Could we, in a year's time, be listening to only Government news, and the role of the fourth estate as a check on government have ceased until a more enlighted government is returned to power?
Read https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/05/03/thank-you-for-watching-midday-signs-off-for-the-final-time/
Now, MPs are in the top one percent of earners with backbench MPs being paid $163,000, or $231,000 with perks added. The PM is paid $472,000 plus perks.
Bryce Edwards of the Democracy Project traces how it all happened in "Accepting a significant pay rise shows how much MPs are out of touch."
He opens with:
"How entitled are New Zealand’s politicians? Right now, MPs across the political spectrum look entirely out of touch in their unified stance of accepting the hefty pay increases recommended by the Remuneration Authority.
MPs should simply reject the pay increases – which they can easily do – rather than risk a legitimate public backlash from constituents who feel betrayed by an already well-paid political class that insists on austerity for others but not themselves."
Read on by clicking here.
Foreign media has made much of the demise of former PM Manasseh Sogavere whose switch from recognition of Taiwan to the People's Republic of China has been seen as a major election issue. If this was so, it must have been a very minor issue. Manele was Foreign Minister under Sogavere when the switch was made and he has promised to maintain present relationships.
Moreover, Manele's victory signals a return of the incumbent government formerly headed by Manasseh Sogavare in the 50-seat parliament.
Manele's administration, which calls itself the Government for National Unity and Transformation (GNUT), is made up of three parties; his own Our Party with 15 seats, Manasseh Maelanga's People's First Party with 3 seats and Jamie Vokia's Kandere Party with one seat, a total of 19, together with the SI Party for Rural Advancement (1 seat) and support from among the 11 independents MPs.
Matthew Wale's opposition —that mainly opposed the switch from Taiwan— comprises his own Democratic Party with 11 seats, the United Party with 6 seats, and one seat from the Democratic Alliance party.
The fragmentation of both government and opposition groups is only too obvious, and with most loyalties linked to individuals, clans and island groups the next few years promise to be very volatile.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/05/02/solomon-islands-lawmakers-elect-jeremiah-manale-as-new-pm/
See also pn931.
-- ACW
Three poll results have been released in the past three days, two of which show a Labour coalition could form government if an election were held on the poll date, 1News-Verian because NZ First dropped below the 5% threshold, Talbot Mills on numbers.
But which date? The Talbot Mills poll ran though March, and the Roy Morgan poll for parts of March and April. The only poll conducted over a reasonable short time was 1News-Verian. See table:
Tabot Mills tends to favour Labour and Roy Morgan National.
Australian-based Roy Morgan also published a breakdown by age and sex of those polled. A similar breakdown from the other pollsters would have been useful.
Men, particularly older men, favoured National. Women favoured Labour and younger women Greens. Nearly a quarter (24.5%) of women aged 18-45 would vote Greens! See details below.
| 2023 NZ Election | April 2024 | Women | Men | |||||
| All | 18-49 | 50+ | All | 18-49 | 50+ | |||
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| National | 38.1 | 36.5 | 28 | 14.5 | 42.5 | 45.5 | 41.5 | 49.5 |
| ACT | 8.6 | 11 | 10 | 14 | 5.5 | 12 | 6.5 | 18 |
| NZ First | 6.1 | 5.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 8.5 |
| National/ ACT/ NZ First | 52.8 | 53 | 42.5 | 32 | 54 | 63.5 | 52 | 76 |
| Labour | 26.9 | 24.5 | 28 | 25 | 31 | 21.5 | 25.5 | 16.5 |
| Greens | 11.6 | 13 | 16.5 | 24.5 | 7.5 | 9.5 | 16 | 2.5 |
| Maori Party | 3.1 | 5.5 | 9.5 | 16 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 1 |
| Labour/ Greens/ Maori Party | 41.6 | 43 | 54 | 65.5 | 41 | 32.5 | 43.5 | 20 |
| Others | 5.6 | 4 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 5 | 4 | 4.5 | 4 |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
The polls show that the National Coalition has lost some support since the elections and that Labour's standing is also not spectacular.
PM Luxon had 23% support as preferred PM, down 2%, while Opposition leader Hipkins had 16%, up a miserable 1%.
In the 1News Verian Poll, voters were also asked: "Which of the [coalition] party leaders do you think has the most influence on Government decisions?"
Around 51% responded with the prime minister, while about 49% did not.
Out of those who didn't believe the National leader was in control, 23% believed New Zealand First's Winston Peters had the most influence, 10% said ACT's David Seymour was in charge, whilst 17% said they didn't know who was behind the wheel.
Could New Zealanders be disallusioned with a jaded political line up on both sides of the political divide?
-- ACW
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| Sogave switched from regognizing Taiwan to recognizing China |
The opportunities —and need? —for graft and other forms of corruption in lobbying for support are immense. One wonders whether franchise, at this stage of Solomon Islands development, might be better in the hands of a geographically representative and educated council of electors.
