A Vote of No Confidence against the Prime Minister has not been filed with Tonga's Parliament. "We have not received a notice or motion for Vote of No Confidence," the Clerk of the Tongan Legislative Assembly, Ms Gloria Pole’o confirmed this morning, 4 August.

Gloria was responding to questions raised following reports in the New Zealand and Australian media about the Tongan Prime Minister facing a Vote of No Confidence when the Tongan Parliament reopens on 15 August.

There have been headlines such as – “Pacific Games Council keen to steer clear of politics ahead of Tonga no Confidence vote” (ABC/RA) and “Tonga’s PM will face no confidence vote” (RNZ).

The reports were made while the Prime Minister, Hon ‘Akilisi Pohiva was on an official visit to New Zealand from 27-30 July followed by a private extension to the trip this week.

The report by Radio New Zealand today 4 August that a petition for a Vote of No Confidence on the Prime Minister has been filed by Lord Vaea is intriguing - because Lord Vaea is a member of the PM’s delegation on his official visit to New Zealand and the House has not yet received the petition.

To further complicate the issue the Tongan Prime Minister also told Radio New Zeland that he didn’t think that “he could achieve much more in the upcoming second half of his historic term,” and said he planned to retire in 2018.

Relating to a claim in Radio New Zealand by a former Media Adviser of the PM that the current government is the "most corrupted ever", there was no direct response from the Prime Minister other than to put more emphasis on good governance, and to try and reduce corruption.