National Federation Party MP Lenora Qereqeretabua has questioned what does the rest of the cabinet think about the Climate Change Bill after being disrespected again with more of their authority yanked from under their feet, thanks to Schedule 1 of the bill.
She says schedule 1 lists 40 other laws under other ministerial portfolios that now allows the famous self-proclaimed guru of everything to wade into their turf.
Qereqeretabua says as much as they empathise with the government members who are not the Prime Minister or the Attorney General, their stunts and table thumping can gather them no sympathy at all.
She also says the Climate Change Bill is all about one individual monetizing and incentivizing our climate vulnerability with the very nations who have high greenhouse gas emissions.
Qereqeretabua says there is no way the NFP can support this bill in this current form.
She says the Committee could only come up with 3 cosmetic amendments to the bill where the first change is to force the Minister to appoint a Director with a "must" instead of a "may".
Qereqeretabua says the report also makes a weak attempt at justifying this law is a whole of government collaboration because everyone knows this is not true.
She says it is astonishing that the Committee did a desktop impact assessment on the Sustainable Development Goals and National Development Plans but did no overall impact assessment of the Bill in totality.
The NFP MP says instead the Committee passes this off by saying they can make corrections as they move along.
Meanwhile Sayed-Khaiyum says the laws listed in schedule 1 of the Climate Change Bill are not subservient.
He says under clause 19, when the decisions are made under those laws, the decision maker must ensure that the decision or action promotes or is consistent with the objectives and principles of the Climate Change Bill which are mitigation, adaption and guidelines issued by the Minister and Fiji’s national security sovereignty.
He says these are factors for the decision makers to seek, promote or achieve.
