What is reset

Reset is Papua New Guinea’s 50-Year Review and 20-Year National Reform Roadmap. Launched in 2025 to coincide with fifty years of Independence, it evaluates the country’s development since 1975 and sets out a structural reform path through to 2045.

Reset is not a commemorative exercise. It is a reform framework designed to strengthen institutions, restore constitutional balance, and improve national delivery systems.

A Moment for Structural Reflection

Fifty years after Independence, Papua New Guinea has recorded important achievements in infrastructure, economic expansion, and institutional development. At the same time, governance weaknesses, implementation gaps, fiscal pressures, and service delivery challenges have constrained sustained progress.

Reset recognises that incremental adjustment is no longer sufficient. The task is not symbolic change, but structural correction.

The 50-Year Review

The Review examines Papua New Guinea’s development trajectory across five decades. It considers constitutional governance, parliamentary balance, economic performance, human development indicators, public sector effectiveness, and fiscal management.

The purpose is not to revisit the past for criticism. It is to diagnose systemic constraints that have limited long-term transformation.Understanding these structural weaknesses is necessary before meaningful reform can occur.

20 Year Reform Path

Building on the Review, Reset establishes reform priorities for the next twenty years.

Implementation unfolds across three phases.

Restoration and Momentum
Immediate reforms aimed at restoring confidence and demonstrating credible delivery.

Institutional Embedding
Embedding structural reforms into governance systems, fiscal architecture, and public administration.

Long-Term Transformation
Sustained improvements in human development, economic diversification, institutional integrity, and national stability.

Foundational Principles

Reset is guided by five core principles that frame reform direction.

Constitutional Integrity Reinforcing separation of powers and restoring parliamentary balance. Human Development Strengthening health, education, and demographic sustainability. Evidence-Based Governance Embedding accountability through reliable data systems and informed decision-making. Inclusive Growth Promoting private-sector-led development and responsible resource management. Accountability and Impact Improving oversight, performance measurement, and delivery coordination.

Transformative Reform and Immediate Action

  • Under these principles, Reset identifies ten major structural reform priorities — often referred to as the “Big Bets.” These address constitutional balance, fiscal discipline, voluntary family planning access, electrification and digital connectivity, national identity systems, private-sector growth, land reform, public service reform, and national implementation capacity.

    These reforms are systemic in nature. They aim to correct foundational weaknesses rather than pursue incremental improvement.

    The Ten Big Bets / National Turning Points:

    1. Clean Politics and Accountable Leadership
      Reform political incentives, strengthen the Opposition, reduce executive dominance, and restore parliamentary balance.

    2. Delivery Over Announcements
      Shift government culture from policy launches to measurable implementation, transparent reporting, and visible outcomes.

    3. Agriculture at Scale
      Expand coffee, cocoa, palm oil and domestic food production to turn rural productivity into national economic strength.

    4. Infrastructure That Connects
      Invest in roads, ports, power and digital networks that link provinces to markets, services and opportunity.

    5. Youth Employment and Skills
      Strengthen TVET, apprenticeships and private-sector job pipelines to absorb PNG’s growing youth population.

    6. Health and Education as Foundations
      Improve primary healthcare, maternal health, literacy and numeracy as the base for long-term national capability.

    7. Energy Security and Power Reform
      Deliver reliable, affordable electricity to unlock industry, SMEs and provincial growth.

    8. Law, Order and Institutional Integrity
      Professionalise policing, strengthen judicial systems, and depoliticise public service appointments.

    9. Inclusive Provincial Growth
      Distribute opportunity beyond Port Moresby through fiscal transparency, provincial accountability and local enterprise.

    10. Private Sector–Led Growth
      Reduce red tape, improve investment certainty, and position PNG as a competitive regional economy.

  • Supporting these reform priorities are forty-three early implementation actions — known as the “Quick Wins.”

    These actions are designed for delivery in the initial reform phase. They focus on restoring credibility, strengthening operational systems, and demonstrating measurable progress while deeper institutional reforms are embedded.

    Early delivery builds trust. Structural reform builds durability.

    These forty-three Quick Wins represent the first phase of visible implementation, translating reform priorities into measurable action.

    Clean politics and accountable leadership

    1. Publish an annual MP expenditure transparency report.

    2. Launch a public parliamentary voting record portal.

    3. Cap ministerial portfolios and publish clear role descriptions.

    4. Strengthen parliamentary committee reporting schedules.

    Delivery over announcements

    1. Launch a public national delivery dashboard tracking priority projects.

    2. Publish quarterly infrastructure progress reports.

    3. Standardise project milestone reporting across departments.

    4. Introduce performance contracts for departmental heads.

    5. Require independent verification of major project completion.

    Agriculture at scale

    1. Implement a national coffee rehabilitation program targeting ageing trees.

    2. Expand cocoa productivity support in key producing provinces.

    3. Deploy district-based agricultural extension officers.

    4. Upgrade rural feeder roads linking farms to markets.

    5. Expand access to micro-finance for smallholder farmers.

    6. Publish verified agricultural export data monthly.

    Infrastructure that connects

    1. Prioritise maintenance funding for existing highways.

    2. Fast-track Connect PNG priority segments with transparent timelines.

    3. Upgrade provincial wharves to improve export efficiency.

    4. Expand rural telecommunications tower coverage in underserved districts.

    Youth employment and skills

    1. Expand TVET scholarships aligned with industry demand.

    2. Launch a national apprenticeship incentive scheme.

    3. Partner with private sector employers for training quotas.

    4. Establish provincial youth employment registries.

    5. Standardise certification recognition across provinces.

    Health and education foundations

    1. Introduce consistent medicine supply reporting at district hospitals.

    2. Roll out maternal health outreach in high-risk districts.

    3. Implement national Grade 3 literacy benchmarking.

    4. Strengthen teacher attendance monitoring systems.

    5. Upgrade essential water and sanitation facilities in priority schools.

    Energy security and power reform

    1. Accelerate off-grid solar rollout for rural health centres.

    2. Publish national electricity outage performance metrics.

    3. Fast-track independent power producer agreements under clear regulation.

    4. Expand prepaid electricity metering to reduce system losses.

    Law, order and institutional integrity

    1. Recruit and deploy additional police to identified hotspot districts.

    2. Establish fast-track court sittings for priority offences.

    3. Digitise case management systems in major courts.

    4. Publish an annual national crime statistics dashboard.

    Inclusive provincial growth

    1. Introduce provincial budget transparency portals.

    2. Pilot SME incubation hubs in three regional centres.

    3. Expand access to concessional finance for women-led SMEs.

    4. Streamline provincial business registration processes.

    Private sector–led growth

    1. Establish a one-stop national investment facilitation desk.

    2. Reduce average business licensing approval time by 30 percent

A Forward Commitment

Reset is grounded in the spirit of the Constitution and aligned with long-term national development frameworks, including Vision 2050 and StaRS. It does not replace them. It seeks to ensure that the institutional foundations required to achieve them are restored and strengthened.

The objective is clear: a State that functions with integrity, delivers effectively, and secures inclusive prosperity over the next twenty years.