MONDAY 9th NOVEMBER 2009
Invitation to make a submission to the Inquiry into the Award of $50,000.00 Terminal Grant to the Spouse of a Member of Parliament
On 17 July 2009, in response to a public outcry on the award of a terminal grant for parliamentarians’ spouses, Hon. Clement Kengava, MP for North West Choiseul, raised the issue as a matter of privilege in Parliament. In the ensuing debate, on a motion by Hon. Patteson Oti, MP for Temotu Nende, Parliament passed a resolution that the matter be referred to the House Committee for consideration.
Terms Of Reference
In accordance with the resolution of the House, the Committee’s Terms of Reference are as follows:
“That the Parliamentary House Committee inquiries into and report on the concerns raised by the Member of North West Choiseul under Standing Order 25 relating to the Parliamentary Entitlement Commission’s Regulation legal Notice No. 45, which provides for a $50,000.00 terminal grant to the spouse of a Member of Parliament”. Due to the high level of public and media interest, the Committee hopes to receive a large number of submissions relevant to the Terms of Reference from individuals and groups that have special interest, knowledge, or experience in this important issue and invites such individuals, groups and members of the public to make written submission to the inquiry.
Submissions are confidential until they are made public by the Committee, which might occur during the inquiry or when the report is tabled in Parliament at the end of the inquiry. This means no one, including the author, may distribute the submissions unless the Committee authorizes it. If your submission contains information you do not wish to be made public, please be sure to clearly mark it ‘CONFIDENTIAL’. The Committee will consider all requests for confidentiality, but is not obliged to grant a submission confidential status if it determines that it is not in the public interest to do so.
Guidelines on how to prepare a submission can be found at the Parliament website. http://www.parliament.gov.sb and are also available from the secretariat at the National Parliament. If you have previously provided your views to the media you may wish to present them to the Committee by way of a submission.
Submissions should be sent to: The Chairman, Parliamentary House Committee, PO Box G19, HONIARA; or alternatively, submissions can be sent by email to phc@parliament.gov.sb.
The closing date for submissions is September 11 2009.
Public hearings will commence in October 2009. Details will be made available in the media and the parliament website. At the conclusion of its inquiry, the Committee will report to Parliament, with recommendations, for its consideration. That report is expected to be tabled at the Budget Meeting at end of this year.
Yours sincerely, Hon. Patteson Oti, MP Acting Chairman
Terms of Reference and Related Documents
