A Parliament committee was expected hold its final public consultations on three proposed constitutional amendment bills in the Northern Group islands later this month.

However, due to shortage of fuel in Northern Group this has been put on hold.

The Constitutional Review Special Select Committee was expected to gather feedback from the Northern Group at the end of this month.

Clerk of Parliament Tangata Vainerere confirmed this, stating that the delegation for the consultations were to be visiting the Northern Group islands from February 27 to March 1.

Committee chair and Foreign Affairs Minister Tingika Elikana will not be available for the final consultations in Penrhyn, Rakahanga, Manihiki and Pukapuka.

Elikana is attending the international conference on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.4 in Honiara, Solomon Islands, with other Pacific leaders, global experts and representatives, to address the need for sustainable fisheries management in the region.

The Northern Group consultations will be led by the committee’s deputy chair, Leader of the Opposition, Tina Browne.

In the last Parliament sitting of 2024, Elikana said that while the Constitutional Review Special Committee made every effort to prepare a final report on the three Constitution Amendment Bills for the December sitting, it proved logistically and technically impossible to do so.

Vainerere had earlier said that consultations for the three Constitution Amendment Bills would continue this month in the Northern Group islands, as they were not able to be completed due to a lack of available flights there.

The other members of the Constitutional Review Special Select Committee are MPs Te-Hani Brown, Tereapii Maki Kavana, Teariki Heather, Toa Isamaela and Agnes Armstrong.

The Special Select Committee is reviewing and considering three Constitutional Amendment Bills that were presented to Parliament in December 2023.

The Constitution Amendment (No. 30) Bill proposes increasing the number of Cabinet Ministers and removing the ability to appoint a non-MP Minister. The Constitution Amendment (No. 32) Bill provides for the ability for MPs to hold a proxy vote for a fellow MP, and Amendment (No. 31) Bill will allow a new Parliament to commence its work after a general election without waiting for the outcome of any election petitions.