From the House, an English translation summary from the Tongan vernacular, by Pesi Fonua.

Tonga Legislative Assembly, Minute No. 24, Wednesday August 29, 2007.

The Clerk announced that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence was still away overseas on a government mission. Lepolo Taunisila was away sick. The Governor of Ha'apai was still away and Noble Tu'ipelehake was on sick leave, and Noble Tu'ilakepa and Sunia Fili were attending the APPU meeting overseas. He said that those who did not answer their calls, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Works, the Minister for Labour, Commerce and Industries, Noble Fohe and Clive Edwards were probably coming late.

The House appeared to have got off to a wrong start today and the fault lay with those at the helm, the Speaker Noble Tu'iha'angana, Chairman Noble Lasike and the Chief Clerk of the House Tevita 'Ova. The Speaker and the Chairman were not able to keep the debate on track allowing PRs to wander and get lost, while the Clerk let some questions be asked several times.

CPA Sydney

The agenda for the morning session was for a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting and for the Whole House Committee to debate on Ordinances that had been Gazetted.

In Legislature the House accepted an invitation from the CPA Australia, and the Speaker appointed the acting Chairman, Noble Lasike to represent Tonga.

The Minister for Technical Training, Youth and Sports, Noble Tu'ivakano, and the former Speaker of the House, did not think it was proper for CPA matters to be discussed in Legislature. He also reminded the Speaker that the CPA meeting is a meeting of top parliamentarians who discuss complex issues. He said that the fact that Tonga is reforming the composition of its parliament is an issue that the CPA meeting will be interested in.

The Speaker however believed that Noble Lasike would be able to represent Tonga. He also said that a separate CPA meeting would have been necessary if they were electing new members.

Census 2006

In Committee the Regulation for the Census 2006 was passed without any debate, but the Regulation dealing with how civil servants lodge complaints and settle disputes was just too much for People's Representatives 'Isileli Pulu and 'Akilisi Pohiva.

'Isileli took off and threw up the most irrelevant facts about the Regulation talking about everything from daily labourers with the Ministry of Works in Vava'u and how there were no jobs and no money to fill pot holes on the roads, and even got onto the rise in the price of electricity.

Once electricity was mentioned and 'Akilisi had a whiff of Shoreline he came up with one of his favourite lines: "it is sad that the people don't know . . .", referring to the financial position of this private company. All they know is that the price of electricity keeps going up, he said. "Government must come up with a favourable explanation to comfort the people. The people don't know anything, the only thing they know is that three people have a salary of $600,000 per annum."

'Akilisi did not think it was sensible for government to subsidise the price of electricity, amounting to $4 million to $6 million in subsidies and he thought it should stop.

The Minister of Justice questioned if he meant that the government should stop the subsidy and let people pay the full amount.

'Akilisi responded that the subsidy made sense if they knew how much money Shoreline was collecting.

The Speaker told 'Akilisi that they were tired of hearing the same message from him.

'Akilisi said that the problem is that the people believe what they [himself and some other PRs] tell them. He said that because the government is not saying that they are telling a lie, so therefore what they are telling the people is the truth.

Infringed

Noble Tu'ivakano reminded the Speaker that the debate in Legislature has infringed the Rules for Proceeding of the House because if they want to debate on the matter then they should dissolve the Legislature and go into Committee. The members should also get back to the Regulation and leave their questions to question time.

Noble Tangipa said that 'Akilisi should take his concerns to court, because parliament was the wrong place for them. He said that the House was tired of hearing these issues, and may be it was time these PRs should leave because there are others who want to represent the people properly.

'Akilisi said that Tangi should go and tell the people not to vote for them. He wanted to know who audited the books of Shoreline.

The Minister for Public Enterprises said that Shoreline is a private company and who audits their books is their own affair.

The Minister of Justice said that if they were drifting into discussing the affairs of a private company in the House then they were wasting their time.

The Speaker had a few heated exchanges with 'Akilisi and the proceeding came to a sudden end.

Taxis

In an about turn the Noble Lasike complained to the Minister for Tourism about how some taxi drivers take guests who were supposed to stay in one guest house to another. The noble owns a motel.

Foreign Investment Act

The whereabouts of the Regulation for Civil Servants' complaints and disputes was not known, and the debate continued with a Bill to amend the Foreign Investment Act 2002.

For a few minutes the debate stayed with the Bill, when People's Representative 'Uliti Uata suggested for the Bill to be deferred until the Minister for Labour returned because he said Tonga's membership with the WTO had made investment in Tonga on any business ventures unattractive.

The Prime Minister disagreed and said that Tonga's sovereignty is untouched, but there is a list of business which are accessible for foreigners, and businesses which were safe-guarded for Tongans only.

Then 'Akilisi, showing an obvious dislike to dealing with the details of the laws, redirected the debate to some more mud slinging. He likened the government to a wolf who devours people with the Consumption Tax.

An attempt by the PM to explain the process of planning and implementing of any tax for the benefit of all was irrelevant for the mud slinger. 'Akilisi said that the sudden increase by the Tonga Airports Ltd of the Departure Tax from $25 to $55 was another example of the way of the wolf.

The Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation had a go at explaining how the rate is the same in other airports overseas, the difference is that it is included in the price of the ticket. He also reminded the House that the airport needs a lot of new equipment in order to cope with the newer aircraft that are going to be introduced by airlines to land in Tonga.

The Foreign Investment Bill bit the dust as 'Isileli Pulu stressed that if only Royal Tonga Airlines was managed properly Tonga would have made a lot of money and there would have been no need to rise the Departure Fee.

Question time

The Committee dissolved into Legislature, and it was question time.

'Isileli Pulu wanted to know if any of RTA's $877,645 debt had been paid as of July 2007, and if Peau Vava'u had paid its debt of $44,176 as of June 2007.

The Minister for Civil Aviation responded that nothing has been paid to offset RTA's debt, and that Peau Vava'u's debt now is $47,170.

'Isileli did not want to name names but at the end it became known it was Shoreline who had not paid its income tax since 1998 and it owed $2.6 million to the Revenue Department. He wanted the Minister of Finance to confirm if his figures were right.

The Minister of Finance agreed that the figure was correct but said that since they are now working at government buying back the Power Generation Business from Shoreline the money owed could become part of the deal.

Foreign Investment Act

'Isileli's next group of questions dealt with statutory boards, how many boards, how much government had invested in them, and the amount of dividends they paid government.

The Minister for Technical Training, Youth and Sports pointed out that there had been a repetition in the questions. Some had already been asked before. He queried if the Clerk was doing his job.

The Minister for Public Enterprises said that are 15 public enterprises, and the total dividend paid up to June 2007 amounted to $2.8 million. The government's total investment in these enterprises amounted to $78 million.

Out of the blue 'Akilisi went back to the Shoreline Debt of $2.6 million.

The Minister of Justice expressed her disappointment with the state of debate in the House. She said that there is a desperate need for improvement because it is embarrassing and it lowers the standard of the House.

The House then got into some Fakalelea Filo stuff about WTO but in the end the Bill to Amend the Foreign Investment Act 2002 was carried 13-0.

The House closed until Monday September 3.