Cook Islanders are set to head to the polls in six weeks’ time, the King’s Representative of the Cook Islands, Sir Tom Marsters, has announced.

“As Speaker, I extend sincere appreciation to all Honourable Members for their service, deliberations and contributions throughout this term. The work of this House-debate, scrutiny, law making and representation-reflects our shared responsibility to the people of the Cook Islands.”

This story was first published on

Fast-paced electronic music pumps in the background as a rapid montage of moving images flash across the screen.

In a 20 second video, French sailors hunker down in an inflatable speeding over swells.

Another sailor, in bright red shorts, is lowered from a helicopter onto the vessel’s back deck. Captured crew with faces blurred are held in a galley, as bags full of drugs are pulled from below deck and loaded onto pallets for lift-off.

• READ MORE:  France’s High Commission reports seizure of 4.87 tonnes of cocaine in French Polynesian waters
• Lack of investigation into cocaine vessel could hamper regional drug mapping, expert warns
• Other Pacific drug reports

“Throwback to the latest drug seizure at sea by the French Navy, as if you were part of it,” reads the social media caption from French armed forces, documenting last month’s drug seizure by the frigate Prairial.

What the video does not show
French sailors dropping 4.87 tonnes of cocaine into the ocean near the Tuamotu group, north-east of Tahiti. Tossing drugs overboard may be a time-honoured tactic for drug smugglers at sea — but a new one for authorities.

“This record seizure is a successful outcome of the new territorial plan to combat narcotics developed by the High Commissioner of the Republic in French Polynesia,” reads a statement on their website.

Record seizure — worth at least US$150 million — and record disposal, in record time.

One raising questions worldwide.

Why?
“Why won’t France open an investigation after the seizure of these 5 tons of cocaine?” reads the January 20 headline in the French edition of Huffington Post.

Prosecutors in Tahiti emphasised the costs faced by French Polynesia if it were to prosecute all drug traffickers.

“Our primary mission is to prevent drugs from entering the country and to combat trafficking in Polynesia,” said Public Prosecutor Solène Belaouar. As “more and more traffickers transit through our waters we must address the issue of managing this new flow.”

Belaouar told French media that prosecuting drug cases locally costs 12,000 French Pacific francs a day, or about US$120 per person.

This new concern about costs came as the French territory winds up another drug trafficking case. Under those estimates, the conviction of 14 Ecuador sailors caught smuggling in December 2024 would represent around US$600,000.

Last Thursday, they had their appeal against trafficking 524 kilos on the MV Raymi dismissed, meaning their jail sentences of six to eight years are confirmed. Costs of this case compare with the US$93 million spent between 2013 and 2017 constructing a new prison, Tatutu de Papeari,  with a capacity of 410 inmates in Tahiti.

A question sent via social media about the drug dump went unanswered by ALPACI, Amiral commandant la zone maritime de l’océan Pacifique.

Overall, drug seizures by French forces worldwide have increased dramatically.

A total of 87.6 tons of drugs were seized in 2025 in cooperation with state services, including local police, customs and the French Anti-Drug and Smuggling Office (OFAST), nearing twice the previous record of 48.3 tons set the year before, in 2024.

Those statistics seem unlikely to quieten concerns about the new cost-cutting strategy.

Sunny day
Boarded on a sunny day on January 16, the MV Raider carried a crew of 10 Honduran citizens, with one from Ecuador. All faced lengthy jail terms if convicted.

Instead, French authorities let all 11 go, allowing the crew to resume their journey on the offshore supply ship. That decision contrasts with the high-profile approach sometimes taken when it comes to illegal fishing boats, with many captured and resold or set on fire and sunk at sea.

Dozens of public social media comments in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands questioned the disposal of the drugs at sea, with some calling for the ship’s seizure. Tahiti news media were the first to question the decision to catch and release.

“4.87 tonnes of cocaine . . .  but no legal action taken,” Tahiti Nui Television noted as the news broke a few days later.

At first, French authorities claimed the seizure took place in international waters or the “high seas”.

Lead prosecutor Belaouar told TNTV that “Article 17 of the Vienna Convention stipulates that the navy can intercept a vessel on the high seas, check its flag of origin, ask the Public Prosecutor, and the High Commissioner is involved in the decision, if they agree that the procedure should not be pursued through the courts, and that it should therefore be handled solely administratively.”

However, TNTV also quoted legal sources as stating the drug seizure of 96 bales took place within the “maritime zone” of French Polynesia.

Ten days after first reports of the seizure, Belaouar was no longer talking about the “high seas”, instead claiming the need for a new strategy to handle drug flows.

Drug ‘superhighway’
“The Pacific has become a superhighway for drugs”, Belaouar asserted, adding that “70 percent of cocaine trafficking passes through this route.”

Those differing claims raised questions in Tahiti, and 1100 km to the south-west, when the briefly seized vessel, the MV Raider, turned up off Rarotonga broadcasting a distress signal.

Customs officials told daily Cook Islands News the vessel was reporting engine trouble, and confirmed MV Raider was the same vessel that had been intercepted by French naval forces with the drugs on board.

Live maritime records also show the tug supply boat as “anchored” at Rarotonga.

Aptly named, the Raider caught official attention before passing through the Panama Canal, with a listed destination of Sydney Australia.

Anonymous company
Sending a small coastal boat some 14,000 km across the world’s largest ocean drew attention on a route more usually plied by container ships up to nine times longer.

Also raising questions — the identity of the ship owners.

A signed certificate uploaded online by an unofficial source appears to show that the last known ownership traces to an anonymous Panama company named Newton Tecnologia SA.

That name also appears in a customer ranking report from the Panama Canal Authority, with Newton Tecnologia appearing at 541 of 550 listed companies.

Under Panama law, Sociedad Anonomi — anonymous “societies” or companies — do not need to reveal shareholders, and can be 100 percent foreign owned.

A review of various databroker services show one of the company directors as Jacinto Gonzalez Rodriguez.

A person of the same name is listed on OpenCorporates in a variety of leadership roles with 22 other companies in Panama, including engineering, marketing, a “bike messenger” venture, and as treasurer and director for an entity called “Mistic La Madam Gift Shop.”

However, Newton Tecnologia SA does does not show up in the same database, or searches of the country’s official business registry.

A similarly named company is registered in Brazil but is focused on educational equipment, not shipping, with one director showing up in search results at community art events.

‘Dark fleet’
Registered with the International Marine Organisation under call sign 5VJL2, the MV Raider is described as a “Multi Purpose Offshore Vessel” with IMO number: 9032824.

