Not a holiday - MPs in the Pacific: Day Two

This is part two of five on the Speaker led delegation to Tonga and Fiji. For the other parts, click here. To hear why these trips happen, click here. 

Shaking hands or smiling politely in a group are the usual images shared after MPs travel overseas on taxpayer dollars. 

Curious about whether these trips are work or a holiday in disguise, I asked to follow National MPs Jo Hayes, Tim MacIndoe, Harete Hipango, Labour MP Adrian Rurawhe, and Speaker Trevor Mallard through Tonga and Fiji.

Day Two: Tuesday in Tonga

8am: Breakfast (sort of)

Tuesday starts with checking out of the hotel and then into a conference room for scrambled eggs, sausages, toast, and coffee. 

OK, it’s a little more than that; the room is filled with Tonga women leaders: MPs, Ministers, Tonga Development Bank’s CEO, the Attorney General, business owners and Ministry bosses.

There’s a power panel of speakers leading the talk on challenges for women leaders and ways women can be supported to become MPs. 

One of the panelists is Netatua Pelesikoti Taufatofua, an environmental scientist and candidate for the seat vacated by Tonga’s late Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva. 

“My area of expertise is disaster and climate change so I would like to ensure that issues of climate change and disasters are integrated into policies and legislation,” says Dr Pelesikoti Taufatofua.

Does she think the NZ MPs’ presence is useful?

“Well I have to learn from today,” she says.

“But I think the delegation from New Zealand have a lot of experience and I’m eager and keen to share those experiences and mine as well. That’s why I’m here this morning, to interact with the delegation from New Zealand.”

10am - Old Parliament site visit

The 100-year-old Parliament House was destroyed by Cyclone Gita in February of 2018.

New Zealand, with Australia, is helping to rebuild it so the MPs are taken on a tour by Tonga’s Speaker Lord Fakafanua. 

“I feel like the cyclone was very selective in which buildings it wanted to hit,” he jokes.

“It skipped the office and the media house and went straight for us.” 

Nature is starting to reclaim the space. 

Grass is growing up around concrete block foundations. There are steps and railings leading to nowhere and creeping vines snaking along wooden panels, metal poles, and planks piled up on the ground. 

The rebuild will take about three to four years but Lord Fakafanua shares some of the details with the group. 

“Justice will just move to the waterfront from back there, the idea is to share Parliament and Justice along the waterfront,” he says.

The rebuilt Parliament will have more space than it did at this site. Lord Fakafanua says some parliamentary staff have been housed off site temporarily since the 70s.

10:45am - Talanoa with Tonga MPs

The group heads back to Tonga’s temporary parliament site and splits into two. 

One half talks about engaging with the public, the other about running a constituency office. 

There’s talk of indigenous languages (a more traditional type of Tongan is spoken in its legislative assembly), how to moderate comments on social media, and the never-ending service to constituents which is aided by having a physical place they can come to meet MPs. 

After about half an hour the groups switch over. But the arrival of the newly sworn-in Prime Minister, Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa halts the workshops for a bit as the New Zealand MPs congratulate him and his Cabinet. 

12:45pm - lunch

Tonga’s temporary Parliament is right next to Fanga’uta Lagoon and this is where lunch is set up. 

There’s a music group serenading the diners, a buffet with ‘ota ika (raw fish), lu pulu (taro leaves, coconut cream and corned beef) and fresh coconut water for anyone who asks. 

It’s the island life people fall in love with. 

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues. The lagoon’s once rich diversity of marine species and coastal vegetation has been severely impacted by climate change and waste dumping over the years, prompting clean up programmes to restore it. 

It’s also overcast and windy, so the lagoon view is mostly blocked by a marquee - yep sometimes paradise is cloudy. 

The lunch-mood is unaffected and the MPs chat about various issues including one representative who has to travel three days by boat to get to his constituents in the Niua Islands. 

These face-to-face exchanges can’t be substituted says Lord Fakafanua. 

