He had called for the issuing of the volume of the budget.
“It’s tradition for the government to present the full budget both verbally and in print,” he told the floor.
Mr Namah said the government has again soared over the rules of the house. Mr Namah was backed by Kandep MP Don Polye, who crossed the floor to join the Opposition team before the 2pm parliament session.
Kandep MP Don Polye called on the O’Neill-Dion government to prepare the full budget. Speaker Theo Zurenuoc advised Opposition members that a week will be given for the Opposition to respond and the third volume is to be presented in the next parliament sitting.
The incomplete budget presented by Minister Pruaitch lacked the volume details the government’s projected expenditure on public investment programs.
