THE HON SPEAKER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
THE HON PRIME MINISTER AND HON MINISTERS OF THE CROWN
THE HON NOBLES OF THE REALM
THE HON REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE

MEMBERS OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS
CHIEF JUSTICE
CHURCH LEADERS
DISTINGUISHED GUESTS
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

MR. SPEAKER SIR,

WE MEET TODAY TO CLOSE THIS SESSION OF PARLIAMENT IN SOMBRE MOOD. A FEW METRES AWAY, BUILDINGS LIE BURNED, BODIES HAVE BEEN RETRIEVED FROM THE ASHES AND OUR CAPITAL IS SILENT AS IT HAS NEVER BEEN BEFORE.

WE LOST HRH PRINCE TU’IPELEHAKE AND PRINCESS KAIMANA IN JULY.

WE ALSO LOST OUR BELOVED KING TAUA’AHAU TUPOU IV IN SEPTEMBER, AND WE ARE STILL IN MOURNING.

WE HAVE LOST MUCH, ESPECIALLY THE LONG-CHERISHED CARE-FREE HAPPY LIFE AND FREEDOM TO MOVE ABOUT AS WE WISH. WE HAVE NOW BECOME PRISONERS IN OUR HOME.

A VERY DIFFERENT MOOD FACED THIS PARLIAMENT WHEN IT OPENED IN JUNE. THE KEY THEMES CONFRONTING GOVERNMENT THEN WERE SET BY THE ECONOMIC CHALLENGES THAT HAD DOMINATED THE PREVIOUS TWELVE MONTHS.

GOOD PROGRESS HAD BEEN MADE WITH ECONOMIC STABILISATION AND MAINTENANCE OF ESSENTIAL SERVICES. EDUCATION WAS TO BE A KEY PRIORITY, AS WE LOOKED WITH ENTHUSIASM TO THE FUTURE OF OUR YOUNG PEOPLE IN AN ECONOMY THAT WOULD NEED THEIR SKILL AND LEARINING, A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH DONORS WAS BEING CONSOLIDATED.

ECONOMIC PROGRESS

IN ADDITION TO STABILISING THE ECONOMIC CRISIS, GOVERNMENT HAD COMMITED ITSELF TO PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM, ECONOMIC SECTOR REFORM AND TO POLITICAL REFORM.

THOSE CHALLENGES WERE BIG ENOUGH, AND GOVERNMENT WAS PROGRESSING FORWARD – GRADUALLY YET STEADFASTLY.

WE MANAGED TO MAINTAIN THE RELATIVE STRENGTH OF THE PAANGA AND WE HAVE ALSO MANAGED TO CONSERVE OUR FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVE LEVELS AT OVER FOUR ONTHS’ WORTH OF IMPORTS.

WE DOUBLED OUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO NON-GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.

WE WERE ABLE TO PAY OUT OVER $30 MILLION IN REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS AND IN CIVIL SERVANTS SALARY ADJUSTMENTS FROM OUR INTERNAL RESOURCES.

AN AMBITIOUS ECONOMIC REFORM AND ROAD PROGRAMMES ARE ON THE DRAWING BOARD, WITH THE EMPHASIS ON THE REPRODUCTIVE SECTORS ESPECIALLY AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND CONSTRUCTION..

TOURIST NUMBERS HAVE INCREASED OVER THE PAST 12 MONTHS, AND THINGS WERE LOOKING UP IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY. PLANS ARE BEING FINALIZED BY A REPUTABLE CHAIN OF INTERNSTIONAL HOTELS TO BUILD A 5-STAR RESORT IN VAVA’U. LET US HOPE THAT THE EVENTS OF LAST WEEK DO NOT DERAIL THIS EXCITING DEVELOPTMENT.

AND POLICY MEMBERS ON LAW AND ORDER AND ANTI – CORRUPTION HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AND SOON TO BE IMPLEMENTED.

SO WE CAN TAKE SOME COMFORT FROM THE FACT THAT UP UNTIL LAST WEEK, SOLID PROGRESS WAS BEING MADE - AGAINST THE EXPECTATIONS OF AMNY – TO REVIVE OUR ECONOMY.

GOVERNMENT HAD BEGUN TO WIN OVER ITS CRITICS AND DOUBTERS BY AN OPEN, FAIR AND REASONED RESPONSE TO LAST YEARS POTENTIAL ECONOMIC CRISIS.

