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General News

Week ending Wednesday, 22 August, 2012

Current events and entertainment in Rarotonga and the Cook Islands.

Fishing licence details with-held
Islands relations soured: mayor
No grudges on Penrhyn
How police catch their own: slowly
New NZ navy advisor for Cooks
Micro planning for major gathering
Big volunteer effort for Forum
Beyonce stars in campaign
Setting a course for 2014 and beyond
Healing the forum divide
Penrhyn residents head home
Items on-board may hold clues
Biggest ever cargo ship in port
New dilemmas for Cook Islands
Aid for trade on agenda
Hydroponic first in Atiu
Police minister checks out with police chief
PM explains shipping ‘complication’
Harbour dredging all done
Reclamation project awaits final material
Cooks making international headlines
UNESCO approves 2 proposals
Auckland councillor supports war veteran
Akirata perform proudly for Czechs
People helping people is ‘humanitarian’
Minerals flag flown in China
Simulators give seafarers confidence
New-look vessel on the way
Stars in Olympic limelight
Te Tika sells quicker than expected
Funding for care services on 4 islands
New Creative Centre van ‘a gift from God’
Tossi the cat missing from pet clinic
Marumaru Atua in Lautoka
‘Extreme’ pig hunt in Atiu
Hotels save on power bills
Police steal money, jewellery in raid
Men hospitalised in unprovoked bar attack
Akono te mango: Protect our sharks
Manukau hosts Pa Ariki
Breast screening services improve with new radiography equipment
Lessons in life in Rarotonga
Wharekura sings for family
Raiders NRL pathway announced

Fishing licence details with-held

The Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR) has at last responded to a request Cook Islands News made under the Official Information Act (OIA) about fishing licences.

CINews made the inquiry in June when Parliament was debating the merits of Budget Book 1, which vaguely refers to the licensing of 20 additional vessels under MMR’s exploratory programme. MMR secretary Ben Ponia responded to the request, which cost CINews $50 to make, on July 31.

Currently 46 vessels possess licences to fish in Cook Islands waters. Fifteen of those are Cook Islands-registered, and some of those flying the Cook Islands flag have multiple licences – to fish both within the Cook Islands exclusive economic zone and on the high seas outside the jurisdiction of the Cook Islands government. Sixteen are licensed to fish on the high seas.

Cook Islands vessels hold more licences than any other nation, though China is close behind with 12 licensed vessels. Nine ships registered in Vanuatu are licensed, as are five from Fiji, two from Taiwan, two from the United States and one from Kiribati.

Two Vanuatu vessels are licensed to trans-ship cargo inside the Cook Islands exclusive economic zone, and China has 17 licences for ‘exploratory’ fishing of swordfish and big-eye.

MMR issues fishing licences throughout the year on a rolling basis.

”Fishing licenses are issued throughout the year depending on when a license is up for renewal or when a new license application is received,“ Ponia said.

In response to queries about whether MMR has sold additional licences, as indicated in the text of the 2012 budget, he said: ”Pursuant to section 18 of the OIA Act I have decided that further elaboration of this request is not warranted primarily on the basis that the request is frivolous“.

Ponia also dismissed Cook Islands News’ request for chapter and verse of the licensing agreements.

”I have decided that details of the license agreements will be withheld pursuant to sections 8 & sections 6 of the OIA Act primarily on the basis that fishing license (sic) are a commercial and confidential arrangement between the Crown and the fishing vessel owner or operator and that disclosure could prejudice the entrustment of information to Government, maintenance of law and to prevent improper gain or improper advantage,“ he said.He said, however, that all licences are subject to the terms and conditions of the Cook Island Marine Resources Act, regulations and the management and conservations measures set out by the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. Fishing vessels are required to display their licences in the wheel house, for review by observers.

• Rachel Reeves

Islands relations soured: mayor

Penrhyn mayor Tini Ford says the fallout over the Lady Naomi saga could sour future relations between Tongareva and Manihiki. 12081518

Penrhyn mayor Tini Ford says the way the Manihiki people handled the Lady Naomi saga on Saturday afternoon could have damaging consequences on the interactions between the islands.

It comes after allegations of excess cargo were denied by Prime Minister Henry Puna. In a salient fact sheet delivered to Cook Islands News, Puna states that ”Penrhyn chose not to load its remaining 20 tonnes [sic] of cargo because its allocation had been determined to be in excess.

”The refusal to travel then allowed cargo management to permit the last minute addition of loose dry goods from the three travelling islands. All three took the opportunity to quickly add to their respective dry goods,“ one of the points from the sheet read.

But Ford has criticised the way the Manihiki people reacted to the situation, saying it could sour relations between the two islands in the future.

”The reaction here is that they couldn’t hear what was happening,“ Ford said.

”They pretended they didn’t hear anything because their cargo was already on the ship. They could hear – I was shouting.“

Ford discussed the history between Manihiki, Rakahanga and Penrhyn and described the group of islands as the ”three brothers“ given the close distance of the three islands.

”We are family. Some parts of Penrhyn have family from Manihiki – my great, great grandfather was from Manihiki.

”That relationship might be cut off – we don’t care about them any more.“

”All three islands are related but in that relationship with us they don’t care. At the moment what they have done to us – for the upcoming years we won’t help them.“ Ford was especially disappointed in the way the Manihiki people reacted given the history of ”mixed blood“ and interactions between ”the three brothers“.

”The attitude they showed us on Saturday made our people sick.“

Manihiki’s member of parliament, Prime Minister Henry Puna, had told Ford he would be in touch about any news surrounding their departure.

”He said he will come back and talk to me as soon as they have got information but I’m still waiting.“

Ford vowed to keep up the fight for his island and said he would not stop ”until this has been polished smoothly“.

”I don’t want this to happen again. I don’t want any more trouble.“

• Matariki Wilson

No grudges on Penrhyn

Penrhyn MP Wilkie Rasmussen (left) and mayor Tini Ford during Saturday’s confrontation over lack of space for freight. 12081225

Penrhyn MP Wilkie Rasmussen insists that the people of Penrhyn have no bad blood over the recent MV Lady Naomi controversy.

As proof, he pointed to the fact that the community put on a big kaikai for the three tere parties and crew that stopped at Penrhyn this week.

Freezer cargoes were stored in available freezers, and will be distributed when the remainder of the Penrhyn team arrives.

Rasmussen points to the feast, which Penrhyn also put on for Te Maeva Nui tere parties last year, as evidence that the people ”hold no grudges against any of the islands“.

”I spoke to the island secretary and that’s what they did to welcome the crew and passengers. We don’t hold any grudge or bad feelings about this – we just have to make a point about the treatment, whether intentional or not, we received. We have to highlight the inconvenience for the Penrhyn people.“

Rasmussen is buoyed by his Monday meeting with the New Zealand High Commissioner, deputy high commissioner, and Penrhyn mayor, which left him feeling ”very optimistic that the Cook Islands government will be able to come up with a solution“.

At this stage he is awaiting a response from the New Zealand High Commission and the prime minister’s office, which has indicated that the Penrhyn tere party will be shuttled home via aircraft.

• Rachel Reeves

How police catch their own: slowly

The police officer in charge of the Bonny crime scene investigation says it took so long to find the crime scene thief because police had to employ a more tactical approach to catch one of their own.

Inspector John Strickland was the officer in charge of searching yacht Bonny after she was found adrift by police 20 nautical miles from Rarotonga on January 4.

After approximately $9000 found on the boat went missing from the back of a police truck, all officers involved in the crime scene investigation were asked by the CIB investigation unit to provide a statement.

But it took over five months after the money went missing before the culprit, 24-year-old Davinia Webb, was charged and sentenced.

Strickland says the reason it took so long was that it was a ”special type“ of investigation as it was a member of the police force involved.

”The investigation process goes backwards before it goes forwards, which takes quite some time,“ he says. As the investigation team knew someone in the police knew something, they had to be more cagey than usual when interviewing.

”We had to be careful and take a tactical approach. It was not just a simple investigation.“

But Strickland believes it would have taken even longer to investigate if it were a member of the public involved.

”We’ve got to treat it properly and make sure we have the right person. We went through the proper process and took action.“

But private investigator Rod Henderson disagrees.

The former Australian police chief inspector has taken an active interest in the mysterious disappearance of suspected paedophile David Peppiatt from stolen yacht Bonny. He believes a serious police procedural lapse has occurred with the crime scene theft and the length of time the investigation took.

”How could Webb get her hands on the money and who was responsible for its security?“

Webb claims she took the money – found in a plastic bag on the yacht – as it was not secured properly in the back of the police truck.

Henderson calls for a broader external police inquiry, to be carried out by the ombudsman or the audit office.

Unfortunately, Cook Islands has been without an ombudsman – the only body able to independently investigate the police force – since Janet Maki resigned last December.

• Calida Smylie

New NZ navy advisor for Cooks

Departing technical advisor chief petty officer Del Bewg welcomes chief petty officer Tony Francis to the role. 12081406

The Royal New Zealand Navy has sent the Cook Islands a new technical advisor as part of its ongoing naval commitment to the country.

Chief petty officer Tony Francis will replace chief petty officer Del Bewg as technical advisor to the Cook Islands maritime police.

Francis, originally from the Waikato, joined the navy straight from school and worked his way up the ranks, with a focus on engineering.

He has been stationed on the HMNZS Endeavour and on the HMNZ Canterbury for three years, during which he was involved in the Tropic Twilight, an exercise delivering aid supplies to the Pacific.

He also helped provide emergency relief to Samoa after the 2009 tsunami.

But for the past two and a half years he has worked on-land, coordinating career management for naval engineers.

Francis has never been to the Cooks before and says he is excited for his next couple of years here.

His partner and 11-month-old daughter accompany him.

During his tenure Francis will coordinate Te Kukupa’s third life refit in Cairns in February 2014.

He can expect to deal with technical issues with the Cooks’ naval patrol vessel, such as sourcing parts and fuel, as well as keeping the boat safe and up-to-date.

”The New Zealand defence force sees the Cooks as an ongoing commitment, and Tony replacing me reinforces that,“ explains Bewg, who leaves the Cooks on Sunday after serving his allocated two and a half year term here.

He says he ”thoroughly enjoyed“ his time in the Cooks.

”It was great experiencing the different culture and I’ve made some good friends, who I’ll certainly come back to visit.“

He also jokes he lost 12kg here, after training for last year’s triathlon series.

His next posting is as an engineer on the HMNZS Rotoiti carrying out fishing and customs work.

• Calida Smylie

Micro planning for major gathering

The Cook Islands is less than two weeks away from the biggest political gathering to transpire on its soil in decades.

The Pacific Islands Forum has been micro-scheduled, down to the last detail, and the organising committee has this week released the itinerary it has been working in past months to prepare.

Logistical coordinator Jaewynn McKay called a meeting with local media yesterday to discuss the schedule for the period between next Saturday (August 25) and the Friday following (August 31).

Delegates are expected to begin arriving tomorrow. While the Forum committee is adamant that US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s visit is ”not confirmed“, Cook Islands News understands members of her delegation begin trickling in this weekend.

Air New Zealand will be shuttling most delegates, but the New Zealand government is also bringing an Air Force Boeing 757 – and offering Kiribati delegates a lift – with an Orion also likely to be in the area. Australia, the United States, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea are reportedly bringing their own aircraft.

Though the first day of the official programme is Monday August 27, Polynesian leaders from eight countries – French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Wallis and Futuna, Tuvalu, American Samoa, and Niue – will meet the previous Saturday at the Muri Beach Club Hotel.

A pan-tribal New Zealand Maori delegation is expected to make a presentation to the Polynesian Leaders Group during that meeting.

On Monday there will be a meeting of Smaller Island States leaders – from the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Nauru, Republic of Marshall Islands, Niue and Tuvalu – at the Edgewater Resort. That evening Prime Minister Henry Puna and the director of Conservation International will host a Pacific Oceanscape dinner at Tamarind to raise awareness of marine issues.

On Tuesday Pacific ACP leaders are meeting at Edgewater, and lunching on fare cooked with fuel from a ‘Green Pod’ – a prototype being shipped from New Zealand that converts and stores energy from the sun and the wind, which its designers are debuting at the Forum.

The official Forum opening follows at 5pm at the National Auditorium. Leaders will arrive on paata, accompanied by students from the local schools which have been assigned to them, and outgoing Forum chair John Key will speak, as will Forum Secretariat secretary-general Tuiloma Nerida Slade and incoming chair Henry Puna.

The only two delegations not likely to attend the opening ceremony are New Caledonia (which is flying in that night) and Vanuatu (whose Parliament dissolves on August 31).

