Focus on the Constitutional Amendment Bill, says Tabuya

Special Parliamentary Committee member Lynda Tabuya states that public submissions on the proposed constitutional changes must focus on the Constitutional Amendment Bill currently before Parliament.

She says the Constitutional Review Commission’s report contains recommendations, while the Bill sets out the proposed changes to the law.

This follows concerns raised on social media that the public is being asked to comment on a document that differs from the one produced by the Commission.

“It is up to Government to accept those recommendations or not, and then that’s where we put forward the Constitutional Amendment Bill.”

Tabuya says the Commission’s report followed months of public consultations, involving thousands of submissions and visits to more than 100 venues across Fiji.

However, she says the report contains recommendations to Government, Parliament and the people of Fiji. It is not the legislation itself.

Tabuya says the government had to decide which recommendations to accept before drafting the Bill.

She states that the government largely accepted the Commission’s recommendations but differences remain in the proposed legislation.

Tabuya adds that the current 30-day submission period should focus on those differences and allow the public to scrutinise the changes proposed in the Bill.