Commonwealth parliamentarians meet in Nuku‘alofa [1]
Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 10:00. Updated on Friday, January 29, 2016 - 17:27.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.
Tonga hosted the 14th seminar of the Australian and Pacific Regional branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in Nuku‘alofa from October 25 to November 3.
The annual gathering, which started in a Pacific island country and concluded in an Australian city, brought together parliamentarians from Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
The Speaker of the Tongan Parliament, Hon. Veikune said that theseminar gave parliamentarians the opportunity to raise and discuss issues which were of importance, and had been regularly debated in their parliaments.
Two major issues during the gathering were the impact of the Global Economy on the fragile economies of the Pacific Islands, and the Gender and Women’s rights issues. The concept of aid for self-reliance was not considered to be real these days. What was more real was for island states to adopt Sustainable Development. It was also pointed out that to be part of the global economy, an island state must have a cash economy, but the truism was that islanders then would have to work to get cash to buy tinned fish to feed themselves.
Women’s rights
On the gender and the women’s rights issues, a woman parliamentarian from Papua New Guinea described the status of women in her country, “women are the backbone of the society, and therefore they are indispensable, but they are also invisible.”
Three Tongan parliamentarians attending the seminars were the Hon. Nuku, the Nobles’ representative for ‘Eua; ‘Akilisi Pohiva, the No. 1 People’s Representative for Tongatapu; and Samiu Vaipulu, the No. 1 People’s Representative for Vava‘u. Their papers included Hon. Nuku on Tonga’s Parliamentary System, ‘Akilisi on Parliamentary Practice and Procedures and Good Governance, and Samiu on Immigration Laws with Special Regard to Nations within our Region.
Samiu moved for ‘Akilisi’s paper to be read but not to be discussed at the seminar, because, he argued, it dealt with political issues that were not relevant for foreign parliamentarians to debate on. It was supported by a majority of the gathering and ‘Akilisi’s paper was not discussed.