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2012/02/29
PM vows to act on decisions made by the party, even if “by a margin of 51 to 49”
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On February 29, DPJ President, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda participated in his second Prime Minister’s Question Time since becoming prime minister, and engaged in debate with LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki, and Komeito Chief Representative Natsuo Yamaguchi.
Tanigaki criticised the integrated reform of the social security and taxation systems proposed by the government, saying, “According to some media reports, the content of the social security reform has not yet been finalised, and only taxation reform proposals will be submitted to the Diet in advance. If that is the case, these reforms do not deserve to be called integrated.”
Noda responded, “These reports are in error.” He commented of the document setting forth the fundamental principles of the integrated reform decided on by the Cabinet, “If you read it properly, [you can see] an overall direction has been set out. It states that social security reform will be implemented step by step. Budget-related legislation has already been submitted to the Diet, and some items of non-budget-related legislation have been submitted at the same time, while we are in the process of finalizing details relating to the unification of employees’ pensions, and extending their application to part-time workers. I would appreciate it if people would be sure to get their facts straight.”
Tanigaki went on, “Everyone is focusing on whether you Mr. Prime Minister, can really follow through, but your own side is in disarray. Can you persuade the ruling party [to accept these reforms]?” Noda responded, “We have followed the necessary procedures, and although there were a variety of opinions raised, the direction that we will take has been decided by the party. I am sure that we all have various circumstances within our respective parties, but if something has been decided upon by the party, even by a margin of 51 to 49, I intend to thoroughly discuss it with the opposition parties. I would appreciate it if you would all do the same.”
Yamaguchi touched on the fact that the legislation to reduce the salaries of national civil servants had been enacted by the Diet that very day, and called for the Prime Minister to express his agreement with the enactment of 20% cuts in allowances for Diet members, saying, “If we Diet members do not experience the same pain, how can we describe these as reforms that require us to make self-sacrifices?”
Noda responded, “Firstly, I believe that Komeito is also basically in favour of cutting the number of Diet members, but let’s debate that issue first. Deciding what to do about Diet members’ allowances after that would seem to be the natural order of things. As the head of the administration I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to touch upon exact numbers, but I do believe that we should discuss this issue fully, and in that sense I would like to express my agreement with the suggestion made by Mr. Yamaguchi.”
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