More Top Stories
Alleged rapist in remand
27 April 2024
Rarotonga residents push back on water tariff plan
12 April 2024
High hopes for chronic patients
4 May 2024
Solar power battery repairs ‘could take up to 12 months’
15 April 2024
Cook Islands poised for highest Pacific growth
29 April 2024
Ex-DPM appeals ‘excessive sentence’, hearing date set
26 April 2024
Police shortage leads to drop in checkpoints
9 April 2024
Sarakura declared new Penrhyn MP
16 March 2024
Govt says $1.3m invested in Lady Samoa charter
22 February 2024
Mass milkfish die-off in Penrhyn raises concerns
3 April 2024
Regulator defends Starlink users
9 April 2024
Aitutaki’s heritage preserved in new anthology
4 January 2024
Avatiu Eels retain Nines title
8 January 2024
Beddoes crowned top athlete
8 January 2024
NRL player Dargan dies in Aitutaki motorcycle crash
24 December 2023
‘Please heed the signs’: resident makes plea to tourists
20 December 2023
Cook Islands set to play in new World Series
10 October 2023
Corruption report exposes ‘bribe and sexual favours’
17 January 2023
Corruption in the Cook Islands?
21 January 2023
Moana target 2025 World Cup
11 November 2022
Opinion
Virtues in Paradise: Celebrating the women who shape us
A seven-year-old was talking about her mother one day as we walked and she skipped down the beach. I asked her mother’s name. “Which one?” she answered with a big grin. “I have three mothers," writes Linda Kavelin-Popov.
Thomas Wynne: Protecting our digital taro patch
Our digital taro patches, our everyday phones and devices, which we use to share photos, communicate with each other, and establish an online presence, are like sitting in the window of CITC in Avarua or a shop, writes Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.
The blessings of living the dream
“Living the Dream”is a phrase commonly used here in the Cook Islands.
Mangaia by-election looms
It was sad to see Papa Jim Marurai bow out of politics.
A government with no boundaries...
This government seems to have no boundaries when it comes to what looks to me, suspiciously like vote-buying.
Way we use our money reveals much about us
My two island grandsons are keenly interested in money.
Youth our future – and our present
While I was sitting there listening to Auckland University Phd student, Eliza Puna speak on the health and wellbeing of our young people in New Zealand, she made a comment that still resonates for me. It’s one I hope will also give you pause for thought.
Reflections on rest – and rising tide of rubbish
After we immigrated in the 1980s from the United States to Canada, I became close friends with another immigrant, a Scottish elder nicknamed Boo.
Black leader's words resonate here
In the 1960s a Black African American leader rose about the same time as Martin Luther King Jr.
More to 'back road' than meets the eye
Driving around the “back road” you wouldn’t know or often remember that right beneath our feet, lies one of the greatest ancient building achievements of Eastern Polynesia.
Clear lessons from teachable moments
Have you ever piled your plate and overstuffed yourself at a big feed, from a table loaded with your favorite dishes and desserts?
Tradition can be hit or myth
Interesting is an understatement when we once again have to re-examine what is culture and what isn’t after the incident at Atupare Marae with the welcome of Prime Minister Bill English to the Marae and an “Aotearoa Maori” style welcome as witnessed by those present and the picture in the paper.
Back at last! It's great parliament is finally sitting
I am very happy that parliament is sitting and the Members of Parliament can now get on with the business that they were elected to perform.
Why Rose went back to the CIP
The Cook Islands News lead story on Saturday morning was about Atiu MP Rose Brown returning to the Cook Islands Party late last week.
Kia orana kindness comes out in music
Just as every individual has strength and growth virtues, so do different nationalities - “virtues we show and virtues to grow.”
Outer islanders seduced by aid
I am an outer islander, but live on Rarotonga. I live here because I cannot earn an income as a lawyer if I live on Tongareva (Penrhyn), my island of birth.
Failure a gift for those willing to learn
It was my birthday yesterday, so I thought it fitting that I should write about gifts.
No justice without govt support
For two weeks from May 15 the Land Division of the High Court sat in Aitutaki and in Rarotonga to hear various applications to do with land.
