Photo: RNZI / Koro Vaka'uta
Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister said 2017 should be a year when foreign media take a fresh look at PNG and move beyond the old stereotypes.
Peter O'Neill said PNG didn't have the problems of past decades and life was constantly improving around the nation.
He said much work was ahead but PNG was moving in the right direction.
However, the opposition leader Don Polye forecast a tough and challenging year, saying the public service had been weakened by political interference.
He said corruption had become rampant and was now so systemic that the disease had become viral and had infected all systems of governance.
Mr Polye said the Public Service Standing Order was now useless because it had no authority anymore.
Papua New Guinea Opposition Leader, Don Polye Photo: Supplied