Online records indicate that the ship was built in 1991 in the United States, with a “Provisional Certificate of Registry” from the Togo Maritime Authority dated only two months ago, on 19 November 2025. With a declared destination of Sydney, Australia, the Raider and its Togo certificate are valid until 18 May 2026.

According to maritime experts, provisional certification is a red flag that allows what industry sources term the “dark fleet” to exploit open registries. This “allows entry on a temporary basis (typically three to six months) with minimal due diligence pending submission of all documentation,” according to a 2025 review from Windward, a marine risk consultancy.

“Vessels then ‘hop’ to another flag before the provisional period expires.”

Where there’s smoke
Windward listed Togo as being among ship registries that flagged ships with little to no oversight, along with Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belize, Cameroon, Comoros, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Hong Kong, Liberia, Mongolia, Oman, Panama, San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, St. Kitts and Nevis, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Vietnam.

In the Pacific, other registries noted by Windward as failing basic enforcement include Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Palau, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Previously registered in Honduras, the July 2023 edition of the Worldwide Tug and OSV News reports that GIS Marine LLC, a Louisiana company, sold the Raider in 2021 to an “undisclosed” interest in Honduras.

Other records indicate GIS Marine acted as managers but the actual owner was a company called International Marine in Valetta, Malta. The only company with a similar name at that address, International Marine Contractors Ltd, is shown as inactive since 2021.

For now, though, the Raider is among tens of thousands of ships operating worldwide with “provisional certification” — allowing ships to potentially skip regulations requiring expensive maintenance and repair.

That may have been the case for the Raider, with Rarotonga residents filming what one described as “smoke” rising from the ship a day after issuing a distress call.

Where there’s drug smoke, there’s usually a bonfire of questions afterwards.

Including from José Sousa-Santos, associate professor of practice and head of the University of Canterbury’s Pacific Regional Security Hub, who told Cook Islands News that since the vessel was intercepted in French Polynesian waters “it falls under French legal jurisdiction”.

Jason Brown is founder of Journalism Agenda 2025 and writes about Pacific and world journalism and ethically globalised Fourth Estate issues. He is a former co-editor of Cook Islands Press.

The Cook Islands’ outer islands, or Pa Enua, are emptying as people make the pilgrimage to Rarotonga for constitution celebrations.

This year is particularly significant, August 4 marks 60 years of the Cook Islands being in free association with New Zealand.

Cook Islands Secretary of Culture Emile Kairua said this year’s Te Maeva Nui, which is the name for the annual celebrations, is going to be huge.

• READ MORE: Other Cook Islands reports

“For the first time in a long time, we are able to bring all our people together for a long-awaited reunion, from discussions with the teams that have already arrived, there’s only handful of people that’s been left on each of our outer islands,” Kairua said.

“Basically, the outer islands have been emptied out.”

According to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, more than 900 people are making the trip to Rarotonga from the Pa Enua which are spread across an area similar to the size of Mexico.

Cook Islands News reports that the government has allocated $4.1 mllion for event transport.

Biggest calendar event
Kairua said Te Maeva Nui is the biggest event on the Cook Islands’ calendar.

“Te Maeva Nui has become an iconic event for the Cook Islands, for the nation, as well as the diaspora.”

A comparable event was in 2015 when 50 years was marked.

Kairua said for many people it will be the first time visiting Rarotonga since the start of the covid-19 pandemic.

“Sixty years looks like it’s going to be a lot bigger than 50 for a number of reasons, because we’ve had that big gap since covid hit. If we liken it to covid it’s like the borders being lifted, and everyone now has that freedom to come to Raro.”

Two ships, one from Tonga and the other from Tuvalu, are tasked with transporting people from the Northern Group islands to Rarotonga.

While, Air Rarotonga has the job of moving people from the Southern Group.

Tourist season peak
The airline’s general manager Sarah Moreland said Te Maeva Nui comes during the peak of the tourism season, making July a very busy month.

“We’ve got about 73 people from Mauke, 76 passengers from Mangaia, 88 from Aitutaki, 77 from Atiu and even 50 coming from the small island of Mitiaro, Nukuroa,” Moreland said.

She said transporting people for Te Maeva Nui is a highlight for staff.

“They love it, I think it’s so cool that we get to bring the Pa Enua from the islands, they just come to Rarotonga, they bring a whole different vibe. They’re so energetic, they’re ready for the competition, it just adds to the buzz of the whole Te Maeva Nui, it’s actually awesome.”

The executive officer of Atiu Taoro Brown said two months of preparation had gone into the performances which represents the growth of the nation over the past 60 years.

“It’s an exciting time, we come together, we’re meeting all our cousins and all our families from all the other islands, our sister islands, it’s a special moment.”

Brown said this year the island had given performance slots to people from Atiu living in Rarotonga, Australia and New Zealand.

“We wanted everybody from around the region to participate in celebrations.”

Friendly competition
Food is another big part of the event, an area Brown said there’s a bit of friendly competition in between islands.

Pigs, taro, and “organic chicken” had all been sent to Rarotonga from Atiu.

“Everyone likes to think they’ve got this the best dish but the food I feel, it’s all the same, you know, the island foods, it’s about the time that you put in.”

For Kairua and his team at the Ministry of Culture, he said they needed to mindful to not allow the event to pass in a blur.

“Otherwise we end up organising the whole thing and not enjoying it.

“This is not our first big rodeo, or mine. I was responsible for taking away probably the biggest contingency to Hawai’i for the FestPAC and because we got so busy with organising it and worrying about the minor details, many of us at the management desk forgot to enjoy it, but this time, we are aware.”

Turbulent relationship
In the backdrop of celebrations, the Cook Islands and New Zealand’s relationship is in turbulent period.

Last month, New Zealand paused $18.2 million in development assistance funding to the nation, citing a lack of consultation over several controversial deals with China.

Unlike for the 50th celebrations, New Zealand’s prime minister and foreign minister will not attend the celebrations, with the Governor-General representing New Zealand.

A statement from the Cook Islands Office of the Prime Minister last week said officials from the country have reconfirmed their commitment to restore mutual trust with New Zealand in a meeting on 10 July.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A motion of no confidence has been filed against the Prime Minister and his Cabinet following the recent fiasco involving the now-abandoned Cook Islands passport proposal and the comprehensive strategic partnership the country will sign with China this week.

Cook Islands United Party leader Teariki Heather said Prime Minister Mark Brown should apologise to the people and “graciously” step down, or else he would move a no-confidence vote against him in Parliament.