It's our ocean, it's our future
This week I will be attending and speaking at the Oceans Conference; a high-level United Nations Conference and will be joined by Kevin Iro, a delegation from Marae Moana, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration.
Some predictions about shipping
Soon after I became leader of the Demo Party I held a press conference.
Men: Our silence is killing us
While I was at the Land Court last week, the judge decided to take a break so I walked over to the criminal court and sat there for an hour or so.
Why government fears parliament
Members of Parliament in the Cook Islands are being called lazy and worthless. People write to newspaper or phone radio talkback shows to complain about MPs not even working a full day. Why is this happening, and what can be done about it? I believe it is not the fault of elected MPs. Instead, the blame rests on the prime minister, Henry Puna. Our system places the sole responsibility on him to call parliament. He, and he alone, is therefore accountable to the people of this country and responsible for the progress of democracy in our sunny isles. Why blame and demean MPs when they have nothing to do with the planning and the scheduling of when and how often parliament sits? In the last three years, parliament has sat for only a handful of days. Yep, I could count them on my fingers and it is embarrassing when visitors ask about it. In 2015 it was, I believe, less than 10 days and last year, even less than that. But why is the PM doing this? The answer is simple: he could get voted out of office. We know very well that government does not have a strong majority to govern and therefore the PM’s thinking is to minimise the risk and have few days of parliament actually sitting. This is bizarre, isn’t it? The greater wheel of democracy is being held to ransom by one man, simply so he can stay in power. It’s political siege by Henry Puna. We could also say that it is a social and economic siege. It is also a siege on our integrity as a country that boasts to practice good democratic principles. Unfortunately, our political system can easily be manipulated as in such instance. After Henry Puna and his team won office in 2014, albeit by a small majority, an enduring promise from the 2010 elections was that there would be an increase in the number of days when Parliament sits. But that was not to be. Instead, the PM regressed into fewer and fewer days of Parliament. That was a major promise broken. That broken promise also overlapped with one of parliament sitting at least 100 days in one year. Of course that was never achieved. Should the PM be held up as a liar in this instance? Should the reasons why parliament doesn’t sit more often be accepted by the public as legitimate, even though they have never been clearly explained? I’m talking about the prospect of being voted out, even in these days of anti-vaka hopping. We have now seen the prospect of a vote of no confidence against the PM and his Cabinet several times and of course it’s the reason the government guillotines the budget debates so the MPs can close up shop and go home. We have clashes about constitutional clauses, disputes over the clarification of relevant provisions of no confidence motions and votes, and each time the PM has survived. That’s the key really, isn’t it? Regardless of how brutal it will be, Henry Puna must allow the proper process of democracy to take place and of course fight to defend his team and himself. What he does instead is an improper use of the power and authority of the executive arm of government. What is more alarming is the fact that MPs in the government side appear to me to be gutless and too scared to speak up about it. To them it is the natural thing just pack up their folders and go home after a hearty lunch and without even questioning the reason they are in parliament. Most of them go to parliament and ride along with the PM in a tunnel of persuasion, manipulating the system to their advantage. It is so shocking that people can actually think of excuses such as being unable to this month, for example, because they may not have the numbers to pass the budget. The Opposition also has the responsibility of passing the budget for the running of the country and so the public service can be paid. The PM is likely to leave it right until the last few days until the country is near strangulation, before actually introducing a budget. And this despite the fact that there is always full co-operation by those MPs who mean well to pass the budget without the PM’s fears coming to fruition. Things need to change. People need to be a lot smarter. Politics as a game of overpowering one another should not be the rule or the norm, but the exception. In the past, votes of confidence involving a change of government have taken place as the result of one-off situations. They were the result of democracy at work and the voting facility of parliament being used. Today, one person frequently blocks democracy for reasons, I believe, of his own self-preservation. If it is for the preservation of his political party in office, then the obvious thing is that when the situation is fragile, it’s time to return to the polls. That would be more acceptable than holding on to office under some dubious belief that you still hold the mandate of the voting public.
« Previous 1 … 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 … 134 Next »