A former cabinet minister who headed the Cook islands Reform Commission of 1998 says some services in parliament should be scrapped.
Iaveta Short, who is now a Rarotonga-based lawyer, says the present practice of translating all speeches in parliament into English or Cook Islands Maori and having them recorded by Hansard reporters should be scrapped.
He describes both services as being of limited value to the public.
Mr Short says efforts to cut costs in government should not be confined to looking at MPs salaries.
In the past, Hansard reporters have complained of MPs trying to persuade them to change what they said in parliament and getting angry when told that was not possible.