On Wednesday the Auditorium will accommodate a Pacific Islands Forum plenary, and that afternoon leaders will travel to Aitutaki aboard the Air Rarotonga Saab and an Air Tahiti craft chartered especially for the Forum. They will arrive to a turou and prepare for a dinner aboard Titi Ai Tonga. On Thursday the leaders will ”retreat“ at Tapuaetai motu, and will return to Rarotonga about 6pm, in time for a ”Kia Orana dinner“ at Tamarind, which is catering for 200 diners.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is expected to arrive on Thursday night, and to attend a ”special breakfast“ in her honour on Friday morning, which is likely to be ”very closed door“, according to the organising committee. Of course, Cook Islands News has been told repeatedly that her attendance is ”unconfirmed“ at this stage.

Clinton generally travels with an entourage of 90 people, but because the Cook Islands cannot absorb the last-minute increase in numbers, her office has been asked to scale it down by half.

To conclude the Forum, there will be a Global Partnerships for Oceans lunch on Friday hosted by the World Bank, and a post-Forum dialogue cocktail function at Te Vara Nui hosted by Forum Secretariat secretary-general Tuiloma Nerida Slade.

Running parallel to the flurry of Forum activity will be a spouses programme for leaders’ wives and a sole husband (namely, Mr Gillard). First lady Akaiti Puna will take them sightseeing, lunching at Little Polynesian, shopping at the Punanga Nui market, and in Aitutaki will accompany them to schools, visits with mamas sewing tivaivai and aboard their own lagoon cruise.

Over 75 media practitioners are accredited to cover Forum news. The Pukapuka Hostel will transform into a media centre, where reporters can conduct interviews, write stories, edit footage and send their content overseas via wifi sponsored by Telecom.

Some media outfits are bringing their own satellites for speedier connection times.

Media can expect leaders to make several special announcements at scheduled press conferences throughout the week. Australia and the US are both expected to make announcements about investments in gender-related issues around the Pacific, and for the first time, China will formalise its partnership with the Cook Islands and New Zealand to deliver a water project.

• Rachel Reeves

Big volunteer effort for Forum

What the Cook Islands lacks in resources – for example, enough rooms to accommodate US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s standard entourage of 90 – it more than makes up for in spirit, warmth and an inherent knack for hospitality.

The Pacific Islands Forum organising committee has been blown away by the willingness of local people to shoulder the burden of hosting more than 400 people – high-level leaders, their advisors and security guards, and over 75 media personnel.

Preparing for the Forum is a big job, and one that calls for careful attention to detail. There are eis to be sewn, gift baskets to be assembled, drivers to be trained, and dance numbers to be choreographed.

Red Cross secretary-general Frances Topa-Fariu has been coordinating a host of volunteer liaison officers, who will escort visiting delegations around Rarotonga and Aitutaki during the Forum.

They will be uniformed in pareu wear, as will voluntary drivers who will be ferrying their assigned VIP between venues in a carefully-orchestrated motorcade.

Liaison officers are being trained in etiquette, practice and safety protocol. An issue that cropped up at a training session last week concerned the right of liaison officers to immediately report unwanted advances from high-level delegates, whom the Forum committee have stressed are not above the law.

Local people have been voluntarily lending vehicles to the Forum committee, which is training drivers to put behind their wheels. Drivers have even started practising travelling as a group, barricaded by scout cars and motorcycles in the front and police vehicles behind, between arranged venues.

Prime Minister Henry Puna decreed long ago that the Cook Islands would not be covering the cost of importing a fleet of vehicles for the Forum. Instead, vehicles allocated to heads of ministries have been recalled, and Budget Rentals has been tasked with providing cars. Loans from individuals have proven a major boost to the fleet.

True to form, local mamas have been happy to help the organising committee prepare Rarotonga and Aitutaki for the influx of high-profile visitors.

Local women have been sewing pareu bags, which will be stuffed with pens, paper, postcards affixed with brand-new Pacific Islands Forum stamps, designed by the Philatelic Bureau in honour of the occasion, and distributed to delegates.

There are shirts being sewn for the leaders (plus a dress for Australia prime minister Julia Gillard), and in the outer islands there are tiare Maori being strung into eis and maire strands being plaited in anticipation of multiple ceremonies throughout the Forum week.

There are kikau ‘Kia Orana baskets’ being assembled – 20 of them, which will occupy the leaders’ Edgewater Resort rooms – containing pareu (his and hers), soaps, oils, playing cards and a special $10 coin being issued by the Philatelic Bureau.

Local communities of other Pacific countries have been making their own arrangements for greeting their respective delegations, and dance teams have been practising to perfect the numbers they will perform on the tarmac when leaders arrive.

St Joseph’s school is putting on a special turou for the Australian delegation, which (like New Zealand) is bringing its own air force jet.

Thanks largely to the willingness of local people to lighten government’s load, the committee is confident that the Forum will run smoothly and according to plan.

• Rachel Reeves

Beyonce stars in campaign

The Cook Islands is being encouraged to be part of a global social media campaign ahead of World Humanitarian Day on Sunday.

August 19 was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly in 2008 as the date for the international day, which pays tribute to people who face danger and adversity so they can help others.

The UN General Assembly met in New York last Friday to commemorate the day before international music star and campaign ambassador Beyonce performed a song she donated to the cause called ‘I Was Here’.

This year’s global campaign will continue last year’s theme – People Helping People – and asked people to showcase some virtual messages of support on a social media platform known as the Thunderclap on August 1 in the build-up to the national day.

• Matiu Workman

Setting a course for 2014 and beyond

Dr Michael O’Keefe, a senior lecturer at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, wrote the following piece for online journal Islands Business. In it he explores the issues that will loom large at this month’s Pacific Islands Forum, which is being held on Rarotonga and Aitutaki.

leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) will arrive in Rarotonga from next week to a packed agenda.

Looming in the background of diplomatic niceties is the strategic question of how PIF should adapt to the changing architecture of regional cooperation. The task is two-fold as PIF has to respond to challenges generated from both within and outside.

On the one hand, the draft review of the Forum Secretariat provides ample grounds for self-reflection.

On the other, the growing (defacto) acceptance of Fiji’s timetable for elections through the roadmap for democracy highlights how the landscape has changed as a result of Fiji’s suspension from PIF in 2009.

The review of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Draft Report was commissioned to address discontent towards the secretariat’s administration. It was released internally in May and prompted a strong defence from the Secretariat itself. No doubt it will be a major topic of discussion in the leaders meeting in Rarotonga.

The Forum Secretariat is responsible for implementing programmes to further the interests of its members through priorities determined by the leaders.

These programmes have practical utility and political significance in relation to trade, development and aid. It has a track record of achievement, but the implication of the review is clear.

Leadership and reform is needed if PIF is to re-engineer itself to face future challenges by focusing on its steering role in pursuit of regional interests.

The review highlighted a range of weaknesses in the secretariat’s capacity to achieve its core business.

For instance, it notes that the secretariat’s governance framework is ”complex, confusing and full of ambiguity“.

The sometimes trenchant criticism is partially explained by the challenge of responding to the needs of its diverse membership; from developed metropolitan powers to countries on a path to sustainable development, to small islands states burdened by the challenges of globalisation.

The diversity of PIF has the potential to make it a cohesive regional organisation, but equally to introduce tensions that undermine its effectiveness. Diversity can be managed within PIF or in relation to other sub-regional groupings (more of this later).

The review notes a key tension underlying the politics of PIF: funding. The secretariat’s budget is still overwhelmingly provided by Australia and New Zealand (70 percent). Another 15 percent is sourced from the European Union (EU). As the review notes, ”ownership of the secretariat“ by member states needs to be strengthened.

Whether these funding arrangements equate to influence is contentious and debatable, but clearly the way Canberra and Wellington have sought to influence PIF in the past has varied enormously.

We may be witnessing a high-point in this influence now, but the larger strategic question is whether it is sustainable or expedient.

This is not to say that funding should be spurned, but only to question how it should influence regional agenda setting.

The ANZ partners and other significant donors have used PIF as the prime vehicle for implementing their regional development policies.

There is no sign of this changing, but it is dependent on capacity issues in PIF itself and whether it continues to speak for the region.

PIF’s claim to being the unique representation of Pacific regionalism is also under challenge. This is where Fiji comes into the equation.

Fiji’s suspension from PIF has led it to look north, west and east (to China, Indonesia, the Middle East and the UN).

The unintended consequence being that alternative approaches to regionalism have gained impetus.

Fiji has been making new friends and supporting its regional friends through a range of sub-regional and regional forums such as the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), Engaging with the Pacific (EWTP) and Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS).

Taken together, these regional groupings represent the most significant evolution of regional architecture since the creation of the Forum over 40 years ago.

Currently, its institutional capacity is weak compared to established forums, but the intent is clear. None of these organisations include Australia or New Zealand as members and they focus on specific Pacific issues that have not been effectively dealt with by PIF, such as the impact of climate change on PSIDS.

Fiji embracing alternative forms of regionalism and sub-regionalism provides a potent challenge to the pre-eminence of PIF. These new regional groupings have gained ground under Fijian leadership. Fiji is assertively bracing itself for reintegration into international diplomacy post-2014.

As such, these groupings are likely to become increasingly influential mechanisms for expressing Fiji’s interests in the region and beyond.

This new architecture is also gaining momentum beyond Fiji as an expression of regional and sub-regional voices independent of PIF.

The question is, what impact will MSG, EWTP and PSIDS collectively have on regional architecture when Fiji re-engages with PIF?

Now is the time for a stock take. 2014 is just around the corner and the metropolitan powers and Pacific states must be planning for the re-incorporation of Fiji into regional affairs.

What will PIF look like in 2014? How will it interact with other new forms of regionalism that have gained impetus since Fiji’s suspension from participation in PIF?

At this stage, there can be no speedier return to democracy than 2014. Waiting until then for the inevitable rapprochement could be counterproductive to the cohesiveness of the increasingly diverse regional architecture for cooperation and development. However, a significant complication is that rapprochement with Fiji may not be as straightforward as it would have been a few years ago.

The confidence with which Fiji has developed new friendships and new avenues of cooperation is not likely to be satisfied by reintegration into the PIF constituted as it is.

Fiji may have to be enticed to return to focusing its diplomacy through PIF and part of this process may be that PIF is renovated.

The review provides fertile ground to support this aim from within, but there are also larger questions that need to be addressed about the purpose and function of Pacific regionalism.

The diplomatic reality is that the regional seascape has changed since Fiji was suspended from participation in PIF. The more fluid dynamic of regional cooperation could be seen as a challenge or an opportunity and it is for PIF leaders to decide how they respond. PIF is at a crossroad.

Healing the forum divide

Dr Roman Grynberg – a professor who was until 2009 director of economic governance at the Forum Secretariat – wrote this piece ahead of the 43rd Pacific Islands Leaders Forum in Rarotonga the week after next. Entitled ‘Healing the Forum Divide: Apathy Towards Regional Body’, the article appeared in this month’s edition of Islands Business, a regional magazine distributed in 22 Pacific countries.

This August leaders will meet in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands at the annual Pacific Islands Forum Summit and many weighty issues will be discussed but almost all will be settled by officials well before the meeting begins.

One of the big issues that will have to be considered is the review of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat completed just two months ago.

The report has many good recommendations but the consultants sent to review the Forum Secretariat have said that islands countries generally feel alienated from the organisation and there needs to be greater participation and ownership by members.

In their very first recommendation, they say ‘Member states (should) exercise greater ‘ownership’ of the Secretariat, ensure that they have appropriate representation at each meeting facilitated by the Secretariat, and seek to provide greater continuity of representation at meetings of FOC (Forum Officials Committee).’

The consultants, in the normal technospeak of such reports, also recommended all sorts of sensible ways of improving communications as though these were somehow the cause of the problem without ever getting to the reason why countries do not feel greater ownership of their paramount regional organisation.

But to answer the question honestly would violate the very first rule of consultancy which is never to tell your clients something that will stop you getting your next consultancy!

All those who work or have worked at the Forum Secretariat know that it is a member driven body and all know exactly which member it is.

It is precisely this total domination by ‘bad cop’ Australia and ‘good cop’ New Zealand of important decisions of the Forum that there is such apathy in the islands capitals towards the region’s paramount regional body.

Forum funding

It has nothing to do with communications. All islands senior officials know the Forum Secretariat is funded and almost completely controlled by Australia and New Zealand and nothing they do will change those outcomes.

Those islands officials who annoy Canberra and Wellington by trying to change this will end up being sent to a regional office of the Ministry of Works, and so silence and apathy make good professional sense.

But free men and women hate being treated as powerless inferiors and so rather than say something that will just destroy their careers, islands leaders and their officials simply create new organisations where they feel they can speak.

Sub-regions

While the Forum Secretariat remains the paramount regional organisation, it is less and less the organisation that matters as the islands divide into ethnic sub-regions.

