Speaker to work closely with staff in the running of Parliament

The newly-appointed Speaker of Parliament, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu met with the Secretary-General to Parliament Jeanette Emberson and senior staff this morning.

In his welcoming address, Ratu Naiqama thanked the staff for their hard work and perseverance over the years, especially in the past few weeks leading up to the first sitting of Parliament last Saturday.

He emphasised that to effectively carry out his role as Speaker, he needs to be an active member of the team.

Ratu Naiqama says the experience he had in a short time he has been in Parliament is quite interesting and he wants to be close to them as much as possible to hear straight from them.

He stressed that the Members of Parliament need to understand the Standing Orders, as well as the secretariat.

The Speaker says Parliamentarians need to know what the Standing Orders are, their impact and effect as well as the relative Standing Orders that they usually observe from the House of Commons.

He adds as secretariat, the Standing Orders need to be at their fingertips and as the legislative arm of Government, they need to keep their fingers on their pulse.

Ratu Naiqama says when things come up, they have to address it straight away.

He told them to continue to work as a team as they have shown in the past and he is only here to provide them with policies.

He says the day-to-day operations rest with the Secretary-General.

The Speaker also mentioned that he will be working closely with the Deputy Speaker in the running of Parliament.

The Managers and Senior staff of the various Units provided a brief for the Speaker on their respective functional roles.

After the briefing, Ratu Naiqama took time to visit the new office space at Level 3.

Ratu Naiqama is no stranger to Parliament, has been the Leader of the Opposition from December 2020 to November 2022, and a member of the Public Accounts Committee during the last term of Parliament.

He had also served previously in the Fijian Parliament from 1999 to 2000 and 2001 to 2006.