FIJI: Opposition MP's bid to repeal Media Decree defeated

Vijay Narayan
SUVA (FijiVillage.com/Pacific Media Watch): The Fiji opposition’s motion to review or repeal the Media Industry Development Decree 2010 has been defeated in Parliament.

The result during yesterday's vote was: 17 MPs supported the motion, 24 voted against and 9 parliamentarians abstained.

The motion was tabled by Opposition National Federation Party MP Professor Biman Prasad.

While presenting the motion, Dr Prasad said that the Media Decree was not needed as it had harsh penalties against organisations and journalists.

However, the government side strongly opposed the motion saying that the Media Decree was needed for professional standards and discipline.

Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, also stressed that the Media Code of Ethics in the decree was taken word for word from the Fiji Media Council Code of Ethics.

He also said that Biman Prasad could challenge the decree in court under the constitution.

Sayed-Khaiyum also said no freedom had no limitation placed on it except the freedom not to be tortured.

Dr Prasad said some of the decrees imposed during the post-coup period needed to be challenged.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.