The progressive balkanisation of the islands starting with the formation of the Melanesian Spearhead Group is a direct result of disenchantment with the domination of the organisation by Australia and New Zealand and the sense of alienation from other sub-regions, which are often perceived to act as surrogates of the bigger powers inside the Forum.

The issue that has undoubtedly solidified the bitter divisions between the regions recently has been the exclusion of Fiji since the most recent coup. As a result, this has served to strengthen the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) even further as the increasingly important political discussions occur there.

But the economic issues that confront the islands still invariably involve Australia and New Zealand and always will, and no amount of balkanisation of the Forum islands or wishful thinking from the islands capitals will change the commercial facts.

Leaders in Rarotonga will need to give some direction to the on-going PACER+ negotiations and addressing the perfectly legitimate fear that the technocrats who run these negotiations in Canberra will simply force the islands to sign an agreement without any meaningful commitments on aid and temporary movement which are central to the interests of the islands.

Using Polynesian countries, some of which are almost as desperate for Australian aid as the Solomon Islands, it may be possible to force such an outcome in the PACER + negotiations but it will simply worsen relations between the Forum members in the long run.

A clear statement at the Forum by leaders providing directions to the negotiators would be extremely positive.

Indeed, if the Forum outcomes document contains nothing but the usual vacuous platitudes about ‘the continuation of the negotiations and the need for a deepening of the integration of the islands states into the global economy...’ then it should be seen as a clear signal that Canberra has won the day.

It is time for islands leaders to demand of Canberra clear direction on PACER+ and that the agreement contains meaningful commitments on development assistance and temporary movement of people which are the two issues that matter to the islands.

The Pacific ACP leaders who will also meet will also need to make some contingencies in the event that the EU does not respond positively to their offers.

The negotiations are formally supposed to end by December this year and it would be prudent for the islands to wait and see what emerges in Africa, a region far more important to Europe than the Pacific.

Whereas PACER+, EPA, WTO and PICTA and the rest of the trade alphabet soup matter, it may be time for leaders to put a stop to the seemingly endless merry go round of trade negotiations which has preoccupied islands trade officials for the better part of the 15 years.

Market access is vital but spending time and resources on addressing the supply side issues that confront islands producers is now probably far more important and will yield greater returns than more trade negotiations.

Trade officials prefer Brussels and Geneva and even Canberra to putting on their gumboots and working with real producers solving real problems and so it is up to the leaders to re-orient work towards what are now the more pressing concerns of trade.

Penrhyn residents head home

Tongareva mayor Tini Ford has vowed to keep up the fight until the scenario is resolved. 12081642

Penrhyn residents will finally see their loved ones and homes after the first charter flight left for the northern island this morning.

The first group of around 10 people left at 6am aboard an Air Rarotonga Bandeirante charter plane.

The flight was confirmed by Air Rarotonga managing director Ewan Smith yesterday.

”We are still working on it but we have a flight booked for tomorrow morning,“ Smith told Cook Islands News.

Opposition Leader and Penrhyn’s MP Wilkie Rasmussen also confirmed the details.

”I understand there has been an arrangement of five flights. One on Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,“ Rasmussen said.

The Penrhyn MP said the flights were confirmed at a meeting at the Tongareva hostel on Wednesday night and that the group was now creating a list of who would fly home and when on the five flights ahead of the Kwai’s departure.

Rasmussen confirmed the Ministry of Culture will be footing the bill to send the cargo to Penrhyn while it is understood the flights will be paid for by the general reserve fund, which is normally used by government in these instances and is signed off by Cabinet.

Tongareva mayor Tini Ford met with Prime Minister Henry Puna and culture secretary Sonny Williams yesterday afternoon to discuss the matter and were unable to be reached for comment.

”On Wednesday the Kwai leaves with the remainder of the group – mainly men – along with their cargo.“

Rasmussen reiterated his view that the relationship between the three islands of Manihiki, Rakahanga and Penrhyn would not suffer as a result of the event.

”I want to reinforce that the Penrhyn people do not hold any bad feelings towards the three islands. The mayor did not mean what he said in that context in that regard.

”We’re all family, those three islands. This problem is the government is not respecting people that came from those islands.“

Meanwhile, a meeting between Rasmussen, Penrhyn mayor Tini Ford and the New Zealand High Commission has proven to be fruitless.

Commissioner John Carter spoke after Rasmussen said he felt ”very optimistic that the Cook Islands government will be able to come up with a solution“ after the meeting at the High Commission.

”We did have a discussion with Wilkie [Rasmussen] and the mayor who came and briefed us – they didn’t ask for any support,“ Carter said.

”Similarly I’ve had a conversation with the prime minister, who wanted to give us a briefing but other than that the stance we’ve taken is that it’s a domestic matter that the Cook Islands are dealing with.“

While appreciative of Rassmusen’s visit, there was never any intention of financial assistance from New Zealand, Carter said.

”As I say, our view is that it’s a domestic matter within the Cooks.“

• Matiu Workman

Items on-board may hold clues

The vessel Bonny, marked as a crime scene in January, is still at Avatiu Harbour incurring wharf costs. 12010939

This image of suspected paedophile David Peppiatt was provided by an anonymous friend of his in New Zealand. 12081521

The police officer in charge of the Bonny crime scene investigation says he has ”no idea“ what really happened to suspected paedophile David Peppiatt.

Bonny was found by adrift 20 nautical miles from Rarotonga, after police were alerted by an emergency call.

The was no sign of the sailor, David Peppiatt, who fled New Zealand on the stolen yacht while on bail.

Police concluded he had drowned after suffering a heart attack, as he had sailed a few days earlier into Rarotonga unnannounced during cyclone season complaining of heart problems.

But head of the investigation Inspector John Strickland now says while there is no evidence to prove he is dead or alive, the 62-year-old is presumed missing. The man will have ‘missing’ status for seven years until an inquest is legally required to be carried out.

”What really happened to him I have no idea,“ says Strickland. ”He couldn’t swim that far back to Rarotonga and although it’s possible he was picked up by another boat, we checked there were none in the area.“

New Zealand police recently listed Peppiatt on Interpol’s wanted fugitive list, hinting all is not over with the case.

A list of what was found aboard Bonny may hold clues to Peppiatt’s disappearance.

But Strickland says he cannot reveal to media the full list of items found on Bonny until yacht owner Nick Diggle is notified this week.

He does reveal food, radio and safety equipment and a rubber dinghy – as well as around $9000 later stolen by a crime scene officer – were on-board when police carried out their search on January 4.

Meanwhile, the Bonny is still stuck in dry-docks at Avatiu Harbour.

Strickland says he has been in contact with the yacht’s owner to decide whether the boat will be sold here or whether a team will carry out repairs then sail it back to New Zealand.

Bonny’s enforced Rarotongan stay is not without cost.

Wharfage fees have been piling up while the boat has been here, which the owner must pay before the boat is released back to him.

• Calida Smylie

Biggest ever cargo ship in port

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon the Southern Reef turns to place her stern – the back bit – at the southern side of Avatiu harbour. That’s a nice white Bobcat sitting next to a couple of diggers on top. PHOTO BETTY BAILEY 12081601

The Southern Reef’s brief visit at the weekend marked a turning point in the history of Cook Islands shipping.

Prior to this year’s $27 million harbour redevelopment project, the 116-metre ship would not have been able to berth at Avatiu.

Ports Authority general manager Nooroa ‘Bim’ Tou says that while Avatiu has accommodated a 135-metre cruise ship, Southern Reef is the biggest container vessel to have docked in a Cook Islands harbour.

Her cargo capacity – 516 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers – exceeds that of the ships that have gone before her.

Tou says this is proof that the harbour project is a success, and aiding the growth of the Cook Islands economy.

”The harbour development was an essential investment to the economic wellbeing of the Cook Islands. Various engineering reports and study were conducted since 1991 and the latest reports in 2006-07 concluded that the remedial work is to be acted upon swiftly to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of a structural failure of part or all of the Avatiu harbour facility,“ Tou explained.

”This is a very strategic asset to the Cook Islands and without the continued operation of this harbour at its full capacity, the Cook Islands economic wellbeing would be severely compromised.

”The completion of the Avatiu Port Development Project now provides security and efficient port infrastructure in Rarotonga with many of the current constraints and safety risks of the existing port removed. This will contribute to continued economic growth and improved well-being of the Cook Islands businesses and community.“

The Southern Reef had to be carefully rotated upon her departure, and the strategy for achieving a smooth exit was coordinated by the master of the vessel, acting harbour master Andre Tuiravakai and Ports Authority operations staff.

Southern Reef came directly from Auckland to Rarotonga, but stopped in Tahiti on her return trip.

She arrived carrying a number of vehicles, heavy machinery for private importers and a New Zealand police vehicle, which has been given to the Cook Islands Police.

A total of 120 containers were discharged, about 25 of which were refrigerated. Leaving Rarotonga she was loaded with a boat destined for a Tahitian family.

Southern Reef is expected to return to Avatiu in the first full week of September. She is owned by Reef Shipping, but being operated under a licence granted to Tai Moana Ltd (whose company director is Arama Wichman) earlier this year. XCIL is acting as her cargo agent.

• Rachel Reeves

New dilemmas for Cook Islands

Prime Minister Henry Puna’s mugshot features this month on the cover of Islands Business, a regional publication that highlights current affairs and is distributed throughout 22 island countries. Inside, a story written by Cook Islander Lisa Williams-Lahari explores the ”cultural crisis for the Kia Orana people“.

It’s all happening in Rarotonga this month. When Pacific and global delegates begin jetting into the capital of the Cook Islands later in August, the iconic ‘Kia Orana’ hospitality from the 42nd Pacific Islands Forum Meeting host will be centre-stage.

Yet even as that Kia Orana spirit reminds more than 200 Forum officials, leaders and delegates that Cook Islanders know how to make their guests feel welcome, many will be oblivious to a deepening and complex problem which has been building for decades.

Beneath all the smiles and flowers, feasting and drumbeats is a cultural crisis which will cost this country dearly if it isn’t dealt with.

Professor Jon Tikivanotau Jonassen, a former acting secretary-general of the Pacific’s largest regional development agency, the SPC, says the complex issues of Cook Islands identity and cultural heritage are just one corner of a complex problem. With the United Nations announcing Cook Islands Maori as an endangered language this year, Jonassen warns the loss of traditional knowledge and language will impact future generations trying in vain and at great cost, to claim what is ours, back.

”We are facing a cultural crisis and we don’t even know it. The sad thing is we are living in a bubble. One day the bubble will burst and we’ll say hey...it’s too late.“

”You are talking about a billion dollar industry,“ says Jonassen.

He should know. He was one of the first cultural performers to take Cook Islands dance to the world after independence, and is himself a composer, poet and scholar on Pacific music traditions and performance.

Billion-dollar industry

His academic work in Hawaii for the last two decades has given him insights into the cultural industry there. Hawaiian and Tahitian drummers are playing Cook Islands drumbeats and Cook Islands drums, and getting paid more than US$100 an hour to do so. Then, there are the recordings, the shows, the DVDs, the hotel and by invitation appearances.His comments, strong as they are, will resonate for many. The music industry and composers already bemoan the fact that they have had their work copyrighted in French Polynesia where musicians there are paid royalties, sometimes for Cook Islands songs.

Heritage workers are mindful that Cook Islands artefacts dating back to pre-contact times are better off archived overseas because the conditions to preserve them in the Cooks do not exist.

The creative community keen to take Cook Islands art to the world are already mindful they need to create their own opportunities and are finally enjoying a growing market for homegrown art.

The educators are well into strategising over the dilemma of keeping Maori language skills alive in schools when Cook Islands Maori, given inter-cultural marriages and a high non-indigenous local population, may not be spoken at home.

Even the health sector, caught up in dealing with lifestyle disease crisis of NCDs linked to the culture of feasting, featured speakers during the 2012 Cook Islands Health Forum on the language crisis for Cook Islands children in New Zealand.

Copycat cost

Given his background, the efforts to reclaim intellectual property and knowledge are of special interest to Jonassen.

The popularity of Cooks Islands drumbeats, music, dancing, and performance across the globe is all good for the tourism statistics – more than 124,000 visitors in 2011 continue to ensure tourism is the economic mainstay.

While globalisation has spurred the inevitable wave of copycat performers of Cook Islands culture across the region and the world, he warns the lack of a proactive strategy to tackle that issue will cost us much more.

”It’s a huge problem for us, because if it continues, it means 50 to 60 years down the road we will have to pay copyright money to someone who copyrighted our stuff. It is ours, but we will have to pay someone else for using it! We need to be more visionary, more willing to fight for what is ours.“

Going global may be a credit to the impact of Cook Islands culture on Pacific identity across the world, but not if performers are leaving out due credit to the Cooks.

