FORESTS Minister and Namatanai MP Walter D. Schnaubelt says tough decisions would have to be made in the forestry sector to develop a new culture and bring changes in the industry.
Speaking during his short visit to the forestry institutions in Lae recently, Minister Schnaubelt said with a new board and new management team in place changes are expected within the forestry sector through some tough decisions.
“There is a lot of wrong in Forestry, we are not monitoring well and we are not enforcing well our regulatory compliance.
“Before we start putting extension services, monitoring and enforcing compliance, our house at Forest must be in order first.
“The key point is we all need to work together and we need to humble ourselves.
“We all don’t have answers to everything and sometimes we need expertise or some advice from others to assist.
“We need to work together to put the interest of the country first,” he told the public servants from the Morobe provincial administration and officers from forestry institutions who were gathered at the Forestry Research Institute in Lae.
Minister Schnaubelt said Prime Minister James Marape had already set the path to take back PNG.
“Forest has been covered unfairly in context of take back PNG, in some areas we have failed, but we need to take stock, identify and improve.
“I’m happy that change is coming, as you noticed, we got a new corporate structural plan now in place, the acting managing director John Mosoro is filling those positions, where we are putting people on merit basis.
“We are also encouraging the up-and-coming foresters within the organization.
“We want some of the younger ones to gain the necessary exposure but not overhaul too much so that we lose experienced foresters.
“We have to let go of some to create space. We are having our challenges as well,” he said.
Minister Schnaubelt admitted that the Forest sector is not perfect.
“We have been labelled with many negative accusations, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that we are a perfect organisation.
“As new minister, I’m striving to improve our performance that’s my target.
“I’m not allowing the status quo to allow us to be complacent.
“I’m here because the prime minister has confidence in me,” Minister Schnaubelt explained.