[Fiji] Ralulu picks on poverty issue

from The Fiji Times

People can be reasonably fed and healthy, but still live in poverty where they suffer varying degrees of hardship, Parliament was told last week.

State Minister for Education Paulo Ralulu made the comment in response to a motion to have a master legislation to address the needs of the poor, under privileged and handicapped.

The motion by Gyan Singh was tabled in his absence after the Lower House was told he had attended to a relative that was being evacuated.

Mr Ralulu said Fiji was not a welfare state like Australia and New Zealand, which the motion attempted to emulate.

He said the motion was a noble one and anyone listening outside Fiji would assume that past Governments had ignored the needs of the poor and down trodden.

He said the suggestions put forward in Mr Singh's motion were already in place with the Government increasing budgetary allocation or in the process of reviewing its current status. Citing a few examples of government initiatives, he said the Qarase House at Brown Street was dedicated to the disabled as it housed the offices of the Fiji Association of the Deaf, Counterstroke Fiji, Spinal Injury Association, Fiji Disabled Sports Association to name a few.

A similar centre is marked for the West while one exists in Labasa, he said.

The Family Law Act, Mr Ralulu said was pro-family, pro-children and pro-poor.

He said Fiji could not compare its poverty stricken state to the slums of Asian cities, or parts of Brazil and South America.

Poverty he said was not new and was something that would always remain with us.

He questioned the seriousness of the motion and asked if Mr Singh had done his homework.

"This is just another paper exercise, with no real meat or substance," Mr Ralulu said.