From the House, by Pesi Fonua.

If Parliament’s most urgent task at the close of its first day, Monday, was the passing of a new Foreign Investment Bill 2019 in order to release $35 million in current Budget Support from donors, then other matters on the work agenda might have been expected to be put aside when the House reconvened.

However, on Tuesday morning the issure of the Tonga cable black-out at the end of January occupied the attention of the House. The fact that there had been no government statement on the cause of the submarine fibre optic cable black-out or the cost of fixing it, was considered by Lord Tu‘i‘afitu to be a very urgent matter.

The Speaker called for votes on whether an official report on the internet black-out was urgently required, and it was carried 10-8.

So instead of the House working to pass the Foreign Investment Bill 2019, they debated over the proposition by Lord Tu‘i‘afitu for the House to form an elected committee to investigate what happened to Tonga’s submarine fibre optic cable. He expressed his concern that there was talk that it might be sabotage.

The Minister of Police, Fire Brigade, Revenue Collection and Customs, Hon. Mateni Tapueluelu told the House that Cabinet had formed a committee to investigate what happened and to confirm whether or not there were criminal activities involved.

Noble's Representative Lord Nuku raised the fact that a rumour of the cable being sabotaged had been reported in the media, while at the same time Hon. Tu‘i Uata, the Minister of Commerce, Consumer, Trade, Innovation, and Labour, said that there had been no official report on what happened to the cable.

People's Representative Siaosi Sovaleni reminded Hon. Uata that he as a Cabinet Minister had been on air reporting on the internet black-out.

Hon. Uata responded by insisting that his broadcasted comments were “not official”.

Sovaleni objected: “If it was not official, then who pays for your radio program?”

Corrected and rejected

The Speaker reminded Hon. Uata that when he goes on air, he is presenting as the Minister of Labour and not in a personal capacity as Tu‘i Uata.

The Speaker called for votes on the motion for the House to form a Select Committee to investigate Tonga’s internet black-out, and the motion was rejected.

Another urgent rumour

If the rumour that Tonga’s submarine fibre optic cablewas sabotaged was not considered urgent, Lord Tu‘iha‘angana raised another rumour he considered to be very urgent. He said that there was a rumour that Cabinet had agreed for the LDS Church to have access to the government national registration of Marriages, Births and Deaths. He expressed his concern over how government released information that the public gave them confidentially with trust.

Hon. Vuna Fa‘otusia, Minister of Justice, admitted that government had approved for the LDS Church to access the government registrations, but he said that they were still negotiating over the process. He questioned, if a tsunami comes what is going to happen to the records?

People's Representative Samiu Vaipulu said that when he was a Cabinet Minister the LDS Church approached government with the proposition to access the National Registrations, but they turned it down.

That was the end of that discussion and it was lunchtime.

After lunch the House got back to the urgent task of passing the Foreign Investment Bill 2019, so that the $35m Budget Support for the current 2018-19 national budget could be made available for government.

The explanatory notes state that the Bill came out of a review of the current Foreign Investment Act 2002 made by the Ministry of Commerce in 2014, which resulted in a policy paper, endorsed by Cabinet. This recognised that it was essential that the framework under which foreign investment occurs must balance welcoming foreign investment in order to grow the economy with the need to ensure that all Tongan citizens benefit from this participation in the local economy.

Debate on the Bill got stuck on the clause – “Reserved List and Restricted List”.

The Reserved List defines business activities which are reserved only for Tongan investors, and the Restricted List defines business activities which a foreign investment business may carry on provided it satisfies conditions prescribed in the Regulation.

Regulations for this Act will be passed by Cabinet after the Bill is enacted.