From the House, Minute No. 17 of 24 June 2004.

Minute No. 18 of 28 June 2004. MPs query why there is no repair and maintenance allocation for schools.

Parliament continued on the evening of Thursday, June 24.

With the Chairman of the Whole House Committee, Prince Tu'ipelehake proceedings continued with Vote 14 of the Ministry of Education.

Sunia Fili ...– queried why there was no maintenance allocation, but there was an allocation of $25,000 for National Celebration. He also reported that the PTA at 'Eua gave $10,000 to the 'Eua High School to settle their electricity, water and telephone bills. He wanted to know why there was no repair and maintenance allocation. He expressed his concern that foreign aid donors would not be very pleased with their aid not being looked after.

Minister of Education ...– told the House that there was no maintenance allocation in his budget, and the repair and the maintenance of government high schools come from generous contributions. He said that the Japanese government had been very generous with their contribution for the maintenance of high schools.

Fineasi Funaki ...– said that a low unemployment figure and a low crime rate were the proof of a good education system.

Minister of Police ...– said that the member was talking about the quality of service and not about the budget, he suggested for the member to be stopped. He pointed out that the budget addressed the needs of primary and secondary education, basic education, and not vocational training and at university level.

'Etuate Lavulavu ...– told the House that there were altogether 22,300 unemployed people in the country, and the figure would continue to grow because only 960 people annually are privileged to enter a training institution. He said that the qualification needed for a student to enter a vocational training institutions in Tonga was Form 4 upward, and that was too strict, and many do not qualify. He suggested for government to donate more money to these training institutions.

Minister of Police ...– said that the member was making a campaign speech.

Noble Tu'ivakano ...– proposed for the allocation for sport to increase from $50,000 to $200,000. He reminded the house that there were a number of sport commitments this year, including the Olympic and other international competitions where Tonga will be represented.

Minister of Finance ...– said for the house not to alter the figure, but he would increase the allocation $200,000 as requested.

Minister of Police ...– supported the increase for sport. As the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Janful International Hotel the Minister said he had just read a report that the Tonga Boxing Association and TASA owed the hotel $83,000 for about 100 boxers and their supporting staffs who stayed at the hotel during the Oceania Boxing Tournament that was held in Tonga recently. He was hopeful that Tonga Boxing Association may be able to pay some of their debt from this allocation.

Vote No. 19 of the Ministry of Education was passed 20-0.

Vote No. 22 of the Prison Department.

Minister of Police ...– said that they asked for $1.3 million but they were given a total of $859,791.

He told the House that the prison is strapped for cash and they don't have enough to pay for their power bills for the month before and last month.

Vote No. 22 was passed 20-0.

Vote No. 23 for the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food.

Vote No. 23 was passed 20-0.

Minute No. 18. Monday June 28.

Chairman ... - Called for the House to proceed with Note No. 24 of the Ministry of Fisheries.

'Etuate Lavulavu ...– queried why there were 10 vacant posts. He said that this is a department that should be operating at full capacity and to make valuable contribution to the economic development of the country.

'Uliti Uata ...– told the House that not one...  fishing boat in port belonged to a Tongan, they were all foreign owned. He suggested for government to make a scheme that would enable a Tongan fisherman to have his own boat.

Minister of Finance ...– told the House that the government's contribution is given to the Tonga Development Bank to lend out to the Private Sector.

When the House reconvened after the lunch, they discussed an invitation from an overseas organisation for members to represent the Tongan Parliament to meetings overseas.

Speaker ...– told members that the Tongan Parliament had been invited to send a member to the 11th conference of Parliaments in Asia and the Pacific. He called for vote on the invitation.

It was accepted 22-0.

Speaker ...– appointed the People Representative for 'Eua to represent the Tongan Parliament to the conference which will run from August 18-20.

He said that the next invitation is for a member to attend the annual conference of the APPU to be held at the Federated States of Micronesia from August 23-25.

The invitation was accepted with a vote of 24-0.

Speaker ...– appointed the Prince Tu'ipelehake, the Chairman of the Whole House Committee to attend the APPU conference.

The third invitation is for a member to attend a meeting on transnational crime and the rule of laws to be held in Wellington, New Zealand for two days in December.

The invitation was accepted 18-0 and the Minister of Police was appointed to represent the House.

The House resolved into a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association CPA Committee meeting, which was chaired by the Speaker.

Chair ...– called for a vote on the invitation to the 35th CPA conference to be held in Melbourne, Australia. It was passed 22-0.

The speaker and the Clerk will attend this meeting from 3-10 July.

The chairman called for vote on the invitation for the 50th conference of small countries who are members of the CPA to be held in Canada from August 31 to September 9.