IT NOW KNOWS THAT IT MUST FACE THE FUTURE WITH THOSE SAME QUALITIES.

UNITED WE MUST BE TO REBUILD

AS THIS SESSION OF PARLIAMENT CLOSES, GOVERNMENT, AND INDEED, OUR WHOLE COUNTRY, MUST NOW PREPARE FOR DRAMATICALLY GREATER CHALLENGES

AS GOVERNMENT FACES THOSE CHALLENGES, IT WILL REACH OUT TO ALL TONGANS IN TONGA AND OVERSEAS.

AS PEOPLE, WE NEED NOW TO RE-GATHER OUR STRENGTH.

WE HAVE TO RE-BUILD.

WE HAVE TO REBUILD TRUST. WE HAVE TO REBUILD HOPE.

WE HAVE TO REBUILD OUR SENSE OF MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY TO EACH OTHER, SO THAT NEVER AGAIN WE WILL SEE SUCH VIOLENCE, ASRSON, LOOTING, DEATH – AND SUCH SHAME.

WE HAVE ALSO TO REBUILD OUT SMALL CITY OF NUKU’ALOFA.

AS WE DREADY OURSELVES FOR THESE CHALLENGES, ALL OUR PEOPLE MUST STAND TOGETHER.

FORTUNATELY WE DO NOT STAND ALONE. WE ARE JOINED BY OUR FRIENDS FROM ABROAD. ALREADY WE HAVE MILITARY AND POLICE PERSONNEL FROM AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND ON OUR STREETS AND WE THANK THEM FOR THEIR READY AND WILLING SUPPORT.

GOVERNMENT WILL SHORTLY ANNOUNCE PROGRESS AND PLANS THAT EMERGE FROM THE RECONSTRUCTION COMITEE CHAIRED BY THE MINISTER OF FINANCE.

OUR HUMBLE CITY OF NUKU’ALOFA WILL NOT BE REBUILT IN A DAY. BUT IT WILL BE REBUILT.

REBUILDING TRUST AND RESPONSIBILITY WILL ALSO TAKE TIME BUT GOVERNMENT WILL BEGIN IMMEDIATELY.

WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED. WE NEED TO LEARN WE NEED TO HEAL.

THE JUSTICE SYSTEM WILL DO ITS WORKS AND DISTINGUISH BETWEEN LAWFUL PROTEST AND UNLAWFUL ACTIVITIES, AND TO DEAL WITH THEM FIRMLY AND SPEEDILY ACCORDING TO LAW, INSTIGATORS OF VIOLENCE AND CRIME MUST BE DEALT WITH FIRMLY.

LAW AND ORDER MUST BE RESTORED IMMEDIATELY SO THAT THE PEOPLE CAN FEEL SAFE AND SECURE ONCE AGAIN IN THEIR OWN HOMES, AT WORK AND WHEREVER THEY WANT TO GO.

CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS

THE EVENTS OF THE LAST FEW DAYS HAVE SHAKEN OUR CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS.

BUT OUR CULTURAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL ROOTS ARE INNATELY STRONG. AND WE HAVE NEVER BEEN PREPARED BY MORE THAN A CENTURY OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT TO BE ABLE TO FACE THE POLITICAL TASKS THAT LIE AHEAD.

HIS LATE MAJESTY HAD BECOME CONCERNED THAT THE KINGDOM’S POLITICAL GROWTH WAS NOT KEEOING IN PACE WITH ITS ECONOMIC DEVELOPTMENT AND THE ASPIRATIONS OF HIS PEOPLE.

THIS LED HIM TO SET A PRECEDENT, MOMENTOUS IN TONGA, OF APPOINMENTS TO CABINET BASED ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF A PRIME MINISTER ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE. AT THAT MOOMENT THE SOVEREIGN VOLUNTARILT BECAME BOUND BY HIS NEW PRECEDENT OF APPOINTING A PRIME MINISTER FROM AMOUNG THOSE ELECTED TO THE HOUSE.

WE ARE GREATFUL TO THE LATE PRINCE TU’IPELEHAKE AND THE MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR POLITICAL REFORM FOR THE CAREFUL REPORT THAT HAS BEEN LAID BEFORE THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.

