Committee Urges Input For Vital Bills
Members of the public have been encouraged to come forward and submit oral or written submissions on the Online Safety Bill and Registration of Sex Offenders Bill.
Deputy Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights and Member of Parliament Mataiasi Akauola said people discussed issues among themselves and it was important for them to make their submissions known. “They need to front up to the committee and make their submissions … oral or written. We are welcoming it,” he said.
Mr Akauola said the committee was currently studying the Bills before they receive submissions starting on Tuesday.
“We have asked the various agencies that are listed in the Bills to come and submit on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week,’’ Mr Akauola said.
“There are about nine agencies, including the Fiji Police Force, Fiji Corrections Service and other relevant ministries.”
He said some individuals have indicated their willingness to present to the committee, including tertiary institutions: University of the South Pacific (USP), and some youth groups.
“We have allocated time for them next week, like the Fiji Human Rights and Anti-discrimination Commission, Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre, The Fiji Council of Churches, and many more,’’ he said.
Mr Akauola confirmed that submissions would run for three weeks and the committee would extend it to include the weekends if the need arose.
“Whether they present on one Bill or both it is up to them and we give them time to do so.”
He said they were also trying to engage a psychiatrist to speak to them about the Registration of the Sex Offenders Bill.
“We have only three weeks until the next parliament sitting to put the Bills together. In the April sitting, we are supposed to present the Registration of Sex Offenders Bill and for the May sitting the Online Safety Bill.”
Members of the public can utilise various forms of communication to send their submissions through their email address: ira.komaisavai@parliament.gov.fj or jackson.cakacaka@parliament.gov.fj.
The members of the committee include Chairperson Ashneel Sudhakar (Government Member), Deputy Chairperson Mr Akauola (Government Member), Semesa Karavaki (Opposition Member), Brij Lal (Government Member) and Mikaele Lewere (Opposition Member).