It was accepted 22-0.

Chairman ...– called on the Minister of Finance to represent the Tongan Parliament to this conference.

The Chairman said that the last invitation is a seminar to improve the work of parliament to be held in Ha'amoa from 19-23 July.

The invitation was approved 25-0 and the clerk of the House will attend.

The CPA Committee meeting dissolved into parliament.

Speaker ...– told the House that they should finish working on the budget today, so that by Wednesday it would be ready to be presented to the King for his consent. He also asked the Minister of Finance for a comment on a petition that had been presented to the House over the salary rise, and that the public servants were eager to know where they stand.

Minister of Finance ...– said that cabinet accepted the recommendation made by the Higher Salary Review Committee and approved a salary rise for Heads of Departments to $40,000 per annum. He said for the rest of the public servants there would be a 5% rise across the board, starting on July 1.

The House dissolved and the Chairman of the Whole House Committee Prince Tu'ipelehake took his chair and the proceedings continued with Vote No. 24 of the Ministry of Fisheries.

Chair ...– called for votes on a motion by 'Etuate Lavulavu to increase the budget by $90,000 to purchase refrigerators for the island of Felavai, Hunga and Matamaka in Vava'u.

It was passed 19-0.

Vote No. 24 of the Ministry of Fisheries was passed 19-0.

Votge No. 25 of the Central Planning department.

Deputy Prime Minister ...– said that their original budget was $680,000 but they were given only $467,000.

'Akillisi Pohiva ...– queried the usefulness of having a Central Planning Department because he had noticed that after a working plan has been drawn up then suddenly the King came up with a project that he wanted to be implemented then the original plan is shelved and government had to carry out the wishes of the King. He pleaded with the Ministers to speak up and help the King instead of just going along and doing whatever he said.

Deputy Prime Minister ...– responded to the member's comment by saying that there were no clashes in the working programs of government and that of the king.

Vote No. 25 of the Central Planning Department was passed 20-0.

Vote No. 26 of the Ministry of Labour Commerce and Industries.

Minister of Labour ...– told the House that they had vacated about 20 posts in the Ministry.

'Etuate Lavulavu ...– Pointed that there were about 20,000 unemployed people in...  the country. He proposed for the Minister of Labour to run an overseas employment scheme and select three women from the 39 villages in Vava'u and organise for them to work as nannies in the USA where he said a nanny could earn $1,800 a week. He said that if this scheme was extended to the rest of Tonga, millions of dollars would be coming into the country every year.

He also queried the Minister's on the fact that he was spending $52,000 to run short courses to learn skills so that they can find jobs. He thought that this approach was against a world trend where short courses are offered to people who already have skills, and the short courses are needed to upgrade their skills, because no one will be able to get a job after taking a short course.

Minister of Labour ...– said that they had tried to organise an overseas working scheme, particularly with New Zealand, Australia and the USA, but the main stumbling block was because of the great number of Tongans who are living illegally in those countries.

He said that the short courses they have offered was a desperate push by government to cope with the growing unemployment, but what they have found was that many school leavers just don't want to work.

Chairman ...– asked the minister if he had figures on those who had got jobs, those who had not got a job and those who did not want to work.

Minister of Labour ...– said that there were differences in the unemployed figures between the Ministry of Finance and his ministry. While the Ministry of Finance quoted the figure to be about 20% their own figure was about 5%. He said that it was important to look carefully at those figures.

Vote No. 26 of the Ministry of Labour Commerce and Industries was passed 20-0.

Vote No. 27 of the Tonga Visitors' Bureau TVB.

'Etuate Lavulavu ...– proposed for the some of the commercial entities that are taken care of by the Tonga Visitor's Bureau, such as the Tonga National Centre, the Queen Salote Memorial Hall and a restaurant above it to be tendered out while these facilities are still in good order. He believed that the Tonga National Centre could be turned into something similar to the Polynesian Cultural Centre in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Minister for Tourism ...– said that he most welcomed anyone who would like to make an offer to take over the running of the facilities that 'Etuate had mentioned.

He said that the foreign earnings from tourism up to December last year was $22 million, a big increase compared with $16 million the year before.

'Akilisi Pohiva -...  wanted to know the percentage of the $22 million comes from Overseas Tongans who come for vacations.

Minister for Tourism ...– said about 50%.

Vote No. 27 of the TVB was passed 17-0.

Vote No. 28 of the Ministry of Work.

Minister of Work ...– said that their original budget was $4,970,000 but they were given only $4,100,000.

'Uliti Uata ...– pointed out that only $540,000 is allocated for road construction and maintenance, a very small amount the demand by the people to build their roads. He proposed for an additional $800,000 to the allocation for road construction and maintenance