Papua New Guinea Minister Jimmy Maladina pleads not guilty to charge

Papua New Guinea's sidelined petroleum minister, Jimmy Maladina, has pleaded not guilty in a Sydney court to a domestic assault offence.

Transcript

00:00Ymir Maladina was arrested on Saturday in Bondi after police were called to an address

00:06on Imperial Avenue over reports of a domestic dispute.

00:10Now there, officers spoke to a 31-year-old woman who had facial injuries.

00:14The allegation is that those injuries were caused by a 58-year-old Mr Maladina, who is

00:19known to that woman.

00:21Now he was arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm after being

00:26taken to Waverley Police Station behind me.

00:29He had his first court appearance today and like most first appearances it was relatively

00:33brief.

00:34It was over in a matter of minutes.

00:36But his lawyer, Margaret Caneen SC, did say to court that he will be pleading not guilty

00:41and the case was adjourned until next week.

00:44As he left court, Mr Maladina made no comments, although he did get a lot of questions from

00:48the media.

00:49Mr Maladina, will you resign from the PNG government?

00:53Will you be pleading today?

00:54What are your response to the allegations of domestic violence?

00:58Now next week the case will move to the Downing Centre in Sydney's CBD and next week a mention

01:03of the case will involve a hearing date being set.

01:07It's still unclear when that hearing might take place because it can depend on the court

01:11calendar and availability, although Ms Caneen did say today that the hearing itself isn't

01:16expected to take more than a day, so that might speed things up in terms of court availability.

01:22Although he made no comment today, Mr Maladina did issue a statement after this allegation

01:26came to light and he said he was co-operating with authorities and understands the gravity

01:31of the situation.

01:33In that statement he also said I want to make it clear violence of any form is unacceptable

01:38and I am committed to handling this situation with integrity and transparency.

01:43He's also offered to temporarily stand aside while this case makes its way through the

01:48Australian courts.

01:49That didn't appear to be enough though for the PNG opposition, which has issued calls

01:54for Mr Maladina to be sacked from Cabinet or resign.

01:58For now though, the 58-year-old will remain on conditional bail until his case returns

02:02to court next week.