Tonga's Media Bills provoke outrage [1]
Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 10:00. Updated on Friday, February 19, 2016 - 14:10.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 18, no. 2, August 2003.
Several controversial and hastily-prepared bills that were introduced to the Tongan legislature when its 2003 session opened in June, have provoked international outrage and local concern.
They are an attempt by government to regulate the media, but to do this effectively it must first amend the Constitution, Clause 7—Freedom of the Press, which guarantees that there shall be freedom of speech and of the press forever and that no law shall ever be enacted to restrict this liberty.
The opposition to the proposed amendment argue that it is unconstitutional to amend Clause 7. However, ‘Alisi Taumoepeau, the Solicitor General, who has been involved in drafting the changes, disputed this claim (see Interview next page). She said that it was not unconstitutional to amend Clause 7, and that it would enable government to draft legislation in order to set a media standard for Tonga, because the government believed that the Tongan media was not capable of regulating itself.
Preventing Judicial Review
Another controversial proposed amendment to the Constitution is not directly related to the media, but to the rule of law. The amendment proposed to Section 56 with an additional sub-clause (a) states that: The laws passed by the Legislative Assembly of Tonga and Ordinances passed by the King with the consent of Privy Council shall not be subject to judicial review.
‘Alisi explained that the logic behind this amendment was to stop the Judiciary from overturning Ordinances and Legislation that had been passed by the Privy Council and the Legislature, as had done recently by using the short cut of Judicial Review. In future if there was a need to review such legislation then it would require a full court hearing where they would get into detail and analyse the merits.
Media Operators Bill
Two other bills that government introduced to regulate the media are the Media Operators Bill 2003 and the Newspaper Bill 2003.
The Media Operators Bill 2003 deals with the ownership of a media organisation, whereby foreign ownership is limited to 20 per cent of shares.
Newspaper Bill
The Newspaper Bill 2003 is a regulatory bill, outlining the requirements that a media organisation must comply with before they are issued with a licence to operate in Tonga.
Meanwhile, critics say the new bills were drafted locally and that lawyers who specilize in freedom of speech issues and who understand media issues were not consulted before the bills were rushed into the House.
The bills were tabled in June but have since been withdrawn for amendments. They were due for readmission to the House at the end of July.