The Prime Minister reminded the House that government had still left the door open for negotiation with the strikers but following the vandalism at Tonga College, if this damaging behaviour continued, he warned that government's bucket of endurance could be full. He told parliament that government was concerned about children losing their right to education, and that government would make a decision to protect the interest of the majority and not that of the minority.

From the House, translation summary by Pesi Fonua.

Tonga Legislative Assembly, Minute No. 25, Wednesday August 17, 2005.



- Isileli Pulu said that the People's Representative's were presenting a motion to cut down on the argument in committee regarding the response from the Cabinet over the.

- The Prime Minister said that while they were debating the response from government about the resolution the People's Representatives were trying to amend the resolution.

- The vandalism at Tonga College was discussed in the house.

- The Prime Minister referred again to how the Government's bucket was nearly full and how some people were appearing in court. He told PRs that he was not making threats but that government was very concerned about children losing their right for an education. He said that the situation was that students were to appear in court, which led government to make a decision to protect the interest of the majority and not that of the minority.

- The Niuas People's Representative, Lepolo Taunisila, expressed her dissatisfaction with how it took government two weeks to reply to the House on the Resolution, she thought it was too long, and to make the matter worse the people asked for a fish and the government gave them a snake.

PRs write letter of reply to PM

The Speaker, Hon. Veikune, said that the House would continue with the letter from the Prime Minister, Prince 'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata, on the Cabinet decision on the House's resolution with regard to the petition from the striking civil servants to increase their salaries.

A Tongatapu People's Representative, 'Isileli Pulu said that to expedite the proceedings of the House, the PRs had decided to draft a letter with their response to the Prime Minister's reply to the resolution from the House. He said that their effort might help find a solution to the problem without having to wait for an independent auditor or arbitrator to come. He requested for the House to be postponed until 2 pm, allowing the Cabinet and their negotiating committee to study their proposal.

The Minister of Justice, Hon. Siaosi 'Aho, who chaired the negotiating committee of the Cabinet opposed the move to postpone the House until 2 pm. He said that negotiation was going well between Cabinet and the Public Service Association, and their last meeting was the previous evening. He suggested that PRs letter be distributed.

The Prime Minister asked the Speaker if they had completed what they had been debating in the Whole House Committee. He said that there appeared to be a lot of proposals but no one seemed to want to hear the responses.

The Speaker agreed with the Prime Minister and said that they had not completed what they debated in the Whole House Committee.

'Isileli Pulu said that the PRs debate in committee had been compiled into a motion to cut down on the debating and the argument that could go on in committee. But he said there was an urgent matter for the members of the House to look at what had been reported to have taken place at Tonga College earlier that morning.

The Speaker said that the letter from the PRs should be photocopied and distributed to members. He said that the letter from the PM was a response to the Resolution of the House, and the letter from the PRs was in response to the letter from the PM.

Tonga College damage

The Minister of Education, Hon. Dr Tevita Hala Palefau, said that for those who love god, all things would work together to benefit them. He said that the matter that was reported by Ha'apai People's Representative, 'Uliti Uata, about a staff member of the Ministry of Education who picked a fight with the strikers had been handed over to the Public Service Commission and the Ministry of Education to deal with.

With regards to what has occurred at Tonga College, he said that according to a Deputy Director of Education at the college, senior boys who marched in support of the striking teachers had returned early this morning to the school to chase out students who were returning to school. After they did that then they damaged the property of the school. He said that they had contacted the police. He blamed what had happened on the involvement of students in their demonstration marching in support of their striking teachers.

A Tongatapu People's Representative, 'Akilisi Pohiva, blamed what had happened on the response from government that was discussed in the House yesterday. He said that PSA executives were in the House to listen to the letter from the PM. He proposed for negotiation to continue between the Cabinet and the PSA negotiating teams. He supported 'Isileli Pulu's motion for the proceedings to be postponed.

Do something

The Prime Minister reminded the Speaker of a government proposal for an elected committee to draft the agenda of the House. Secondly he reminded the House that government still left the door open for negotiation but if this kind of damaging behaviour continued, he warned that government's bucket of endurance could be full, and then we have reached a situation where government has to do something.

The Minister of Police, Hon. Nuku, said that the new document that was introduced by 'Isileli Pulu infringed the regulation of the House and therefore he suggested for the House to put aside their regulation so that they could go back and debate the petition from the PSA to the House.

The Speaker did not think there was any need to do so, but he believed that the document that was presented by 'Isileli Pulu would shorten the debate of the House and helped to break up the black cloud that had been hanging over the country.

The Minister of Police insisted that introduction of the new document hads broken the regulation of the House and therefore opened up the resolution that was passed by the House for debate.

'Uliti Uata could not understand what the Minister of Police was talking about, because they were still debating on what government had done with the resolution. He could not understand what closed and open resolution that the Minister was referring to.

The Prime Minister said that the situation was that while they were debating the response from government about the resolution the PRs were trying to amend the resolution.

A Ha'apai People's Representative, Fineasi Funaki, disagreed with the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister referred again to how the Government's bucket was nearly full and how some people were appearing in court.

'Uliti Uata warned the PM that he was using too many threatening words in the House, and told him that he should know what he was saying.

Snakes and fish

The PM responded that he was not threatening but that government was very concerned about children losing their right for an education. He said that the situation was that students were to appear in court, which led government to make a decision to protect the interest of the majority and not that of the minority.

The Nius People's Representative, Lepolo Taunisila, expressed her dissatisfaction with how it took government two weeks to reply to the House on the Resolution, she thought it was too long, and to make the matter worse that the people asked for a fish and the government gave them a snake.

The Prime Minister disagreed that the people asked for fish and they were given a snake. He said that government was trying to educate people to know how to fish so that they could provide for themselves.

The House was postponed until 2 pm the following day.