The Chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee and MP for Small Malaita, Hon. Rick Hou has attended an inaugural meeting of Pacific Public Accounts Committees (PAC) in Wellington, New Zealand, on 26 and 27 August 2015.
Accompanied him to this very important meeting is the PAC Secretary Mrs. Jasmine Waleafea of the National Parliament Office.
Parliament of New Zealand has played host to this year’s Pacific Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting and is jointly supported by Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the World Bank Group.
The objective of the meeting is to form a network which will act as a platform for Public Accounts Committee within the Pacific region and exchange knowledge and take in learning on good practices in the oversight of public expenditures.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) firmly believed that developing ways to exchange information is one effective way in which PAC performance in every jurisdiction can be improved.
Hon. Rick Hou who is the current Chairman of our Public Accounts Committee said this meeting provides an opportunity for him and his PAC Secretary Mrs. Jasmine Waleafea to share their experiences to other regional Parliaments and vice versa.
Many of the networks are mandated to enhance the knowledge of Members of Parliament, senior professional parliamentary staff and representatives from Supreme Audit Institutions on issues related to effective financial oversight, and to assist Parliaments to strengthen their relationships between national audit institutions.
PAC is one of the ten standing select Committees in our National Parliament that remains active on its oversight role. Their recent inquiry in mid July was on the audit reports that were tabled in Parliament.
– Parliament Media Unit
