More Top Stories
‘QR’ effectively becomes ‘KR’
10 September 2022
Moana target 2025 World Cup
11 November 2022
‘No safety risk’: Airport waiting for funding to swap cracked slabs
12 November 2022
Moment of truth at COP27
12 November 2022
Missing teenager: ‘We’re not sure whether he is still alive’
15 November 2022
Stricter rules for e-cigarettes proposed in Amendment Bill
15 November 2022
We’re halfway there!
16 November 2022
Call to conserve water as intake levels drop again
17 November 2022
Strategic plan focuses on rehabilitating offenders
17 November 2022
From the river to the ocean
18 November 2022
Staff reasons for Solicitor General’s resignation: PM
18 November 2022
Palmerston community and partners rally to rid the island of rats
19 November 2022
Cook Islands and the British Commonwealth membership
19 November 2022
Pero’s national airline dreams dashed again
19 November 2022
Cook Islands’ old audiovisuals from the 1960s to be digitised
19 November 2022
Opinion
LETTER TO EDITOR: Homosexual Law reform remains in limbo
‘Science shows us that people are born LGBTQ+’
‘Vicious and uncivilised’ marijuana laws
Dear Editor, Did you know that under the Ministry of Health Act 2013 that marijuana fits the description of a medicine? In the Act it reads in part that, “Medicine means any substance whether of animal, plant or synthetic origin which is used internally or externally for alleviating disease”.
Gossip – is it true, is it kind, is it useful?
There are no good ends to those who like to gossip with unconstrained conversation about other people without confirming if they are true, writes Ruta Mave.
Lawmakers – Hypocrites or pearly white?
Dear Editor, This writer sat in the High Court, Criminal Division, on Friday and watched two sentences handed down from the 2021 Police operation on Aitutaki – the operation that brought an end to the international, million dollar drug cartel carried out by the young criminals of that island. I would have sat through more of the sentencing, but it was just too painful seeing young lives destroyed.
LETTER TO EDITOR: History behind Kimiangatau’s founding
Dear Editor, While it’s good to get new local programmes on CITV, it is not good practice to source material from just one person and not do any cross-checking.
LETTER TO EDITOR: Give us clean water or come clean
Dear Editor, While the stated “nearly $90 million” cost to date for Te Mato Vai may not be correct (and many think it’s closer to $120m), we all need to be reminded that when the project was announced at a budget of $59 million, multiple Cook Islanders argued that something like $15 million would put […]
Legal recreational drug of choice
Dear Editor, Perhaps you have a young cub reporter on staff who could work his or her way through the last five or so years of Cook Islands News and come up with a rough estimate of the percentage of newsprint reporting on the downside of our national acceptance of alcohol as our legal recreational drug of choice
‘Fighting for what is right, writing to make things right’
Good people who see bad things and say nothing are as bad as the bad people doing them. We need people to stand up and say ‘The emperor is wearing no clothes’, writes Ruta Mave.
Why we need a moratorium on deep seabed mining
Do we have to trash the ocean to save our climate? No, we do not. New analysis shows how technological innovation and circular economy models can meet the demand for minerals without deep seabed mining.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Time to review electricity rates?
TAU (Te Aponga Uira) were quick to respond to fuel increases by increasing their electricity rates across the board.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Making up law as they go?
Dear Editor, In 2020, Te Marae Ora, through the Director of Clinical Services put out a release that stated “There are no laid down import regulations for methadone”. Methadone is a Class B controlled drug in the Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004.
Too much of a good thing?
One in five people treat their own infections instead of seeing a doctor or nurse practitioner to get it checked and get an appropriate antibiotic prescribed if one is needed, says Te Marae Ora chief pharmacist.
Taking care of your ears: Why it’s so important
What do ears do? The obvious answer is – hear sounds. Without getting too scientific, that is true. But ears do other things too, writes Dr Michael Baer, Te Are Manu Vet Clinic medical director.
LETTER TO EDITOR: Pero’s airline ‘a missed opportunity’
Dear Editor, It’s disappointing that this government would choose to reject this new airline proposal (Pero’s national airline dreams dashed again, Cook Islands News, November 19).
Time for climate change action is now – urgency demands it
It was my privilege to lead a delegation from the Cook Islands to Cop27, which was hosted by Egypt, at Sharm El Sheikh, writes Prime Minister Mark Brown.
LETTER TO EDITOR: Airline’s ‘monopolistic airfares’
Dear Editor, Browsing online through NZ Herald today there’s an Air New Zealand advertisement offering one-way airfares from Auckland to Honolulu at $589. The distance between Auckland and Honolulu is three times that between Auckland and Rarotonga.
LETTER TO EDITOR: Where are our ministries?
Dear Editor, Did you know that under the Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004, there is a provision that would allow relief of the physical and emotional pain of the Cook Islands people, with the introduction of medicinal cannabis but the TMO, Crown Law and Customs are too inept to bring this to fruition.
RUTA MAVE: ‘It is time to stop talking and start walking’
Beggars can’t be choosers is a phrase that has become defunct in our modern communities.
LETTER TO EDITOR: Medicinal cannabis plan
Dear Editor, Given that the vast majority of Cook Islanders, 62 per cent voted in favour of medicinal cannabis being introduced into the Cook Islands, the Prime Minister Mark Brown has the authority and the command to legally change the Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004 in so many different ways, in order to introduce a medicinal cannabis plan that suits us and does not defeat the purpose of making this medicine available at cost effective prices.
Let’s celebrate our talent
Dear Editor, Let’s all just celebrate that we can showcase talented Cook Islanders no matter where they reside (NZ CIRU to represent Cook Islands at Oceania 7s, November 12). Appreciate the families (and businesses) who’ve stepped up to fund their child’s airfare to NZ at such short notice.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Airport project ‘disaster from inception’
Dear Editor, The $6.5 million runway replacement project was a disaster waiting to happen before it even started. Look at the people in charge. The project manager, Ianis Boaza, is an Airport Authority board member and deputy chairman. He is a political appointment, with no engineering qualifications and experience. Taoro Brown, is the chairman of the Airport Authority, another political appointment, with no engineering qualifications and experience.
Man’s best friend
It’s been a hard day’s night and I’ve been working like a dog (Beatles) – this has been a phrase used for ages to describe where an employee is at the mercy of the employer and is made to work on a task without taking any breaks, writes Ruta Mave.