The Papua New Guinea government is sending out the right signals about corruption, but the chair of Transparency International PNG, Lawrence Stephens, says the administration has to go much further.

Mr Stephens was responding to comments from the chief secretary to the government, Sir Manasupe Zurenuoc, who says there needs to be less talk about the extent of corruption in the country, and more done to fight it.

Sir Manasupe was speaking at a forum where Prime Minister Peter O'Neill's proposal for an Independent Commission Against Corruption was under discussion.

Lawrence Stephens says he's encouraged by Sir Manasupe's words, and he believes that if it's delivered and made strong, such a commission can go a long way.

"But we also have the need to strengthen the other institutions and we're not seeing much sign of that, so we don't hear for example announcements of improvements in the budget, of the courts, or extra support to the judicial system or extra support to the ombudsman commission, these things are extremely important, " Mr Stephens has told Pacific Beat.

At a time when it's estimated that half of PNG's annual aid budget is misappropriated, he says the incidence of corruption is widespread.

"There are many examples people give us of misuse of authority and obvious misuse of funds, and there are examples all over the place of misallocation of lands, the loss of public money in many institutions, the list goes on and on."

Mr Stephens says the evidence doesn't back suggestions that corruption is an inevitable part of the "wantok system" in PNG, and what some would call "family business".

"The biggest element is that people try not to be conscious of the laws which govern their work. People will tell you they feel obligations, and so use that as an excuse for doing a lot of the things they do. In fact much of the more blatant corruption that goes on is very self centred, and certainly not of a Robin Hood nature, where they're attempting to be of assistance to the broader community."

"And the situation gets worse around election time," Mr Stephens said, "with an expectation in many places that gifting should take place. And yes it is illegal and unfortunately there has not been enough of a concerted effort at controlling that."

Taskforce Sweep established by the O'Neill government two years ago at the forefront of an anti-corruption drive is part of what Lawrence Stephens calls "a very good start".

"We've seen a list of people actually being prosecuted," he said. "Just the fact that the chief secretary is telling the public service that they are not going to tolerate corruption any further is a good signal. These are all important things. It's just how you follow through which is important, and we're looking to see much more than we've heard so far."