Clerk of Parliament Tangata Vainerere today confirmed that a motion of no confidence has been filed, and he had placed the notice with the MPs.

• READ MORE: China: Cook Islands’ relationship with Beijing ‘should not be restrained’
• Cook Islands crisis: Haka with the taniwha or dance with the dragon?
• Explainer: The diplomatic row between New Zealand and the Cook Islands
• Cook Islands’ diplomatic snub to NZ will be noticed – commentator
• Mark Brown on China deal: ‘No need for NZ to sit in the room with us’
• No debt in China deal – Mark Brown
• Mediawatch: NZ media in the middle of Asia-Pacific diplomatic drama
• Other China in Pacific reports

Parliament will convene for the first time this year next Monday, February 17, to consider various bills and papers, including the presentation of the supplementary budget.

Heather, an Opposition MP, is concerned with Brown’s lack of consultation regarding the passport issue, which the Prime Minister later confirmed was “off the table”, and the China agreement with New Zealand.

New Zealand has raised concerns that it was not properly consulted, as required under their special constitutional arrangement.

However, PM Brown said he had advised them and did not believe the Cook Islands was required to provide the level of detail New Zealand was requesting.

‘Handled the situation badly’
“He [Brown] has handled the situation badly. He has to step down graciously but if he doesn’t, I’m putting in a no confidence vote in Parliament — that’s the bottom line,” Heather told the Cook Islands News.

“I will move that motion and if there’s no support at least I’ve done it, I’ve seen it through.”

Heather also said that he believed the Prime Minister should apologise to the people of the Cook Islands.

“A simple apology, he made a mistake, that’s it.”

Cook Islands News asked the Leader of the Opposition Tina Browne for comment on Heather’s no confidence motion.

Browne on Sunday told PMN that residents were angry, and there was mounting pressure and strong feeling that the PM Brown “should go” (step down).

Backed by cabinet ministers
The Prime Minister has the confidence of his Cabinet Ministers, who are backing their leader and the China agreement, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Tingika Elikana.

Brown is in China on a state visit with his delegation. Yesterday marked the third day of the visit, during which he will oversee the signing of a Joint Action Plan for Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) with China.

He is also expected to meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and President Xi Jinping.

The content of the agreement and its signing date remain unknown.

“At this stage, discussions regarding the agreement are still ongoing, and it would be premature to confirm a signing date at this time. However, once there are any formal developments, we will ensure updates are shared through an official MFAI media release,” a spokesperson for the Cook Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration told Cook Islands News.

Public protest march
A public protest march will convene at Parliament House on Monday to challenge the government’s direction for the people of the Cook Islands.

Heather is spearheading the “peaceful” protest march, rallying citizens against PM Brown’s controversial proposal to introduce a Cook Islands passport.

More than 100 people attended Heather’s public meeting last Monday evening at the Aroa Nui Hall to voice their concerns about government’s actions disregarding the voices of the people.

“Do we just sit around no. Te inrinaki nei au e te marama nei kotou te iti tangata,” Heather said.

“We have to do this for the sake of our country. This is not a political protest, it’s people of the Cook Islands uniting to protest, if you understand the consequences, you will understand the reason why.”

Although Brown has since ditched the proposal after New Zealand warned it would require holders to renounce their New Zealand one, “the damage is done”.

This has sparked heated debates about national identity, sovereignty and the implications for the Cook Islands relationship with New Zealand.

Concerns of citizens
Heather has taken onboard the concerns of citizens and argued that such a move could undermine the historical ties and shared citizenship that have long defined the relationship between the Cook Islands and New Zealand.

He has no confidence in Brown’s statement that the proposed Cook Islands identity passport is “off the table”.

“I think it is off the table for now . . .  but for how long?” Heather questioned.

“Then there’s the impact of what he has done with our relationship with New Zealand so we are very much concerned about that.

“We are making a statement. The march is actually to show the government of New Zealand that we the people of the Cook Islands don’t agree with the Prime Minister on that.

“We want New Zealand to see that the people of the Cook Islands – that we love to keep our passport, that we care about our relationship as well.”

Heather said they are also concerned about New Zealand’s reaction to the Cook Islands proposed agreement with China.

‘Peaceful’ protesters welcomed
He welcomes members of the community to join the “peaceful” protest.

On Monday morning, drummers will be located on both sides of Parliament House on the main road.

At 10.45am, the proceedings will start when people start moving towards Parliament. Heather wants all protesters to bring along their New Zealand passports.

Heather would like to remind people not to use dirty language at the protest — “auraka e autara viiviii, don’t bring your dirty laundry . . . ”

First published by the Cook Islands News and republished with permission.

Cook Islands News, the national newspaper for the Cook Islands, is one of many Pacific news media agencies expecting change in the face of New Zealand’s Newshub closure next month.

The organisation has content-sharing agreements with traditional NZ media organisations including Stuff, New Zealand Herald, RNZ and TVNZ, and is dependent on them for some news relevant to their readers.

Cook Islands News editor Rashneel Kumar said that Newshub, New Zealand’s second major television news and website which CIN did not have an agreement with, was still an excellent source of extra context or additional angles for the paper’s international pages, and its absence would be felt.

• READ MORE: Other Newshub reports

“You can understand the decisions that were taken by the owners but at the same time it is really sad for journalism in general,” Kumar said.

“What it does is provide fewer options for quality journalism.

“Media like Newshub has been a really good alternative in terms of robust and independent journalism.”

Cook Islands News is in the process of signing a new share agreement with Pacific Media News (PMN), which is hiring a former Newshub reporter of Cook Islands descent.

“This will boost our coverage because the experience he brings from Newshub will be translated into a platform that we have access to stories with,” Kumar said.

‘One positive effect’
“So that is one positive effect of the closures.

“We see the changing landscape, and we must adapt to the changes we are seeing.”

Pacific Island countries consist of small and micro media systems due to the relatively small size of their populations and economies, resulting in limited advertising revenue and marginal returns on investment.

Associate professor in Pacific journalism and head of journalism at the University of the South Pacific Dr Shailendra Singh said what was happening in New Zealand could also happen in the Pacific.

“This advertising-based model is outdated in the digital media environment, and Pacific media companies, like their counterparts worldwide, need to change and innovate to survive,” he said.

CEO of Cook Islands Television Jeanne Matenga said that the only formal relationship they had with overseas agencies was with Pasifika TV, but that Newshub’s closure meant they would no longer get any of their programmes.

“As long as we can get one of the news programmes, then that should suffice for us in terms of New Zealand and international news,” she said.