“A lot of the experience and knowledge that your Members of Parliament have, are a great resource for us to tap into,” he says.

“New Zealand Parliament is committed towards strengthening democratic processes and sharing those ideals and I think that exchanges such as my visit to the New Zealand Parliament last year, and that visit being reciprocated by the New Zealand Speaker, is evident of our priorities and that is to strengthen our democractic processes and share the best values that we have to give each other.”

2pm: Constituency office for Tongatapu 8

Constituency offices are relatively new to Tonga. 

Their purpose is to give members of the public access to their MP so they can talk about projects, events, or issues. 

Like New Zealand, once an MP is elected to an area, their job is to serve all constituents regardless of political affiliation.

The Honourable Semisi Tauelangi Fakahau is the representative of Tongatapu No. 8 and says his community has urgent needs like replacing pit latrines with flush toilets, upgrading water pumps and tanks, and installing street lights on roads with a lot of foot traffic. 

“It is very important and it’s working out well because we are closer and closer to the communities to do all the work that they need,” he says. 

3pm: Vaini Government Primary School 

New Zealand funds sports programmes in Tonga with the aim to use sport as a gateway to promote healthy lifestyles, gender equality, disability awareness, sanitation, and hygiene. 

At Vaini Primary School there’s a rugby game, table tennis, and some netball drills. Further back there are workers rebuilding classrooms damaged by Cyclone Gita. 

“I like netball because it’s good and it’s a good way to exercise and for healthy living,” says Class four student and aspiring netballer Dolene. 

CEO of Tonga Netball Salote Sisifa explains says New Zealand’s involvement began with talks to the New Zealand High Commission Office in Tonga and Netball New Zealand. 

“We specifically said, 'we’re already running these programmes for this audience, [but] our children, our younger girls, there’s nothing in place for them,' so there it was. I think it’s great that we were able to hold that discussion.”

Submitters to the Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee in New Zealand have likened New Zealand aid in the Pacific to “welfare” as there is "no transparent method by which any investment return can be identified".

Mrs Sisifa says that’s not an accurate representation. 

“You see what’s on the ground here, for us it’s travelling right through,” she says. 

“It’s a good partnership, it’s one to foster over the years. We’ve just started and it’s working perfect. You see it today, where it goes directly on our part so no, I wouldn’t say that’s an accurate statement.”

4pm: Tupou College 

Methodist boys school Tupou College is said to be one of the oldest secondary schools in Tonga. 

It’s a Free Wesleyan Church school established in 1866 under Rev Dr James Eagan Moulton who was the college’s first principal.

As the MPs enter the Moulton Memorial Chapel, Tupou College’s brass band bursts into a fanfare. 

The harmonies of the accompanying choir rise up the curved beams of the fale and the chapel swells with the sound as the MPs sit down. 

It’s clear the music department here doesn’t need any assistance but New Zealand does support the delivery of a Level 2 Certificate in Technical and Vocational Skills in Tongan secondary schools. 

It’s a partnership with Auckland’s Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) and trains students in skills needed in Tonga like carpentry, automotive, and plumbing. 

‘Oto Misi is the in-country coordinator for MIT and says the programme has been running for about six years but next year will be the end of the extended project. 

"It helps retain students in the schools," says 'Oto.

"A lot of kids now, after feeling out the programme, they seem to enjoy it a lot and because other kids made it to the workforce, it encourages them more."

Is there a point to having the New Zealand MPs here?

“It’s a great opportunity for decision makers in New Zealand to look at this. It’s not a huge finance programme but in terms of success rate, it’s been very successful,” he says.

5pm - van ride to the airport 

This is the end of the delegation’s time in Tonga and Labour MP Adrian Rurawhe says although the visit was short, it was thought provoking.

“There were some really great questions and we didn’t have all the answers either,” he says. 

“But it got us thinking about how we can do things better so it wasn’t just one-way traffic, there was real interaction between the parliamentarians in Tonga and ourselves who are visiting here.” 

That’s the end of day two. 

For day three, click here. To hear why these trips happen, go here.