‘Underlying law must be regularly reviewed’

IT is a constitutional requirement to regularly monitor the progress of the development of the underlying law, Justice Minister Ano Pala said.
He reminded participants of the Constitutional and Law Review Commission (CLRC) about this in his address to the commission’s conference in Alotau, Milne Bay, last Wednesday.
Pala, who could not attend the conference dealing with the issues of underlying law, had his speech read out by Justice secretary Dr Lawrence Kalinoe.
“I want to even suggest that the CLRC should now factor this particular activity as a core budgeted activity and allocated requisite resources so that this activity can be taken on a constant basis.”
Pala said the conference was “extremely important” because the constitution required various government agencies present at Alotau to constantly monitor the development of the underlying law and make appropriate reports to parliament where appropriate.
“Take particular note that this is a constitutional directive and duty and the process is a constitutional process.
“I want to encourage the CLRC to seriously take this obligation and conduct workshops, seminars or conferences such as this so that we all can assess the state of affairs of the development of underlying law and produce appropriate reports, as required by the constitution,” he said.
Pala said the CLRC was the successor to the Law Reform Commission which was specifically created by the fathers of our constitution “to monitor and report on the development of the underlying law”.
He asked: “Has the Law Reform Commission or the current CLRC done this?”
Meanwhile, former Public Employees Association chairman Napoleon Liosi, an Alotau resident, was on hand last Wednesday as stand-in leader of Milne Bay to welcome the conference participants.
He represented the administrator of the province Henry Bailasi, who was unable to attend.