From the House, by Pesi Fonua

Tonga Legislative Assembly, Minute No. 8, Tuesday June 14, 2005.

- 'Akilisi Pohiva said that if they were talking about accountability, and taking it to the highest level then who was the chief executive of the Privy Council [the king] accountable to?

- The Prime Minister, HRH Prince ...‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata asked would the people be more powerful than the constitution and the law? In the old days when there was no law and order, countries ended up in war, and it seemed that was what some of the PRs wanted, they did not want Law and Order.

- Clive Edwards said, if he had the authority of the king, he would sack all the Ministers for disobedience, and for not doing anything to build up the economy, other than just collecting tax and having Cabinet Meetings.

- During the budget debate 'Uliti Uata called for a reduction of the budget which should remain at the same level as last year. He said that 56% of the budget was for government salaries and there was nothing for the people.

- Clive Edwards said that the CT was unconstitutional and that four-fifths of tax revenue to be collected was not shown in the budget.

Prompt response to Growers

The day's session started with a discussion between the Speaker (Veikune) and the Chairman of the Whole House Committee (Noble Havea Tu'iha'angana) over whether an Acting Minister of Works should be sworn in, since he had been sworn in before to the same acting position. The Speaker won and the House resolved into Committee.

'Uliti Uata thanked the Minister of Finance for his prompt response to the petition by the growers and suggested that he did the same for Fisheries and the Tourism Industry.

The Minister of Finance, Hon. Siosiua 'Utoikamanu, requested more time to calculate the loss of revenue for government if they would grant exemptions to the Fisheries and Tourism, and also its impact on the estimated budget, bearing in mind that the tax exemption for the growers amounted to $3.2 million.

'Uliti said that there was nothing in the budget to encourage the establishment of new industries, it was all about tax collection and how to make it more efficient. He said that government could not go on milking the cow and expecting milk while not feeding the cow. He said he supported the CT but 15% was far too high, we should start low and then slowly increase.

He raised his voice when he queried why the $7.1 million salary rise for the Public Servants, saying "but what about the rest of the population, who gave them the $7.1 million?" In addition he queried the need to subsidise the 11 seniti to Shoreline without even bringing it into the House. He stressed that it was the people's money they were using and the people had the right to have a say. He said that all the nice things that were said in the Budget Statement were the opposite of what the government was actually doing. He pointed out that the drop in the price of goods because of CT that the Minister kept talking about was nonsense. He said that a drop of 3, 8 and 10 seniti was not worth thinking about.

He proposed a cut in the budget, and for this year's budget to remain at the same level as last years. He said that if the Minister was an expert in economics then he should answer his question of what would Tonga do in the case of a natural disaster. What can the government do? Then he answered his own question by saying, "nothing, because government has no reserves".

56% revenue goes to salaries

'Uliti pointed out that with the proposed salary rise for public servants, it would mean that 56% of government revenues went to the salaries of public servants.

The Prime Minister, HRH Prince 'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata, reminded the members it also included the salaries of the Members of Parliament. He said that the member including the other PRs raised their hands for a salary rise for the House instead of waiting for a report from the Higher Salary Review committee.

'Uliti responded that the rise the Prime Minister referred to, and they kept publicising it on TV, did not mean that the House asked for more money, the Speaker of the House at the time simply cut down on extra expenses of the House and then used that saving to increase the salaries of the House. 'Uliti believed he was right and the PM was wrong. 'Uliti proposed for the budget to remain at the same level as last year.

Desperate need for economic reform

The Deputy PM, Hon. Cecil Cocker, stressed the fact that there was a desperate need to reform the economy because it was a part of the global economy and when we became part of all these free trade agreements, including the WTO, government would end up with no sources of revenue.

He said that Clive should know what he was talking about because he was the one who spear-headed the privatisation program. He said that the big question was government's revenue. He said that the 15% tax was decided on because the Prime Minister wanted Tonga to be a member of the WTO by January next year, he said that once we crossed that line we could only float and see where government would get its revenue from. He said that Clive knew very well what was going on and there was a waiting game because the funds for the reform came from the World Bank and the ADB, and if they moved too fast with the reform the funding would not be released.

Clive said that it was clear that the objective of the Government's budget was to reform the tax system, but the question was how much money the government was aiming to collect? He said that it was unconstitutional to just collect tax as they pleased. He wanted to know the amount.

Secondly, he wanted to know if the $14 million from the New Zealand Government that was allocated for the Ministry of Education had already been transferred over.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that as he had been trying to explain that the 15% CT was an attempt by government to neutralise their loss of revenue.

$30 million

Clive responded that it was unconstitutional to neutralise tax. He wanted to know the amount. The Deputy PM said that there would be an increase in the collection by $30 million, so the total would be $46 million. Clive said that four-fifths of the amount to be collected had not been revealed by government. Why were they hiding it, and he reminded the Deputy PM that what they were doing was unconstitutional.

The Deputy PM said that the Reform had been in a state of standing still during the three years, and that it was time to move forward. The Deputy PM liked using metaphors in his speeches so he referred to the government as the Lomipeau, the legendary biggest Kalia ever seen. He said that the big wave of Free Trade was coming and that the taxation system had to be readjusted.

'Akilisi appreciated the point that was raised by the Deputy PM about the Lomipeau raving to go, but he said that the Lomipeau couldn't move forward with the old Seagull outboard motor, the ocean was too rough. The question was can the Seagull power the Lomipeau?

