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

Tonga Legislative Assembly, Minute No. 25, Monday September 3, 2007.

A new week and the beginning of another month, and despite rumours that parliament was going to be closed on August 31 the members settled down to debate on some of the bills that had previously had their first reading, and two that had their first reading that morning.

A Bill to Amend the Criminal Act and the other to terminate an act that deals with the promotion and the payment of gratitude to civil servants.

The Clerk announced that Noble Tu'ilakepa and Sunia Fili were still away at the APPU meeting. The Minister for Labour, Commerce and Industries was coming late and the No. 3 PR for Tonga could not make it to work, and those who did not answer their calls were probably coming late.

The Speaker said that a 20 member delegation from China were arriving that evening, and they would meet in the House the following day with three representatives from each of the three tables of the Tongan parliament.

Vava'u MOW

People's Representative, Samiu Vaipulu, who had just been to Vava'u, told the House that the report that MOW daily labourers walked out from their jobs was incorrect, they walked out because there was no work and no money to pay them with. He queried the efficiency of the MOW headman in Vava'u. Samiu who is a member of the Vava'u Development Committee said that they had approached the Vava'u MOW numerous times for a quotation to fix some of the bad roads, but there had been no response so it was not true to say that there were no jobs and no money. The Minister of Works said that there were reports from Vava'u, indicating that they did not like the MOW man.

Whale Watching

Debate resumed with the Bill to Amend the Licensing Act. Samiu who is involved in the Whale Watching business in Vava'u said that the practice of operators having to write in annually and request a renewal of their licences was wasting time and it hampered the development of the industry, he suggested that a five-year licence be issued then the owner would pay the fee annually. If government find faults in the operation then they could just cancel the licence.

At first the Prime Minister favoured the idea and said that government would look into it, but then after some strong argument from the Minister for Tourism and the Minister of Justice that an annual application for renewal was needed to keep check on the operation, there was very little chance of changing the status quo.

If Whale Watching operators thought they had a man in the House to fight their case, the Minister of Police at point blank told Samiu that he was wrong to think that he could argue in the House for his own personal interests. Samiu apologised, then the debate shifted from the licensing of Whale Watching operators to the licensing of domestic air services.

Niuas, no air services

Noble Tangipa lamented that airlines had been issued with licences to fly to the Niuas, but for months there had been no air service to the Niuas.

Lepolo Tanisila proposed for the operating licence of Peau Vava'u to be terminated since they had not been able to serve the Niuas.

The Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation Hon. Paul Karalus told the House that the operation certificate of Peau Vava'u had been suspended because the airline was still waiting for parts of its aircraft to arrive, and if they were to remain out of service for a while, then they would have to look at their licence.

The Bill to amend the Licensing Act was passed 19-2. Against were 'Uliti Uata and 'Isileli Pulu.

Public Servants

Debate continued with the Bill to Amend the Public Servants Act 2006, Clauses 21 and 22, relating to complaints and disputes within the Civil Service.

Lepolo Tanisila said that the clause stating that complaints should be lodged with the Head of Departments within 10 days from the occurrence of a dispute was too short if such a dispute took place in the Niuas, where there had been no air services for months and at times no telephone connection. She was also concerned about the need for secrecy in the process in dealing with a dispute.

The Minister of Justice did not think there was anything for the Member to worry about, because the Heads of Departments would be logical enough to take into consideration if a complaint from the Niuas would take several days to get to the HOD to Nuku'alofa. With regards to the secrecy in dealing with disputes, it is a privilege for the Civil Servants to choose whether to publicise the dispute or to just keep it within the service.

There were also a number of alterations to be made so the Minister requested for the Bill to be withdrawn for further corrections.

Criminal Act

The debate then continued with the Bill to Amend the Criminal Act.

'Uliti Uata proposed that if an individual citizen was allowed to take over the handling of a criminal case then his or her expenses should be paid by government, and this individual citizen should be allowed to enter and search homes. However his proposals were considered to be unreasonable by the Minister of Police who said it will never be allowed by the government.

The proposed amendment of the Criminal Act allowed an individual citizen to execute a criminal case at his own expense, with a penalty, punishment, or jail for offenders, unlike a civil case were the penalty was to compensate for loss.



The Bill was passed 19-0.

Business Licensing

The Committee proceeded with the Bill to terminate the Act that deals with the promotion of civil servants in their work places and after a bit of "fakalelea filo", it was passed 18-2. Against were 'Isileli Pulu and 'Uliti Uata.

In Legislature three Bills had their third reading and were passed, the Bill Amending the Business Licensing Act 2002, the Bill Amending the Criminal Act 2007, and the Bill to terminate the Act relating to the promotion of Civil servants 2007.