Opposition walks out as Parliamentary Standing Orders get amended

Parliament has passed amendments to the parliamentary standing orders which sees changes regarding the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee, the handling of issues by committees, how to deal with petitions and bills.

Members of the opposition did not want the changes and walked out in the middle of the debate.

Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum tabled the proposed amendments.

The Standing Orders passed in 2014 stated that the Public Accounts Committee may only elect an opposition member as Chairperson.

The amendment passed today says that the Public Accounts Committee members can appoint any member of the committee as Chairperson.

The section saying that only an opposition member be appointed as Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee is deleted.

There are three government MPs and two opposition MPs in the standing committees.

Sayed-Khaiyum says anyone from the committee can take up the chairmanship and this totally depends on the committee itself.

The opposition is concerned that a government MP will now lead the Public Accounts Committee.

Suspended MP Biman Prasad is the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.

Another amendment says that Parliamentary Standing Committee members can vote to change the Chair of the committee every 12 months if they wish to do so.

Sayed-Khaiyum also says parliamentary standing committees must not examine the merits of underlying policies.

Another change says that any petition to be brought into parliament must be put to a vote.

If 40% of parliament agrees to the petition, then it will be referred to the standing committee.

The current practice has any MP bringing in a petition and it is then referred to the committee.

Opposition Leader Ro Teimumu Kepa opposed this change and called on the Speaker Doctor Jiko Luveni to seek legal advice before going ahead with the debate.

Doctor Luveni says she does not need to get advice and the debate will continue.

Opposition Whip Ratu Isoa Tikoca then said they did not want to be part of the debate.

Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says Australia’s Public Accounts Committee is chaired by a government member.

He says with the change in Fiji’s parliamentary standing orders, any member of the committee will be elected as the Chair.

He confirms that the government was concerned about how Biman Prasad was handling the affairs of the committee.

Another major amendment states that bills are to only be brought in by the government side. Other MPs can bring in private bills.

The amendments were passed as there was a quorum and parliament continued despite the opposition walkout.