From the House By Pesi Fonua

Six Bills, tabled into the Tongan parliament by Cabinet and labelled “urgent” by the Prime Minister, stirred fierce debate on Wednesday and Thursday.

A Bill to Amend Clause 79 of the Tonga Constitution, was the first of the six Bills that were tabled on Wednesday, 27 February.

However, before the Bill was read, there were fierce opposition to the Bill.

Siaosi Sovaleni warned of a possible infringement of the authority of the King. He stressed that an unconstitutional Bill should not have been tabled into the House.

Lord Nuku pointed out that to amend Clause 79 of the Constitution, meant the House could spend the whole year amending Acts.

Clause 79 of the Constitution states that it shall be lawful for the Legislative Assembly to discuss amendments to the Constitution provided that such amendments shall not affect the law of liberty, the succession to the Throne, and the titles and hereditary estates of the nobles.

Interestingly, the Bill has never been read in the House, (the general public are not aware of its details).

Lord Fusitu’a proposed for the House to seek the advice of an academic constitutional expert.

The Speaker informed the House that he had consulted three independent advisers, the Ombudsman, the Attorney General and the Chief Clerk of the House, a lawyer. He called on the Clerk to read the advice of his independent advisers.

All the advisers pointed out that the bill could be read in the House, and that members have the right to decide to pass or reject the Bill.

Lord Fusitu’a however reminded the House that the precedent was to bring an academic on constitutional law from overseas to advise the House.

The Speaker stressed that he had received advice from independent advisers.

He called on the Clerk to read a letter from the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister asked for the Speaker to consider Bills No. 1 to 6 to be urgent and for the House to process the Bills. He reminded the Speaker that the House had passed these Bills in 2014, but it was returned by the Privy Council for further delibeation. Lord Tu’ilakepa stressed that there should be a public consultation over the Bills. He called on the Speaker to go and talk to the King over the issue.

Lord Tu’iha’angana reminded the House of the advice of the independent advisers – that the Bills can be tabled into Parliament then it is for members to decide what to do with them.

Tevits Lavemaau, questioned why are the Bills urgent? Will it improve revenue collection? He suggested that they should move on to issues which would enable them to collect more revenue.

He asked the Prime Minister, “How much money will these Bills will bring into the country?”

The Minister for Trade Hon. Tu’i Uata reminded the House the Nobles representatives voted in favour of the Bill when it was presented to the House in 2014.

Lord Fusitu’a responded that the 2014 Bill was an old bill, the 2019 is a new Bill.

Speaker – called for votes after the first reading of the Bill.

It was carried 11-9.

Lord Nuku called on the Prime Minister to revert the bills and allow them for Public Consultation, but it was turned down.

Lord Tu’ilakepa queried that if the Bill was considered urgent, why was it urgent?

There was no response. The Speaker called for votes on whether they should have a Public Consultation over the Bills or not.

It was rejected 11-9.

There will be no public consultation over the Bills. Siaosi Sovaleni pointed out what was considered a major error, particularly to the drafting of Legislations, that in the letter from the PM to the Speaker statingthe Bills were urgent, he referred to “Bills 1 to 6” but  the Bills that were tabled into parliament were identified as “Bills 1A to 6A”, so there was an error in the PM’s letter labelling the Bills as being urgent.

The Speaker also pointed out that the explanatory notes of Bills 1A to 6A were different from Bills 1 to 6. He  also pointed out that among the Bills identified with an “A”, Bill No. 4 had no “A”.

Lord Fusitu’a moved for the Bills to be handed to the House’s Standing Law Committee to scrutinize before they are tabled into Parliament.

The Prime Minister told the House that he would send another letter (with corrections).

However, Tevita Lavemaau moved for the House to debate over the right of the PM to identify an issue as being urgent.

The Prime Minister identified members who were trying to defer the debate on the Bills, as “trouble makers”.

Before lunch break yesterday, 28 February, the Minister of Police, Hon. Mateni Tapueluelu moved for the House to have a break, allowing the PM to forward a new urgent letter.

The Speaker called for the House to close until 10:00 am Monday.