King to face NZ protest over media law
Title -- 4079 TONGA: King to face NZ protest over media law
Date -- 5 June 2003
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- Dominion-Post, 5 June 2003
Copyright -- DP
Status -- Unabridged
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TONGAN KING TO FACE NZ PROTEST
www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dominionpost/0,2106,2524155a6030,00.html
by Mary Jane Boland
WELLINGTON (Stuff/Pacific Media Watch): New Zealand's High Commissioner to Tonga will visit the Tongan king today to protest about planned changes to its constitution, the Dominion-Post reports.
Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said last night that a bill introduced to the Tongan Parliament this week by its king, Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, appeared to breach international human rights.
And an Auckland lawyer says the proposal - which would effectively abolish judicial review powers and press freedom - could see the end of the rule of law in Tonga.
"These changes appear contrary to the spirit of Commonwealth and Pacific Forum declarations on basic rights," Goff said.
New Zealand's high commissioner to Tonga, Warwick Hawker, would visit the king today to express that view.
Goff said he hoped the Tongan Government would reconsider the "retrogressive" step.
Rodney Harrison, QC, gave a legal opinion to Auckland newspaper publisher Kalafi Moala yesterday, which indicated Tonga was on the brink of losing its legal system.
The bill comes a week after customs officials seized copies of Moala's newspaper Taimi 'o Tonga (the Tongan Times), which is published in Auckland, to prevent it being sold in Tonga.
It is more than three months since the bi-weekly paper has been distributed because of a royal ban on its sale. A Supreme Court judge ruled last month that the ban was unconstitutional but the king has instead chosen to introduce the proposed amendment to the 1875 constitution.
In his report, issued last night, Dr Harrison said the plan to change the Tongan constitution's judicial review "was very significant and extremely serious".
Moala said the law change would alter one of the most fundamental clauses in the Tongan constitution.
"It's restricted to cultural traditions which means you can't criticise the king and people in authority . . . it's really sad."
He has called on Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright to refuse to visit the king for his 85th birthday next month. Government House has refused comment on the issue.
But Goff said there were no plans to cancel Dame Silvia's visit: "That would be tantamount to closing off our communication with Tonga. We feel it's important to keep the lines of communication open."
Taimi 'o Tonga's lawyers applied to the Supreme Court yesterday for an interim injunction to allow the release of last week's paper.
PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it has links with the Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and Community Communications Online (c2o).
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