Mission

Delivering excellent legal and law and justice services to the State and the people of Papua New Guinea.

Overview

The Department of Justice and Attorney General is the central agency responsible for the administration of legal services to the State and its instrumentalities, and the provision of law and justice services to the people. Our vision statement of ‘A Just, Safe and Secure Society’ embraces all law and justice sector functions such as policing, corrections, the judiciary and the courts, prosecutions, defending those accused of crime, land dispute resolution, the management of estates and insolvency, the training of lawyers, investigation of corruption and leadership abuses and legal advice to Government. The department is also the central coordination authority for restorative justice services.

Our core functions, roles, responsibilities and strategic priorities are aligned with the Papua New Guinea Vision 2050 taking our long term direction and focus from four of the seven pillars: “Human Capital Development”, “Wealth Creation”, “Institutional Development & Service Delivery”, and “Security & International Relations”.

This visionary document is supported by the PNG Development Strategic Plan 2010 – 2030 (DSP), which has already been set in motion by the Medium Term Development Plan 2011 - 2015 (MTDP1). The department is directly linked to Part 4.2 - “Law and Order”; most of Part 6 – Cross-cutting policies; and all of Part 7 – Partnership and Cooperation, of the Development Strategic Plan 2010 – 2030, acknowledging that these themes are further devolved into the Medium Term Development Plan 2011 - 2015.

The following diagram is how we articulate the overarching planning documents within government.

Corporate Governance

The Department of Justice and Attorney General has a system of governance that allows it to perform its core functional roles and responsibilities in the delivery of legal and law and justice services effectively and efficiently. The elements of this corporate governance structure include: Strategic leadership and top management; Corporate/Annual planning and budgeting; Performance and Information Management; Audits and statutory compliance; and Publications.

Strategic leadership and corporate management rests with the Senior Management Team (SMT) comprising; the Secretary (as Chairperson), the two Deputy Secretaries, the State Solicitor, and the Solicitor General. The SMT is informed and supported by the Top Management Branch which includes the Internal Audits and Publications Units. Communications and liaison with autonomous/semi-autonomous agencies under the Ministry for Justice is also sustained here.

This governance system has allowed the review and refinement of planning, budgeting and implementation at the Corporate/Annual/Branch/Individual levels, and further foreshadowed performance monitoring, evaluation and compliance reporting obligations.

Supporting the Top Management’s governance responsibilities are the Policy, Planning & Monitoring; Information Management; Property and Security; Human Resources Management; and Finance branches.