All major Pacific Island media organisations are already active on social media platforms, and are still determining how to harness, leverage, and monetise their social media followings.

Newshub is due to close on July 5.

Republished from the Te Waha Nui student journalist website at Auckland University of Technology. TWN used to be a contributing publication to Asia Pacific Report.

RNZ Pacific

The Pacific Islands Forum chairman has been assured by the United States that the AUKUS agreement will honour the Treaty of Rarotonga after initially saying he felt it would go against it.

The Treaty of Rarotonga formalises a nuclear-weapon-free-zone in the South Pacific. It was signed by several Pacific nations, including Australia and New Zealand in 1985.

In a media statement, forum chairman and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown said he was “reassured to receive from US counterparts last week assurances that AUKUS would uphold the Rarotonga Treaty”.

• READ MORE:  Aukus ‘going against’ Pacific nuclear free treaty – Cook Islands leader
• Other AUKUS security reports

Brown initially raised concerns with the Cook Islands News about the agreement.

“The whole intention of the Treaty of Rarotonga was to try to de-escalate what were at the time Cold War tensions between the major superpowers. This AUKUS arrangement seems to be going against it,” Brown told the newspaper in March.

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown. Photo: Sprep/Cook Islands Government

Brown told Cook Islands News at the time the situation “is what it is” but was not happy about how the arrangement had already lead to an escalation in tension within the region.

Last month, the leaders of the United States, the UK and Australia — Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak and Anthony Albanese respectively — formally announced the deal in San Diego.

It will see the Australian government spending nearly US$250 billion over the next three decades to acquire a fleet of US nuclear submarines with UK tech components — the majority of which will be built in Adelaide — as part of the defence and security pact.

Its implementation will make Australia one of only seven countries in the world to have nuclear-powered submarines alongside China, India, Russia, the UK, the US and France.

‘Assurance’ by Australia
New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta told RNZ Pacific she had been given “assurance” by Australia that the treaty would be upheld.

Mahuta said as members of the Pacific, there was an expectation that nations were briefed on bilateral decisions that impact the stability of the region.

“What I can say from a New Zealand perspective, is that we need to work hard together as a Pacific family to ensure greater stability and there is no militarisation of our region,” she said.

“We want to maintain a nuclear-free Pacific, we want to work with Pacific neighbours around any security related issues.”

Mahuta visited China last month and said the non-militarisation of the Pacific was discussed in her meetings along with other issues, like climate change.

Geopolitical analyst Geoffrey Miller said the AUKUS deal was probably “complaint by the letter of the law” but not “by the spirit”.

“It does set a bad precedent … if you want to get hold of nuclear technology in the future just get it in a submarine because that seems to be acceptable,” Miller said.

‘Submarine loophole’
“It has been called a submarine loophole.”

He said concerns have been expressed by outside experts, including China, but they should be taken seriously.

Meanwhile, Vanuatu Minister, Ralph Regenvanu has called for Australia to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Regenvanu said in a tweet it was the “only way to assure us that the subs WON’T carry nuclear weapons” and it was a request from Vanuatu to sign.

The Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is a legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapon. The treaty entered into force in 2021.

However, when approached by RNZ Pacific, Regenvanu said he did not want to comment on his tweet and Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy was visiting the Pacific nation later this week.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The only way to assure us that the subs WON’T carry nuclear weapons, and that AUKUS will therefore NOT breach the Rarotonga Treaty, is for Australia to become a party to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Vanuatu is requesting that. https://t.co/eFSdRwTzTV

— Ralph Regenvanu (@RRegenvanu) April 5, 2023

The Queen’s Representative in the Cook Islands, Sir Tom Marsters, has confirmed Mark Brown as the Prime Minister.

In a statement issued from Mark Brown’s office, Sir Tom said he was “satisfied” that Mark Brown had the majority of the MPs elected to Parliament.

Following the final count of the Cook Islands general elections, the Cook Islands Party (CIP) gained 12 seats in the 24-seat Parliament, including the Ngatangiia seat which was initially tied between CIP’s candidate Sonny Williams and Cook Islands United Party’s Margaret Matenga.

• READ MORE: Brown reappointed PM – CIP wins key seats
• Ruling party in Cook Islands closer to power after gaining 2 extra seats
• Other Cook Islands election reports

Brown thanked the community for a fair and peaceful election process.

“The people of the Cook Islands have spoken and I will now go through the process of confirming a government,” he said.

Petitions post-elections ‘expected’
Despite a clear majority, all candidates and parties have one week to lodge petitions and Cook Islands News editor Rashneel Kumar said it would be surprising if there were not any petitions.

“The bigger news normally is if we don’t have any petitions. So we do expect it,” he said.

“Since the Cook Islands gained self governing status from New Zealand, we have had petitions every elections so we do expect it and I think there are already parties that have been walking on that, so we will know by early next week, how many petitions have been filed.”

Flights start between Cook Islands and Tahiti
An inaugural flight from Rarotonga to Tahiti-Faa’a airport in Pape’ete, French Polynesia, took place today.

Prime Minister Mark Brown was boarding the flight along with a delegation.

The flight comes after a deal between Cook Islands and French Polynesian airlines — Air Rarotonga and Air Tahiti Nui — in hopes to attract visitors from America and Europe to the Cook Islands.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The Cook Islands Party has gained two more seats following the final count of the general election, edging it closer to power.

The party, which is led by caretaker Prime Minister Mark Brown, now has 12 seats — with 13 required for a clear majority.

The results, issued by the Chief Electoral Officer, show that Kaka Ama of the Cook Islands Party (CIP) has claimed the Ngatangiia seat.

• READ MORE: Cook Islands: Navigating the rise of third party politics and a new era
• Other Cook Islands election reports

The seat initially ended in a tie with the United Party candidate following the preliminary count on August 1.

In Titikaveka, Sonny Williams from the CIP has claimed the seat, beating United Party’s Margaret Matenga who finished six votes ahead of Williams on election night.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Brown said he was confident of continuing the coalition arrangement with two independents to form a new government.

The Democrats have six seats — down from 11, United has three, and there are three independents.

Neither the One Cook Islands Movement nor the Progressive Party appear to have won any seats.

The newspaper said the final results showed 62 percent voted “yes”, 35 percent voted “no” and the remaining 3 percent were “informal”.

The referendum is non-binding but Prime Minister Brown said in June the question was “deliberately broad” and the referendum would allow room for wider debate on medicinal cannabis.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Marjorie Tua’inekore Crocombe (née Hosking) was born in 1930 in Rarotonga, the youngest of 11 children of Dr Rupert and Vaevae Hosking of Titikaveka.

