Radio Australia - Pacific Beat - Stories - TUVALU: PM forecasts constitution changes(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
Tuvalu's prime minister, MaatiaToafa, is forecasting significant changes to the constitution, following the strengthening of government numbers in parliament.
In particular, Mr Toafa wants to clamp down on rogue ministers destabilising government by calling votes of no-confidence and crossing the floor, simply to advance their own careers.
TOAFA: No, we may be able to do it now while we have the two-thirds majority, I think this is the golden time for us to do it as quickly as we can.
MaatiaToafa was the ninth Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Tuvalu.
He was deputy Prime Minister when on August 27, 2004, he became Acting Prime Minister when Prime Minister Saufatu Sopoanga resigned from Parliament after his government was deposed in a no confidence vote.
At the August 2006 parliamentary elections, Toafa was reelected to Parliament, but all of the members of his cabinet were defeated.
Maatia Toafaâ”his deputyâ”headed an interim administration until he was ratified as head of government in October 2004.
Members of the Chamber of Commerce met with Maatia Toafaâ”who also holds the foreign affairs portfolioâ”and negotiated a release of $100,000 U.S. for private sector loans.
Although Toafa retained his seat in the Nanumea constituency, he was not able to form a government, as six of his cabinet ministers were defeated.
Tuvalu Press Releases(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
The Prime Minister of Tuvalu, MaatiaToafa says his country supports the resumption of commercial whaling.
MaatiaToafa, Tuvalu - s prime minister, said yesterday that penny-pinching by its former colonial ruler, Britain, had forced his government to carry out a review of its constitutional ties to the monarchy.
Tuvalu's new prime minister MaatiaToafa says he's created political history - by becoming the first person from his home island of Nanumea to hold the office.
www.topix.net /world/tuvalu/pr (1365 words)
Pacific Magazine: TUVALU: Resettlement A Loss Of Identity, Says PM Toafa(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
The Prime Minister of Tuvalu, MaatiaToafa says resettlement of the people of Tuvalu to neighbouring island countries is really the last option on their mind.
Mr Toafa told PACNEWS his government will look at all viable options before making a decision but it hopes that Tuvaluans will not be forced out of their motherland.
Mr Toafa said they are looking at buying land in bigger countries purely for economic reasons but if the need arises it will be useful in the future should the climate change problem escalate.
In February 2006, at a climate refugee forum in Melbourne, Don Kennedy, a retired Tuvalu-born Australian scientist, suggested the entire population of Tuvalu should relocate to Kioa.
Prime Minister MaatiaToafa said that the idea was under consideration, but was not a priority and was one of a number of options, the others including purchasing land in Australia or New Zealand.
If the Kioa option were adopted, Tuvaluans would need finance to develop the island, the Fiji Live news service quoted him as saying.
In October 2004 Parliament selected MaatiaToafa as prime minister to replace Saufatu Sopoanga, who lost a parliamentary vote of confidence.
Then-deputy prime minister MaatiaToafa acted as prime minister in a "caretaker" capacity until October 2004, when Parliament formally elected him prime minister.
There were no formal political parties; however, Parliament informally was divided between a faction that supported the Toafa government and a faction that did not.
TOKYO - Low-lying nations such as Tuvalu are slowing slipping under the waves and only dramatic steps, such as legal action against big polluter the United States, might stem the tide, Tuvalu Prime Minister MaatiaToafa said on Thursday.
His tiny South Pacific nation is a cluster of islands and atolls with a land area of just 26 square kilometres (10 sq mile).
"I would say the situation is very scary now," Toafa told Reuters in Tokyo, prior to a two-day leaders' summit of Japan and 14 Pacific island nations that starts on Friday.
www.energybulletin.net /16533.html (1129 words)
Marianas Variety On-Line Edition(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
FUNAFUTI (Pacnews) — Low-lying nations such as Tuvalu are slowly slipping under the waves and only dramatic steps, such as legal action against “big polluters” like the United States, might stem the tide, Tuvalu Prime Minister MaatiaToafa said.
His tiny South Pacific nation is a cluster of islands and atolls with a land area of just 26 square kilometers (10 sq mile).
Tuvalu, just like the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, feels they are victims of energy-hungry economies, such as the United States, Europe and Asia whose industries and transport belch vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the air.
The prime minister, MaatiaToafa, says a boat from Tuvalu is expected to leave by around the 13th of this month to pick up around 170 people and it will take ten days for the round trip.
Mr Toafa says the total cost of the repatriation is about 350,000 U.S. dollars with the money coming from the E.U. financial assistance programme.
He says the Tuvaluans on Nauru have also received 50 percent of their backpay from Taiwan, with the money now in their bank accounts on Tuvalu, and the rest will be paid early next month.
Maatia welcomes FEMM delegates(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
The Prime Minister of Tuvalu, MaatiaToafa says the proper management of the scarce resource of small island countries is essential, especially for Tuvalu.
This is something that Tuvalu will demonstrate to colleagues from the region during the Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) that begins today.
Mr Toafa said hosting FEMM delegates is good for Tuvalu’s small economy.
The incident took place after Tuvalu’s Prime Minister MaatiaToafa made some remarks about the refusal of Australia and New Zealand to consider taking in seasonal labour from other Pacific Island nations.
In a leaders’ session at Crowne Plaza, Mr Toafa said many Pacific Islands students attended universities in Australia and they had not violated any visa regulations, challenging the suggestion by Mr Howard and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark about their fears of increased level of illegal migrants.
He asked why citizens from the United States and Europe were allowed to take up manual jobs in Australia, while people from the Pacific were barred.
Tuvalu PM clings to power after poll | | The Australian(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
Tuvalu PM clings to power after poll
MAATIAToafa's reign as Tuvalu Prime Minister appears in jeopardy, after general elections brought sweeping changes to the Parliament of the world's fourth smallest country.
Eight of the 15 sitting MPs were voted out, including all six of Mr Toafa's cabinet.
The recent Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting with Japan in Okinawa on May 26-27 was another opportunity.
"Pacific nations contribute just 0.6 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions yet are the first to suffer the consequences of sea level rise due to global warming," said Tuvalu Prime Minister MaatiaToafa during the summit.
Japan, one of the most industrialized countries in the world, in 2002 pumped 1,100 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the sky.
A recent UN study forecast that some 50 million people could became environmental refugees by 2010, driven from their homes by desertification, rising sea levels, flooding and storms linked to climate change.
Tuvalu Prime Minister MaatiaToafa hates the term "environmental refugee" but admits his 11,600 people may have to abandon their South Pacific island homes.
Children rode the waves on makeshift surfboards, trailing behind cars and vans dashing for higher ground.
Tuvalu finally sided with Japan, amid charges that Tokyo had promised to fund its infrastructure development.
Prime Minister MaatiaToafa threw up his hands in disbelief over the suggestion, while Togo went to the summit and paid its dues with $10,000--in cash.
Tuvalu wasn’t alone; Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines joined 27 other states in voting to end the moratorium on hunting whales.
