PORT MORESBY: Papua New Guinea's new prime minister unveiled his cabinet Friday, naming a harsh critic of international gas projects as his petroleum minister and an anti-corruption campaigner to head the police.
James Marape had been widely expected to name a continuity government after taking over after prime minister Peter O'Neill resigned earlier this month rather than face a no confidence motion in parliament.
But the 33-member cabinet named Friday signalled Marape intended to follow through on pledges to review multibillion dollar resource deals with major multinational companies that have been criticised for failing to benefit the population.
It included Kerenga Kua, one of only a handful of MPs who voted against Marape for prime minister, who was named petroleum minister.
Kua, like Marape, had been critical of a deal signed by O'Neill in April with ExxonMobil and Total for a US$13 billion Papua LNG gas project, saying it did not offer sufficient benefits for local communities.
In announcing Kua's appointment, Marape insisted he wanted to encourage continued foreign investment in the resource sector, but said joint deals also had to be "friendly to our country".
"I am investor friendly, but I also have to win for eight million (citizens) of this country," said Marape, who comes from the rough but resource-rich highlands province of Hela.
Analysts saw Kua's appointment as part of a major shakeup of the government in PNG, one of Asia's poorest countries despite its resource riches.
"While the extractive industry may be sweating a bit, it is a good sign for the country," Lowy Institute analyst Jonathan Pryke said.
"He is talking a big game about the change that he wants to deliver and this cabinet does signify that he is at least on the face of it trying to follow through on that," he told AFP.
Marape also named an outspoken anti-corruption campaigner, Bryan Kramer, as police minister in a surprise announcement that was greeted by cheers and prolonged applause in government house.
Kramer enjoys strong support among younger Papua New Guineans and campaigned heavily via his preferred medium Facebook to oust O'Neill.
"He's the first to admit that police operate in the rule of evidence and the rule of law," Marape said tongue in cheek to general laughter.
"So we will be asking of him, in the first instance, to restore credibility in the entire police hierarchy. It's not only about the commissioner or about a few sections of the police. The entire police structure is dysfunctional at the moment."
In his remarks, Marape also signalled a drive to "rein in" state-owned enterprises that he said were not paying dividends to the government but rather "creating empires of their own".
He also vowed renewed investment in the health sector, which has been struggling with a polio outbreak and longstanding HIV/AIDS crisis.
Pryke described the naming of a number of former opposition MPs to the cabinet as "put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is" appointments.
"It does seem to be an attempt at a broad unity government. (Marape) has done a pretty adept job at distributing among parties and provinces," he added.
"So he is cleverly trying to keep that as inclusive as possible."
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