Results for Parliament

The debate on the Budget Statement and the Budget Program for 2010-11 in the Tongan Legislative Assembly on Thursday, June 24 highlighted how members of parliament, particularly People's Representatives, do not know how aid funds are induced into the national budget.

A plea by the Niua People's Representative, Sione Feingatau 'Iloa for the Prime Minister, Dr Feleti Sevele to remunerate elected members when they leave parliament in September was objected to by the Minister of Justice as an inappropriate use of government money, but other members supported the request. From the House Premium Content.

C'mon guys, your plates are full of important issues to work on. Do a bit of homework and stop picking on small issues that distracts the House's agenda. Unification and smooth transition is what the people of Tonga needs, and your main opponent is Time but not your fellow MPs. - Dr Fotu K.V. Fisi'iahi.

The opening of the 2010 Parliamentary Session on Thursday, June 10 brought back the fanfare, the laughter, the cheering and the sound of brass bands music onto the streets of Nuku'alofa - a big contrast to the closing of the 2009 parliament session at the end of April this year, when the National Anthem was played from a recording.

Economic growth will be on the top of the Tongan government's working agenda during the next financial year, HM King George Tupou V said when he opened the Tongan Legislative Assembly's 2010 session yesterday, June 10.

A Forum for Discussion on how to educate the Tongan public about the function of parliament, government and the law, and Tonga's political reform, was hosted by the Kolofo'ou Development Committee at the International Dateline Hotel on Friday, May 28.

Tonga's Magistrate Courts have a shortage of Magistrates, with only four sitting since January this year - a dramatic decrease from about 10 Magistrates who presided in the lower court in 2009.

If there was any doubt over the fact that the Tongan Legislative Assembly did not properly approve the boundaries of the 17 constituencies and the number of voters per constituency, before it closed its 2009 session on the evening of April 20, then the digital copies of the Minutes of proceedings in the House on April 19-20 clearly show that two different motions relating to the boundaries of constituencies were left hanging in mid-air when the House officially closed its 2009 session on the evening of April 20. By Pesi Fonua.

With only months to go to the election, the people's representatives as a power bloc are divided and incoherent. It lacks the cohesion that is required of a serious contender for the whip hand the new system has on offer. It is unlikely that they will be able to address these divisions in time for November and it is reasonable to expect the next PM and Cabinet to be mandated primarily by the nobles' united influence. - Sefita Hao'uli.