PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FIJI PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES DAILY HANSARD TUESDAY, 28TH JULY, 2020 [CORRECTED COPY] C O N T E N T S Pages Minutes … … … … … … … … … … 1234 Communications from the Chair … … … … … … … 1234 Debate on the 2020-2021 Appropriation Bill 2020 … … … … … 1234-1366 List of Speakers 1. Hon. A.M. Radrodro (Pgs 1235-1240) 2. Hon. Ratu T. Navurelevu (Pgs 1240-1243) 3. Hon. A.T. Nagata (Pgs 1243-1245) 4. Hon. N. Nawaikula (Pgs 1245-1252) 5. Hon. O. Naiqamu (Pgs 1253-1256) 6. Hon. Professor B.C. Prasad (Pgs 1257-1262) 7. Hon. J.N. Nand (Pgs 1262-1265) 8. Hon. L.S. Qereqeretabua (Pgs 1265-1271) 9. Hon. V. Nath (Pgs 1271-1274) 10. Hon. Adi L. Qionibaravi (Pgs 1274-1277) 11. Hon. A.D. O’Connor (Pgs 1278-1283) 12. Hon. V. Pillay (Pgs 1283-1288) 13. Hon. S.V. Radrodro (Pgs 1288-1293) 14. Hon. V. Prakash (Pgs 1293-1296) 15. Hon. S.R. Rasova (Pgs 1296-1300) 16. Hon. Dr. M. Reddy (Pgs 1301-1308) 17. Hon. J. Saukuru (Pgs 1308-1313) 18. Hon. Lt. Col. I.B. Seruiratu (Pgs 1313-1319) 19. Hon. L.D. Tabuya (Pgs 1319-1324) 20. Hon. R.R. Sharma (Pgs 1324-1327) 21. Hon. Lt. Col. P. Tikoduadua (Pgs 1328-1332) 22. Hon. J. Sigarara (Pgs 1332-1336) 23. Hon. P. Vosanibola (Pgs 1336-1340) 24. Hon. J. Usamate (Pgs 1340-1347) 25. Hon. Ro F. Tuisawau (Pgs 1347-1352) 26. Hon. G. Vegnathan (Pgs 1352-1355) 27. Hon. M.R. Vuniwaqa (Pgs 1355-1360) 28. Hon. Dr. I. Waqainabete (Pgs 1360-1365) TUESDAY, 28TH JULY, 2020 The Parliament met at 9.34 a.m. pursuant to adjournment. HONOURABLE SPEAKER took the Chair and read the Prayer. PRESENT All Honourable Members were present, except the Honourable Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Civil Service and Communications. MINUTES HON. LEADER OF THE GOVERNMENT IN PARLIAMENT.- Mr. Speaker, I move: That the Minutes of the sitting of Parliament held on Monday, 27th July, 2020, as previously circulated, be taken as read and be confirmed. HON. A.A. MAHARAJ.- Honourable Speaker, I second the motion. Question put. Motion agreed to. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE CHAIR HON. SPEAKER.- I welcome all Honourable Members to today’s sitting of Parliament. I also welcome all those watching the live broadcast and the live streaming of today’s proceedings. Thank you for taking an interest in the workings of your Parliament. Honourable Members, I have been advised that there are no Bills for consideration today, so we will move on to the next Item on the Order Paper. RESUMPTION OF DEBATE ON THE 2020-2021 APPROPRIATION BILL 2020 HON. SPEAKER.- Honourable Members, as you know, we have a Batting List and I have agreed to a change in the order of the Batting List on the request that was given to me. I now call upon the first speaker this morning, the Honourable Aseri Radrodro. You have the floor, Sir. HON. A.M. RADRODRO.- The Honourable Speaker of the Fiji Parliament, the Honourable Prime Minister and Honourable Cabinet Ministers, the Honourable Leader of the Opposition, fellow Honourable Members of Parliament and fellow Fijians; I rise to deliver my contribution to the 2020- 2021 Budget Debate where, at the outset, I will have to admit that I am unable to lend my support for various reasons that I will outline. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is not easy for me to say some of the things I need to say today. It grieves me that the human heart is so stubborn at times that we simply refuse to heed well-intended advice given out of love for our country and our people. 28th July, 2020 2020-2021 Appropriation Bill 2020 1235 Mr. Speaker, Sir, this will be my sixth year as a Parliamentarian. Since I was a rookie in this august House in 2014, I have asked that our Government treat the advice that is forthcoming from the Opposition Benches with due consideration and value. Ironically, Mr. Speaker, Sir, no one predicted that the year 2020 would experience a pandemic that only comes around after every 100 years, at the very least. Despite the unpredictability of this pandemic, some of us have been urging Government to relook at the foundations upon which our development, as a nation, have been founded upon. Key words, such as “sustainable development”, “good corporate governance”, “be realistic”, obviously fell on deaf ears, and hearts as cold as stone. