OPINION: The power of Parliament

When a Parliament sits at the convenience of its Government, or the Opposition spends its question time praising the government, or when Members of the Parliament can hold a full-time job and also collect a Parliamentary salary, or when success is measured by the announcement that they can now wear pareu on a Friday and a flower in their hair, what does that say about us who elect them, let alone the health of our 56 year old democracy? By Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.

When a Parliament sits at the convenience of its Government, or the Opposition spends its question time praising the government, or when Members of the Parliament can hold a full-time job and also collect a Parliamentary salary, or when success is measured by the announcement that they can now wear pareu on a Friday and a flower in their hair, what does that say about us who elect them, let alone the health of our 56 year old democracy? By Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.