Marjorie was educated at Titikaveka Primary School (1936-44) and in 1944 won a Maui Pomare scholarship to finish her secondary schooling in New Zealand, initially at Epsom Girls Grammar School (1945-6) and later at Whanganui Girls College where she became the first Polynesian head prefect (1947-50).

It wasn’t until many years later that she realised that her time at the school had been instrumental in allowing more New Zealand Māori girls to complete their secondary schooling at Whanganui Girls’.

In an interview with Katrina Lintonbon (Cook Islands News, 13 June, 2020), Marjorie recalled that: “When she thinks about it now, there were only three students that weren’t European when she was at the college. She used to wonder why “Miss Baker” would come to see her every night to see how her studies were going.

“All those years later I finally realised what she was doing, she had been fighting with the school’s board of governors to allow Māori girls to attend the school,” she says.

“There was so much racism back then.”

Trained as teacher
In 1951, Marjorie trained as a teacher at Ardmore Teachers Training College, graduating in 1952. After a year’s teaching at Henderson Primary School, Auckland (1953-4), she returned to Rarotonga to begin work for the Cook Islands Department of Education, and in 1955 became the first Cook Islands female lecturer at Nikao Teachers College.

During this time, she also worked on developing primary school readers in the Cook Islands Māori language.

At a dance in 1955 she met her future partner, Ron Crocombe. Ron had come to Rarotonga initially as Clerk of Works in the Public Works Department and was then appointed as Resident Agent on Atiu.

As Marjorie recalled to journalist Katrina Lintonbon, Ron was on his way back to New Zealand from Atiu and asked if she would join him.

“I said to him, ‘No way! For a start I don’t even know you.’”

“He replied, ‘We can get to know one another on our way back to New Zealand.’”

They were married in 1959 in Masterton, NZ, and a 50-year partnership began.

That same year, Marjorie accompanied Ron to Canberra where he had been offered a PhD scholarship in Pacific history. She was initially barred from entering Australia under the racist “White Australia” policy, but finally, under protest, was allowed entry.

Ethnohistory works
While Ron worked on his thesis, Marjorie commenced work on The Works of Ta’unga; Records of a Polynesian Traveller in the Southern Seas, 1833–1896 (ANU Press, 1968). This work (co-edited with Ron) “combined the two strands of ethnohistory and an Islands-focused historiography” to become one of the foundational texts of Pacific history (Lal and Munro, 2006).

In 1962, Ron and Marjorie and their family moved to live and work in Papua New Guinea following Ron’s appointment as executive officer, and from 1965, director of ANU’s New Guinea Research Unit. In Port Moresby, Marjorie became a lecturer at the Teachers College and the Administrative College, as well as conducting a regular ABC radio broadcast “Malanga Moana” covering Pacific music and current affairs (1966-9).

In 1965 during sabbatical, she undertook a part-time anthropology degree at the University of California (Los Angeles) and in 1968, studies in Pacific history at the University of Hawai’i.

In 1967, she began a degree at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), studying creative writing under Ulli and Georgina Beier and publishing her research into the work of the influential Mangaian missionaries to Papua, Ruatoka and his wife Tungane. All this was achieved in addition to bringing up two children without added help, for Ron and Marjorie refused on principle to employ domestic servants.

In Port Moresby, Marjorie was again forced to confront racial discrimination as Ron later recalled.

“The first time she went to buy meat at the main Burns Philp shop in Port Moresby she was refused service. She came home in tears after being told that natives can only be served through the outside hatch. She had been in many countries but never treated like that. She never went back, but it was a small part of the accepted code of the Australian system in Papua New Guinea.”

In 1969 the family moved to Suva, following Ron’s appointment as foundation professor of Pacific studies at the newly established University of the South Pacific. At USP, Marjorie completed her Arts degree majoring in history and education. Influenced by her creative writing teachers at UPNG, she helped establish and became first president of the South Pacific Creative Arts Society (SPACS), a post she retained for 23 years (1977-2000).

Battling established thinking
Once again she was required to battle established thinking, this time within a university that, at the time, placed greater emphasis on economic and social development than on the creative arts.

SPACS provided a platform for a “New wave of Pacific writers” through its journal Mana with Marjorie as editor. Many of the early writers published in Mana, including Albert Wendt, Konai Thaman, the late Alistair Te Ariki Campbell and the late Grace Molisa, were or became internationally famous writers and scholars, leading the Cook Islands academic Emily Powell to wonder, would there have been a Pacific literature at all if Marjorie and her colleagues had not established SPACS and sustained Mana with their own tireless work?

“Writers and publishers from the wider region,” writes Dr Linda Crowl, “owe a deep debt to Marjorie’s foresight and generosity.”

In 1974, Marjorie completed her Master of Arts degree at UPNG with a dissertation entitled – “Maretu’s Narrative of Cook Islands History” – later published as Cannibals and Converts: Radical Change in the Cook Islands (USP Press, 1983).

At USP, both Ron and Marjorie were indefatigable advocates of a decentralised university with Ron writing and teaching the first ever degree level correspondence course offered by USP Extension, An Introduction to Pacific Land Tenure in 1974.

At the same time, Marjorie worked as director of the Fiji Extension Centre, then at the Solomon Islands Extension Service, and finally as director of USP Extension Studies (1983-88), with responsibility for delivering extension studies to the university’s 12 member countries.

In September 1987, Marjorie was sitting in her office at USP’s Laucala campus when soldiers arrived with orders to “off the (satellite) machines” as Fiji’s September coup was under-way.

Uncowed by threats
Uncowed by threats of violence, Marjorie spent a brief afternoon in detention, guarded by a young and apparently respectful armed soldier, musing how she might overpower him and “pin him to the ground in one helpless pile of jungle greens”.

For their 20 plus years in Suva, Ron and Marjorie’s home at 6 Mariko Street, was a refuge for Pacific students — in John Herrmann’s words — “a marae, in essence ‘a home away from home’ for many students and staff members from across the region … (providing) a homely outing, a quiet exchange, some informal counselling, and above all else, some island songs from home”.

Following her retirement from USP in 1988, Marjorie was appointed senior lecturer and foundation director at the Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland (1990-1993).

Returning to the Cook Islands she was appointed deputy chair of the Cook Islands Media Council, a member of the Biodiversity Committee, and of the Education Sector Review, the Higher Appointments Committee, the Cultural and Historic Places Trust, and the Cook Islands Research Association while also supporting innumerable NGOs and lecturing at USP Cook Islands.

