National Federation Party parliamentarian Lenora Qereqeretabua has questioned why parliamentarians are not allowed to speak in their iTaukei dialects and Hindustani in parliament.
Qereqeretabua said parliament is the people’s house and questioned why the people could not use their languages in parliament.
She says as a member of the indigenous people of this country, she is very conscious of the fact that there are only 500, 000 iTaukei on this planet, out of the 7.7 billion people.
Qereqeretabua said it is not racist to want to preserve the iTaukei language and traditions.
She says it is not racist to want to ensure that the native traditional lands and fisheries of the first people of Fiji are protected.
She also challenged parliament to consider phasing out single use plastic water bottles and use less paper in their communications.
Qereqeretabua also hit out at what she calls the air-polluting habit of government four-wheel drive vehicles.
