The referendum was provided for by the Bougainville Peace Agreement, a long term commitment which was forged in 2001 as a settlement after the Bougainville civil war in the 1990s. He argued that rejecting the referendum outcome would contradict the Bougainville Peace Agreement. “Any attempt by the national parliament to vote down the referendum result, freezes us in a dead autonomy framework, or demand constitutional amendments just to kick the can down the road, is a rejection of the peace process itself. Those were unilateral decisions made by the national government and the speaker of the national parliament,” he said. He said the overwhelming referendum vote for independence remained beyond dispute.