Following Ron’s death in 2009, she co-edited (with Rod Dixon and Linda Crowl) a book on his life and work, entitled Ron Crocombe: E Toa: Pacific Writings to Celebrate His Life and Work.

Despite advancing age, Marjorie continued to champion poetry and literature, and, as Rachel Reeves noted, remained “outspoken about encouraging Pacific writers to analyse contemporary life through poetry, art and stories”.

This bore added fruit in 2003 with the publication of the 400-page Akono’anga Māori – Cook Islands Culture featuring 25 local authors writing on aspects of Cook Islands culture, economy and society, followed in 2016 by Art and Architecture of the Cook Islands (co-edited again with Rod Dixon and Linda Crowl).

Woman of the Year
Among her honours, Marjorie was named by Islands Business their 1990 Pacific Islands Woman of the Year, and in 2000 the Cook Islands Business and Professional Women’s Association as their Woman of the Year. In the 2009 New Year Honours List, Marjorie was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the Cook Islands, the Pacific, education, literature and the community

In 2011, her alma mater honoured her with the award of a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) in recognition of “her exceptional academic, literary and community achievements”. The citation included 6 full pages recording all of Marjorie’s published works covering subject areas including Pacific History, Pacific Literature, Education, Current Affairs, Information Technology, and Pacific Women as well as 22 edited publications.

The following year, USP Cook Islands campus commissioned a full-length portrait from the Pacific artist Nanette Lela’ulu. The artist pictured Marjorie in doctoral robes with bare feet on a woven mat emphasising her “groundedness” in the Pacific.

Ron’s empty chair standing beside her in the portrait depicted the now absent “other half” of a 50-year partnership.

On the university’s 50th Anniversary in 2018, USP Cook Islands celebrated Marjorie’s pivotal role in the development of Pacific Literature with publication of the book Mana – 50 Years of Cook Islands Writing, a tribute to Marjorie Crocombe.

In the same year, Marjorie fulfilled another goal by successfully lobbying the university to develop a full degree programme in her much-loved Cook Islands Māori language. Attending the opening of the Confucius Classroom at USP Cook Islands, Marjorie took the opportunity to question the vice-chancellor as to why the university taught Chinese but not Pacific languages.

As the university approached its 50th Anniversary, she argued, that the teaching of Pacific vernacular language programmes would help affirm the university’s commitment to regionalism. The then Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna had been recently installed in the largely ceremonial, yet influential, role of chancellor of the university and Marjorie was quick to lobby him for a degree in Cook Islands Māori.

Pacific language degrees
The degree was introduced in 2018 and once established, was followed by Tongan and Niuafo’ou, Vagahau Niue, and Rotuman. The first students with a Diploma in Cook Islands Māori graduated in 2021.

Anyone who has borrowed books from the Crocombe’s extensive library will have noticed an ex-libris plate on the inside front cover of each book containing the words of the French-American Quaker missionary Stephen Grellet, which reads: “I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show, to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.”

In living a fulfilling life, not deferring nor neglecting but actively seizing opportunities to do good, helping innumerable lives along the way, Marjorie and Ron lived up to their exacting life motto.

Their combined efforts have impacted and inspired uncountable others. We were privileged to know them.

Marjorie is survived by by four children, 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Rod Dixon is a former University of the South Pacific centre director. This article was first published in the Cook islands News and is republished with permission.

References
Gray, Geoffrey and Doug Munro (2018). “Ron & Marjorie Crocombe and Harry Maude: Partnerships, Ethnohistory and Publishing”, in Bérose – Encyclopédie internationale des histoires de l’anthropologie, Paris.

Lintonbon, Katrina (2020, June 13). Pages from the book of Marjorie Crocombe’s life, Cook Islands News.

Reeves, Rachel (2016, June 6). Marjorie Crocombe honoured and described as a beacon of light, Cook Islands News.

Cook Islands News has appointed senior journalist Rashneel Kumar to lead the paper through a challenging time for the country and the world.

In a news announcement today, the newspaper said he would be supported by an experienced team – Katrina Tanirau, herself a former newspaper editor, is stepping up to the role of associate editor.

Long-serving Cook Islands journalist Melina Etches has taken up new responsibilities reporting on the villages and puna; Losirene Lacanivalu will be both reporting and editing the website.

READ MORE: Milne taking up editorship at Newsroom Pro

Former political reporter Emmanuel Samoglou rejoined the paper this week as senior journalist and online director responsible for the roll-out of a new website this coming month.

Together, the five have nearly 19 years experience reporting at the Cook Islands News.

Kumar said the paper had a long legacy of producing robust, high-quality journalism at community and national level.

“The newspaper is guided by principles that promote fair, accurate and balanced reporting,” he said.

‘Talented group of journalists’
“I am excited to lead a talented group of journalists and looking forward to working with them in maintaining the high standard of journalism that my predecessors have produced over the years.

“I would like to thank departing editor Jonathan Milne for his guidance and the quality and professional journalism he brought to this newspaper. He has set a high standard.

“I would also like to thank owners John and Liz Woods for having faith in me and trusting me with this opportunity.”

Tanirau said working at Cook Islands News had reinvigorated her passion for journalism, “especially in a community where looking out for one another is authentic and what is most important.

“The privilege of telling people’s stories is one I don’t take for granted and I’m grateful to those who have already shared their worlds with me and I look forward to getting to know more of the iti tangata who make Cook Islands the magical place it is.”

Samoglou said: “I have always had fond memories of working as a journalist in Rarotonga, and it’s a unique twist of fate that this pandemic has brought me back.

“I’m looking forward to playing a part in rolling out the new website, as well as building and enhancing the paper’s digital offerings.”

Second stint at CIN
Publisher John Woods acknowledged the new appointees. Kumar had given the company exemplary service for five years – his second stint after first volunteering to help report the Pacific Mini Games in 2009.

Kumar is a graduate of the University of the South Pacific journalism programme.

Tanirau brought a strong background in Te Reo and tikanga Māori in New Zealand. And Samoglou had previously served as the paper’s political reporter before going to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he specialised in digital news media.

Kumar succeeds Jonathan Milne, who is moving with his family to New Zealand, to take up a role as editor of Newsroom Pro.

“One of my enduring memories of my time with this team at Cook Islands News will be their principled journalism and their deep engagement with this community,” Milne said.

Cook Islands News articles are republished by the Pacific Media Centre with permission.

Parliament’s Speaker Niki Rattle has ruled against banning Cook Islands News political editor Rashneel Kumar from reporting on Parliament.