The Deputy PM replied yes, just take a deep breath and go, that was the way of this country.

'Akilisi replied - "You have got a funny mouth. (Malie tama ho ngutu)".

The chairman called for the member to behave himself.

The Deputy PM returned to point he made earlier about how the reform was too slow, and it had been in a state of marking time during the past three years, and more or less had frozen things up and was depriving everyone of a working capital.

'Akilisi wanted to know that since Heads of Departments had signed working contracts with government, when were ministers going to sign working contracts?

The Prime Minister pointed out that Cabinet Ministers had a tougher contract, because they didn't know when they may be told to go home. He said that the four new ministers who were elected into the House had a three-year working contract with the people, then if they were not re-elected in the next election they would lose their jobs.

Law and Order or War

'Akilisi said that if they were talking about accountability, and taking it to the highest level and to make the whole system complete, then who was the chief executive of the Privy Council [the king] accountable to?

The PM said that the system was complete. He said that there was a constitution and the leader of the country was the King who was given the authority over his ministers. That constitution was stronger than what 'Akilisi was thinking about, and that was because he was elected by the people. Would the people be more powerful than the constitution and the law?

The PM pointed out that Law and Order was very important world-wide. In the old days when there was no law and order, countries ended up in war, and it seemed that was what some of the PRs wanted, they did not want Law and Order.

The Deputy PM reminded the member that the strongest democratic country in the world was the USA, and Tonga was an offspring of the USA.

Fineasi Funaki told the Deputy PM that Tonga might have been an off spring of the USA, but the difference was that they were in the light and we were in the dark. They could chose their leader and we could not.

Samiu Vaipulu expressed his concern over Tonga's accession to the WTO and the notion that in order for Tonga to secure export access, and yet there was nothing in the budget statement about boosting exports. It was all about the CT and how to strangle the people with tax. He wanted to know if government had identified a new export product?

Exporting Tongan People

The Minister of Finance said that Tonga's best export product was its people who brought into the country $184 million annually. He said there was concern that New Zealand, Australia and the USA could send back illegal overstayers.

Samiu did not think the WTO had anything to do with the plight of overstayers, but the Minister said that the Freedom of Labour Movement was an issue that had been heavily debated by WTO and we should be part of such an International Agreement that dealt with the free movement of labourers.

After lunch the Speaker informed the House that the annual conference of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga would have its presidential election the following day, and then it would be officially opened the following day by the Queen. He suggested that they start early at 9am but work only in the morning during the next two days.

There was a long discussion but at the end that had to vote on two motions. 'Akilisi moved for the House to start at 8.30 and finish at 12 noon, then to take the afternoon off. The other motion by 'Uliti was for the House to start at its normal time, but to take the afternoon to attend the feasting, which they all had been invited to. The Speaker called for votes and it was rejected, for it were 'Akilisi Pohiva, 'Isileli Pulu and Vili Helu.

The Legislature dissolved into Committee and debate continued in the Whole House Committee.

'Uliti wanted to know why government was pushing ahead with the privatisation of services at the airport but not at the wharf, where the Nuku'alofa Harbour Board has taken back some of the services that were privatised.

Minister of Finance slipped out

The Minister of Finance had slipped out again and neither the Chairman nor the members knew when he went out. The PM also pointed that others who were missing in the PRs table, might be away to attend to their squash. When the Minister of Finance returned later, the debate started again.

The PM responded to 'Uliti's claim that the airport was privatising but not the wharf. The PM said that that the Deputy PM chaired the Reform Committee and were trying to put right what was done by the no. 3 Tongatapu PR when he chaired the Reform Committee.

Call for domestic travel exemption

Both Samiu and 'Uliti called an exemption of domestic travelling from CT. The Minister of Finance requested more time for him to make a decision.

Clive Edwards queried why the budget completely ignored the king's speech from the throne when he opened parliament. He said that the objective of the King's speech was to revive the economy and to restore the value of the Pa'anga. There was nothing in the budget statement to support this view, and he wanted the Minister to explain why. The Minister replied that he had little information about the investment that the King was talking about, besides it was a private investment.

Market in Pagopago

Clive went on and gave an example of how ministers completely ignored the King's more realistic economic plan. He said that after pushing to establish a market in Pago Pago, the Deputy Prime Minister was responsible for construction of that market, but once it was established it was ignored and Tongan growers have not been able to take advantage of the high demand for Tongan produce in American Samoa. He said that a Tongan by the name of Paea was running it for his own business interest.

He reminded the House that government was still paying all the expenses for the market in Pagopago. He said that the King's vision for development was one thing, but the ministers left that aside and did the opposite.

The Deputy PM said that Clive led the implementation of the Pago Pago project and he should tell the House what happened.

Clive said that normally the Minister of Police did not get involved in the economic planning of the country, but in this particular case he and the Minister of Land were asked by the then Minister of Commerce to come and clean up the mess that the others had made. He said that with regards to Paea they could not move him because he said that the Deputy PM was more powerful than them.

Clive said that if he had the authority of the king he would sack all the ministers for not doing what the king wanted them to do, or in other words for disobedience.

The Deputy PM told Clive that the PRs killed the Royal Tongan Airlines, but Clive insisted that if he had the Power he would sack them all. He said they were not doing anything to increase exports. The Tongan Manioke was the best and yet Fiji had dominated the market.

He said that there were far too many Cabinet meetings and not enough time for the Ministers to do any work.