This RNZ article sums up the sums up the voting situation.
Solomon Islanders are set to vote on 17 April in an election that has significance within and beyond the country’s borders. It is the first chance for them to vote on policy directions that the coalition led by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has taken and may change or consolidate his power.
Since Sogavare was elected by his parliamentary peers in April 2019, Solomon Islanders have lived through several shocks. First there were riots in April 2019, precursors to a much larger riot in November 2021. Both incidents related to grievances about the ruling political coalition and perceived foreign control of government decisions and the economy.
There was a switch in bilateral relations from Taiwan to China in September 2019, a decision announced before a parliamentary inquiry concluded or provincial governments had their say. The omission contributed to tensions between the prime minister’s office and the Malaitan provincial government, especially its former premier, Daniel Suidani. Those tensions resulted in Suidani’s removal from office in a vote of confidence in February, allegedly after money was offered to members of the provincial assembly to take him down.
Then there was Covid-19, which prompted a 28-month state of emergency. Sogavare’s emergency powers included rights to decide who could enter the country. He could also ban events, restrict inter-island travel and suspend access to media outlets. A decision to ban Facebook was ultimately not implemented but pointed to an anti-democratic trend. With even much-needed doctors and nurses sacked over strike plans or a critical social media post, rising centralisation of power and restrictions on free speech became clear. Criticism of the coalition has become more muted or is kept private.
Governance has become less transparent. No auditor general’s annual report on the state of government finances has been published in the past five years. The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force has released no annual report since 2018. Allegations of corruption, including alleged bribery of High Court officials, are unresolved.
Foreign money, meanwhile, has helped consolidate the ruling coalition’s power. Constituency development funds—discretionary money given to members of parliament— have a long history in Solomon Islands, but in 2021 the money, now coming from China, was for the first time allocated not to all MPs but only to members of the coalition. Aid funds from other countries tended to be directed into preparations for the South Pacific Games of late 2023. Click here to read in full.
* Anouk Ride is a research fellow at the Australian National University and an adjunct research fellow at Solomon Islands National University.
The article opens: "Salesi Temo is cantankerous, erratic, capricious, imperious, self-important, sexist, patriarchal and behaves like a schoolyard bully. He shares these characteristics with a tiny minority of crusty judges in other jurisdictions of the common law that Fiji also inherited from the British. But he is unique in one particular aspect. The Acting Chief Justice is an outlaw – someone who presides over the administration of the rule of law in Fiji yet continues to debase it with his violations of the Constitution, the supreme law.
"Temo’s defiance of the law with his advice to the President to illegally appoint a fellow judge, Alipate Qetaki, and the Acting DPP, John Rabuku, have been canvassed at length in these columns. He appointed them when the Constitution specifically prohibits them from holding those offices because they have been found guilty of professional misconduct.
They are:
1. Activate contempt of court action against her;
2. Refer her to the police for allegedly disobeying a lawful order;
3. Recommend to the President that she be removed from the bench;
4. Ask her to resign.
So .... in addition to hounding Bainimarama on a dubious charge, he is now hounding someone who was trying to uphold the law and do justice. God bless Fiji! Civil liberties may have improved under the new government but justice and upholding the law certainly has not.
-- ACW
This posting proposes that the NFP is uniquely positioned to restore much-needed government credibility and create a better atmophere for national unity by improving relations with Fiji First.
It can do so because it has the option to leave the coalition and bring down the government, and because all of its five members are people of high repute and capability.
The fact that all five NFP MPs are cabinet ministers clearly shows their capabilities are recognized by PM Sitiveni Rabuka and senior People's Alliance members. They have the power to change many things for the better if they choose to use it.
This is what I think they should do:
■ First, Biman must clear the accusations of personal tax evasion so there is absolutely no doubt that the accusations are false.
■ Then NFP should exercise pressure to stop the hounding of Voqere Bainimarama. It serves no good purpose and creates division when national unity is needed. Further, Bainimarama's three year suspension from Parliament for questioning the President and Parliament on the illegal appointment of judges should be rescinded.
■ Salesi Temo should not be confirmed as the new Chief Justice. His biases are only too obvious. The successful appointee should be decided after wide consultations which include the Fiji Law Society.
■ Prosecuting lawyer Losalini Tabuakoro should be dimissed. Her behaviour at the Bainmarama hearding when she didn't get the jail sentencing she wanted from Magistrate Seini Puamau is unacceptable. As Graham Davis in Grubsheet says, it is a "breathing example of the folly of getting rid of professional senior lawyers with judgment to prosecute cases on behalf of the state and replacing them simply on the basis of ethnicity."
■ Lynda Tabuya should be demoted (see pn923) and Sashi Kiran appointed Minister of Women and Children, and Minister of Poverty Alleviation with adequate resources and support to perform well in these roles.
■ More generally, NFP should push more strongly for what Pio wanted in the 2018 elections:
"We want a Fiji where everyone works together for a brighter future. We will march forward in unison and harmony as a mighty collective force to once again restore power to all of you. Because it is you who have shaped our policies. It is you we have listened to. And we want you to proudly take ownership of the government and its policies.