”If they don’t acknowledge, it’s called plagiarism, or stealing. If I borrow something from you and I give you credit for it, that’s borrowing – but if I claim it’s been mine all along, that’s not appropriate,“ says Jonassen. Jonassen’s position comes as pa enua (other islands) of the Cooks converge on Rarotonga for the Te Maire Maeva Nui, the ten-day cultural festivities that precede and follow the 4th August anniversary of independence while retaining citizenship from New Zealand in 1965.

The 2012 theme for the annual event is around Cook Islands Maori. Islands teams compose and choreograph their work with that in mind.

It’s a spectacular event, one that feeds the senses and cultural soul of a nation, and Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna, caught up in the celebrations and connecting with his Manihiki delegation, is well aware of that.

Wake up call

”Is there a crisis? Yes and no,“ says the prime minister, ”It’s a good wake-up call. Yes, the Cook Islands music industry is being plagiarised, and people are working on copyright legislation for the Cook Islands right now. If I had my way, it would be passed tomorrow.“

Qualifying his disagreement, he says the government legislation on copyright will go to Parliament, hopefully before the year’s end. Outside of the Parliament, the relocation of the House of Ariki from the Parliament compound to a new permanent building called Kaveora.

That permanent home with operating expenses and staff for the House of Ariki under the Parliamentary Services budget are not the only milestones of 2012 when it comes to cultural leadership, says Puna.

The awarding of the first ever Dame Commander of the British Empire went to Dame Margaret Karika. For the prime minister, that historical beginning has paved the way for the renewed recognition for traditional leaders.

Added to that, the declaration of Ui Ariki Day, with a Parliamentary budget of NZ$50,000 to help the celebrations along, has also helped that recognition build the ”fundamental first step in moving towards preserving language and our cultural heritage,“ says Puna.

”Ui Ariki Day is not just for the chiefs of the country but for all Cook Islanders to celebrate being Cook Islanders, and we do need to acknowledge this as a fundamental first step towards protecting that.“

”We may be having these issues (of a cultural crisis) here in Rarotonga, but I believe with our sisters islands, there are no concerns with thatit’s clear the pa enua are not as threatened as Rarotonga when it comes to erosion of language,“ he says.

Tourist eye

With so much of Cook Islands culture tied up with performance for the tourist eye, Jonassen says this results in a disconnect between the dancers, performers and spectators.

”I think we have lost the connections. It’s okay to focus on tourism, but don’t only focus on tourists. Focus also on how the tourists are impacting the locals, and ask who is really benefitting from all this? The few who own hotels and the transport systems? How is a Mangaian living in Mangaia having their cost of living impacted by tourism?

Should we pursue policies that ensure the benefits of tourism are spread evenly so that the impacts are not just on a few? We need to be more street smart and we are not.“

Is it already too late? ”I don’t think so. Hawaii in many ways has proven you can go back and retrieve your culture. You have to be willing to put money back into it. You have to recognise that tourism is not the only value the Cook Islands can accumulate money fromin fact, one of the main reasons they come here is our culture,“ says Jonassen.

Other Pacific countries are part of the Cook Islands dilemma. Cook Islands drumbeats, drum and dances are becoming part of the cultural identity across the region.

In a typical cultural night at a hotel in the Solomon Islands capital, there is always going to be a version of Cook Islands tamure. At a recent event held at the Woodford International School in Honiara, a Kiribati cultural item during a school assembly drew the largest round of applause and cheers from students – except it was a Cook Islands tamure, to a Cook Islands song.

In Kiribati itself, the government has stepped in to ban versions of the tamure at any official gatherings and events in a bid to refocus youth on the i-Kiribati dances instead.

Festival fracas

The former development adviser says work done in intellectual property by SPC, which also coordinates the Festival of Pacific Arts via its cultural advisor, is great and in line with appropriate objectives.

”But I don’t think they move fast enough. It’s not their fault. They react to what individual governments want and the fact the Cook Islands has not been noisy about this much earlier is part of where the problem lies.“

One thing Cook Islanders have been noisy about came to a head in July, when the public weighed in via mainstream and social media over the 12th hour decision by government to ditch four years of planning to attend the Pacific Festival of Pacific Arts in Honiara.

Instead, it took a national cultural dance team to the global celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in London. The decision itself was typical for a government needing to balance the budget.

The problem was in the way the information became public after festival liaison teams in Honiara responded to queries from some Cook Islanders there seeking information on their delegation.

The decision mostly affected a small crew on the Marumaru Atua, a Cook Islands ocean voyaging vaka heading to Honiara as part of the opening arrival of Pacific canoes. The official position in the ensuing fracas was that the responsibility for welcoming the vaka rested with the host country, not the Cook Islands.

”The reality is we were faced with a choice. Attend either the Queen’s Jubilee or the Festival of Pacific Arts. It was a budgeting decision, and it was a difficult one,“ says the prime minister.

”I was at every destination except in Tahiti (for their stopovers along the journey to Honiara), and I will meet them when they return home.“

For Jonassen, the reasoning doesn’t hold water. The Cook Islands is the country which came up with the concept of a pageant of Pacific Ocean voyaging canoes arriving for the festival. They debuted this in spectacular fashion at Avana harbour in Rarotonga, during the hosting of the festival by the Cooks in 1992 and since then have taken the Cook Islands canoeing model across the region.

”Our canoe was arriving at the venue with six other canoes built on the Cook Islands model. We had the chance to say to the world, ‘We are somebody. Our culture is rich. We are here’. We didn’t even bother to go,“ he says.

Changing times

He is mindful that the undermining and loss of cultural values has not happened overnight. The changing times means Cook Islanders have opened their doors to a diverse migrant population, who also need support and acknowledgement even as the indigenous Cook Islanders need to feel their own interests and concerns are being heard.

It’s a big and complex challenge, and the responsibility rests in government policy but relies on actual changes – big and small – to the way things are, says Jonassen.

One thing he would like to see end right now is the use of welcome chants during island nights to set up a sense of mana and a moment of humour for those present.

Jonassen says the custom words are no laughing matter. ”For example, ending a beautiful Cook Islands chant with these words ‘How about that?’ No matter what occasion it is, chants need to be delivered right. We need to stop thinking it’s ok, no one will understand. The ancestors are listening. Our people are listening.“

Aid for trade on agenda

Minister of marine resources Teina Bishop joins trade ministers from around the region in Tonga this week to discuss a range of regional trade related issues.

Their deliberations will form the basis for onward advice to Pacific ACP Leaders at their annual meeting in the Cook Islands later this month.

”Let us not forget the very reason why we seek increased trade in our countries – it is because of the trade and development nexus,“ said Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat secretary-general Tuiloma Neroni Slade at the opening of the meeting.

”Trade assists in the development of our economies and in so doing, contributes to the reduction of poverty. Given the small size of many of our economies, we need to continuously seek markets within and beyond the region to increase trade.“

Two main trade arrangements, the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) and the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, will be a core part of ministers’ discussions. ”I am very pleased to report that a milestone has been achieved,“ said Slade, announcing that the negotiations of the PICTA trade in services arrangement had concluded.

”Ministers will be requested to initial the PICTA Protocol for trade in services and recommend that Forum island country leaders sign the Protocol at their upcoming meeting in Rarotonga.“

• Release

Hydroponic first in Atiu

Ngametua Mokoroa shows off the funds made from the first harvest of lettuce from the new hydroponics facility in Atiu. 12081634

Atiu is reaping the benefits of the island’s first hydroponics scheme.

With help from the Business Trade and Investment Board (BTIB) board director Ngaakitai Taria, Timau and Ngametua Mokoroa are the owners of the facility that aims to reduce imports to the island and boost the local economy.

The impressive structure houses hydroponic lettuces, with the four stations each holding four lines of lettuce to ensure there is plenty available for sale on the island.

It took Taria and the couple three days to set up the structure and it was done free of charge.

The couple have recently completed their first harvest and Taria said the importance of the scheme could not be underestimated.

”They will be able to feed the whole community and tourism sectors, which is important now for our economy from January to December,“ Taria said.

The BTIB director said the installation of the facility is crucial for those living on the island as well as those coming to the island.

”I saw visitors coming off the plane the same day as I arrived in Atiu with their own veggies. They didn’t bring money in Atiu for the community, only for the accommodation because everything has to be imported from Rarotonga or New Zealand.

”Our climate is changing and we humans have to adjust to that, especially with the veggies that are not native to our islands.

”This project will take away the worries of our visitors coming to our wonderful Atiu.“

Taria said he will also be helping to install a similar facility in Mauke when the materials arrive.

• Matiu Workman

Police minister checks out with police chief

Minister of Police Teariki Heather left the country yesterday morning to attend the Pacific Chiefs of Police conference in the Solomon Islands.

Police commissioner Maara Tetava accompanied him.

The two may be glad to escape the heat from yesterday’s news of money and property being stolen from the police safe by sworn officers.

Cash to a value of between $10,000 and $20,000 has gone missing from the national police headquarters, and two New Zealand detectives are investigating.

Heather’s chief executive Ben Mose says the police minister will comment on the scandal when he returns on August 27.

Prime Minister Henry Puna, who will be in the Cooks all week, says he is committed to the formality of due process in all matters of police investigations.

”The commissioner of police, as head of the department, is aware of his responsibilities, and if required, will be in a position to provide the necessary briefings on any matter related to this case.“

He would not comment on whether he knew about the thefts while he was police minister or whether he warned Heather of crime problem within the police when he took over the role in April.

Deputy Prime Minister Tom Marsters is also in the Cooks all week. A spokesperson said his office was not aware of the police thefts apart from what CI News had reported.

Minister Teina Bishop is flying via Auckland from a Pacific trade ministers’ meeting in Tonga to another Pacific meeting in Nadi, Fiji.

Bishop attended the Pacific ACP Trade Ministers’ Meeting between August 15 and 18, to discuss issues regarding trade between Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Bishop, whose portfolios include education, marine resources and tourism, is flying to Fiji today to represent the Cook Islands at the third Engaging with the Pacific Meeting, from August 23 to 24.

The Cook Islands was invited to attend this meeting by the Fiji government, but Forum preparations ruled out the prime minister’s attendance. Puna consequently requested that Bishop participate, seeing that he was already in Tonga attending a regional trade ministers’ meeting. He is accompanied by the foreign ministry’s trade officer Danny Williams, and they will return on August 26.

Agriculture minister Nandi Glassie is in Atiu to visit local farmers. He is accompanied by agriculture secretary Dr Matairangi Purea, and will be back in Rarotonga on Monday.

Minister Mark Brown will be in the Cooks all week, preparing for the Forum’s start on August 25. As finance minister he will be attending meetings with the World Bank and other Pacific finance ministers. A spokesperson at Brown’s office says it is not certain if he will be speaking yet as the Forum coordination team at the foreign affairs ministry are still drafting meetings.

Weekly travel for cabinet ministers

• Calida Smylie

PM explains shipping ‘complication’

Prime Minister Henry Puna has emphasised he has no personal or business-related cargo in a one-page statement.

A fact sheet was released by Prime Minister Henry Puna and gave a breakdown of ”salient facts“ as confirmed by culture secretary Sonny Williams, who was in charge of the departure of the Lady Naomi on Saturday.

Thirteen bullet points on the one-page statement detail the events that transpired on the day, including what resulted in the decision from the Penrhyn people to boycott the sailing on Saturday afternoon.

The release explained that two reefers on board the ship ”allowed the four islands to share a quarter of the total reefer space available,“ which all four islands used.

”All islands had varying amounts of reefer cargo turned away due to the restrictions, which were strictly enforced by a designated and experienced staff member from the Ministry of Culture. That staff member travelled with the vessel,“ the statement read.

”Penrhyn initially requested voyage space for 70 freezers to travel to Rarotonga – for storage purposes. The eventual reduction to 22 presented a last minute complication that could have been avoided if the island had had the benefit of its own reefer.

”Two islands, Manihiki and Rakahanga, have their own reefer thanks to funding support from the two MPs from those islands.“

The release also stated that people from Penrhyn were asked to prioritise the amount of cargo they had to ensure they did not go over their 20 tonne limit. Their refusal ”stay within the limit resulted in a withdrawal from the voyage,“ the statement read before it emphasised there was no cargo designated to Puna ”or his business in Manihiki“.

Penrhyn mayor Tini Ford could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, the last of the Penrhyn passengers will not be leaving Rarotonga for another week.

It comes after the first of the Air Rarotonga-chartered flights to Penrhyn departed yesterday.

There is a further flight today as well as on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of next week – two weeks after the departure of the Lady Naomi.

• Matariki Wilson

Harbour dredging all done

The Southern Reef docks at the Avatiu port last Sunday. The port dredging has now been completed, with all 73,000 cubic metres now removed from the harbour floor. 12081316

Dredging of the Avatiu port has been completed, meaning the hardest worker of the bunch is about to head home to New Zealand.

