From the House by Pesi Fonua.

The half day session for the Tongan parliament on June 1 gave MPs just enough time to decide to take the rest of the week off.

It was only the second day at work for 2004, and the three main issues that occupied the House's attention were the questions of whether to break up before lunch; whether nobles were disrespectful in criticising the king; and why a subcommittee was being paid for preparing a report for MPs.

It was proposed that the House break up before lunch and not reconvene until the following Monday, June 7. The reason for this very short working week, according to the Speaker, was to give elected members the opportunity to study the Budget, which had not been presented in full to the House by the Minister of Finance.

The second matter of concern was that there was no order in the House according to the Minister of Police, Hon. Clive Edwards who declared it was disrespectful when the day before a noble said that Tonga had a bad king, and the country had lost a lot of money. The minister said that it was disrespectful when some People's Representatives voted against passing a letter from the House replying to His Majesty's speech from the throne on the opening of parliament.

The third issue that was discussed was a move by a group of MPs to form a parliamentary sub committee to prepare their report to present to the House regarding their fact-finding mission earlier in the year to Australia and New Zealand. The fact that they would be paid for preparing their report to the House was a point of contention because normally MPs who travel on a mission overseas are obligated to present a report to the House on their return.

The Speaker moved for the House to break up until June 7, giving members the opportunity to study the Budget.

'Akilisi Pohiva said the House should start working on the Budget immediately, because if the Minister of Finance went overseas the following week, as expected, it would be very difficult for the House to work on the Budget if the architect of the Budget was not in the House. He said that further disruption of the work of the House was the coming annual conference of the Free Wesleyan church to be held in Vava'u from June 16-24, and he was aware that some members of the House would be attending the conference.

The Speaker called for votes on whether the House should proceed or to have a break until Monday, June 7. It was passed for the House to have a break with a vote of 21-2.

The Minister of Police, Hon. Clive Edwards claimed disrespectful behaviour by a noble's representative in the House, referring to the comments by Noble Vaha'I.

Noble Vaha'i corrected the Minister of Police, and repeated to the House the exact words he said, adding that Tonga had always had governments and kings, but we had not been heavily in debt or had lost a lot of money like what we are facing today.

Dr Feleti Sevele also corrected the Minister of Police on his claim that the People's Representatives were disrespectful because they voted against the reply letter from the House to His Majesty's speech from the throne. He pointed out that their objection was because they did not understand some of the issues that were raised in the letter.

The Speaker told the House that enough time has been spent on that issue and that they should move on to other matters.

With regards to report of a fact-finding mission overseas by members of the House it was decided that instead of establishing a sub committee to prepare their report they should submit their report as was normal practice by members who went on a visit overseas.

The House was closed at 11 am on June 1.