THE GOVERNMENT SUBSEQUENTLY TABLED IN PARLIAMENT THE BROAD OUTLINE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES THAT IT BELIEVED SHOULD BE CONSIDERED IN CONJUNCTION WITH TU’IPELEHAKE REPORT AS THERE IS MUCH IN COMMON IN THE TWO PROPOSALS.

THE PEOPLE’S REPRESENTATIVES ALSO SUBMITTED THEIR OWN PROPOSALS TO THE ASSEMBLY TWO WEEKS AGO.

ALL THESE PROPOSALS HAVE THE SAME ULTIMATE AIM – A MORE DEMOCRATIC FORM OF PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT BUT APPROPRIATE FOR TONGA – WHICH I FULLY SUPPORT.

THE DIFFERENCES AMOUNG THESE VARIOUS PROPOSALS ARE NOT THAT IRRECONCILIABLE, AND SURELY CAN BE BRIDGES THROUGH DIALOGUE AND CONSENSUS.

I WOULD URGE ALL PARLIAMENTARIANS TO CONTINUE DIALOGUEING, AND TABLE THEIR CONSENSUS AT THE NEXT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT.

IN 1875, THE CONSTITUTION WAS A GIFT FROM KING GEORGE TUPOU I TO THE PEOPLE OF TONGA.

TODAY, THE CONSTITUTION IS OWNED BY ALL THE PEOPLE, AND TONGAN CULTURE, TONGAN TRADITIONS, TONGAN STRENGTH, TONGAN SINGNING, TONGAN VOICES, TONGAN PRAYER AND TONGAN DIGNITY MUST FIND NEW EXPRESSION AND NEW VIGOUR.


MEETING THE PEOPLE

SINCE MY ACCESION TO THE THRONE, I HAVE TRAVELLED TO ALL MY PEOPLE IN THE OUTER ISLANDS. WHAT A JOY IT WAS TO MEET WITH THEM, TALK WITH THEM, LISTEN TO THEM AND PRAY WITH THEM.

THEY WERE HAPPY OCCASIONS AND I INTEND TO UNDERTAKE THESE VISITS ON A REGULAR BASIS.

HERE IN TONGATAPU, I INTEND TO CONTINUE MEETING, TALKING AND PRAYING WI TH MY PEOPLE, PERHAPS ON A DISTRICT BASIS AT REGULAR INTERVALS. WE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER IN REBUILDING OUR COUNTRY.


GOVERNMENT NEED ALL OUR SUPPORT

WE NOW HAVE A PRIME MINISTER AND GOVERNMENT, ALL APPOINTED BY HIS LATE MAJESTY. THEY DID NOT WANT TO PRIME MINISTER MOR MNISTERS. THEY WERE ASKED TO SERVE THE COUNTRY AND THEY FAITHFULLY ANSWERED THAT CALL.

AS SUCH, THEY NEED ALL OF OUR SUPPORT. WE MUST ALLOW THEM TIME WITH MANAGING THE ECONOMY AND THE COUNTRY. LET US ALL HELP THEM TO ACHIEVE AND COMPLETE THE MISSION TO WHICH THEY HAVE CALLED.

CONCLUSION

IN CONCLUSION, LET US FOCUS ON THE IMMEDIATE TASKS AHEAD.

LAST WEEK, TONGA MADE NEWS IN A WAY THAT I HOPE WE WILL NEVER REPEAT.

AS WE LOOK AHEAD, WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE HISTORY IN ANOTHER WAY.

LET US PICK UP CHALLENGES, EACH ONE OF US. LET US REBUILD A NEW CAPITAL AND NEW TONGA.

LET US MAKE A HISTORY THAT WE WILL REMEMBER WITH PRIDE AFTER ANOTHER 131 YEARS OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT BASED ON FREEDOM, THE RULE OF LAW, AND THE DIGNITY OF OUR PEOPLE.

AS WE CLOSE THE PARLIAMENT OF 2006 AND PREPARE FOR THE GREAT TASKS AHEAD, I ASK YOU TO PRAY FOR TONGA, FOR ALL OUR PEOPLE, FOR ALL OUR LEADERS, FOR PEACE IN OUR HEARTS, AND FOR THE COURAGE TO REBUILD.

MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

KING GEORGE TUPOU V.