“Let other people decide your salaries” is the latest message in the Fiji parliamentary pay controversy.

This is the call of Fiji’s longtime House of Representatives Secretary Edward Blakelock, who believes that the Special Emoluments Committee must be independent.

He said the Emoluments Committee, traditionally comprised independent consultants who were not sitting parliamentarians and cabinet ministers.

Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry echoed similar sentiments, adding the report on the review of emoluments for parliamentarians should have been cleared by Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad in cabinet before it was tabled in Parliament.

RNZ Pacific reports that the political fallout from Fijian parliamentarians giving themselves a pay rise last week is spiralling out of control after the main opposition — FijiFirst, the largest single political party in Parliament — sacked 17 out of 26 of its MPs.

While Parliament decides on the make-up of the Special Emoluments Committee, Blakelock said it should not comprise ministers and members of Parliament.

The Parliamentary Remunerations Act 2014 does not spell out who should be members of this committee, but in accordance with parliamentary tradition, the body is expected to be independent of the Parliament.

It should not include current sitting members as committee members so as to ensure no conflict of interest but to be eventually be answerable to Parliament in terms of the approval of its report.

Not eligible
He said the 1997 Constitution specified that exclusion under Section 83 (4) — that a person whose renumeration is reviewable by the Parliamentary Emoluments Committee is not eligible to be appointed as a member.

“As a matter of principle, I personally believe that a member of Parliament — whether a minister or not — should not be a member of a committee which reviews their own salaries, allowances and benefits purely because of conflict of interests issues and just basic fairness,” said Blakelock.

“As mentioned earlier, the 1997 Constitution specifies that exclusion in no uncertain terms.

“In other words, members are expected to be drawn from outside of the current membership of Parliament.

“The Parliament itself chooses by agreement who should be a member of the committee.

“Again, Parliament has to act within the confines of the relevant constitutional provisions and precedence, as well as the provisions in the Parliamentary Remunerations Act 2014.

“I would have thought that if the committee had comprised of members who are not current sitting members of Parliament, we would certainly not be going through all these rigmaroles today.

Independent committee
“The committee should, in my opinion, be independent and consist of experienced and qualified persons from outside of Parliament.”

The 2013 Constitution requires that Parliament “must, under its rules and orders, establish committees with the functions of scrutinising government administration and examining Bills and subordinate legislation and such other functions as are specified from time to time in the rules and orders of Parliament”.

And according to Parliament’s Standing Orders on Special Committees, a special committee may be established by a resolution of Parliament to carry out the assignment specified in the resolution.

This allowed Parliament to pass a resolution on July 12, 2023, for the establishment and membership of the Special Emoluments Committee.

The committee is chaired by Minister for Women Lynda Tabuya and comprises Minister for Infrastructure Ro Filipe Tuisawau, Education Minister Aseri Radrodro, and Opposition MPs Alvick Maharaj and Mosese Bulitavu.

Repeka Nasiko is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Unions in New Caledonia have secured a 4.2 percent increase of the lowest salaries from January 1, 2023.

The concession by the employers’ organisation MEDEF was announced as a large crowd rallied for a general strike outside its offices in Noumea.

According to police, 1500 people had gathered to press their demands while the unions said they mobilised 5000 members.

The unions had sought an across-the-board pay increase of six percent in the private sector to offset the impact of inflation, which in November was 4.4 percent.

The wage hike applies to those earning between the monthly US$1440 minimum pay and those earning up to US$1775.

MEDEF said inflation has hit businesses hard as production costs are rising faster than product prices, in particular with the rise in the cost of energy.

MEDEF said the social partners became aware early on of the negative impact of imported inflation on the purchasing power of New Caledonians.

It said that as early as May it and the unions unanimously and jointly asked the government to hold a conference on wages.

MEDEF said since April there had been proposals for tax reform which combined economic recovery and resetting of net wages.

It said raising wages had therefore always been a key aspect of the planned tax reform.

