From the House by Pesi Fonua

Tonga's parliament were reminded to watch their grammar and correct their spelling when they prepared a letter of response to HM King Tupou VI on Tuesday morning, 5 June.

The first task before the parliament was writing their letter of response to the King's speech in opening the 2018-19 Parliamentary Session on 31 May - it was the only item on today’s working agenda of the House.

Three members proposed amendments to the draft letter.

The Minister of Education, Hon. Penisimani ‘Epinisa Fifita pointed a few major errors to be corrected, and stressed the importance for the House to lead the way in using the Tongan language correctly. Firstly, the glottals on vowels were facing the wrong way, and there were numerous misplaced commas throughout the text. There were also words that should be separated into two words, while some should be just one word and not two.

The People’s Representative for Tongatapu Constituent No. 3 Siaosi Sovaleni proposed for the House to respond to the concern that was expressed about use of illegal drugs. He proposed for the House to state a commitment to energise the fight against the use of illegal drugs.

The People’s Representative for ‘Eua Constituency No. 11 Tevita Lavemaau, proposed that there should be a response from the House to the concern expressed by King Tupou VI about the state of reconstruction after Cyclone Gita, and also about Health and Illegal Drugs. He proposed that there should be allocations in the budget to help solve some of these problems.

The Minister of Finance, Hon. Pohiva Tu’I’onetoa responded that there was no need to state these proposals in the House’s letter of response, they were in the budget which would be presented to the House later.

The Speaker called for votes on the letter of response and the amendments that were proposed by the three members.

Members unanimously approved the 11 paragraphs letter of response with 22-0 votes, The Speaker of the House, Lord Fakafanua said the response will be delivered to His Majesty by the No. 2 Nobles’ Representative for Ha’apai, Lord Fakafanua and the Minister for Infrastructure and Tourism Hon. Semisi Sika.

King Tupou VI is currently in Australia. According to the Office of the Legislative Assembly, King Tupou VI and a royal party is in Australia for the baptism of his newborn granddaughter, Nanasipau'u Eliana Tuku'aho.

The Speaker declared the House closed, and they would be informed when they will meet again. Meanwhile, he said that the House’s Standing Committees were very busy.

The Tongan Parliament as of last year has formed 10 Standing Committees where decisions are formalised before they are tabled into the House to be passed.

The members of the Select Committee that drafted the House’s response to the King’s speech were: Chairman, Lord Tu’i’afitu, Lord Nuku, ‘Akosita Lavulavu, Vatau Hui, Hon. Pohiva Tu’I’onetoa and Hon. Poasi Tei.