Cook Islands Members of Parliament want to ban a journalist from Parliament for what they claim was inaccurate reporting over them seeking travel perks in the House.

They have asked the Speaker, Niki Rattle, to withdraw senior Cook Islands News journalist and political editor Rashneel Kumar after he wrote an article published on Friday titled “MPs seek allowance top-ups in downturn“.

Pacific Media Watch reports that in his opening sentence he stated that there was “public dismay” at MPs using House sitting time to raise the question about spousal allowances for travel.

READ MORE: Links to the Cook Islands News editorial and travel perks stories

The article reported on main opposition Democratic Party MP Terepai Maoate Jnr’s questioning of payment of his spousal allowance entitlement, and asking whether outer island MPs living in their constituencies were entitled to the same privileges as those living on Rarotonga.

“Maoate Jr MP from Aitutaki, used one of their Parliamentary questions to seek payment of a spousal allowance, which he said was already appropriated in the last Budget,” Kumar reported.

“A concerned member of the public, watching the session live on Parliament’s Facebook page, asked if the question was of national concern,” he wrote giving the headline used in the article credibility.

By yesterday, the article was a major talking point for all MPs with Deputy Speaker in the House, Tai Tura, raising a question in Parliament about the article.

‘A bit mad with the newspaper’
He said he was “disappointed and a bit mad with the newspaper” for tarring all MPs with the same brush for suggesting they had the intention of increasing the allowances.

And then the question: “Can we try and get these reporters out of Parliament for false information to the public?” he asked Prime Minister Henry Puna.

Puna’s Cook Islands Party is a minority government supported by independents; the Democratic party is the opposition.

“I beg to differ, it’s really pointing a finger at all of us here at this House that we are seeking a top-up or an increase in our allowance,” Puna was reported as saying.

“We have a responsibility to ensure that the media is responsible in their reporting of our proceedings in this House without sensationalising anything that they report. Because that headline certainly achieves that.”

After a motion declaring the article “incorrect and unfair,” they then agreed that the Speaker should decide whether Cook Island News journalist Rashneel Kumar should be banned from Parliament for some time as determined by the Speaker.

Covid-19 not the priority
In his editorial in Monday’s Cook Islands News, editor Jonathan Milne lamented about the unity of MPs who came together seeking the withdrawal from Parliament of the journalist rather than fight covid-19.

Additionally, he stood by his journalist, saying his reporting on Parliament was accurate.

“To be clear: Cook Islands News stands by its reporting of Parliamentary questions about MPs’ entitlement to their spousal travel allowances. Our report was fair, and it was accurate – one need only check back on the recordings of Parliament to recognise that,” he says in his editorial.

Milne is a highly respected former editor of Stuff in New Zealand before he moved to the Cook Islands.

The Cook Islands censor has backtracked on its initial decision to ban Rocketman.

Instead, the Cook Islands Internal Affairs has followed the New Zealand censor’s classification and rated the film R18, reports Cook Islands News.

The censor announced the ban last week, after Samoa banned screenings of the film due to its homosexual content.

However, the announcement was met with public backlash, including a local lawyer threatening legal action if the ban were to go forward.

READ MORE: Israel Folau ‘misuses’ Bible to justify hatred, says Samoan Minister

A Cook Islands News editorial acknowledged Internal Affairs Secretary Anne Herman and Chief Censor Dennis Tangirere’s decision to cancel the ban.

“It’s difficult to do a public about-turn – we all know that. So Herman and Tangirere deserve acknowledgement for their willingness to listen to public opinion and reverse Internal Affairs’ initial position.”

Te Tiare Association secretary and LGBTI spokesperson Valery Wichman welcomed the about-turn from the Secretary of Internal Affairs reports the Cook Islands News.

“We were happy that it was not banned or condemned but rated 18,” she said.

Fundamental human rights
“This means that our fundamental human rights have been upheld. We can now enjoy another expression of art and a good story.” 

However, the owner of the empire cinema Kathleen Napa-Bergin claimed that she was not informed about Internal Affairs decision to cancel the ban.

The cinema has not screened the film since the censor’s request to pull it 10 days ago and as its license run has now ended, it is unlikely that it will be screened again.

Cook Islands News editor Jonathan Milne hopes that this will change.

 Special screening
“I hope Empire Cinema boss Pa Napa can somehow negotiate to bring it back for a special screening – and if he does, I’ll happily pay my 11 bucks to see it,” he wrote.

“Because, by all accounts, this is not a raunchy, sexual film.”

“If anything, it is an inspiring story of a young man’s triumph over the demons of drugs, alcohol and abuse.”

“It offers hope to young adults trying to make sense of who they are in a confusing world.”

A prominent Cook Islands lawyer intends to take a court challenge against the censor’s impending ban of the film Rocketman, reports the Cook Islands News.

Lawyer Heinz Matysik announced he would challenge the ban, if it proceeded.

“If the chief censor wants to roll this way, I will bring a full legal challenge and test the boundaries of our Constitution. I am serious,” he said.

READ MORE: Cook Islands to follow Samoa and ban Rocketman

Hundreds of people have already protested online, after Cook Islands News reported that chief censor Dennis Tangirere intended to ban Rocketman.

One LGBTQ community member on the island, Roger Dunfee, is mobilising his friends in California and around the world to overturn the ban.

Te Tiare Association president Regina Potini issued a pointed reminder that the Cook Islands Constitution provides for freedom of speech and expression.

“A prohibition of this film/work of art will impinge on this fundamental right guaranteed under the Cook Islands Constitution.”

Members of Te Tiare Assocation and the LGBTQ community have spoken out to express their concern, but also to show that the sentiments behind the ban are not representative of wider Cook Islands opinion.

Others, though, have taken to social media in grief or anger.

“Today I question my patriotic pride,” wrote Teherenui Koteka.

“The fact I belong to a community who in this day and age so outrightly marginalises the LGBTQ community, a community I am proud to be a part of, further illustrates why our country continuously fails to move forward in the modern day world stage.”

“This honestly makes me sad,” said Ally Donnerly. “If my country can’t accept a movie then how can they accept me?”

And Brenda said, “As a trans woman from Mangaia with a great career in aviation, I find it sad that we are not an evolving nation. More worried about your image in the Pacific than your people.”

The film, a biography of the English pop singer Elton John which depicts intimate gay sex scenes, had been showing at empire cinema for around seven days, but is believed to have been pulled from screening last Friday.

Tangirere spoke to Cook Islands News before the film was pulled, saying he was planning to ban Rocketman because it contained scenes of homosexuality.

