From the House, by Pesi Fonua

A decision by the Tongan Parliament to hold a secretive session to debate their response to the speech to the nation by HM King Tupou VI on the opening of parliament, is a historical first and a disappointing show for the first sitting of the House of the new government, under the new prime minister. When parliament hides their pondering over the approval of a simple thank you note, then the public cannot hope to see participatory parliament in the future.

Ever since the proceedings of the Tongan Legislative Assembly were opened up for the media to report on the parliamentary debates in the early 1980s, there has never been such a secretive session of the House to decide on their response to the king's opening speech. It's an annual letter written by the parliamentarians. There are many previous examples of “thank you for opening parliament” letters to the monarch that they may refer to for inspiration. A sub-committee usually drafts the letter, before it goes to the house for open debate and approval.

Because HM King Tupou VI directed his  opening speech [2] to not only the Members of Parliament but also to the nation: the people who elected their Members of Parliament, then, surely, the people have a right to know the House’s response, and the thinking behind it?

However, the decision to hold a private parliament was made at a flick of fingers. The People’s Representative for the Tongatapu Constituency No. 4 Mateni Tapueluelu moved for a secret session over their response, alleging that if the debate was broadcast then the public would know their response before the King himself.

The Speaker of the House, Lord Fakafanua, ordered a closed session, with no live broadcasting or reporting.

The House then proceeded to secretly debate over a response from the House to HM King Tupou VI's opening speech of the 2020-21 session. The speech by the king had been delivered live via Zoom on the internet, from the Royal Palace to Parliament on 7 May. Because of the CoViD-19 restrictions, only members of parliament, staff of the House and a few selected media representatives were allowed inside Parliament.

Following the opening, Lord Fakafanua, named members of a parliamentary sub-committee to draft a response from the House to the king's speech. They were: Losaline Ma’asi, Saia Ma’u Piukala, Hon. ‘Amelia Afuha’angano Tu’ipulotu, Siaosi Sovaleni, Lord Tu’iha’angana and Lord Tu’ivakano.

A report from the sub-committee was tabled into parliament for its secret session, which lasted less than an hour.

The next step of processing the Parliament's response to the King’s speech, is for the Palace Office to confirm when His Majesty will be available to receive the response from Parliament.

Waiting

Matangi Tonga contacted parliament after 2:00pm today, to confirm when the House’s response will be delivered to the Palace. “We are still waiting for the Palace Office to confirm a time,” they said.

Parliament will not proceed with its working schedule until they receive a response from the king.

UNDP

Meanwhile, the UNDP Pacific Floating Budget Office in Suva, Fiji, reported today that the Tongan national budget for 2020-2021 has been scheduled to be debated in the Tongan parliament on Monday 18 May.