With parliament’s first sitting set to start on February 19, government is planning to work full on once February commences with the supplementary budget.

According to the Hansard Report of the last parliament sitting of 2023, Prime Minister Mark Brown said that this year they would work full speed, once they commence in February with the Supplementary Budget.

In an earlier report, Brown, who is also the Finance Minister, highlighted the need to accelerate progress on Rarotonga’s critical infrastructure.

He had emphasised that the supplementary budget would specifically target road projects, prioritising their completion, but the exact figures were not confirmed.

According to the Hansard report, Brown highlighted some changes that were to be made for 2024 and achievements by his ministers in 2023.

He said the Minister for Education Vaine (Mac) Mokoroa would have a new Secretary of Education coming on board. Owen Lewis started in the new role last week.

“We have to set ourselves some new challenges to improve the academic achievements of our students to try and find the gaps of why some like our girls are doing well but why our boys are not achieving the same in academics.

“Minister Mokoroa has done a tremendous job to get that moving,” he said.

Looking at the Ministry for Corrective Services, Brown said of Minister George (Maggie) Agene:

“Since he became the Minister for Corrective Services, we have seen the co-hort of prison inmates at a high of 60 has now dropped to just over 30, nearly half, during his time as a Minister, there has not been one-person break out of jail during that time.”

He said this was because of the approach Angene took.

“He goes up every morning during their devotion, he is up there. He is up there every night when they have their closing prayer. These are not the usual ways that government service operates, but of course this is not a usual minister that we have and it is a unique one, and he is getting the result.”

He said the Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of the transportation portfolio again, Robert Tapaitau has a big load to carry this new year with the new ship that is coming in, and looking at ways to improve transportation links domestically but also internationally.

Brown said the new ship arriving this year will improve inter island domestic shipping service.

“That is going to be a real game change for our country.”

Talking on the Ministry for Health, he thanked Minister Rose Toki-Brown with the responsibility for the most important ministries where the government was able to change its policy on referral patients last year because of the demand of people who needed urgent surgery or urgent medical care, to allow for private surgeries to be undertaken at the cost of the government.

“This is a change in policy that we did because we recognise that there is a need to put more money into this area. There are people who are sick that must undergo urgent surgery and not without having to wait in the waiting line but go through private surgery.”

Brown said they have also been able to implement this new policy.

“Even though it added cost, it is something that we as a government recognise and needed to be done, so thank you very much.”

He added that the Minister for Infrastructure Cook Islands Albert Nicholas had been going flat out last year with the road works being done but some of the other achievements include the harbour in Avatiu.