Party Opinion

Youth groups

1. All youth groups will be registered in the villages, settlements, towns, city with a fee of $1 per member.
2. Increase budget allocations for our youths up to $150 million a year.
3. These registered youth groups will be able to qualify for assistance towards small businesses in Agriculture, vegetable farms, cane farms, dalo, cassava, yaqona, poultry, piggery, coconut, fishing, banana, etc.
4. Registered youth groups in the towns and urban areas will be assisted with businesses in bakery shops, food shops, hair salon, markets and buttery, construction company, transport company.
5. All these registered youth groups will be under a closed system of marketing where products cannot be sold outside but within the youth groups.
6. Market system: the government will help youth groups with transport to go and buy from vendors in the Naitasiri and Navosa, Ra, Ba, Labasa and Savusavu areas.
7. For island youth groups, government will provide free transport of goods and product to be brought to Suva via the government ships.
8. Start small construction companies to provide the jobs

Tourism

1. Government will guarantee that no hotel workers will be laid off or slacked after a natural disaster.
2. Government will work with hotel owners so that there will be pay increase for all hotel workers.
3. Build more hotels for land owning units where the value of their land will be their share to the hotel company.
4. Give more scholarships on hotel related work

Religion

1. All religious groups will have a grant of $10 per head for each of their church members every year. For example, if the Methodist has 350,000 members it will have a grant of 3.5 million.
2. All religious groups that believe in tithe, its members will be able to deduct straight from employment source to their respective church accounts. Member’s approval will be needed.
3. All tithe paid to the religious groups can be claimed with the PAYE return with 100 per cent refund.
4. Buildings, schools, hospitals in towns and cities will be waived from town and city rates.

Composers and singers

1. Government will start small recording studios all throughout Fiji where songs can be recorded with a much affordable price and will be paid only when product is sold by the government.
2. Government will look and help market the products from this recording studios
3. Protection of the originality and authenticity of the products will be handled by the government for the owners.

Improving living standards

1. Government will provide standard plans and contractors (youth groups) for village and settlement improvement projects for housing.
2. Affordable housing loans will be provided.
3. All first-time home owners will have a mortgage insurance which will be guaranteed by the government.
4. All first-time housing personal loans in the Home Finance, Housing Authority, FDB will be reviewed and re-structured and all arrears up to 2013 will be waived.
5. All town rates for personal homes not on rent will be reduced by 50 per cent.
6. Government will provide detailed plans and contractors that can help build small construction jobs like residential homes, community halls, church buildings.
7. BusinessHouses will be provided with tax incentives so that they can sponsor and build houses for our poor people.

Workers rights

1. All government workers jobs will be guaranteed and no civil servant will be laid off until the approved by the Prime Minister’s office; all PS will only recommend to the PMs Office.
2. Workers in government corperate companies will also be included in 1 above. This includes all workers under the public service union and all registered trade unions.
3. Contract job will be removed from the government and all other places.

Security forces

1. All private security companies will be upgraded and will come under the security forces.
2. This means there will be a pay increase for all private security companies’ employees. Government will help private security company with training and finance.
3. The engineering department of the military, police, prisons will be expanded and resource with personnel, budget and equipment.
4. Students who did not pass Year 13 and Year 12 may enrol straight into trade programmes with the security forces and will be trained also with basic recruitment course. After they finish a year of training they will be sent on a peacekeeping duty or serve in rural developments for a year before they can be given a scholarship to FNU or exported for trade employments in New Zealand and Australia.
5. Peacekeepers Associations will be budgeted for by the governments so that the retirement fund for each peacekeeper will be doubled.
6. All personnel on peacekeeping duty will have their family fully insured and assured for by government during the period of deployments. This will be under the care of the Ministry of Overseas Deployment.

• The opinions expressed in this column are those of the Fiji United Freedom Party. They are published by the Fiji Sun to enhance free and open debate ahead of the general elections.

Feedback: newsroom@fijisun.com.fj