Re-elected Tuvalu PM looking to make islands less vulnerable

Transcript

The Prime Minister of Tuvalu says he has a convincing mandate to continue the work he has been doing over the past few years.

Enele Sopoaga was re-elected along with 12 of the 15-member parliament last week.

He has now been sworn in as Prime Minister and he told Koro Vaka'uta the confidence shown in his leadership allows him to look to safeguarding the future immediately.

ENELE SOPOAGA:  The results have spoken for themselves to show the confidence of the people in what we were doing and I'm happy that this is confirming to us that at least what we were doing was of some good for the people of Tuvalu.  It does give us a very convincing mandate to move forward with policies and I take it that there is no signal or indication for change.  There is strong reaffirmation of what we were doing.  Based on that understanding and that conviction, I am very, very happy.

KORO VAKA'UTA:  In terms of the new MPs, one of them of course is Tuvalu's third ever female MP.  What does it mean to have a feminine touch to parliament?

ES:  Dr Boreham is the female member from Nui.  Our MPs have welcomed her on board.  I, personally, am very, very happy that the lady MP has decided to decide my team and I strongly welcome her and I look forward to a time when we will be able to have a cabinet minister, a lady, a female cabinet minister in my team.  Its' a very, very positive development.  I would look forward to a time when we will be able to have a female cabinet minister in my team.  She's a doctor by profession and I think she's a good representative of her country, of her island constituency and I think she has a lot of talent, a lot of vision also for the development of Tuvalu, of women in Tuvalu.   

KV:  Going forward, what do you see as the priorities for the newly formed government?

ES:  The top priority is to address the vulnerability of Tuvalu.  The insecurity of Tuvalu from impacts of climate change and disasters.  We really have to address this because even if we develop, we plan very good strategies and plans and fail to address this vulnerability, there is no point.  I'm calling on my fellow Tuvaluans to put our heads together.  It's something that we really need to forget about politics but to work together with our island communities, councils, councillors and other organisations in order to craft something that can provide security and safety for every single Tuvaluan.  There is no point of going and talking about development strategies, development plans and development what-ever-you-call-them, if we don't address this.

KV:  Environmental vulnerability.  That's the key?

ES:  All vulnerabilities.  You know we are very exposed even environmentally of course but we are also very, very vulnerable to processes of globalisation, to trade, to all those things because of the lack of capacity of people of Tuvalu.  The lack of proper education and training and the lack of all this resource.  This issue all compound together to make these countries very, very poor.  Therefore we really need to pay attention to this otherwise it's a waste of effort and time to spend of designing and calling consultants to look at new plans and new strategies of development.  Sustainable development will never be sustainable unless we address the environmental vulnerability.  These things are doable and New Zealand is showing us the way.  They are helping us recover land damages that were used for airfield building during the Second World War and they left big borrow pits on the islands of the main capital island.  New Zealand is helping us, I think it's a project of 12 million dollars, to recover and dredge the sand and fill up all these pits.  This is a very powerful statement that these things are doable.  That perhaps we have been neglecting for over 70 years or almost 100 years.  Now we are getting partnerships with New Zealand and other partners to help us restore the land for the economic benefit, social benefit and community benefit of people of Tuvalu.  For addressing impacts and addressing vulnerability is exactly the same thing.  We really have to work and be bold and move forward.  I invite partners to come and work with Tuvalu and share their experiences and we can provide more security and lessen the level of vulnerability for these islands.  You go to the United Nations and this is what you hear every year.  People sympathising with vulnerabilities of islands like Tuvalu but in actions nobody seems to care.  Now I am so grateful that New Zealand government has come forward and Australia is helping.  These things are doable.  The only things that stop us from doing these things is politics because there are so many complicated interests between the path of doing things and the making rhetoric after rhetoric after rhetoric.