From the House, Minute No. 23. Thursday July 22.

- The trouble with the illegal practice of double invoicing.

- $3 million unpaid Sales Tax.

- Sea Star Company owed $3.7 million to government.

- Sea Star borrowed $600,000 from the Tonga National Trust Fund.

- First introduction of Question Time to parliament.

The chairman of the Whole House Committee Noble Tu'i'afitu took his seat.

Chairman ...– called for proceedings to start with Extra Ordinary Gazette No. 32, a regulation for the administration of the collection of government revenue 11 September 2003.

'Akilisi Pohiva ...– reminded the House of a meeting that PRs had with the Minister of Finance last year when it was revealed that $3 million of Sales Tax had not been collected. He wanted to know if anything has been done about double invoicing and the goings on at the wharf.

Minister of Finance ...– explained that they were restructuring the department and new computer program had been purchased to help speed up the processing of information.

'Akilisi Pohiva ...– said he did not believe the minister, because that was what he said the year before. He said that the problem was because the Minister could not fire any of his staff. He proposed for the Minister to take the business licence off some of these trading companies.

Trevor Guttenbeil ...– pointed out that Section 6 outlined the method of payment of tax to government. He requested that companies be allowed to make payment with their normal business cheque.

Minister of Finance ...– said that under sub-section C of Section 6 it stated that the payment of tax could be made by companies with their normal cheque. He said that companies that had written cheques that bounced would not be allowed. He said that the one of the reasons for the huge unpaid arrears was because of bounced cheques. He said that they were working on making it possible to make payment with either a Bank Card or a Credit Card.

When proceedings started after lunch, the House started with a trial run of its question time. He said that a member is given one minute to ask a question and a minister is given three minutes to answer.

'Akilisi Pohiva ...– wanted to know what had happened to the Sea Star fisheries company. He wanted to know how much the company owed to the government of Tonga and how it was going to be repaid, because the company had been wound up and another company that was supposed to be buying out Sea Star had also gone bankrupt. He also wanted to know what had happened to a loan of $600,000 by the Sea Star from the government Trust Fund.

Minister of Finance ...– said that the Sea Star had been closed down and the employees made redundant. He said that in December last year shares at Sea Star were tendered for sale, and three companies were interested and had requested a financial report, and a financial report had been prepared by Price Waterhouse Coopers and a copy was presented to the Board which met on Tuesday.

He said that the total amount Sea Star owed government was $3.7 million, and they also owed a lot to the Income Tax Department.

'Akilisi Pohiva ...– if no one would buy Sea Star, what would happen to their debt to government.

Minister of Finance ...– the final option is to liquidate the company, like RTA.

Sione Peauafi Haukinima ...– wanted the Minister of Work to explain what had happened to the petition that the House passed in 2002 for the construction of public roads at Niuafo'ou and Niuatoputapu. He said that the King was going up to the Niuas for the bi-annual agriculture show next month but he wanted to know when the minister was going to fix the roads of the Niuas.

Minister of Work ...– said that the petition was for 5.5 kilometres of roads for Niuatoputapu which has been estimated to cost $800,000. For Niuafo'ou nine kilometres of road was left to complete the road around the lake Vailahi and the estimated cost for that was $1.2 million. He said they were still looking for a source of funding to complete the road construction at the two Niuas.

Sione Peauafi Haukinima ...– wanted to know what has happened to the MV 'Otutonga. He said that the barge was a project of His Majesty with the intention of connecting the Niuas to the market places of Pago Pago and Apia. He said that not once had the barge ever made a voyage to Samoa, instead it was running between Tongatapu and 'Eua. He said that the Niuas were still waiting.

Deputy Prime Minister ...– said that the problem was because there were not enough cargo. He said that three times it made the voyage from the Niuas to Pago Pago, and it they were economic disasters. The barge could carry 20 containers but the cargo from the Niuas filled only six containers, and even less, three containers. He said that on the return trip from Pago Pago there was no cargo at all.

'Etuate Lavulavu ...– wanted to know when was government going to lift the ban on whaling. He reminded the House of a petition he tabled in 2002 to lift the ban on whaling and allowed five whales to be killed annually for human consumption.

Minister of Fisheries ...– told the House of the success of Whale Watching, particularly in Vava'u where about four thousands people visited between June and October to watch the whales. He said that about $3.9 million come to Vava'u annually from whale watching. He said that to lift the ban on whaling would make a devastating impact on the tourism industry in Vava'u and on Whale Watching.

'Akilisi Pohiva ...– wanted to know if government have an unpaid debt to the Taimi 'o Tonga newspaper. If there was, how much and has it been paid.

Minister of Finance ...– the answer to that question, was that government did not owe the Taimi 'o Tonga any money.

'Akilisi Pohiva ...– said that the Minister was not telling the truth.

'Uliti Uata ...– said that he felt that some of the answers were out right lies. He said that it was important for true answers to be given in order for the exercise to be effective.

Speaker ...– reminded the member that they were still on trial.

Noble Nuku ...– wondered if it was possible that during question time, if members who did not have any questions, could they be allowed to leave the House to go and do something else.

Speaker ...– said for those who did not have questions to remain in the House and to get involved in what was going on. He said that it was very important for all members to get involved in what was going on in the House.

Governor of Ha'apai ...– said that it was important for the House to make a definite decision on how to present questions to the House. Whether to adopt this new approach or to remain with the status quo. He said it was important for the House to make a decision, because if they wanted to proceed with this new approach then they had to amend their Rules and Regulations.

The Legislature dissolved into the Whole House Committee and the Chairman took his chair, and the proceedings continued with the Extra Ordinary Gazette No. 32, on a regulation for the administration of the collection of government revenue September 11 2003.

'Etuate Lavulavu ...– proposed for government to hold workshops in the villages and explain the regulation to the people. He said that one of the major problem was that government forms and documents were in English, very confusing.

Minister of Labour ...– supported the idea of workshops in the with business people and co-operative societies to explain the law.

'Akilisi Pohiva ...– said that the main problem with government, particularly with this ministry that when they allowed the wrongdoer to get away and were not taken to court.

Minister of Finance ...– explained the process that they used. He said that with the case with double invoicing, once the wrongdoer was identified he was given the chance to pay the duty he owed but if he failed to pay that the next stage was to take him to court. He said that he was looking at introducing a tougher law.

'Uliti Uata ...– wanted to know if those who were given the chance to pay their dues actually paid up.

Minister of Finance -...  said that he would check.