The conservative Islamic nation of Egypt had already banned the film, and Samoa followed suit, saying the film did not “go well with the cultural and Christian beliefs of Samoa”.

News of the Cook Islands ban has made overseas headlines, and momentum against the ban is building rapidly.

“This is the wrong message that the Cook Islands wants to be sending the rest of the world” says Roger Dunfee, who postponed a flight to California to mobilise opposition to the ban.

Dunfee, who watched the movie last week, says the ban could have a “detrimental effect” on Cook Islands tourism.

“People are likely to just spend their money travelling somewhere else,” he says.

“There are kids now who see this as a complete disapproval of their lifestyle, of what they want to identify as, of who they really are,” he warns. “I know kids who have committed suicide because of these types of issues.”

The movie Rocketman is likely to be banned in the Cook Islands, despite having already been in the cinema for a week, reports the Cook Islands News.

The film, a biography of English pop singer Elton John, was banned in Samoa last week due to its graphic depiction of gay sex.

“We might go the same way,” chief censor Dennie Tangirere told the Cook Island News.

READ MORE: Inside Samoa’s Rocketman ban

The proposal has worried Cook Islands’ LGBTI community, as it did across the Pacific.

Samoa’s principal censor had told local media the film did not “go well with the cultural and Christian beliefs of Samoa”.

Tangirere acknowledged that other films had previously been censored in the Cook Islands on“religious grounds”.

“We have banned films here before for containing homosexual content,” he said.

Rocketman is billed as a musical fantasy about Elton John’s breakthrough years. It has received critical acclaim overseas.

It was released at the local empire cinema on June 6 and has screened about seven times since. The movie was not screened on Friday last week, with cinema management citing “technical issues”.

Cook Islands News understands the movie is unlikely to be screened again at the cinema, a family business run by Pa Napa.

When questioned as to why the film was already being screened at the cinema, Tangirere stated that he was usually provided with a list of films cinemas prior to their screening, but this did not happen last week.

So he was oblivious to the fact that Rocketman would be screened here.

“I usually watch the films before they are screened. However, Napa was late with the list last week,” Tangirere said.

The looming ban has drawn criticism from the local LGBTI community, with the secretary of Te Tiare Association Valentino Wichman saying: “Rocketman is just another film which people should have the freedom to watch.

“Banning films based on certain grounds affects people in different ways. Actions like this brings up certain views and emotions which can be damaging.”

“The ban may bring unwanted attention to members of our community and may reignite certain attitudes which are better left somewhere else. The message to the community is that this ban does not mean that we (the LGBTI community) are less normal, or that we should feel angry and sad,” said Wichman.

“We are an integral part of this community and to a large extent are socially accepted members of our society.”

In both Samoa and the Cook Islands, sodomy is an illegal act.

“These archaic laws have never been used, however the fact that they are there and can be used is a worry for our community.”

Wichman promised to follow up with the censor office regarding the ban and encouraged people to still watch the film.

“You can still get a copy from overseas and watch it in your homes.”

One of the Cook Islands’ top broadcasters and newspapers want government heads of ministries and ministers to be more transparent and accountable to the public.

Radio Cook Islands talkback host and interviewer Tony Hakahoro says HOMs “absolutely have a duty to the public, they are working  for government voted by the people and are working on behalf of the people – they should be responding to matters of public concern”.

He says ever since starting his radio programme almost a year ago, it’s become “so clear senior government officials are very, very reluctant to be interviewed”.

Hakahoro believes this could have a lot to do with job security. Because of this, he says some HOMs “have difficulty admitting there are problems, discussing issues in an open forum in an honest way”.

“Whenever there are issues in their ministries they should front up and honestly explain to the community what is going on – the same applies to minister because it’s the people who put them there and people deserve to know’.

Hakahoro raised Immigration issues during a programme last week saying he wanted to interview Principal Immigration officer Kairangi Samuela on these. She declined the interview.

The talkback host says people have a right to know how a New Zealand citizen of Tonga descent was permitted entry into the country without a return ticket.

Homeless man
The man was homeless and is said to have developed mental issues and was subsequently taken in by a local family.

He says the PIO should also explain to the public how a Fijian national is serving a six-year jail sentence at Arorangi Prison for raping a 12-year old girl – “why hasn’t he been deported”.

“Here we are wanting to deport this Samoan sportsman who has been convicted of a less serious crime, while a foreign rapist is in our jail courtesy of the Cook Islands taxpayer.

“I want to ask Immigration what is their policy in relation to these cases and how some are being treated very differently to others.”

Hakahoro also refers to the Pacific Schooners scandal and how officials and ministers were “in denial right from day one”.

“I’ve found the Office of the Prime Minister, especially the prime minister himself, to be very reluctant to be interviewed and that’s probably a combination of not wanting to front up and never being here.

“Face up to our people and be honest with our people”, urges Hakahoro.

“Once you start dodging questions, avoiding interviews, then more and more of our people start getting suspicious and start asking questions”.

Right to ask
He adds the public and media have every right to ask questions of government when there are suspected dodgy dealings and poor administration.

Matariki FM radio host William Framhein says his experiences with officials evading questions ‘is no different to what Tony is saying but furthermore if you put written questions to them you get the silent treatment, viz no response’.

“Those that have come on radio are also pretty good at dodging the question the PM and (minister) Mark Brown are good at it”, says Framhein.

“I don’t know how some of these guys can lie to our people”.

Publisher George Pitt who writes colourful pieces for the Herald promises, “if heads of ministries are going to duck and dive refusing to converse with the media they will be named then bombarded with the processes that will yield withheld information – the OIA (Official Information Act)”.

Pitt says getting information out of government officials isn’t a problem he has at present and he’s found those spoken to be “cooperative”. He attributes this to years developing media good will.

Reporters are increasingly being forced to request responses to questions under the Official Information Act.

Slow process
Most say this is usually a slow process as HOMs will delay responding until the 20-days limit is reached.

Hakahoro says the prime minister and Mark Brown keep saying the government has ‘no secrets’ but the refusal of HOMs to be transparent to the media and public suggests otherwise.

Cook Islands News publisher John Woods says his experience after 10 years of editing the country’s daily is that “bureaucrats get no training or enlightening in the art of communication and the politicians set a terrible example because they  start out not even believing in the public’s right to know”.

“Also I’ve seen next to no real reporting or journalism by radio and television here, other than plagiarising of our news stories in order to beat up superficial electronic media controversy to the point where the daily press alone is virtually the only practitioners of hardball journalism,” Woods said.

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