News and Public Notices

As I approach the first anniversary of my appointment as Chief Secretary to the ABG I think it timely that I reflect on some of our achievements and ongoing challenges.

From the outset I wish to place on record my thanks to the ABG Public Service Leadership Team and the hard working men and women of the ABG public service for their ongoing support and contributions.  I also thank the President and the BEC for their continued faith in my ability to progress important reforms, despite some ongoing challenges.

The past year has been a challenging one.  The fact is that the ABG faces systemic constraints that impact on our capacity to deliver on key aspects of the Bougainville Peace Agreement.  While some of these challenges are of our own making, the reality is that the fiscal environment that we face means that our ability to reach fiscal self-reliance is significantly constrained.  The continued non-adherence of the national government to key financial aspects of the Bougainville Peace Agreement means that we have to do more with less, and as a public service think critically and innovatively about how we can modernise and enhance our capacity to deliver key services and generate our own revenue.

Despite these constraints, we have made some good gains since I commenced in the Chief Secretary role.   None of these would have been possible without the support of the Senior Management Team.  Some of these achievements include:

• Enhancing cross government communication and bringing greater rigour to our internal reporting processes
• Engaging the Political Leadership and providing more effective support to the President and the BEC, particularly through regular strategic briefings
• Bringing Structure to Government through the delivery of Corporate Plans for every ABG Department
• Building stronger development partnerships and enhancing international engagement, including through the implementation of a dedicated development partner coordination mechanism and the first ABG-Development Partner meeting in more than three years
• Progressing the development of an ABG Strategic Development Plan which is now in draft form and will be published before the end of the year
• Building stronger communities and enhancing engagement through important forums around referendum awareness, lands policy, law and justice and strategic planning, just to name a few
• Building on organisational reform by enhancing internal structures and prioritising recruitment of key positions, including the two Deputy Chief Secretary roles
• Appointments to key Department Head positions, including Economic Development
• Appointment of a permanent Bougainville Electoral Commissioner
• Putting in place mechanisms to better manage and fight corruption in the Public Service, including closer engagement with the Ombudsman Commission
• Calling out bad behaviour and practices and taking action to remove individuals who engage in misconduct
• Building a more performance oriented public service culture through enhanced communication, induction training and accountability measures
• Conducting an audit of the ABG Payroll in partnership with the National Government to identify systemic issues and fraud (the report will be finalised shortly allowing action to take place)
• Supporting the BEC by promoting best practice submissions and briefing for the President and members
• Exploring hydro power options in Central and South Bougainville with a view to establishing a sustainable and environmentally friendly power source for our people
• Enhancing infrastructure development through road maintenance and support to key government facilities
• Working with landowners to resolve outstanding issues around the Panguna mine and promoting safe work practices in the small mining sector
• Working in partnership with the Commodity Support Facility to build our agricultural capacity through the provision of grants and equipment to stimulate economic growth
• Holding the Revenue and Tax Summit which included a range of national and international speakers to explore Bougainville’s journey to fiscal self-reliance  
• Establishment of the Revenue Advisory (Action) Group to explore revenue and tax options available to the ABG  
• Enhancing public/private dialogue through engagement with key business associations
• Signing of the Charter to establish the Bougainville Referendum Commission, the key body which will be responsible for managing the referendum
• Enhancing referendum awareness through direct engagement, support to Constituent Referendum Ready Committees and communication via media and other channels
• Increased National Government engagement and preparations for a meeting of the Joint Supervisory Body later this year
• Continued engagement on law and order and support to the Bougainville Police Service to enhance capacity and accommodation facilities for officers  
• Progressing the Second Joint Autonomy Review through agreement of a proposed Terms of Reference
• The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the drawdown of powers and progressing initiatives through the Joint Technical Working Group
• Successful conclusion of Community Government elections and
• Re-building our media and communication capacity, reinstituting regular editions of the Bougainville Bulletin and enhancing social media channels.

 

These are just some of the achievements of the past 12 months but they demonstrate the depth of activity that has been taking place.  For us as a public service the challenge now is to build on those gains through a more structured and systemic process of enhancing service delivery.  We must build our revenue base and look critically at where revenue raising options arise.  At the same time, we must hold the national government to account on their obligations under the Bougainville Peace Agreement both in relation to grants and funding as well as specific powers around fisheries revenue.

Now is not the time for complacency, and it is my intention to take specific action over the next twelve months to bring structure to the public service.  Whilst my first 12 months as Chief Secretary has been focused on bringing stability to the public service and enhancing support to the political leadership, my priority over the next 12 months is to deliver on key reforms.  These include:

• Implementation of formal cross government quarterly reporting, aligned to corporate plans and the strategic development plan
• Reforming our BEC preparation process to institute more effective pre deliberation coordination and consultation
• Implementing our new Strategic Development Plan and ensuring that future development partner and budgetary inputs align to ABG priorities
• Enhancing our Development Partner relationships and ensuring regular reporting
• Continued community engagement and more effective communication of what the ABG is doing to enhance the lives of our people
• Supporting the Police to do their job and enhancing law and order across all of Bougainville
• Building more effective relationships with our veterans and ex-combatants to ensure that the peace building process continues
• Recruitment of lower level positions, reduction of unattached officers and retrenchment of surplus public servants
• Continued drawdown of those powers that have the most economic benefit and impact to Bougainville
• Continued efforts to eliminate corruption and to build a more accountable, honest and transparent public service
• Building on financial reforms, targeting valuable resources to where they are most needed
• Embedding a performance culture across the public service through implementation of performance agreements for all public servants
• Enhancing our education system, focusing on vocational and technical education so we can equip our youth to play an active economic role in Bougainville’s future
• Reform of the public service payroll and holding the national government to account in transferring unspent payroll funds to the ABG
• Investing further in infrastructure, building enhanced health services and essential clinical and diagnostic capacity
• Exploring further how we can harness power from our natural resources through hydro-electricity
• Ensuring that the ABG receives its rightful allocation of fisheries revenues
• Building our revenue and tax base by ensuring compliance with existing taxation requirements and leveraging off other revenue and tax options
• Putting in place effective financial instructions and procurement guidelines to minimise contract related fraud
• Enhancing public/private dialogue to achieve a more harmonised approach to economic development across Bougainville
• Putting in place a timetable for future JSB meetings from now until after the referendum so that there is no doubt on when meetings should occur
• Ensuring that the ABG is better prepared when entering into negotiations with the National Government and
• Implementation of recommendations from the findings of the Second Independent Review of Autonomy.

These are the challenges that we face and demonstrate that now is the time for action.  We have less than three years remaining under the Bougainville Peace Agreement and we need an effective timetable for implementation of important reforms and the conduct of the referendum.  We can no longer rely on the public service inaction of the past.  We must seize the opportunity to take control of our own destiny.  As Chief Secretary this is a challenge that I intend to meet, and I intend to ensure that our public service delivers on all expectations in laying the foundations for a united, peaceful and prosperous Bougainville.

Joseph Nobetau

Chief Secretary

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