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

Tonga Legislative Assembly, Minute No. 2, June 8, 2009.

Highlights:

- The new Rules and Regulations for the proceeding of the House that they have been working on during the past 11 years has not been tabled into the House by the Speaker.

- Members wanted to break the law so that they could be issued with licences to harvest and export sea cucumbers.

- PR 'Akilisi Pohiva believed that there was a conflict of interest by members pushing for the Minister of Fisheries to issue them with licences, but some members, including Sunia Fili, Teisina Fuko, Noble Lasike and Clive Edwards did not think so.

The Acting Speaker of the House, the Ha'apai no. 2 Nobles' Representative, Noble Havea Tu'iha'angana, led the morning prayer in the House.

The clerk made the roll call, and then repeated his call for the Minister of Works and the Governor of Ha'apai. He said that Noble Tangipa was on leave of absence, and the rest of the members who were not there he believed they were coming late.

The Acting Speaker told the House that he was made Acting Speaker by King George Tupou V while the Speaker was away overseas.

Next on the agenda, he called on one of the nobles who delivered their response to the king's speech from the throne to report on their audience with the king.

Noble Tu'iha'ateiho said that he accompanied the Tongatapu No. 1 Nobles' Representative, Noble Fielakepa, and delivered the House's response to the king and that everything went well.

Appropriation Act

The Speaker said that next on agenda was the budget, which had been distributed. He called for the first reading of the Bill for the Appropriation Act 2009-2010.

The clerk read the No. 1 Bill for 2009, the Bill for the Appropriation Act 2009-10, which should be enforced by July 1 2009.

The Speaker called for votes and it was carried 13-0.

The Bill had its second reading and the People' Representative for 'Eua, Sunia Fili called for the Bill to be tabled into the Whole House Committee for debate.

PR 'Isileli Pulu commented that the House should be using its new Regulation. He said that the House had been working on their Regulations during the past three to four years; and it was supposed to be ready.

The Speaker said that after all these years, the Rules and Regulations for the proceeding of the House was not ready. The Law Committee had been working on it, and if the members wished they could recall the Law Committee to work on it.

PR 'Etuate Lavulavu expressed his concern about the working schedule of the House because without the amended regulation they did not know the working schedule of the House on a weekly and monthly basis.

He also expressed his concern over the restriction that had been enforced by the House on the media coverage of the proceedings of the House. He stressed that it is important for the people to know what is going on in the House, to avoid misunderstanding and confusion.

The Acting Speaker told the PR he had noted down his concern and would inform the Speaker when he returned.

The Speaker was then just about to call for votes on allowing the Law Committee to work on the regulation.

However, the Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Viliami Tangi, a member of the Law Committee, said that they had completed their work and all that was left was for the Speaker and the Secretariat to compile the regulation and present it to the House.

The Acting Speaker said that they had to wait for the Speaker to return.

The Legislature dissolved into the Whole House Committee and the Chairman of the Committee took his chair. He reminded members that they did not have much time left for the budget and to present submissions to the Constitutional and Electoral Reform Commission before July 5. He asked the Minister of Finance to give a brief summary of his budget.

Budget

The Minister of Finance, Hon. Afu'alo Matoto, said that the essence of the 2009-10 Budget is that despite the global financial crisis, and a drop in the revenue of government, the task on hand was to ascertain that government ministries have enough funds and the services they offer are not affected.

He said there is no tax increase, but there should be enough revenue if they improve the efficiency of their revenue collection.

He said that the economies of industrialised countries, including our neighbours had declined but not Tonga's, which still managed to attain economic growth, even if it was only very small.

He said that there were two directions for the new financial year to follow, one to attain economic growth and to improve the living standard of the people, and the other to develop employment opportunities and the political reform. The budget aimed at economic growth so that people might enjoy a reasonable living standard and at the same time Tonga could proceed with its political reform so that the affairs of the country can be managed properly.

To reach the destinations that he had outlined the Minister said that there were financial allocations for the Constitutional and Electoral Reform Commission and the Royal Land Commission and with regards to the votes of Ministries, all efforts had been made so that there would be no reduction.

There was also an allocation for a heart surgery team to carry out heart surgery in Tonga, and an allocation to further promote a healthy life style.

One million Pa'anga had also been allocated for technical and vocational training. There was an allocation for the Council for Economic Development to encourage the development of the Private Sector.

There would be more road construction works, to be funded from overseas, and also a loan to finance road works in Tongatapu and in the outer islands.

One million had been allocated for the development of the two Niuas.

Foreign assistance

He said that government was also counting on foreign assistance to stimulate economic growth and there were high expectations that Australia, New Zealand, and the European Union, and the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank would increase their aid to Tonga.

He said that Government had set a target that in three years time, 50% of Tonga's power supply will be from renewable energy.

Prison

Government would continue with the development of Law and Order, and he said that the refurbishing of the Hu'atolitoli Prison was nearly completed.

PR Sunia Filli thanked the Minister for his budget, but he wanted to comment on the issue of stimulating the economy. He said that there are people in the community who are leading in stimulating the development of the economy. He considered himself as one of those community leaders, and he had a project. He also pointed out the Tongatapu No. 2 PR as another community leader, who had got involved with fund raising for the treatment of a cancer patient. His point was that it is essential to stimulate the development of the economy in the community.

The Chairman reminded the PR that they had very little time for the budget.

PR Clive Edwards, expressed his disbelief that while there is a global financial crisis, the Tongan economy was growing by 0.4% and it is expected to grow by 2% in the coming financial year.

He said that Tonga's economic base had always been agriculture and fisheries, but there had been no headway with regards to exports.

