Seruiratu reveals getting text from Kamikamica in Parliament to maintain referendum, but lower threshold

The Leader of the Opposition Inia Seruiratu has called on the government to come out clean and has revealed that he was getting text messages from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communications Manoa Kamikamica offering to maintain the referendum, but lower the threshold.

Seruiratu says the Opposition has been coming in good faith for dialogue but the government have been evading it.

He says when Parliament was in the process of concluding the debate on the floor, and when the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad was making his statement, the government then probably realized that they were not going to get the 75 percent threshold in parliament.

Seruiratu says they can still revisit that, but the Coalition Government were making those offers on the referendum as the debate was going on and it was through texts.

He says the Opposition had gone to the Coalition government and asked for discussions before they went to Parliament.

Seruiratu says the government's next option could be to take it to the courts, but how it will be dealt with within the courts, is beyond the Opposition because it's also an independent body.

He says however, they are still open to dialogue with the government should they make the decision in future.

Opposition MP Jone Usamate says when the Leader of the Opposition wrote to the Prime Minister, he said the Opposition was available to engage in dialogue on any important issues like the Constitution and other things, before bringing them to Parliament.

Seruiratu says their letter was to the Prime Minister who is the leader of the government and we all know that government is a coalition government and now it's a government of national unity.