Results for Parliament

The Tongan Parliament resumed yesterday morning, 29 June after it had a fortnight break after the House passed the 2021-2022 National Budget on 10 June. It was a slow start on Tuesday. From the House by Pesi Fonua.

As we are heading for a General Election in November, Tonga's fourth election since 2010, it is logical to look back at how our new system of government has been in operation since the Democratisation Reform Program was introduced in 2010 - over a decade ago.

The first Budget allocation of $509,300 for an Anti-Corruption Commission was among nine allocations passed by the Whole House Committee of the Tongan Legislature on June 2-3.

Tonga’s government is once again proposing a deficit National Budget, with a $38 million pa'anga deficit for the coming year 2021-22, according to the the Minister of Finance’s Budget Statement presented to Parliament this week. From the House by Pesi Fonua

A National Budget of $618.3 million pa'anga, an increase of $28.7 million on the previous year, was tabled into parliament, by the Tonga government this morning, 24 May. The PM said they have only three weeks to pass the budget before they go away to 'Eua for the opening of a military camp, church conferences and feasting. From the House by Pesi Fonua.

It’s only six paragraphs long, but the response from parliament to King Tupou VI's confronting speech of 6 May, has taken a committee of nine MPs 11 days to prepare. When the draft letter was presented to the House on 18 May for approval, they went to the dark side of the moon – silencing live radio broadcasting of the debate, to prevent an inquisitive public listening to what members had to say about it. From the House by Pesi Fonua

Parliament is deferred indefinitely while the House frames its response to the King's speech. King Tupou VI opened the 2021-22 parliamentary session on Thursday with a challenging speech from the throne that questioned members' abilities to run the government. From the House by Pesi Fonua

King Tupou VI called on government to redirect its focus to the development of agriculture production, fisheries and tourism, because despite efforts to build roads, bridges, airports and wharves, Tonga is unable to counter its international trade deficit, while its two major imports are fuel and food.

The Tonga Legislative Assembly decided not to pursue Constitutional Contempt of Assembly against a member who used a religious reference when he criticized the Prime Minister’s, government funded, national tours for fasting and praying.