The Premier 'is going to need the Opposition'– Hon Fraser
“Madam Speaker, I been through this in the last administration, it had become the modus operandi in the last administration to re-order the Order Paper. We tolerated it. We had little choice but to tolerate it," Hon Fraser said during the sitting.
“Then we came to this new administration and the first sitting that we had, it happened. I told the Premier that we're not going to tolerate it this time and he agreed that it wasn't something that he believed in, and he wasn't going to do it. Here we are reordering the Order Paper, relegating the Questions and Answer period to the end of the sitting.”
Statements should come last - Hon Fraser suggests
Hon Fraser pointed out that in the Isle of Man, statements are placed at the end of the sitting so questions and answers can take precedence.
“Somehow or the other, our statements proceeded the questions, and to tell us that your officers don't have the time to answer the questions, it begs the question. Usually, you're supposed to know the answer to these questions, you don't have to go looking for the answer. As a matter of fact, when I was a minister, I answered my own questions.”
Hon Fraser said Opposition Members who have been ministers in the past have also answered their own questions. “So, I don't see how anyone could expect us to sit here today and tolerate this, and how anyone could say that if we don't participate in the process that we were wrong. This is totally disrespectful.”
The Premier in his justification for the re-ordering of items on the Order Paper said it was out of no disrespect to the members of the Oppositio. "It’s a great deal of respect for our public officers who have expressed their concerns formally that the amount of questions posed by the Opposition Members has made it onerous for them to complete the task in a short period of time,” he said.
Over 100 questions to be asked
Hon Wheatley said the questions amounted to over one hundred and officers needed time to gather information in such a short period.
Hon Fraser, ahead of the walkout, said the public needs to know the position of the Opposition and that they will state their position today.
“ I think that the Premier should know that in this business that he's in, he's going to need the Opposition. So if you want to throw us aside, remember you've got four years, we'll be on this side, you'll be over there. So, I think the best thing for us to do is to work together and stop this thing that we're doing,” Hon Fraser warned.
Meanwhile, the Opposition was absent when it was time for the Question and Answer segment; however, Speaker Corine N. George-Massicote said the Opposition will have to re-submit its questions for the next sitting.
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19 Responses to “The Premier 'is going to need the Opposition'– Hon Fraser”
The Westminister political system employed by both the UK and the Virgin Islands [British], one of its Overseas Territories ( OT) is a flawed process. The Westminister system comprises a) government, and b) opposition. As such, after a general election and a government is formed with a majority of elected members, it generally has the ability and numbers to pass any bill coming to floor with just a plurality of the vote. Furthermore, collective responsibility is an integral part of the Westminister system, ie, members are expected to typically vote for legislation on the floor.
Walking out of the HoA can be effective in setting a tone, an attitude, an MO, etc, but it has to be done strategically and tactically on critical issues that the public has high interest in and will buy into. An HoA agenda that has been set should only be change for critical , urgent and important events. Moreover, the Opposition should not flood the zone with an unreasonable number of questions to annoy government but instead with a reasonable number of questions with legislature purpose and value, not just for political mileage. IMO, legislators should not have to forward questions before hand to the HoA. The opposition should be able to question ministers in real time.,Ministers should be up to speed on issues under his/her portfolio. If they don’t have complete answers, he/she can be followed later with the questioner whether before the session ends or after the session. Furthermore, every Opposition member has the phone number of every minister and can call him/her with questions and get answers.
On the other hand, the incumbent government seeing their winning 6 of the 13 seats give it a mandate to rule. Thus it was willing to compromise/yield somethings to get the opportunity to form the government. Politics is an art, the art of compromise, especially in a divided process.
Professor, other than that transformational government miscue, good read.
Fraser wanted to be premier
Marlon wanted to be Premier
Ronnie wanted to be Premier
End up on the Other-Side
the fiasco between ANDY & FRA-SAH / those were tell tale signs of the kinds of mind games these wannabe aristocracts , i are playing on eachother , BOTH SIDES Don't seem to have any INTEGRITY so they are untrustworthy / soon they is going to blame the UK again •¿• and when you get right down to it , it's the same old RAT RACE ( no offence