Opposition Leader Inia Seruiratu.

Opposition Leader Inia Seruiratu has labelled the deferment of this week’s parliament sitting as unnecessary.

Seruiratu says Fiji First had been looking forward to this sitting.

He says it is unfortunate that the government has decided to make the unilateral decision to defer the parliament.

He says that as members of the Opposition they find this unnecessary and unacceptable.

“The convening of parliament is agreed upon on the floor of parliament, not based on the unilateral decisions of one of the parties, in this case, the government itself. It is appropriate to understand that Friday was the day that the suspension was lifted, and for us, we did our best as a party to submit our audited accounts by that Friday, knowing that Parliament needs to be convened on the 16th. And that is why we did our best to submit our papers so we could be ready for parliament.”

Seruiratu says Fiji First wants parliament to convene to address issues of national importance.

Meanwhile, the Parliament Secretary says that the deferment is to allow the Coalition Government to ensure the efficient and effective preparation of the 2023–2024 National Budget before it is tabled in Parliament.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad says the government was also considering the possibility of FijiFirst not submitting their audited accounts on time.

“Let me just say that this was a Friday. Parliamentary process requires questions and motions, end-of-week statements to be submitted two weeks before the parliament sits, and those two weeks they were suspended, so as a responsible government, a government that believes in a genuine democracy, a government that ensured that parliamentary processes are followed, unlike what he used to do when he was there.”

Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica, echoing similar sentiments, says the deferment also gives time for his other deputy and his team to prepare a budget, adding it would not be wise to only have the government deliberating in parliament had Fiji First failed to submit its audited accounts on time.