A total of 16 Staff members from the National Parliament Office were proud recipients of the Tasmania Parliamentary Law, Practice and Procedure (PLPP) course after their graduation on Thursday 27 October at the Heritage Park Hotel.
The keynote address was delivered by Honorable Speaker of the National Parliament Ajilon Nasiu where he said capacity building is paramount for an effective legislative service.
“Today marks not only a new chapter in your career as a Parliamentary staffs, but also a new chapter for the National Parliament of Solomon Islands,” Mr Nasiu congratulated the graduates.
Speaker Nasiu said this PLPP course undertaken by his sixteen staff will fully satisfy the needs of the National Parliament as an institution.
“Our Parliamentary staff do require such in depth understanding of the Law Procedures and Practices of Parliament to ensure we appreciates and deploy our services effectively.”
The Speaker believed that the graduates were informed further on the natures of public laws and the existing relationship between Parliaments, executive and the courts, based on the common laws and the West Minister Parliamentary system.
“This is prevalent throughout most jurisdictions in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific region” the Speaker told the graduates.
Professor Richard Herr from the University of Tasmania Law Faculty also congratulated the 16 Parliamentary staff for their fine achievements and results throughout the last six months where they engaged in this Parliamentary Law, Procedures and Practices course.
“You will now be considered as Australian Alumni,” said Professor Herr.
Director of Parliamentary Civic Education Department Patteson Lusi who spoke on behalf of the graduates described the PLPP course as timely and important for Parliamentary staff to undertake.
Mr Lusi said one important lessons learnt in such Clerking course is the art of doing proper research and getting the right information and reference on time.
He also made mention of the challenges he faced when the assignment was due the next day after he arrived from his Parliamentary civic tour in Choiseul province.
“But I would like to thank Professor Herr for his flexibility on extending the due date for some of us with the understanding that Parliament staff were quite busy during that period.”
Graduate Lynette Neleta of the Accounts department told Parliament Media that she was thankful for gaining this knowledge although the process of the course was very challenging because she had to study on top of executing her duties at the National Parliament Office.
“I’m very happy because it’s a great achievement for me after weeks of struggle” another graduate exclaimed.
“Our sleepless nights has been paid off.”
Another graduate, Ms Vanessa Rodie of the Committee Secretariat department shared her thankfulness and wanted to express her gratitude for the initiative taken by the Speaker and Clerk of the National Parliament and the determination by her work colleagues.
All 16 graduates passed their PLPP program but credits was given to the Director of Committees Mr Marson Lilopeza who scored the highest marks for his paper work.
The PLPP course was initiated in July of last year 2015, when the Speaker Ajilon Nasiu and Clerk to Parliament Clezy Rore had the privilege of attending the Presiding Officers and Clerks’ conference in Hobart, Tasmania.
It was at this conference that both the Clerk and Speaker met Professor Richard Herr personally and proposed the initiative to acquire Parliamentary Law, Procedure and Practice (PLPP) course for staff serving the National Parliament of Solomon Islands.
Parliament staffs from Samoa, Cook Islands and Tonga have also undertook this same program.
The graduation ceremony was attended by Chairman of the Parliamentary House Committee, Hon. Derrick Manuari, Chairman of the Parliamentary Education and Human Resources Training Committee, Hon. Nestor Giro, The President of the Legislative Assembly of NSW Parliament, Hon. Don Harwin, Hon. Members of the NSW Legislative Council, Professor Richard Herr from the University of Tasmania, Australian High commissioner to Solomon Islands, Mr Andrew Byrne and officials,DFat staff, Clerk to SI Parliament Clezy Rore, Speaker Ajilon Nasiu, NPO staff, Friends and families of graduates.
– Parliament Media Unit