The government plans to hold a conference next week to discuss reforms in view of the crisis facing public finances.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Richard M. Nanua in Port Vila

Some Vanuatu police officers have raised dissatisfaction on the implementation of the Government Remuneration Tribunal (GRT) ruling taking effect today, claiming it might negatively impact on security in the country.

After receiving a letter from the Police Commissioner, Albert Nalpini this week, police officers (lower ranking officers who did not want their names revealed) said they had all entitlements – such as detective, driver, prosecutor and sergeant allowances – removed with an increase that did not make any difference in their wages.

The unhappy police officers said that in their letters from the Commissioner, he had said the GRT report made a major determination that covered sworn police officers (Determination 15 of 2017).

The result of Determination 15 would be an overall increase in salary of VPF members to reflect market rates and to recognise the complexities and unique nature of policing work, they were told.

The determination also required that job-related allowances (JRAs) and take-home entitlements be incorporated into salary and no longer paid as a separate entitlement.

The GRT determination established that any salary adjustment would be in accordance with performance guidelines and budget availability.

-Partners-

The review of the salary increments would occur every three years rather than annually as in the previous situation.

‘Take-home pay’
The police force allowances that GRT has decided to remove are job-related allowances and other “take-home pay entitlements” that are to be absorbed into the revised salary rates.

But some police officers said that according to the new structure, the job related allowances – including the detective allowance, drivers allowance, instructor allowance, musician allowance, prosecutors allowance, tradesmen’s allowance, traffic examiners allowance, and sergeant allowance – had been wiped out from their entitlements.

They said that the take-home pay entitlements that were also taken from them are child allowances and housing allowances.

They are concerned that some of them will be affected with the change, especially the lowest paid in the force.

They said the senior police officers would benefit from the new structure but it was “a disaster” for police constables and the lowest ranks within the VPF.

Some of the police said that they had “put their lives on the line” every day for citizens.

They said that they were risking their lives for civilians who they did not even know they were attending dangerous situations.

Drug, murder cases
They deal with drug cases and burglars, rapists and murderers.

They get assaulted by criminals in what was a hard and dangerous job.

When the Daily Post gauged the view of some members of the public in town for their view, they appealed for a significant increase on the police wages.

Meanwhile, Internal Affairs Minister Andrew Napuat said he had reminded Commissioner Nalpini more than three times and Commander South, Jackson Noal, of any issue that may arise on the beginning of GRT pay that commences today.

The minister said he welcomed comments and anyone who was affected by the GRT, claiming if there was any dissatisfaction caused by that new structure then it was a top priority to deal with it.

He encouraged the unhappy police officers to talk to their superiors or to step into his office.

School teachers told the Daily Post yesterday that they were also affected.

They said that GRT was likely to affect teaching not only in Port Vila but Vanuatu as a whole.

The teachers said none of them were happy with this new structure that was only benefitting senior officers.

They appealed to the government to revisit or “hold” GRT pending a wider consultation.

Richard M. Nanua is a Vanuatu Daily Post journalist. Asia Pacific Report republishes VDP stories with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Vijay Narayan in Suva

The Parliamentary Emoluments Committee (PEC) has recommended allowance increases for overseas travels for government ministers, the Speaker, the leader of the Opposition and all Fiji MPs.

In a report tabled by the committee chairman Brij Lal after getting submissions from Fiji political parties: FijiFirst, SODELPA and NFP, the committee recommends that the Fiji prime minister’s overseas travel allowance be set at UNDP subsistence allowance plus 250% plus $600 per day.

The prime minister’s current overseas travel allowance is set at UNDP subsistence allowance plus 50% plus $300 per day.

The committee has also recommended that cabinet ministers overseas travel allowance be set at UNDP subsistence allowance plus 200% plus $500 per day.

Their allowances currently stand at UNDP subsistence allowance plus 50% plus $250 per day.

Read the full report published on Fijivillage