14 Mar 2019

Non-government MPs walk out of Tonga's parliament

1:24 pm on 14 March 2019

All noble representatives and three independent MPs walked out of Tonga's Parliament on Tuesday over the withdrawal of a number of government bills that had earlier been labelled urgent.

Tonga's Parliamentary Speaker, Lord Fakafanua

Tonga's Parliamentary Speaker, Lord Fakafanua Photo: Tonga Parliament

Kaniva News reported the Chair of the Whole House Committee refused to bring the work of the committee into parliament so that a motion by Noble MP, Lord Nuku, could be tabled.

Nuku insisted that the House should discuss how a public consultation on six new government bills should be conducted.

However, the chair reiterated what Speaker Lord Fakafanua earlier told the House, that the parliament had no right to make any decision on how the government should conduct its consultations.

Earlier the government had submitted six bills to parliament which were labelled urgent by Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pohiva.

However, last week Mr Pohiva withdrew the bills, citing the need for public consultation.

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