PR - A new manual for drafting members’ bills, aimed at helping other Pacific nations strengthen their parliamentary practices, was recently launched at the New Zealand Parliament.
The Drafting Manual for Members’ Bills for Pacific Island Parliaments covers each stage of drafting a member’s bil l. It was developed by Seinimili Tu’i’onetoa Fonua, a legislative counsel and legal adviser to the Tongan Parliament.
Most Pacific parliaments allow the introduction of members’ bills, but there are few of them due to the lack of drafting resources and training. It is hoped the manual will give Pacific Island drafters assistance to produce members’ bills of a high standard.
The manual has already been well received at a Pacific public law officers meeting in Kiribati. Many of the Attorneys-General and Solicitors-General at the meeting had asked for a resource of this type.
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Developing the manual
Seinimili developed the manual as part of her Masters of Law degree with Victoria University while she undertook an internship with the Office of the Clerk.
During her internship she had the support of staff and resources of the Office of the Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel Office , New Zealand’s law drafting office, to create the manual.
As a staff member of the Tongan Parliament, Seinimili has an appreciation of the challenges of adapting to more democratic processes, especially since the reform of their political system in 2010. Particularly challenging was balancing the practices of a Westminster style parliament with a traditional Pacific way of doing things. Debra Angus, Deputy Clerk to the House of Representatives says, “The New Zealand Parliament is committed to building capacity and strengthening parliamentary activities in the Pacific.”
Seinimili personally presented the first copy of the manual to Viniana Namosimalua, the Secretary-General of the Fijian Parliament, on her recent visit to Wellington. Her visit was part of the first delegation to travel outside of Fiji since their recent elections.
A copy of Drafting Manual for Members’ Bills for Pacific Island Parliaments is available at http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/features/00NZPHomeNews201411281/strengthening-pacific-parliamentary-practices.
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