House adjourns until July 21 [1]
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 - 20:36. Updated on Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - 11:38.
From the House, an English translation summary from the Tongan vernacular, by Pesi Fonua.
Tonga Legislative Assembly, Minute No. 17, Tuesday, July 1, 2008.
Highlights:
Discussion on the formation of a Commission for political reform continued:
- Teisina Fuko suggested for the House to make all the decisions on the proposed political reform, then hand-over to the Commission to do only the technical work.
- 'Akilisi reminded the House that they had already agreed for the new parliament to have 17 PRs and 9 Nobles' Representatives, and these changes to be introduced in 2010. He said that they should not look back and they had discussed those issues.
- Noble Malupo did not think that it was a wise remark that 'Akilisi had just made, because it was obvious that the House would be dominated by Cabinet Ministers and would be imbalanced.
- Noble Ma'afu pleaded for clarification. He said he did not know whether they were playing rugby or Soccer.
- The Minister of Justice explained that various groups presented different ideas on how the reform should be, and it appeared that they were playing different games, some played tennis, basketball, soccer and handballs.
- Noble Nuku at point blank told the House that the Nobles disliked the political reform proposal. He said that nobles did not like the proposal for the people to elect 17 People's Representatives and the Nobles only nine.
- The Speaker said they have had enough. He called for 12 Bills to be read, and then closed the House until July 21.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008.
Roll Call. The Clerk told the Speaker that the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence, and the Minister of Education were not attending, and the rest who did not answer their call he presumed were coming late.
People's Representative 'Akilisi Pohiva proposed that the annual reports of government ministries for 2006 and 2007 should be presented to the House. He also proposed for the Speaker to inform the king that he was going away so that an acting speaker could be appointed, so that House could continue working while the Speaker was on an overseas trip.
PR 'Etuate Lavulavu called for more time to go over properly the proposal for political reform.
PR Teisina Fuko suggested for the House to decide on the political reform before they handed over to the Commission to carry out all the technical work.
Government serious about reform
The Minister of Justice. 'Alisi Taumoepeau, reminded the House that the government's stance on the matter had been outlined by the Deputy Prime Minister the evening before. She reminded the House that after the government has been pressured for political reform it had been listening, gathering information and had decided to take the reform process to a new level. She said the presumption that government was dragging its feet on reform was not true: "government is very serious about the reform and it wants to take it up to another level."
With regards to the Tripartite Commitee for reform of the House, she said it fell apart when it returned to the House.
She reminded the House that the proposed Commission was not to come and advise the House on what to do, but for the House to tell the Commission what to do.
Noble Tu'ilakepa expressed his doubt over the role of the proposed new commission. He said that the Tu'ipelehake Committee did a good job.
'Akilisi said that the House had accepted the composition of an elected parliament of 17 PRs and nine Nobles' Representatives and a date for the reform, 2010. So they should not look back and talk about those factors any more.
The Governor of Ha'apai, Noble Malupo disagreed with 'Akilisi that they should turn their backs on those issues because it was already raised the night before with a real concern that by accepting such a composition the House would become dominated by Cabinet Ministers; but there must be a balance House.
'Akilisi said that the House had voted on those issues and they should not go back to them. He said that the two more important issues for them to work on were the proposal for the king to appoint four members, and the electoral process.
Domination by ministers
Noble Ma'afu asked for clarification of what was going on. He wanted to know what the Tu'ipelehake's committee and the House's Tripartite Committee had achieved and what the Commission would do. He said there was a playing field but they were not clear whether they were playing rugby or soccer, and there were no goal posts yet.
The Minister of Justice said that looking back at the history of various efforts to introduce political reform for Tonga, various groups played different games, some were playing basketball, lanita, tennis, and others rugby.
'Akilisi objected that they were not playing lanita, (a young girls ball game), they were actually working toward amending the Tongan Constitution with a convention in 1992.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Viliami Tangi said that government appreciated the concern that had been expressed, because they were embarking on an enormous task. He proposed that what they should do was to unravel those concerns by holding informal talks among themselves. He said that government's tabling of the Bill for the Establishment of a Commission was to find a way forward. He proposed for the House to break up for the rest of the week, and for members to meet informally and discuss a way forward with the political reform.
Nobles unhappy
Noble Nuku reminded the House that to amend the Constitution was not a simple matter. He told the House that after Tupou I introduced the first piece of written legislation for Tonga, the Vava'u Code, it took him another 40 years to produce the Constitution of 1875.
He said that the Nobles disliked the proposed political reform, reducing their numbers in the House by increasing the number of People's Representatives. He said that the 17 PRs to nine nobles' representatives was unacceptable and the nobles did not like it.
He said they needed more time to find a way forward. He repeated that the proposed political reform was unacceptable to the nobles, and when the PRs kept saying that that was the wish of the people, the nobles were not sure what they were talking about because they always have their people with them.
BIlls
The Speaker called on the clerk to reads 12 Bills that have been tabled into the House. The Bills were:
1. A Bill to terminate the Act for the trans-shipment of cargo in the high water.
2. A Bill to amend the Tobacco Act 2000.
3. A Bill to amend the Electricity Act 2007.
4. Bill No 9 2008 for an Act on the transhipping of cargo.
5. Bill No. 10 2008 for an Act on how to amend Acts.
6. Bill No. 11 2008 for an Act for the Supreme Court to have jurisdiction over sea transportation.
7. Bill No. 12 2008 for a Renewable Energy Act.
8. Bill NO. 13 2008, to amend the Civil Aviation Act 1990.
9. Bill No. 14 2008. A Bill to amend the Interpretation Act.
10. Bill No. 15 2008. A Bill for the Transportation and the Transportation Sector Act.
11. Bill No 16, 2008. A Bil to amend the Road Transportation Act.
12. Bill No. 17, 2008. A Bill to amend the Sea Transportation Act.
The Speaker told members to go and read the Bills during the next two weeks. The House will be reopened on July 21.