Around 73,000 cubic metres of underwater materials have been dredged at the site and have since been shipped to either the Punanga Nui markplace as a part of the land reclamation project or at a storage site in Panama.

Completion means the dredge Kimahia is getting ready to be towed back to New Zealand.

The project was completed both within budget and on time thanks to the mainly-fine weather and a hard-working crew who worked day and night for six days a week.

The docking of Southern Reef on Sunday was the port’s first opportunity to showcase what types of ships it can hold thanks to the dredging project.

The 116 metre-long ship is the largest container vessel to have ever visited the Cook Islands and is expected to return on September 1.

Ports authority Bim Tou said in a press release that the completion ”marks a milestone in the ports development project“.

”As well as the completion of the dredging works which has included widening of the entrance channel, the wharf structure works are now complete. Rarotonga now has an international wharf that is secure and designed to remain effective for the next 50 years.“

The new wharf is half a metre higher than the old wharf, providing a level of protection against sea-level rise.

The reorganisation that has been undertaken in the storage yard and paving of access roads provides for a more efficient and safer operation and the floodlighting means that essential cargo operations can be undertaken at night.

The remaining works required for the project, including the installation of two new cargo sheds and the completion of the undergrounding of fuel delivery lines, are yet to be completed.

• MW/Release

Reclamation project awaits final material

The final 1000 cubic metres of dredging will be added to the site before levelling of the material to align it with the land on the inland side. 12081324

Avatiu port land reclamation project designer George Cowan is still aiming for completion of reclamation by October, as the cyclone season looms.

The designer, who works independently from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning (MOIP), said they were hoping to finish the entire project by November as the reclamation plan was waiting on the final 1000 cubic metres of material to be dredged and dried.

”I was hoping everything would be done by August so that we would have September and October to place the rocks for the revetment like the one in front of the shops on Maere Nui road,“ Cowan said.

”It’s not a big job but we need a couple of months to get it done before the beginning of the cyclone season.“

After the dredged material dries up, the levelling process will get underway before the creation of the sloped rock revetment.

”The level of the ground at the drainage opposite the church is about five metres above sea level. It slopes down to three metres at the west side on the back of the Avatiu stream.

”It then slopes back to about five metres to the drain opposite to the church before it slopes down to four metres where the filling ends,“ Cowan told Cook Islands News.

The biggest reason for a sloped revetment, as opposed to a seawall, was so that the eventual increase in the size of waves would be avoided and the initial impact of waves would be absorbed by the sloped structure.

”Otherwise the seawall reflects back and if we have the sloping ground like we have at the Maere Nui wall it will allow the surge to run up.

”We didn’t want to have that sort of bad slope here because it’ll reflect the surge and the wave reflected by the wall will double the depth so that the next wave will come over the top.

The slight angles in the sloped structure and reclaimed land would allow for rain to naturally drain away from the Avatiu stream. When questioned around why a permanent rock revetment was not the first thing created in the harbour reclamation project, Cowan admitted it would have been the ideal.

”We have to have a temporary solution in the meantime to hold it. The rocks are laid and are already pushed out from near the road.

”All we’re doing now is getting the fill in place and then the work will start on combining the rock revetment on the ocean side,“ he explained.

Meanwhile, people wanting access to sand dredged from the harbour are encouraged to talk to the Pu Tapere for Avatiu.

• Matiu Workman

Cooks making international headlines

Hillary Clinton’s ”rumoured“ visit to the Cook Islands has flung the country into the international spotlight.

The Cook Islands made headlines this week for being what an Associated Press writer called ”almost too small for Hillary Clinton“.

At this point Clinton’s office has not confirmed that the secretary of state will be flying to Rarotonga, but local media have already been briefed on the details of her itinerary. She is expected to arrive on Thursday, August 30, and a ”proposed“ breakfast is being held in her honour the following morning.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that the Cook Islands is ”buzzing as it prepares for the expected visit of the US secretary of state, the biggest dignitary to stop by since Queen Elizabeth II nearly four decades ago“.

The story goes on to say that government is struggling to scrounge together enough vehicles to form a motorcade, though in reality, the motorcade has been rehearsing for weeks.

Robert Graham is coordinating the motorcade, and has said that local people have voluntarily donated their SUVs and vehicles to the cause. Other vehicles have been recalled from heads of ministries and sourced from Budget Rentals.

The Associated Press story reads: ”Hosting such a high-profile guest and her entourage, however, is posing problems for a government that owns just three small SUVs and is scrambling to borrow cars from residents to create a proper motorcade“.

A team from the United States embassy in Wellington was on Rarotonga this week to prepare for Clinton’s ”possible“ visit, the Associated Press reported.

The United Kingdom’s Independent took the story and ran with it, explaining that Clinton’s impending visit is throwing the Cook Islands – ”where nothing of note happens from one year to the next“ – into a ”spin“.

The Forum committee has told Cook Islands News it is confident the Cook Islands can handle the influx of 500 visitors from 57 countries.

Forum logistical coordinator Jaewynn McKay has told Cook Islands News that Clinton generally travels with an entourage of 90 people, but she has been asked to scale her party down by about half.

• Rachel Reeves

UNESCO approves 2 proposals

The UNESCO National Commission of the Cook Islands has received notification from the UNESCO head office that two of its proposals, submitted under the participation programme for the 2012-2013 biennium, have been approved.

The sum of US$25,000 has been approved for the digitisation of the audio-visual collections of the national archives, and this project will be coordinated and managed by the Ministry of Culture.

Gail Townsend, director of planning and development at the Ministry of Education, has also been awarded a UNESCO scholarship valued at US$26,000 to study for a Master’s degree in international educational planning at the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning in Paris.

Townsend will take up this scholarship in September for a period of some eight months after which she will return to the Cook Islands to resume employment in her current position.

The Cook Islands National Commission has a further eight proposals submitted to UNESCO and is still awaiting details of the outcome of these. They include:

Maungaroa ”lost mountain settlement “ restoration project (US$26,000)

Youth resilience programme for Rarotonga and the outer islands

ICT project: development of an ICT training resource in the Cook Islands language to enhance the ICT skills of Cook Islands women (US$26,000)

Women in Fishing: Catching Your Fair Share, Rarotonga (US$24,995)

Prison vocational and life skills development programmes (US$26,000)

Cook Islands Conservation Education Project – to complete learning modules (for lagoon health and monitoring, and sea turtle conservation) for inclusion into the national curriculum in the Cook Islands (US$25,540)

Heritage project: development of a virtual museum to study historical Cook Islands artefacts, especially those used by women of the past in the Cook Islands (US$26,000)

Cook Islands attendance at and participation in the UNESCO 37th General Conference, Paris, France in 2013 (US$24,289)

Multiple consideration rounds are conducted by UNESCO prior to making their final decisions and only the best and most relevant projects, which align with the biennium goals of UNESCO, are considered.

The UNESCO National Commission of the Cook Islands secretary-general Sharyn Paio says the Cook Islands is ”indeed fortunate that a small country such as ours has had two proposals accepted already, considering the extent of the financial constraints currently faced by UNESCO“.

”We have not given up hope that we may still be lucky enough to get some of our other proposals accepted but, right now, it is very much ‘wait and see’,“ she said.

• Release

Auckland councillor supports war veteran

Cook Islander Bill Framhein, pictured (left) in 2004 with fellow Cook Islands soldier Tairea Tairea (Padre) at the RSA in Rarotonga, is receiving support from Auckland councillor Mike Lee. 04111109

A councillor for New Zealand’s biggest city is throwing his support behind Rarotongan Bill Framhein, who despite having served in the New Zealand Army is not receiving a pension while living in the Cook Islands.

Born in Rarotonga, Framhein was one of some 36 young Cook Islanders who were recruited by the New Zealand Army into the territorial forces. He remained with the group until 1965, when he joined the regular army for tours to Malaysia and Borneo with the 1 Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment.

Framhein then joined the New Zealand Army on four six-month combat tours to Vietnam, including two consecutive terms, as the war sparked polarising opinions in New Zealand before the country’s involvement ended in 1971.

He was released from the army that year and settled in New Zealand before moving to Australia and then back to Rarotonga in 2004.

But in order for Framhein to claim the New Zealand Veterans pension, the law states he must live ”in the Realm of New Zealand“ for 10 years, with five of those to have happened after turning 50.

As a result of this clause, the Vietnam War veteran now lives part-time in the Wellington suburb of Porirua, away his wife and family for six months of the year in order to receive the pension.

Auckland councillor Mike Lee has campaigned on behalf of Framhein unsuccessfully to New Zealand’s social development minister Paula Bennett and justice minister Judith Collins.

Further pleas to Prime Minister John Key was also unfruitful, leaving Lee to pen a letter to New Zealand Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae requesting his support.

”From Minister [Paula] Bennett’s letter of 3 February it appears that when it comes to payment of veterans’ pensions, New Zealand Government policy is to treat the Cook Islands as ‘a Pacific country’ in exactly the same way as an independent island nation,“ Lee wrote in the letter.

”In other words, someone residing in the Cook Islands is deemed to have the same legal standing as a citizen of Fiji or Samoa and is therefore deemed to be ”not in New Zealand“.

Lee told Mateparae that while the country is self-governing, the country remains in free association with New Zealand,”and its people are New Zealand citizens“ as stated in Clause 1 of the 1983 Letters Patent Constituting the Office of Governor-General of New Zealand.

”I understand given that in 1966 the New Zealand Government recruited some 36 young Cook Islanders into the armed forces that there may be other island veterans in a similar position and perhaps even some in Niue and Tokelau.“

Lee called on Mateparae, who as the Queen’s Representative is the head of state in New Zealand and its territories, to remind government of its duty to pay the pension to those who are New Zealand citizens living in any of the territories owned by the country.

”As far as I know there is only one form of New Zealand citizenship – there is no legal basis to deem some effectively A or B class citizens – just as there is only one ‘Realm of New Zealand’.

”Frankly, I have persisted with this cause on behalf of the Framhein family because the way Mr Framhein is being treated makes me, as a New Zealander, feel ashamed. You are our last hope.“

Lee’s involvement comes after earlier lobbying from the New Zealand RSA reached a dead end as the government prioritised the Canterbury rebuild.

As of yet no response had been received from Mateparae.

• Matiu Workman

Akirata perform proudly for Czechs

Akirata Dance Troupe onstsage in the Czech Republic. 12081608

Akirata dancers costumed in their Cook Islands garb in the Czech Republic. 12081611

Akirata have done themselves proud with their performances in the Czech Republic.

The Rarotonga dance team’s first stop on the Czech tour was the city of Ostrava, only 10 kilometres from Poland. Akirata are performing alongside dance troupes from Croatia, Poland, Serbia, Denmark and the Czech Republic all with their own unique style of dance and music.

The Cook Islands contingent offers a complete contrast to the European styles, enlivening the crowds not only with the music and dance but humour and friendship – and a good dose of humour is needed for any cultural group on tour with all of the costumes, drums, ukes and people to transport. Touring tests the strongest and most patient!

Akirata have rolled with all the different situations they have been placed in – from performing in a city square or park with no changing rooms to meeting mayors and officials in council chambers, the group have been ambassadors for not only the Cook Islands but for positivity and tolerance.

The impact on stage is powerful. For the Czech people the Cook Islands are an exotic dream. They are amazed by the dance, costumes and music. After all, the Czech Republic’s history is one of the iron curtain and old world communism.

Akirata have bought Pacific colour to a place where most have no knowledge or concept of life in the South Pacific.

This tour is about exchange so having a 70-year-old Czech man feel so inspired by an Akirata performance that he went home, baked a special cake and returned to our hostel to share it with us is truly one of those moments that not only forms a lifetime memory but makes you appreciate the gift of sharing culture.

• Elsie Hosking

People helping people is ‘humanitarian’

International music star and World Humanitarian Day ambassador Beyonce performed at the UN General Assembly. 12081503

”This year’s World Humanitarian Day presents an historic opportunity to bring together one billion people from around the world to advance a powerful and proactive idea: People Helping People.“ Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations Peter Muller is the regional disaster response advisor for the Pacific with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) based in Suva, Fiji. In this article he talks about World Humanitarian Day, which happened yesterday.

Every day we see and hear images and stories of human pain and suffering – in our own neighborhoods or in countries far away. Today, 62 million people around the world are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. Their lives and livelihoods have been shattered by conflict, hunger and disaster.

The Pacific Island region is one of the world’s most susceptible to natural disasters. Small, vulnerable island states are isolated by a vast expanse of ocean. They experience frequent and intense disasters with disproportionately high economic, social and environmental consequences.

