High-level delegation from Samoa share experiences with Tasmania Parliament

“…maintaining our way of life or fa’asamoa while meeting demands for change and development is challenging and to have a programme such as the Pacific Parliamentary Partnership is an initiative that encourages proper processes and support so that the Samoan Parliament effectively represent her people”

A 13 members delegation from the Parliament of Samoa including staff of the Legislative Assembly, has returned home after a three-day meeting with members of the Tasmania Parliament last week.

Led by the Speaker of the House, La’auli Polata’ivao Schmidt, the visit is part of the Samoa Parliamentary Support Project, under the twinning programme known as Pacific Parliamentary Partnerships, which started in 2000.

Samoa a relatively safe, and prosperous country with a stable government and intact traditional way of life, hasn’t suffered the political and economic upheavals that typically draw the attention of the international community.

However, as Samoa continues to grow, so too are the countries challenges.

Samoa’s opposition party whip, Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi, said “maintaining our way of life or fa’asamoa while meeting demands for change and development is challenging, and to have a programme such as the Pacific Parliamentary Partnership is an initiative that encourages proper processes and support, so that the Samoan Parliament effectively represents her people.”

Speaker La’auli, who also heads the Samoa Legislative Assembly said, funding and structural constraints have made the services needed to support the operations of a truly representative parliament unavailable, having such programme in place would enable Samoa to tackle these challenges and improve the Samoa Legislative Assembly’s operations.

Clerk of the Samoan Legislative Assembly, Fepulea’i Ropati, said one key outcome of the program has been the establishment of the community outreach office, which aims to foster greater engagement between the parliament and the community.

He said it encourages participation and allows people to voice their concerns and opinions on matters pertaining to parliament. He said is also creates connections between people and their representatives.

Fundamental to the programme is the need to increase the number of women in the Samoa Parliament.

Previously there were only two female members of the parliament, but this number has increase to three recently with the election of Faimalotoa Kika Stowers, from the constituency of Gagaifomauga No. 1.

Faimalotoa who is part of the delegation, says increasing the participation of women in public life is one of the challenges for Samoa, however, changes are occurring and her hope is that the number of women in parliament will increase to five or more in the future.

Funded by AUSAID and coordinated by the United Nations Development Programme (U.N.D.P), the Samoa Parliamentary Support Project is administered by the Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, while Australian, and Tasmanian

Parliament provides technical expertise assistance.

During a function hosted by the Tasmania Parliament for the delegation, Speaker of the House, Elise Archer commended the initiative saying the relationship between the two parliaments provides key opportunities for Samoa to learn from the

Australian experience, and also for Australia and Tasmania participants to better understand the challenges each other face.

The University of Tasmania (U.T.A.S) is also involved in this initiative in assisting with the training and development needs of the Legislative Assembly staff.

Deputy Dean and Associate Professor of the U.T.A.S Law School, Rick Snell spoke about the Samoan graduates of U.T.A.S and the valuable contribution they make to Samoan public life.

His hope is that more Samoan students will come to U.T.A.S to study law. Professor Snell also mentioned the valuable contribution made by Tasmanian Justice Slicer who served as a judge in Samoa from 2011 until 2014. The delegation returned last weekend.