Simply put, NFP will be a government of Team Fiji that make up our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious nation.
First, we must all be economically secure. That is why we want a fair living wage for our workers and our farmers. Our economy depends on them. Next, we have to get rid of the climate of fear that covers our country. People must be free to speak up so that they can contribute their ideas.
Then we need to begin the massive task of rebuilding. Because education will decide our future, we need an education system – including university education - that works. We must have a good health system. And we must ensure that every family has that most important thing – a good home.
These are our priorities. They are not the only things we will do. You can read more about our plans in this manifesto...
God Bless Fiji."
Disclaimer. Biman Prasad is a former USP colleague who proposed my appointment as an Emeritus Professor. Sashi Kiran and I circumnavigated Viti Levu and Vanua Levu together while I was engaged on a consultancy. Sashi was also later one of my Development Studies students. I don't think my assocation with Biman and Sashi has distorted my judgment. If anything, it has improved it. -- ACW
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| Sitiveni Qilohi & Voqere Bainimarama |
In October last year Magistrate Seini Puamau found former PM Voqere Bainimarama not guilty of breaking the law with regards to the accusation that he had stopped a police investigation about the University of the South Pacific in 2020. Former police chief Sitiveni Qilohi was also charged.
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| Salesi Temo |
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| Seini Puamua |
Puamau could not reverse the Acting Chief Justice's verdict of guilty but in sentencing them on Thursday she ruled that Bainimarama was given "an absolute discharge," the lowest possible sentence, and the conviction was not to be registered. In other words, she came as close as legally possible to her original ruling of not guilty. Qiliho was given a $1500 fine without conviction.
Predictably, her ruling has been challenged and the case will be heard again on Wednesday, an unheard of short time after a ruling -- leaving effectively one working day, Tuesday, to prepare. Compare this with the case against dismissed former chief prosecutor Christopher Pryde who has been waiting for over a year for his appeal to be heard!
Government and its compliant judiciary are determined to "get" Bainimarama one way or another. And if these court cases are unsuccessful it is rumoured they have another 30 strategies up their sleeves.
Holding on to power by just one parliamentary seat the unsteady government coalition of People's Alliance, National Federation Party and the ultra-nationalist i'Taukei SODELPA must discredit and decapitate Bainimarama's First First party, the largest single party in parliament, if it is to win the next election, likely in December 2026.
But there is another reason. Government needs to deflect public attention away from troubles within its own ranks.
It is worth noting that the Fiji Law Society opposed his appointment.
Temo subsequently appointed John Rabuka as Acting Director of Public Prosecutions and Alipate Qetelu as a judge. Both men had been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Independent Legal Services Commission and were therefore not eligible for appointment.
Graham Davis of Grubsheet has advanced another possible reason for the appointment of acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo. Government hopes he can find ways around the 2013 Constitution, passed by the previous Bainimarama government, which cannot be changed without a two-thirds majority in parliament and a two-thirds majority in a referendum. Neither is even a remote possibility.
In these unsettled times one wonders what would happen if Bainimarama is sent to jail. A large public protest and even military intervension are not off the cards.
One final word. Magistrate Seini Korosaya Puamau is an incredibly courageous woman. Few others would have taken the stance she has in present day Fijij. I hope the rumour she has resigned is untrue.
-- ACW
Extracts from the 2013 Constitution
117. Director of Public Prosecutions
2. The Director of Public Prosecutions must be a person who is qualified to be
appointed as a Judge.
105. Qualification for appointment
1. The making of appointments to a judicial office is governed by the principle that
judicial officers should be of the highest competence and integrity.
2. A person is not qualified for appointment as a Judge unless he or she- • Eligibility for supreme court judges
a. holds, or has held a high judicial office in Fiji or in another country
prescribed by law; or
b. has had not less than 15 years post-admission practice as a legal
practitioner in Fiji or in another country prescribed by law, and has not
been found guilty of any disciplinary proceeding involving legal
practitioners whether in Fiji or abroad, including any proceeding by the
Independent Legal Services Commission or any proceeding under the law
governing legal practitioners, barristers and solicitors prior to the
establishment of the Independent Legal Services Commission.
SIIN: SOLOMON ISLANDS THESIS CATALOGUE:
| Thu, Mar 21, 7:58 PM (19 hours ago) |  | ||
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Dear colleagues
The Solomon Islands Theses Catalogue, collated by me and published earlier this month by the Solomon Islands National University is now available at SINU Library and online via the UQ e-Space (see below), There are 1,213 entries, although the 512 digital copies of theses (15.5 gigs) that I managed to find are not easily available as there are copyright restrictions. But the digitasl files are available at SINU Library, and eventually at other sites such as the SI National Library and Museum.
The sum of the polls, however, (see table) shows government to be in a relatively secure position, and the Opposition to be in deep water.
