From the House by Pesi Fonua

In parliament the Committee of the Whole House on Thursday, 11 June passed the $166 million budget allocation of the Ministry of Finance for the 2020-21 Financial Year.

The Ministry of Finance allocation is the biggest of all the government allocations for the 2020-21 Financial Year, that have been debated so far by members of parliament.

When the House closed its weekly proceeding on 11 June the Committee of the Whole House was still debating over the budget allocation for the Ministry of Revenue and Customs, but they had passed six budget allocations:

• Palace Office - $3,669,100
• Office of the Ombudsman - $1,547,900
• His Majesty’s Armed Force - [unspecified on the broadcast]
• Legislative Assembly - $13,770,000
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs -  $10.66m
• Ministry of Finance -  $166m.

The budget Allocation for the office of the Attorney General, one of the three budget allocations that were first passed by the Committee of the Whole House ,was later requested by the Prime Minister to be deferred.

Debate over the $166m Budget Allocation of the Ministry Finance demanded a lot of explanations by the Minister of Finance, Hon. Tevita Lavemaau.

Lord Tu’ivakano queried the existence of a $92 million pa’anga fund that was set up by government when Tonga was going to host the Pacific Games that was later moved to Samoa. A levy was introduced, and he wanted to know where was this money.

Hon. Lavemaau explained that a Sports Council had been established and there was also a Trust Fund Account.

He said that some of the money for Sports also goes to the Ministry for Internal Affairs.

With regards to the National Debt, Hon. Lavemaau said that it was currently $495m but he stressed that we are "better off than the USA which has a national debt of USD $25 trillion".

Loan from China

Tonga’s loan from China remained a major concern. He said that we have asked for an extension, for the repaying of the loan to start at 2023-3024. There had been no response from China, “but it will be disastrous if we can’t save money to repay that loan.”

Before the Committee of the Whole House, broke up for morning, it passed the budget allocation for the Ministry of Finance.

The House proceedings moved on to the budget allocation for the Ministry of Revenue and Customs.

Revenue ran out of money

Hon. Tevita Lavemaau told the Committee that for the first time during the past five years, this Ministry actually ran out of money.

However, foreign aid donors had moved in and propped up the Ministry.

The People’s Republic of China had donated $20m worth of equipment,

New Zealand and Australia had also funded a multi-million project, an automation system to transfer manifestos before ships arrived in Tonga.

The Japanese government had donated a dog to help the Police countering the spread of illegal drugs in the country.

The Ministry had also allocated $100,000 to encourage the public to counter the use of illegal drug by informing the police. There was also a cash hand-out for somebody who tipped-off customs officers about illegal drugs.

Hon. Lavemaau also informed the House that imported agricultural and fisheries machineries remained duty free, so were food products until the end of December 2020.

The importation of construction materials was also duty free until the end of December 2020.

The tax on imported 10 years and older vehicles had also been reduced by 50%.

Starting in July, it will be illegal to import into the country vehicles that are older than 15 years

Starting also on 1 July the importation of mutton flaps will be prohibited.

Mateni Tapueluelu, a former minister of the Customs and Revenue Divisions of the Ministry queried why there was no budget allocations for the Customs and the Revenue divisions of the Ministry.

Hon. Lavemaau explained that all officers in the Ministry are referred to as Revenue Officers.

Before the House broke for lunch, the Prime Minister requested the Speaker if they could have the afternoon off, because Cabinet had been scheduled to meet after lunch.

The Speaker declared the House closed until 10am Monday morning, 15 June.