The views of the members of the public will now be taken by the National Council of Building a Better Fiji on whether major changes should be made to the structure of Parliament and Senate.

The NCBBF said further possible changes need to be looked at and these include the desirable term of the parliament, a provision to be made for referendums to be held in respect of any significant amendments to the Constitution, the number of seats in Parliament, the future role, size and composition of senate and the expansion of conditions for eligibility to stand for Parliament.

The NCBBF has resolved that the current seats at Parliament, which stand at 71, are quite high when compared to the representation needs of the overall population of Fiji. The National Council said consideration needed to be given to reducing the number of seats by 25 to 15 percent in the next parliament. Views will also be taken from the public on the salaries of parliamentarians. In addition, it suggested that the ministers should comprise no more than 25 percent of the overall size of Parliament.

The NCBBF said if the number of seats is to be reduced, there may be a case for using some of the savings to increase salaries for Members of Parliament but within reasonable bounds. It has been revealed that a number of questions were raised about the effectiveness of the senate. There were also questions raised about its method of selection and whether senators should now be elected by the people of Fiji. The role of the Great Council of Chiefs was also noted.