Prime Minister Hon. James Marape said on Friday (09.06.23) work is now going into the rehabilitation of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.

This includes the recent signing of the Defence Cooperation Agreement with the United States to assist rebuild the capacity of the PNGDF.

The Prime Minister was answering to concerns raised in Parliament on disciplinary issues by members of the Force posted to Western Province to guard the PNG border.

“I am fully aware of these issues. We have had an erosion in our entire defence force for many, many years,” said PM Marape.

“This is why the DCA had to be stepped up to partner the biggest military in the world in terms of our border protection and capacity upskilling at the very earliest.

“But changes have been taking place since 2022 after we installed the new commander. He is a career military man who is very disciplined. He has taken strong leadership at Murray Barracks in the last year or two, and changes in discipline are now taking place.”

The Prime Minister also said more care is taken in the deployment of military personnel on specific call-outs, high among them was Border Protection.

PM Marape said it was the aim of the Government to rehabilitate the PNGDF to a point where soldiers can properly and professionally carry out their duties with no or little challenges of disciplinary issues as currently being faced.