Sea cucumbers

Clive pointed out that there is a product, sea cucumber, that has found a lucrative market, but he queried why there was a restriction and a quota system enforced by the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries.

The Chairman pointed out that the votes of these two ministries were the lowest.

The sea cucumber became an issue in the House and it caught the interest of some of the elected members particularly, Clive Edwards, Noble Lasike, Teisina Fuko, the Chairman, Samiu Vaipulu and Sunia Fili.

Noble Lasike said that the people were waiting for the Ministry to issue their licences to fish and to export. He said that the Deputy PM and the PM favoured the idea to lift the restriction on the number of licences issues but the clerk at the office of the Ministry of Fisheries would not cooperate. He said that the clerk was trying to be smarter than the PM.

The Governor of Ha'apai, from the island of 'Uiha, said that most of the sea cucumber in Ha'apai comes from 'Uiha, and last year the price was $22 per sea cucumber, but this year they had been talking about $14 each.

The Minister of Fisheries, Prince Tu'ipelehake pointed out that his ministry had no influence on the buying price of sea cucumber, their responsibility was with the issuing of export licences.

Noble Lasike said that the grand old sea cucumbe,r which could be found only in the deep are those that should be harvested and exported, and if government wanted to increase the buying price from $14 per sea cucumber then it should issue more licences and create competition.

Prince Tu'ipelehake disagreed, he said that last year there was only one exporter in Vava'u and the price was $22, this season there were four and the price was $14.

PR Teisina Fuko said that Tonga was trying to adopt the foreign concept of conservation and while Tongans are preoccupied with conservation, foreigners were harvesting the Sea Cucumbers. He also expressed his dismay that no banks were willing to finance the buying of sea cucumber, which was why people were scrambling to secure overseas financiers. He suggested that government should close these banks down and bring in new banks.

The Minister of Labour, Commerce and Industries reminded the House that the Minister of Fisheries is bounded by a legislation that was passed by the House and the attempt by some members to change the policy of the Ministry of Fisheries could not be done unless they amended the Act.

He said that one of his contributions to the sea cucumber industry was that no export licence should be given to a member of parliament, and he was appealing for members to give the opportunities to the fishermen and the rest of the public.

The Chairman said that that was not a very wise decision.

PR 'Etuate Lavulavu reminded the House that back in 2002 when the Fisheries Management Bill was presented to the House there was a dispute over a proposal for representatives from Vava'u and Ha'apai to be in the Fisheries Management Advisory Committee. The Bill was then withdrawn to be reviewed by the ministry.

"While we were waiting the Cabinet made a decision, approved a policy then allowed the harvesting of sea cucumber. According to the law the ordinance should be presented to the House in its next sitting. Well, it has never been tabled into the House. Before we even take that step, the Ministry was enforcing restrictions," he said.

The Minister of Labour Commerce and Industries said that it was the responsibility of the Speaker to schedule the work of the House and the Bill was not readmitted into the House.

The Chairman said that Lavulavu's concern was stipulated in Clause 8, sub clause 2, and it was the responsibility of the Secretary to select the members of the Advisory Committee.

PR Teisina Fuko made a general remark that the economy was in a very depressing state and the PRs were pleading for government to open up things to encourage economic activities. He believed that the harvesting of sea cucumber, which has been banned for ten years until last year was a good move, but there should not be any limit on the number of export licences and a quota on the volume of sea cucumber for export.

Tourism

The Minister of Tourism wanted to correct remarks that had been made that there was no growth in most revenue sectors of government. He said that there had been a 31.69% growth in revenue from tourism in the current financial year.

PR 'Uliti Uata at point blank told the minister was lying. He said that the 14% increase in the number of visitors to Tonga did not mean that revenue went up because most of the tourists were back-packers who come with nothing. "They stay in $20 a night hotel and on the third night they live on the beach," he said.

He said it was important for government to tell truth instead of making things look better than they really were.

He wanted to know why there was a restriction in licences for the export of sea cucumber and why there was a quota on the volume of sea cucumbers to be harvested.

Prince Tu'ipelehake explained that if Tonga was not careful with the harvesting of its sea cucumber, the stock could be depleted in less than three years.

Noble Lasike suggested that the priority should be humans not sea cucumbers.

Prince Tu'ipelehake was certain that if the members were given their licences the House would have proceed and leave the sea cucumbers behind.

Plea

Then Noble Lasike, in an unprecedented turn of events, pleaded with the Prince, not as a Minister of Fisheries but "as their chief and father" to have mercy on them and let them have their licence so that they can make a living. He repeated that other Cabinet Ministers supported their case but he had the final say.

Prince Tu'ipelehake reminded the members that they make the law and now they want to break it! He wondered if they wanted to break the law so that they would be given their licence only or would they like the other 25 applicants to also be given licences? Secondly, the quota that had been shared to other licence holders was 200 tonnes, if they would be given their licence what would be their share?

Conflict of interest

PR 'Akilisi Pohiva said that there was a conflict of interest in the House over the push by members for a licence to harvest and export sea cucumbers.

Noble Lasike said that the member was wrong, he was not getting any kickback, all he was doing was helping the people.

PR Sunia Fili said that there was unfairness with regards to the issuing of licence to export sea cucumbers. At first the Minister of Labour said that no licence should be issued to members of parliament, then on the other hand they issued a licence to the Nobles' Representative from the Niuas.

PR Clive Edwards said that the issue was not being fair or unfair, but to address the needs of the people.

Pr Teisina Fuko said that the restriction by government had been unfair toward them, particularly since they have invested money in preparation for the sea cucumber season.

Sunia Fili stressed that he did not think there was a conflict of interest in what they were doing, because it was their responsibility for the benefit of the people.

The House was closed until 10 am the following day.