AG tells RAMSI: "Go and Get Court Injunction"

AG tells RAMSI: "Go and Get Court Injunction to Stop Parliament Review of FIAA, if my Advice is Wrong"

Attorney General Julian Moti QC has challenged the Visiting Contingent's Head, Tim George to go and get a Court injunction to stop National Parliament's proposed review of the Facilitation of International Assistance Act ("FIAA") if he feels that the AG's legal advice to Government was as "fundamentally flawed and muddled" as George recently claimed.

"That will be the ultimate proof of the pudding and if he succeeds in obtaining an injunction, in defiance of established constitutional principles, our people will be mourning the death of parliamentary democracy in Solomon Islands."

Moti says: "The last time I checked, George's name did not appear on the roll of barristers and solicitors in Solomon Islands. If he was properly qualified to speak with authority on our laws, I would happily engage with him in a legal debate. I noticed him sitting in the Parliamentary gallery when I was asked to advise Government on the legal justifications for the FIAA review almost a month ago. With the overwhelming majority of Parliament (including the Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Speaker) supporting the review initiated by Government, George couldn't bring himself to openly object to a process in which our Parliament was merely reasserting its constitutional authority to make and unmake laws for the 'peace, order and good government' of Solomon Islands."

According to Moti: "It seems so silly to obstruct the path of a meaningful review of the existing FIAA notice when our Provincial Premiers have also just called for the reorientation and scaling down of the Visiting Contingent's operational presence as a result of its apparent success."

"The concerns recently expressed by our MPs echo what is reported in Hansard during the passage of FIAA in July 2003. I would urge George to comb through the records of those proceedings to educate himself about what was said, by whom and why and restrain himself from ventilating his understandable frustrations."

Says Moti: "It is not my constitutional function to advise the Visiting Contingent nor to defend my advice outside the precincts of Parliament and our Courts. George might learn to become a bit more respectful of my role and position irrespective of what his appointing Government thinks about me. Both the facts and law undermine his long-awaited and predictable recent criticisms."

"Since we're both here to serve the people of Solomon Islands, he should come and introduce himself to me so we can get acquainted and work out why Parliament needs to re-align the Australian-drafted text of FIAA to ensure its continued relevance and sensitivity to our constitutionally established laws and values. From what I hear, George seems a nice enough bloke. He is the Head of the Visiting Contingent and I am this country's Attorney General. Our respective appointing Governments pay us both and call the tunes we are expected to play as their pipers."

"By accusing me of possessing an "anti-RAMSI mindset" George has paid a high compliment to my constitutional independence from outside influence in faithfully discharging my duties and proved, yet again, why his appointing Government was desperately trying to remove me from my job. The financial stakes are too high for those who perceive me as a threat to the regime installed here by FIAA."

Moti says: "I thank God for each day I remain alive. You only have to read what has happened elsewhere to people with my mentality to know that I won't live long. The typical pattern of the elimination plan is to discredit morally, then attack professionally before arranging an assassination. We've just entered the next phase of Australia's vilification campaign against me and I must start writing my epitaph. As Honourable William Haomae MP is so fond of saying in Parliament, 'you mark my words'!"

ENDS

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