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hansard Reports will capture my many statements in this august House. I have critiqued and warned that our heavy reliance on tourism, remittances and even sugar was going to be our downfall when a global financial shock is experienced. The global volatile environment will render us powerless to control our destinies and the massive job losses we will encounter would be difficult to comprehend. I spoke about the austerity measures that the World Bank and other financial institutions, such as the Asian Development Bank, were imposing on Fiji in the form of various reforms that were counterproductive to instilling patriotism, courage to delve into the world of entrepreneurship, and even achieving dreams. I had lamented the lack of genuine incentives that would drive and encourage our people to be inventors and investors. I had questioned the hand-out mentality that the FijiFirst Government had created in our people; freebies that became increasingly glaring as we drew nearer to national elections. I had decried the opening of restricted activities by Investment Fiji that no longer protected our domestic markets. Today, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I look at the border lockdowns and feel a burden, like no other. My heart is heavy with grief and anger, especially when I see the massive job losses that have resulted, with families struggling to make ends meet. Mr. Speaker, Sir, well before COVID-19 came, it must be declared that the FijiFirst Government was robbing our people of their right to be the masters of their own destinies. People no longer had control over their livelihoods. Even with an education, contracts were limited and reduced to yearly renewal for civil servants. Redundancies were done subtly through job advertisements and many who had meritoriously worked for many long years for Government, lost their jobs to the name of Minimum Qualification Requirements (MQR) standards. Mr. Speaker, Sir, of course, I had given credit where it was due and commended the various developments that Government had implemented. But, a lovely highway is not enough if it merely becomes pothole-ridden after a while, nor is the beautiful Albert Park, or even is National Stadium meaningful, if people are unemployed and do not have the means to be able to enjoy the various recreational activities that those venues host. Mr. Speaker, Sir, our economy could have done better in the face of COVID-19, had we been focused in a big way on enhancing our non-sugar agricultural sector, our building industry, our manufacturing sector, as well as capitalising on our digital and ICT sectors. We should have been building on our fisheries and forestry sectors to gain us access to international markets and reverse our trade deficit and grow our export sector. It is time Government needed to do the right thing and stop building castles in the sand, Mr. Speaker, Sir. 1236 2020-2021 Appropriation Bill 2020 28th July, 2020 Mr. Speaker, I wish to raise my concern on the continuation of grants given to the Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC), following default in payment of $25 million in bonds held by the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF). This resulted in Government being called to make this payment as the guarantor for FSC. This is a classic example of pouring good money after questionable investments. I will not mince my words when I say that this industry, over the years, has chewed so much investment by Government whereas the dairy industry continues to receive a meagre allocation and this year, it is only $700,000. The inability of the Government to provide some real solutions to alternative programmes will continue to haunt us, especially in light of the global pandemic. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also wish to raise a question on the reduction in the Government’s investing receipts from $216 million to $7.3 million. I note that in August 2019, the FNPF had successfully acquired 20 percent of Energy Fiji Limited (EFL), worth $220 million, which is equivalent to 100 million shares partially divested from the 500 million shares. The question is, why is the balance of the sale of 400 million shares not reflected in the Government’s investment receipts in this 2020-2021 Budget? This is a deception, this is injustice! Where is the reality in the revenue that is being projected? Mr. Speaker, Sir, as the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, I now wish to make some comments on the budget provided to the Fiji Roads Authority (FRA). I note that the budgetary provision of $348.9 million is mostly under restricted disbursements. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is now a standing joke about where have all the monies gone to, given that the state of our roads around the country continues to deteriorate to the point of being risk- hazard to travelling commuters. We also note the increased level of borrowing from external financial institutions on this FRA budgetary allocation amounting to $87 million, an increase from $54 million in the last Budget. The question is, whether all these funding that are provided are being utilised for their intended purposes, like road rehabilitation, as well as for bridges and jetties? The monitoring element of this expenditure is unclear, given the latest FRA Annual Report which was tabled in Parliament for the year 2016.