The people affected by these natural disasters need food, access to clean water, basic health services, a place for their kids to be educated and the tools to help them quickly restore normalcy to their day to day lives.

Already this year, we have seen the devastating effects these natural disasters can have on our communities. In January and March of this year, Fiji’s Western Division suffered extensive flooding. The flooding led to 10 deaths and temporarily displaced over 19,000 people who were forced to evacuate their homes.

The Fijian Government declared a State of Natural Disaster, and the Pacific Humanitarian Team – a collaborative effort between all major humanitarian actors that provide assistance throughout the Pacific Island region – supported the response and early recovery activities.

It is the stories of the individuals who responded to the floods that demonstrate the fact that anyone can be a humanitarian.

The people who accommodated their family members whose homes had been destroyed, those who cooked meals for their local community despite their own homes and livelihoods being compromised and those who helped evacuate their elderly neighbors demonstrate that we can all take humanitarian action.

In 2008, the United Nations General Assembly designated August 19 ‘World Humanitarian Day’ to raise public awareness of humanitarian assistance worldwide, and to recognize people who risk their lives to help people in need – whoever and wherever they are.

Four years later, World Humanitarian Day has become a global celebration of humanitarian action, and captures the spirit of people helping people.

This World Humanitarian Day, show your support and say ‘I Was Here’ to demonstrate that the spirit of people helping people is alive and well in the Pacific Island region. Visit www.whd-iwashere.org to pledge one humanitarian action, however great or small, and tell the world about it.

• Peter Muller

Minerals flag flown in China

Paul Lynch (left), senior advisor to minerals minister Tom Marsters, and Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning GIS specialist Vaipo Mataora representing the Cook Islands in China at the minerals conference. 12081604

As the senior advisor to minerals minister Tom Marsters, Paul Lynch was last month invited on a three-week junket to China to attend a seminar on mineral resources development and management, attended by delegates from Latin America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific.

At the invitation of the Chinese government, Lynch and GIS specialist for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning Vaipo Mataora spent three weeks on the outskirts of Nanchang city.

Delegates unanimously nominated Lynch as the delegates’ chairman for the duration of the seminar, landing him with the responsibility of bridging gaps between the Chinese hosts and international representatives. He was also tasked with delivering the closing ceremony speech on behalf of all delegates.

(Lynch took Mandarin lessons here in Rarotonga before his departure, so was able to do a bit of translation.) He said attending the seminar was a valuable experience, one that will prove helpful to the Cook Islands’ mineral resource strategy.

”It is important for the Cook Islands minerals sector to take its place at such international minerals meetings and to join with other nations seeking the creation of value from their national mineral resources for the benefit of their people,“ Lynch said in his summary report.

”We can then learn the best approach to development and management of our national mineral resources, along with other developing nations in the Latin America, Caribbean and South Pacific regions.“

Lynch says he and his fellow delegates attended daily lectures at the Jiangxi College of Foreign Studies, and participated in discussion and field trips which he called ”very worthwhile and appropriate“. They also toured Wuyaan, Jingdezhen, Shanghai and Xiamen.

Among the topics covered in lectures and discussions were Chinese culture, economic geology, the distribution of the world’s mineral resources, the distribution of China’s mineral resources, exploration methods for mineral resources, mineral resources management, the exploitation of mineral resources and environmental protection measures to prevent it, mining rights, China’s mineral resources laws, and policies on foreign-funded exploration and mining of resources in China.

Lynch reports: ”China has conducted extensive exploratory minerals work in its own jurisdiction... However China would certainly, in the medium to long-term, experience a lack in key minerals which are important to its continued development, including copper, gold, aluminium and rare earth minerals.

”China is also seeking to develop access to minerals it requires in other nations and welcomes foreign investment in its own minerals sector...

”China, by its own reckoning, is still considered a developing nation in many ways, albeit a very fast developing nation. One of the major challenges which China faces is to spread the benefits of that economic development beyond its numerous urban centres to all sectors of its population. China therefore has an enormous need for a constant supply of necessary minerals to support that fast and continual development.

”...The PRC is already undertaking significant mineral exploration and exploitation in African and Caribbean countries with minerals resources.

”China has a huge economic demand for minerals. It however has a low abundance in certain key minerals. China is therefore willing to partner with other developing nations to explore, develop and manage their natural resources.“

Lynch says he was impressed by the open exchange of information at the meeting, and attributes it to ”decades of adoption of the ‘opening up’ policy undertaken by the (People’s Republic of China) since the 1980s“.

• Rachel Reeves

Simulators give seafarers confidence

Seafarers now train on simulators programmed to challenge their skills and confidence. 12070940

Computer simulators are being used to give Pacific trainee seafarers a ‘virtual’ feel for highly-skilled jobs, while minimising the risk of damage to a real ship.

The training simulators can be programmed to suit different jobs on ships in areas such as navigation, the engine room, ship management, fuel operation and cargo handling.

This is a safer way of learning than on a working ship, where trainees fine-tune their skills.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) provides a portable training simulator to several Pacific countries to share.

”You have to show that you have confidence in driving a ship, so SPC has bought simulators to allow trainees to practice and build their confidence, and we send them around to the countries,“ said Captain John Rounds, shipping adviser to SPC’s economic development division.

”Trainees learn to handle dangerous goods on the simulator in order to get certified,“ Rounds explained.

Some countries with a dedicated marine training centre – such as Kiribati – have secured their own training simulators with assistance from donors.

The training by SPC meets the international standards of training, certification and watch-keeping run by the International Maritime Organisation.

• SPC

New-look vessel on the way

The Tiare Taporo as ‘Zebroid’ in her former life – she has now been painted all white and refitted. Photo Pacific Schooners 11061623

STV Tiare Taporo departs Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, on September 15.

Thus will begin a delivery voyage via the Caribbean through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific, which will end in the vessel’s arrival in Rarotonga.

Berths for passengers and trainee crew are still available for purchase for legs from Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles through to Rarotonga.

Pacific Schooners, located in Avarua, is also taking cargo orders for loading in Lunenburg and Panama.

The maiden voyage schedule is at right.

• Rachel Reeves

Stars in Olympic limelight

Members of Team Cook Islands with British actor Russell Brand during the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. This weekend was their turn to take centre stage as sprinters Patricia Taea (centre left) and Patrick Tuara (far left) as well as sailor Helema Williams (right) and weightlifter Luisa Peters (far right) were formally welcomed home by the Ui Ariki on Saturday before attending the Apostolic church in Tupapa on Sunday. 12081701

Members of Team Cook Islands with British actor Russell Brand during the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. This weekend was their turn to take centre stage as sprinters Patricia Taea (centre left) and Patrick Tuara (far left) as well as sailor Helema Williams (right) and weightlifter Luisa Peters (far right) were formally welcomed home by the Ui Ariki on Saturday before attending the Apostolic church in Tupapa on Sunday. 12081701

Te Tika sells quicker than expected

Premium skincare range Te Tika is selling fast, with the face and body oil proving the most popular products. 12082017

The new premium skincare range made with Cook Islands plants is selling so well the stockists had to reorder stock just a few days after the launch.

CITC Pharmacy manager Shannon Saunders says the bio-active Te Tika range was launched on August 9 and sold so well they had to reorder stock two days later.

”We sold out of the face and body oil within four days – it is definitely our hero product. Next most popular is the eye serum.“

Te Tika, meaning truth and integrity in Cook Islands Maori, is a skincare range developed over 10 years by Cook Islander Dr Graham Matheson, founder and director of Australian-based company CIMTECH (Cook Islands Medical Technologies).

There are eight products in the range, including an eye serum that retails at $105 for 15 millilitres.

Saunders says the range has received a positive response from a wide range of people.

”There is no ‘typical’ Te Tika customer. [They are] old and young, male and female, local and tourist. It is great that everyone is so behind this project.“

The pharmacy is currently the only retail store selling the range in the world. This will continue to be the case for at least six months, until the Australian-based Te Tika company finalises Australasian stockists.

Saunders says she has not received any negative feedback on the dermatologically-tested range so far.

”I had one lady come in as she thought she had reacted, but she had actually just been bitten by a mosquito.“

She says anyone concerned about any possible effects on sensitive skin should talk to pharmacy staff, who are apparently enjoying having a genuine Cook Islands product to offer.

• Calida Smylie

Funding for care services on 4 islands

Mauke representative Tearii Manuariki (left), Te Vaerua’s Pat Farr (centre left), Atiu coordinator Jude Isaia (centre), and Mangaia coordiantor Ruru Tangatakino (right) sign their contracts with internal affairs secretary Bredina Drollet (centre right). 12081930

Elderly and disability centres on four islands have benefitted from a partnership between the Asian Development Bank and government.

Government announced the partnership with the ADB to the tune of $167,000 to ensure the quality of life for the elderly and the disabled is improved.

Service providers in Rarotonga, Mauke, Mangaia and Atiu were successful in the application process and were invited to a function to sign the contracts on Friday afternoon.

Te Vaerua Rehabiliation Services in Rarotonga have been given enough funding to employ five caregivers and a programme manager as part of a home-based caregiving service for 40 elderly and people living with disabilities.

The Mauke Disability Committee will provide home-based caregiving to 19 elderly people on the island, with two caregivers and a programme manager fully funded, while the Mangaia Elderbility Committee will be able to provide home-based caregiving services for 21 elderly or people with disabilities.

The partnership has also benefitted the Atiu Disability and Learning Centre, with two service providers set to prepare 30 healthy meals under the supervision of a programme manager and being undertaken by a volunteer driver.

Internal affairs secretary Bredina Drollet, who acted as chairperson of the steering committee, heralded the partnership and said it was one of her first objectives when she started in the ministry almost three years ago.

”Whilst the initial funding for these pilots is coming from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, one of the key criteria for both choosing the activities to be undertaken and the service providers to deliver them, is the high potential for continuing these services beyond the life of the JPFR project,“ Drollet said.

After a brief historical presentation, the four groups were invited to sign the contracts before a kaikai was served for those in attendance.

• Matiu Workman

New Creative Centre van ‘a gift from God’

Pastor John Tangi blesses the Creative Centre’s new Jinbei van. 12082011

A grateful Creative Centre has thanked the community for its help after a new Jinbei van was formally blessed and handed over yesterday afternoon.

The blessing marks the end of a two-year wait for a new van that started with the Red Cross trying to find ways of helping the centre buy a new mode of transport in 2010.

”The campaign was a door-to-door appeal where people could give from a dollar upwards,“ Red Cross manager Francis Topa-Fariu said.

”In addition to that was a radiothon and fun run in town.“

The fundraisers made a total of $19,000, which they donated to the Creative Centre two years ago.

The centre found the remainder of the money needed to purchase the van earlier this year and had to wait for the new vehicle to be shipped to Rarotonga.

New Hope Church senior pastor John Tangi undertook the blessing with coconut water and reminded the organisation of how privileged they were to have such a wonderful new vehicle.

”There are a lot of disabled organisations in different countries who have nothing like this,“ Pastor Tangi said.

”God has blessed you in giving you this.“

In the presence of men’s health coordinator Rangi Aitu, Red Cross representative Oropai Mataroa and members of the centre, Pastor Tangi spoke about the significance of the number plate, which reads 8245.

”Eight people were saved during the flood in the days of Noah so I see this as an ark. The number two speaks of the old and new testaments. The number four speaks of four evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. God uses even people like you to take the gospel out to help.

”The number five speaks of five wise virgins and five foolish ones – I’m pleased there are no foolish ones here.“

Pastor Tangi thanked the Red Cross before emphasising how much of a community project the van was.

”It is the financial contribution of the community out here. This is a community project as they fund the community.“

Mataroa hoped the van would serve its main purpose while at the centre.

”I hope it’s used and looked after well – like Pastor Tangi said it’s a gift from God,“ Mataroa said.

• Matiu Workman

Tossi the cat missing from pet clinic

If you see Tossi – please contact the Esther Honey clinic on 22336. 12081927

Has anyone seen this missing cat? Tossi escaped from the Esther Honey Animal Clinic last week.

”It is extremely regrettable whenever an animal escapes and we make efforts to prevent it, but sometimes there is nothing we can do,“ says clinic director Gregg Young.

”We ask for everyone to be on the watch for Tossi.“

Tossi is primarily black with a splash of calico colours and a distinctive light cream tip on her tail. She is wearing a red collar.

Young says that animals can be unpredictable and when they don’t want to be somewhere they will do almost anything to get away.

”I’ve had dogs break through the back of what we thought were solid kennels and bend security steel in order to get out the front doors, which are now double bolted. I’ve held on to a dog through two bites before letting go and had cats and kittens who figured out how to unlock cages, squeeze through holes in chicken wire, and, on multiple occasions, cause injury (not always minor) to volunteers in their determination to run away,“ says Young.

