Bula vinaka. My name is Alex Elbourne and this is strictly my personal submission.

It does not represent the views of any organizations I may be affiliated with. Before I get into my submission I would like to mention that I am not too sure exactly what issues can be covered by the Commission and I apologies in advance if any part of my submission does not fall under the gamut of what the Commission can cover. A Common Name I feel that there is a level of misunderstanding on this subject. It needs to be made clear that while we do indeed come from different ethnic backgrounds and should be proud of our cultural identity our NATIONALITY as citizens of Fiji is Fijian. I would also like to suggest that the indigenous people of Fiji be known as Kai Viti which in my opinion is a more descriptive personal name. The name iTaukei merely means owner and could refer to any person who owns something. The indigenous people refer to themselves as Kai Viti. I can see no reason why it should not be made official. A Secular Fijian Republic Personally, this is one of the most important non-negotiables for our new constitution. I feel that we should change our national anthem removing the word God from it. I would also like to see the Union Jack removed from the Fijian flag with a new flag being brought in altogether to reflect the new Fijian paradigms. As a secular republic, it makes no sense to me to keep God in our anthem or the British on our flag. This is of course, not to disparage or lessen the impact that people of faith and the British have had on our country and her history. I just feel that the time has come for us as Fijians living in the 21st Century to find a new way. I would also suggest that all appointees to public office swear an oath on our Constitution, to drive home the importance of the Fijian Constitution. This is to keep the notion of a secular state and a complete separation of State and Church. As a multi-faith country I would like to see no religion take precedence over another with freedom of worship FOR ALL including those who do not feel the need for deities. Indigenous Land The question of land. What I've come to realise lately is that there seems to be a huge disconnect between how Kai Viti and non Kai Viti see land. For non-Kai Viti, we see the land just sitting there idle and we wonder why it isn't being utilised. For the Kai Viti, I think it's just enough that the land is THERE. And in a perfect world that would be fine, the problem is, we live in a capitalistic society where the goal is to produce, produce, produce. So the resentment starts from non-Kai-Viiti. "See these gang got all the land and they aren't doing anything with it"...and other such sentiments. This then incenses the Kai Viti who see the land as something sacred they hold in trust not just for themselves but for their ancestors. And for their children, and their children's children and on and on and on. It's really quite a unique situation in that Fiji is one of the few countries in the world where the indigenous people are still in the majority (not including Western countries here). In my opinion, the Kai Viti land HAS to be protected, and it should be enshrined in the constitution. At the same time, I feel the Kai Viti people themselves need to make a choice on how exactly they wish to live their lives. It's all very well to go on about preserving the culture but with more and more Kai Viti becoming urbanised you would think that the culture has already changed, not for better, not for worse. Just changed. I don't know if the communal mindset encouraged by the traditional Kai Viti

culture can withstand 21st century Western ideals. However, as a Kai Loma, I feel I do not have a right to discuss this any further. The Right To Die I firmly believe that a persons right to CHOOSE to die must be enshrined in our new constitution. Any Fijian citizen should be allowed the right to choose the moment of their death. Obviously, this would apply to any person living with a debilitating disease, if such an existence could be called living. However, I would extend it even further to give every single person the right to choose to die in a comfortable manner with a modicum of dignity. Just as the right to live is important, I also feel that the right to die is also essential. Freedom of Speech Members of the Commission, there have been many calls for there to be some sort of hate speech regulations to guide Fijians on how our public discourse is conducted. Whilst I understand where such calls are coming from, I have to respectfully disagree with them. I believe that everything should be free-for-all. I understand that the reasoning behind such thinking is to ensure that inciteful and hateful comments are kept out of public discussions. My problem with that is, where does it stop? Do we say today that we should not use racists terms and then tomorrow someone decides that making fun of what someone is wearing is hate speech. It is a slippery slope in my opinion. I would rather the bigots be allowed to freely express how they REALLY feel, so the rest of us can avoid them like the plague. Thank you very much for your time this morning.