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Parliament (Members' Expenses and Allowances) Act

LAWS OF THE REPUBLIC OF VANUATU
CONSOLIDATED EDITION 2006

Commencement: 1 July 1980

CHAPTER 109
PARLIAMENT (MEMBERS’ EXPENSES AND ALLOWANCES)

JR 12 of 1980
Act 12 of 1983
Act 14 of 1984
Act 39 of 1984
Act 38 of 1985
Act 11 of 1987
Act 36 of 1989
Act 24 of 1993
Act 26 of 1998
Act 11 of 2000
Act 4 of 2005

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1. Travelling expenses

2. Overseas travelling expenses

3. Representation allowance
4. Subsistence, sitting and touring allowances

5. Persons entitled to receive allowance

6. Gratuity

PARLIAMENT (MEMBERS' EXPENSES AND ALLOWANCES)

To provide for expenses and allowances payable to Members of Parliament.

1. Travelling expenses

(1) The return travelling expenses of Members of Parliament by the most direct route to attend sessions of Parliament or to attend meetings of any Committee of Parliament shall be paid in full.

(2) The Clerk of Parliament, unless requested not to, shall make all necessary travel arrangements including payment of fares. If a Member makes his own travel arrangements, those fares incurred by him in compliance with subsection (1) shall be refunded to him by the Clerk of Parliament on production of the appropriate documents showing his expenditure.

2. Overseas travelling expenses

Any Member sent upon a mission overseas at the request of Parliament shall receive reimbursement of his necessary travelling expenses and payment of a daily allowance at such rate as shall be agreed by the Speaker of Parliament and the Minister responsible for finance.

3. Representation allowance

(1) Every Member of Parliament (including the Speaker and Ministers) shall be paid a monthly allowance of VT 200,000 to cover representation.

(2) Where a person becomes a Member of Parliament he shall be paid in arrears on the date of the monthly payment a proportion of the allowance described in subsection (1) calculated on a pro rata basis from and including the day he becomes a Member to the date of payment.

4. Subsistence, sitting and touring allowances

(1) Subject to the provisions of this subsection, Members of Parliament (other than the Speaker and Ministers) shall be paid a subsistence allowance at the rate of VT 5,000 for each day of the session when Parliament or a committee thereof sits.

When a member arrives in Port Vila a day before the commencement of the session, he shall be paid an additional allowance of VT 5,000 for that day.

When Parliament is in session the allowance shall also be paid for Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays notwithstanding that Parliament may stand adjourned on those days.

A deduction of VT 5,000 shall be made from the allowance payable to a Member under this subsection, for each day a Member is absent from a sitting of Parliament or a committee thereof. And when such absence is on a Friday, a deduction of VT 5,000 shall also be made for each of the Saturday and the Sunday if an allowance is otherwise payable. And where such absence is on a day before a public holiday or holidays a deduction of VT 5,000 shall be made for each such day or days, as the case may be, if an allowance is otherwise payable.

(2) Every Member of Parliament (including the Speaker and Ministers) shall be entitled to a sitting allowance at the rate of VT 2,000 for each day that Parliament or a Committee thereof sits:

Provided that no such allowance shall be paid unless such Member actually attends the sitting of Parliament or of a Committee thereof.

(3) Every member of Parliament (including the Speaker and Ministers) shall be paid a touring allowance at the rate of VT 34,000 per month and such allowance shall be paid monthly in arrears together with the monthly allowance referred to in section 3(1).

5. Persons entitled to receive allowance

Where a Member of Parliament ceases to be a Member for any cause the Member or, in the case of death of the Member, the person or persons who the Clerk is satisfied are entitled to receive the allowance shall be paid a sum representing the amount of allowance unpaid up to the date of cessation of membership calculated on a pro rata basis.

6. Gratuity

A person who, after the commencement of this Act, ceases to be a Member of Parliament shall be entitled to receive a gratuity at the rate of the monthly allowance specified in section 3, multiplied by three (3), for each year during which he was a Member of the Parliament and pro rata for each uncompleted year.

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Table of Amendments (since the Revised Edition 1988)

3(1) Amended by Acts 24 of 1993, 11 of 2000, 4 of 2005
4(1) Amended by Act 26 of 1998
4(3) Amended by Act 26 of 1998
6 Substituted by Act 36 of 1989