He adds that the ultimate solution to minimise escapes is to enclose the kennels and cages inside a building, but this alternative would be very expensive in any setting and not practical or even possible on the clinics current site.

”Once again, we are very sorry for any pain that has resulted from the loss of a pet and please know that I cannot express how much it affects us too. We will strive to improve security wherever possible.“

If you see Tossi, please contact the Esther Honey foundation at 22336.

• EHF

Marumaru Atua in Lautoka

Nick Henry, who is captaining Gaualofa, meets his Marumaru Atua mates. 12081716

Cook Islands vaka Marumaru Atua is currently in Vuda Marina in Lautoka, Fiji, together with sister vaka Uto ni Yalo (Fiji) and Hine Moana (pan-Pacific).

All three will be departing for Tonga next week, where they will do some filming for a Oceanic Nature Film Productions documentary. Marumaru Atua is expected to depart Tonga for Rarotonga late next month.

Meanwhile, Te Matau A Maui (Aotearoa), Haunui (pan-Pacific) and Faafaite (Tahiti) are in Bayswater Marina on Auckland’s north shore.

Cook Islander Nick Henry, who is captaining Samoa vaka Gaualofa, left Tuvalu with his vaka yesterday for Tokelau and from there will continue on to Samoa.

• Rachel Reeves

‘Extreme’ pig hunt in Atiu

Matt Watson of the ITM Fishing Show posing with a maimai he caught on a fly rod in Aitutaki. PHOTO FOXY LADY 12081719

An extreme fisherman well-known for leaping out of helicopters onto unsuspecting marlin and hooking sharks from his surfboard has been in the Cooks to film his fishing show.

Matt Watson of the ITM Fishing Show says he had such a good time filming in the Cooks last week that it felt like a holiday.

After flying into Rarotonga on Thursday, August 9, to go on a night fish trying out a technique called cubing, they flew straight to Aitutaki.

”It was stunning,“ says Watson, ”and it reeks of fishing potential.“

They didn’t waste any time getting set up on the reef, as ”within 30 seconds“ Watson said they’d caught half a dozen big mahimahi – a ”visually stunning fish“.

Watson was in the Cooks for a week to film for the next series of his fishing show, which will air in New Zealand around June.

On the second day they tried their hand at fly fishing for bonefish within the lagoon.

Although they were unsuccessful, Watson says it was impossible to stay annoyed in such beautiful surroundings.

”Usually, because we’re filming for such a short time we have to cram in a lot, I get frustrated at the end of the day if there’s nothing to show for it. But here, it was impossible to get grumpy.“

However, the film crew’s luck picked up on local fishing boat Foxy Lady.

”We’d obviously paid our dues because the next day we got a great barracuda and some beautiful mahimahi, caught for the first time on a fly rod.“

The New Zealand film crew enjoyed island culture during their stay, sharing the spoils of their success in a barbecue with the locals.

Their next stop was Atiu, where Watson said they had the ”privilege“ of mayor Taoro Strickland taking the group out on his boat.

”He was a little anxious we wouldn’t catch anything, but I speared a giant trevally, about 20kg.“

The locals told him they were rare to catch.

”I was buzzing after that – if there was one fish I wanted to catch on this trip it was a giant trevally, but I didn’t think it would be with a spear gun.“

But fishing wasn’t the only hunt they went on – Atiu pigs will feature on the show, too.

”It was the best pig hunt I’ve ever been on,“ beams Watson. ”It was unbelievable how easy it was.“

They managed to get three pigs, which were later put in an umu to share with locals.

”And I swear it was the best pork I’ve ever tasted. They say the better the food the pigs eat the better the flesh, and these pigs live on coconuts and pawpaw.“

Although Watson has only been to the Cooks once before, he has a strong connection. His grandfather, James Watson, is buried in the RSA Memorial Cemetery in Rarotonga.

Watson believes his grandfather was the former manager of the Rarotongan Resort and Spa, and came to the Cooks for a week’s holiday and liked it so much he lived out the rest of his days here.

As well as filming for the ITM Fishing Show and the Ultimate Fishing Show, which screens internationally every second year, Watson has a separate deal with the Discovery Channel filming Man vs Fish – where his ultimate fishing challenges has made his name synonymous with extreme fishing.

He says there is a new series of Man vs Fish ”potentially“ in the pipeline – and that he cannot wait to get back to the Cooks.

”We flew over a couple of uninhabited atolls and I was looking out the window just salivating at the fishing opportunities. And even if the local stories are exaggerated three-fold, it’s still got me thinking of a way to get back here.“

• Calida Smylie

Hotels save on power bills

The prime minister’s office Renewable Energy Development Division recently called for interested accommodation owners to help them implement the next step of a programme to increase energy efficiency.

The Renewable Energy Development Division (REDD) is working on the regional programme with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Australian government.

Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu are also involved in the programme, of which the first stage – identifying potential energy efficiency projects – was finished in May last year.

Phase two of the programme will see the projects being implemented, with the goal of 10 percent reduction in average monthly energy consumption by residential, commercial and public sectors in the Cooks by the end of March 2015.

Interested accommodation and commercial building owners who were accepted to the ADB-funded project will now learn how to implement the programme to help reduce fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

A pilot project carried out by a hotel in Vanuatu showed potential savings of around 13 percent in energy bills when they implemented the steps in the programme.

Owners of hotels and commercial buildings involved will first have to supply past energy consumption and costs and information on any current energy conservation measures they take.

An audit will then be carried out to identify the main areas that simple cost-effective measures could be put in place quickly.

A more detailed audit will follow, including budget estimates and corresponding benefits of putting more energy efficient measures into place.

The goal is to implement sustainable plans to prove the benefits of energy reduction to society as a whole.

ADB has engaged non-governmental organisation International Institute for Energy Conservation as the contractor for phase two.

• Calida Smylie

Chris and Akisi Mussell just want their money returned and the police officers who stole it apprehended.

On May 31 last year, around eight police officers searched the Mussells’ house and business – Waterline Bar and Grill –as part of the Operation Eagle drug raids.

The police found no evidence the couple were involved, but confiscated a safe containing more than $20,000 – proceeds from their business.

But it was only in the following weeks the couple noticed other things had gone missing during the search, which they say left their house looking like a bomb had hit.

A few hundred dollars of restaurant float money, and around $200 plus $350 Fijian dollars of Akisi’s personal money was taken. A pearl bracelet and ”considerable amounts“ of loose pearls were also stolen from their house.

Chris believes this money and property went ”straight into the pockets“ of the investigating police officers.

The couple have little hope of having the petty cash and jewellery returned to them.

But the safe and the $20,000 within is another matter – they were ordered by the High Court to be returned to them around seven months ago, after money laundering charges against the couple were dropped.

Despite this, the safe has still not been returned and the couple say the police are ignoring their repeated calls to the station.

”Why did police ignore this order? Because they already knew there was nothing in the safe,“ says Akisi. ”There seems to be no procedure within the police force.“

After repeated requests to police by the couple’s lawyer Tony Manarangi, Detective Inspector Areumu Ingaua wrote to them on July 10, confirming police would replace the money stolen.

”Please be advised that the police will pay for the amount of money stolen from the safe totalling to $20,670.05 and in addition, for a replacement safe.“

The Mussells have heard nothing since.

The couple feel Commissioner Maara Tetava is fobbing them off. He agreed to meet with them to discuss the matter before he went to the Solomon Islands last Friday, but could not make the appointment.

The restaurateurs say they have been kept in the dark by police the whole way through the process. All they know about the case is from what the New Zealand police officer investigating the numerous thefts from the national police headquarters told them.

Detective Inspector Andrew Saunders said there were around four suspects being investigated for the thefts, and advised them if they wanted any progress made they should get their lawyer involved.

Chris says an important point to make is that one senior police officer involved in the investigation, who he does not want to name at this stage, ”demanded“ that Chris give him the key to his safe after it was removed from the house.

After Chris was told at the start of June the money had been stolen, he questioned the officer, who at first denied Chris gave him the key.

When Chris said he held him accountable for the theft, the officer said he passed the key on to another sergeant.

The officer then asked Chris whether he was trying to get him into trouble, which was the last communication Chris managed to have with him.

It is not just the police force who has been slow to respond.

The Mussells called Minister of Police Teariki Heather six weeks ago to complain about their stolen money not being returned. He denied knowing anything about it and promised he would look into it and get back to them immediately. They have heard nothing since.

”It’s a cover-up,“ says Chris. ”On all levels the police have blas attitudes and no work ethics.“

Chris has one piece of advice for the public. ”If any police ever come to your property to conduct a search, make sure you search them before they leave.“

• Calida Smylie

Rehab – the ugly scene of an attack that left two nightclubbers with brutal injuries on Friday night. 12082126

A German visitor and his local friend were beaten up so severely they both needed hospitalisation in an unprovoked attack in a popular downtown nightclub last Friday evening.

The young German visitor, in the Cooks with his girlfriend for work experience in the tourism industry, was attacked by a group of local men in Rehab Nightclub and Bar.

He was knocked out and only regained consciousness on the way to hospital.

When his local friend went to his aid, he too was set upon. Zeb Autaua, who works at the Cook Islands News, was chased along the main street by two of the attackers. He was so badly bashed he has flown to New Zealand for surgery on his jaw, broken in two places. He also received two black eyes.

The two visitors are apparently worried of further repercussions so do not want to talk with media.

But a friend of theirs, Roger Mason, has written to CINews on their behalf as he is ”shocked“ at the treatment the tourists was subjected to – both by the attackers and police who failed to help.

When the attack started, the young woman rushed outside to try and get the help of two female police officers. But they allegedly ignored her.

”Despite her pleas and insistence that help was urgently needed, the police officers continued to enjoy a cigarette and chat, and in the end accused the girl of being drunk and an arrogant German tourist,“ wrote Mason.

”She wasn’t either – she was a young visitor in a very different environment who desperately needed help.“

He notes they had all previously discussed what a safe place Rarotonga was.

”While my friends accept that punch-ups can occur anywhere in nightclub environments, what they cannot come to terms with was the total lack of interest or support on the part of the police officers, and their refusal to provide any sort of assistance to the young girl.“

Inspector Tere Patia confirmed police have received a complaint from the German victim which police are investigating.

”As to the issue posed against the police officers concerned [ignoring the woman’s cry for help and instead accusing her of being drunk] the matter is being looked into in order to determine the truth of the allegation.“

Rehab Bar owner Scott Arlander says police have not contacted him yet but bar staff will fully cooperate with investigations.

He says about six security guards were on duty that night and he was not sure who was involved with throwing the attackers – and victims – outside. There is no security footage of the fight.

”Normally if people are fighting it is not clear who started it so everyone involved gets thrown out of the bar. At the moment we are still investigating.“

Arlander is upset people got injured in the fight and says he aims to have a safe and friendly atmosphere in his bar.

”We will get to the bottom of this and find out who did this to them. We have some witnesses and as soon as we identify the attackers we will let police know.“

The two German visitors are completing tourism degrees and are in the Cooks for three months of work experience at Turama Pacific Travel Group.

Turama director Robert Skews says he is not happy at what has happened to the pair.

”They are two great kids, and I’m really disturbed something like that happened here.“

He says both are back at work and dealing well with what happened. They will remain in the Cooks for two more months.

Skews is concerned with the apparent increase of fighting in nightclubs lately, and says he is waiting to see the police report before he decides what action to take next.

• Calida Smylie

Miss Cook Islands Teuira Napa with Steve Lyon (centre) and Jess Cramp (right) of the Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative (PICI). 12082033

AKONO TE MANGO: This is the plea Miss Cook Islands Teuira Napa is making to her people.

Napa has joined the movement of local people supporting the creation of a shark sanctuary, which will effectively ban shark finning in Cook Islands waters. Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative (PICI) got the ball rolling last year, and the movement is gaining momentum as local people step up to take ownership of their sharks.

”I’m passionate about marine (life) and I think a shark sanctuary is a great idea,“ Napa said.

She joins a growing team of people who are canvassing visitors at the Punanga Nui market on Saturdays, asking them to sign a petition in support of a shark sanctuary.

”We’re really going after the locals and asking them to sign our big board and we’re hoping to present that (to government) to say this is what the people want,“ Napa said.

Also on board is Maine Purotu Kate Ngatokorua, who says she was able to get 60 local signatures in just one hour – an indication, she says, that local people want to protect their sharks.

”After hearing about shark finning during the Miss Cook Islands pageant I was horrified,“ Ngatokorua said. ”I really didn’t know how bad it really was and I don’t think many people know either.

”Sharks may be seen as man eaters but they have a part in our Cook Islands culture and legends and they are a part of the great circle of life. I don’t think it’s fair that a species that has been around for millions of years and survived through so much should be wiped out by us (humans).

