23 Jan 2006

PNG set to appoint Australian solicitor general

2:10 pm on 23 January 2006

Papua New Guinea is to have an Australian Solicitor General under the revised Enhanced Co-operation Package deal

Announcing the appointment on Thursday, Justice Minister, Mark Mapakai, said four judges from Australia will also be deployed in the country.

The Solicitor General will be assisted by three senior litigation lawyers.

Under the revised ECP, the governments of PNG and Australia agreed on the deployment of 18 non-policing personnel in the country.

Some of those had been deployed and are now working alongside Papua New Guineans to improve the law and justice sector.

Mr Maipakai said the group of eighteen includes judges, two officers with the Department of Justice and the Attorney General previously deployed in 2004, prosecutors, senior litigation lawyers and the solicitor general