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

Tonga Legislative Assembly, Minute No. 26, Thursday September 6, 2007.

Seven People's Representatives, working under a misconception that the Parliamentary Committee for Political Reform has the overall authority to decide on a new political system for Tonga, were pushing for the reform to be implemented next year, or in 2009. 'Akilisi Pohiva on behalf of the seven PRs, said that if matters were returned to the House for approval then they would withdraw their support for the committee.

The Minister of Labour, Commerce and Industries told 'Akilisi that the Parliamentary Committee for Reform was a waste of time and money.

It appeared that the House was not in a hurry to deal with the second and final report from its Parliamentary Committee for Political Reform.

The committee presented its first report on August 6 after a month of deliberation, at which point the committee was allowed another month to complete their work. The Chairman of the committee Noble Luani presented their final report of September 6, which was read in the Legislature.

In the Whole House Committee, presumably members were eager to get stuck into the report, but instead it was decided for the House to knock out the regulation relating to complaints and how to settle disputes within the Civil Service that the committee had been debating on and off for a while.

Civil Service Complaints Regulation

In Committee, it took nearly the whole morning for 'Isileli Pulu and 'Akilisi Pohiva to accept that their point to allow more time for reconciliation between the Civil servants and the HODs before a complaint is lodged with the Public Service Commissioners would require that the Principal Act be amended - and they could do that. But what was in front of the Committee was a Regulation dealing with different thing.

The Minister of Justice, the chairman of the committee and other members, tried to reason with the two PRs but they insisted that their point should be included in the regulation. Then, when they were asked to come up with a wording, they could not and so the chairman called for votes. The Regulation was carried 18-2. Against were 'Akilisi and 'Isileli.

Political Reform Report

Before lunch the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Political Reform, Noble Luani led the way for a brief debate on their report before the committee broke up for lunch. Luani reminded the House that in their first report on August 6, there were six issues that the committee could not resolve, and that was why they requested another month. The committee had since dealt with four but could not agree on two but they hoped that the House could deal with these issues. These were: when the reform should take place; and the duration of the term in parliament of an elected member.

The Deputy Prime Minister, a member of the Committee for Political Reform, said that the proposed restructuring of the composition of the House could not take place before the election next year, because a lot of work had to be done and it was an issue that the House had to come to terms with.

'Akilisi, who somehow believed that the Committee for Political Reform would make the final decision on the reform and that did not need the approval of the House, said that because the unresolved issues were referred back to the House, the seven PRs [presumably, excepting Samiu Vaipulu and 'Osai Latu] would withdraw their support on any decision made by the committee.

After lunch it was Question Time. 'Isileli Pulu and Vili Helu had a few questions, then the committee returned to the report of the Parliamentary Reform Committee.

'Akilisi said that because the committee could not agree on the two issues of, when is the new composition of the House to be implemented and the duration of the term of an elected member of parliament, the seven PRs would like to forget all about what had been proposed by the committee and go back to the report of the NCPR, which according to him, had been accepted by the House.

The Governor of Ha'apai reminded 'Akilisi that the report that had been accepted by the House simply presented the views of the people.

The Minister of Works asked 'Akilisi to talk about their report of the parliamentary committee for reform and not that of the NCPR. He said he wanted to know why the committee disagreed.

Reversal

The Deputy Prime Minister wanted 'Akilisi to clarify his stance, because what he had just said was a reverse of what they decided in their committee. He said that after meeting 22 times, 'Akilisi wanted to forget all about it and go back to the report of the NCPR.

'Akilisi said that the seven PRs could not take the fact that what was decided in committee had to be presented and approved by the House.

The Minister of Labour, Commerce and Industries told 'Akilisi that the Parliamentary Committee for Reform was a waste of time and money.

'Osai Latu proposed for the committee to have more time to continue with the matters that they had not agreed on. This proposal was well supported by other members including the Chairman of the committee, Noble Luani.

'Akilisi said, with a sense of urgency, that when they return on Monday the choices are going to be whether the reform will take place in 2009 as the PRs proposed, or in 2010 as the government proposed.

The Minister of Police told the member that he had got it all wrong. There was no urgency for the political reform to take place, "what is needed is that the reform is the best that we can come up with."

Before the House closed at the end of the week it was agreed that they would debate on the report from the reform committee again on Monday.