”To help I have joined PICI in the Shark Sanctuary project and we petition at the markets on Saturdays to get the motions going in turning our Cook Islands waters into a shark sanctuary. I feel that I’m doing my part to help keep a species around and prevent them from undergoing the cruel torture of shark finning.“

Napa, Ngatokorua and the team have been operating on Saturday mornings from a table next to Napa’s family craft shop.

Emcee Danny Mataroa, who has been supportive of the shark sanctuary initiative from the get-go, on Saturday encouraged market-goers to champion the cause.

Mataroa regularly talks about sharks when he emcees island nights around Rarotonga because he believes government ”isn’t listening“.

”We made an agreement with these fishing companies to take our tuna and now they’re taking our sharks and that’s not in the agreement... The problem here is the government is not hearing.

”They’re acting like they’re listening but we had a meeting where we had a consultant from overseas invited by (the Ministry of) Marine Resources and some of us in the public were invited to come and we spoke up but still no action has been taken.

”I think the best thing to happen is through this petition and the executive decision needs to be made in the Cabinet. Take the tuna as agreed. Leave the sharks alone.

”When the NZ navy came and they assisted the Kukupa with some patrolling they boarded some of these (foreign) fishing boats and saw containers and containers of shark fins.

”...If it’s money that the government wants then we should be punishing them with some huge fees for breaking the law and the agreement.“

• Rachel Reeves

Diamonds of the Pacific perform in Manukau to celebrate Cook Islands Language Week. 12081404

Cook Islands staff from Counties Manukau (Bernard Tairea, Nora Mateariki, Stefan Mateariki) and honorary Cook Islanders Annette Cooper and Saiselu Faaitiiti hosted a lunch and provided entertainment to end the week of celebrations for the Cook Islands Language Week.

The Counties Manukau staff came together for a Cook Islands turou (welcome), and welcomed a very special and royal guest, Takitumu chief Pa Tapaeru Teariki Upokotini Marie Ariki (Pa Ariki).

She was accompanied by her son (Napa), the national project manager for the Cook Islands Language Week (Helen Framhien Wong) and staff from the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs (Sera Thompson and Liz Pepe).

The turou was followed by entertainment from Cook Islands dance group Diamonds of the Pacific. Pa Ariki then cut the celebration cake with branch manager Brad Duggan.

Attendees were then treated to a full Cook Islands feast prepared by the Cook Islands staff and Tairea’s family.

• Release

Australian radiographers Janine O’Neill and Sheila Douglas are providing mammography breast screening to the women of the Cook Islands at present. 12081504

Mammography breast screening is well underway at Rarotonga Hospital, with busy clinics running at present.

Australian radiographers Janine O’Neill and Sheila Douglas are screening patients this week, alongside a local team from the hospital.

Both O’Neill and Douglas praised the new digital radiography equipment that was recently installed at Rarotonga Hospital, saying it has improved the daily work flow and that the images themselves are of a very high quality.

Dr Fran Jones, from BreastScreen NSW, will be joining them on Friday to review all images taken and repeat any as necessary. Ultrasonagrapher Lyn Douglas will also be providing ultrasound services, for imaging and needle biopsies of any suspicious lesions.

• Rachel Smith

Alex Emmons. 12082013

American media agency Huffington Post recently published a story penned by writer Alex Emmons about a close encounter with devastation he experienced in Rarotonga. The story was one of a series of ”stories of seeking, confusion and discovery“ surrounding the issue of spirituality.

Since 1998 I have cried exactly four times: 1) the first night of boarding school when mom called to say goodnight, 2) the day I left to go to college, 3) while driving in the desert and feeling lonely, and 4) when a girl I dumped wouldn’t take me back. I don’t brag about it, but I know I am tough in many ways.

When I was 18 I deferred from college and worked as a deckhand on a 90-foot sailboat in the South Pacific. At a beachfront bar on the remote tropical island of Rarotonga the crew celebrated my birthday.

It was a Saturday but for the small local population it got a little rowdy. We drank cheap tequila and watched girls dance in grass skirts while a man with a ukulele sang a broken version of ”On the Boardwalk.“

The next morning I woke up, still drunk, and wanted privacy and fresh air. I found the keys to a Mazda Miata that my friend had rented for the weekend and decided to go for a drive, even though I didn’t handle a stick too well.

Pulling out on to the main road, I dropped the clutch too fast and the car jerked, killing the engine. I restarted and grinded the resistant transmission back into first gear. A few bumps later and I was off. I found that the faster I drove, the easier it got. The air whistled in my ears and the smell of burning coconut husks cleared my thoughts and my creeping hangover seemed to blow away. I noticed a beach I had seen the day before and pulled over to check it out.

The beach was white and empty, and the sand was fine. The water was cerulean and transparent up to 15 feet deep. I had nothing with me except my journal, a pen, and a bathing suit, which I had been wearing constantly. I smelled, tasted, and felt like a recycled lime wedge, but my spirits were high. The beach roasted my bare feet and so I quickly retreated to the car.

Before long, I was back on the narrow road, careening down the twists and turns with exhilarating speed. The tires screeched as I downshifted to accelerate through a blind corner. As I completed the turn, I saw it; a wall of people filling the lane. Before I knew it the car leaped into the parade. All in one motion I kicked the brake and the Mazda fishtailed.

Struggling to maintain control, I held my breath as I waited for metal to collide with flesh.

When I came to a stop, the mob quickly surrounded my convertible. I looked up and saw a large but simple white church. Frightened children sobbed as hundreds of large islanders circled my car. Embarrassed and ashamed, I thought to myself, ”this-is-the-end“.

A smaller man stepped through the crowd and commanded attention. I asked him how many people were hurt, and to my disbelief he said none. He stared at me in silence. I still reeked of booze and thought about how f***** I was. It was a miracle no one had been hurt, if it was true, and even if I hadn’t surely they’d jail me for reckless abandonment.

”Turn off the car,“ the man said. I did. ”Which ship is yours?“

I told him her name.

”Park over there.“ He pointed to a dirt lot on the opposite side of the road. As I slipped the car into first gear I hoped I wouldn’t stall out. If they realised I couldn’t drive – checkmate.

The car clumsily lurched forward but no one said anything. I parked and stepped out onto the ruddy soil. My feet smarted with burrs. My shoulder muscles ossified and my heartbeat whirred. An overwhelming stench of sizzling rubber and brake pad filled my nose and mouth. The palms of my hands were cold and my knees buckled. I shrank against the hot hood as the man approached me. My hands stung and recoiled. Breathing became harder. My bowels tightened.

The man looked serious and walked over to me. He told me that he was the chief of police as well as the reverend of the church.

Every Sunday the entire congregation walks together down the road to a special beach where they conclude their prayers. It was true no one had been hurt, but I still peered at the tire tattoos on the asphalt.

At first I blurted out excuses, but then they became real. I had risked the lives of innocent people. Their raw human energy was palpable. Had I had one more drink, or slept for one less minute the night before, who knows. I saw the pain and the anger, and the sadness and hatred I almost caused, and I begged for forgiveness. My chest tightened and I concentrated on avoiding a panic attack. But it was too late. I almost fainted.

He scrutinized me and silently deliberated. Then he dismissed me and directed me back to my ship, instructing me to tell my captain what had happened. Astonishingly, that was it -- I was free.

I relinquished a nautical life of sunshine and adventure for the compromise of school and the intellectual gifts therein. School, drinking, and girlfriends distracted me, and I became self-absorbed, forgetting that many important lessons I couldn’t learn in a classroom.

But no matter how adept our forgetting skills are, and no matter how strong we may be emotionally, the past reoccurs. When a young female student was hit by a drunk driver and killed, her boyfriend who she had been travelling to visit that fateful evening lamented, ”if I had only waited five more minutes before calling her to invite her to come over, maybe she wouldn’t have died.“ At once, my past returned.

As it happened, I also wrote for the school newspaper. By chance, the editor picked me to pen the story. My assignment therefore was interviewing the mourners. I went to the college church’s basement where the chaplain had arranged a communal grieving for the girl’s friends.

This was horrible because I’d never even looked at this girl, much less noticed her, even though our college was the size of a large high school and it seemed like I knew every girl (worth knowing) in the whole student body. And all of her friends knew this -- what’s this creep even doing here -- which made it worse. But on the inside I sincerely felt compelled to be there in that dank dungeon -- that driver could have been me.

Everybody was crying. I was feeling emotional too, but I couldn’t cry. I was surprised by how much I hated feeling like that. I was completely overwhelmed with guilt and grief, but I couldn’t pay my dues. All of the weight from all of my burdens was falling down on me in that moment, all I wanted to do was be released into soul-freedom, and therefore all I wanted to do in longer than I could remember was cry, but no.

We really don’t know if there is a God. I have my doubts on a daily basis, but I hope there is, and if there is I hope He saves me. With all the joy that I’ve deserved or not deserved and all the blessings I received that I never earned, all the suffering, and all that I did, it really makes me want to believe in God because it’s hard to make sense of it all.

The world is huge, the oceans are expansive, and the unknown is never-ending, but it will always be of interest to me and maybe one day I will learn how to cry. In a way, I’m not tough at all.

A focus on helping family has seen Leon Wharekura, pictured here on the right holding eight-week old Zaeah, pitch in with the Aotearoa Society’s fundraiser tonight. 12082122

The Pacific principle of family looking out for each other has seen one of New Zealand’s best entertainers come to perform tonight.

Fresh from performing at a festival in Samoa, Leon Wharekura is on the island for a fifth time, though it is his first in a fundraising capacity.

The entertainer is performing at the Aotearoa Society’s fundraiser as the group seeks to upgrade its facilities and allow for a separate eating area from the sleeping room.

”These people do good things here,“ Wharekura said of the Aotearoa Society.

”I’ve known this bunch of people for a while. I was only too glad and willing to come here to do that for them.“

The entertainer is certainly making the most of his time on the island, getting into foods such as ika mata and taro that featured prominently in his childhood while enjoying the beauty and the ”laidback feel“ that Rarotonga offers.

”No one seems that stressed here,“ Wharekura highlighted. ”We think that life back in the city is great but it’s stressful.

”It’s a good place to come and just stop.“

Cousin Ona Berryman, representing the Aotearoa Society, said the group was humbled by the donations received by those on the island.

”We want to give a big thank you to community through their help with the fundraising. The society will always be thankful to the Rarotongan community for their support,“ Berryman said.

Wharekura said the facility was incredibly important for visiting Kiwis.

”It hosts people who come from New Zealand. They have a place where the ex-pats can be hosted, sleep and be fed,“ Wharekura said.

The Maori entertainer has just released his second CD, titled ChameLEON, that has a mixture of styles within the one album.The fifth song of the album, E Te Tau, features a collaboration with Cook Islands entertainer Annie Crummer.

The album has also made the shortlist for the New Zealand Maori Music Awards in Hastings in two weeks time. People will be able to purchase CDs on the night.

Tickets to the show at the Staircase Restaurant and Bar are selling fast. A two-course meal and show option is selling at $35 while tickets for just the show are going for $10.

All proceeds will go the Aotearoa Society.

• Matiu Workman

Canberra-based ex-students from the Cook Islands Sports Academy Nga Simiona (left), Adam Tangata (centre left) and Mark Tuaati (right) with development officer Ezra Howie (centre right). 12082119

Cook Islands Rugby League (CIRL) is set to benefit from a former international player who will head the country’s new development programme from Australia.

Former Cook Islands Residents player Ezra Howie has moved into a coaching capacity and has taken control of the Canberra Raiders’ under-16 development team for the last two years.

Howie will be notifying the CIRL of upcoming training camps and trials for all teams in the Canberra club as well as try and schedule junior tours to Rarotonga to further strengthen the quality of rugby league both here and in Australia.

With the support of scouts Nathan Ford and Terry Glassie, Howie is looking to build links with other NRL clubs with the hope that more clubs will become feeders to CIRL in the future.

The job has no financial impact on the sporting organisation.

After meeting with CIRL ambassador Kevin Iro signaling his interest in the role, Howie has started strongly by organising a two-match tour to Rarotonga by Canberra club, the Rams’ under-16 side.

The team, which makes up a significant amount of the Canberra Raiders’ under-16 side, will play the matches in October and will be used to identify local talent coming through the ranks.

Howie has been mentoring students out of the CISA program for the last couple of years, which has seen Adam Tangata sign a Raiders contract that now has him playing NSW Cup.

CIRL president Charles Carlson has supported the initiative by Iro and Howie to develop a pathway for our local players that leads to the highest level of rugby league at an international level.

”We are playing against fully professional sides at the World Cup and for us to be competitive, we want to ensure that we also have a fully professional side,“ Carlson said.

”We need to wake up and face reality that you can’t send an amateur team to play against a fully professional side, you have got to fight fire with fire.“

• Matiu Workman

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