Letters for Thursday October 14, 2021

Dear Editor,

My thoughts on Jacqui Evans’ letter to the editor (Referendum on seabed mining, Saturday, October 9, 2021).

Good for you Jacqui, keep asking questions, you have pressed the correct buttons and some are running “scared”.

‘Sensationalist statement’? (According to Seabed Minerals Authority) Didn’t read any, only facts. What is a valid question? Every question is valid, that’s why it is asked.

Why contact the ‘Authority’ by email? We all want to know the question and answers in a public forum, mainly newspaper. Not all of us have a device. What a put down to Jacqui (from Seabed Minerals Authority) – ‘I will not be responding … unless it is to clarify Government’s position or where I believe it will be of benefit to our people’s understanding of the SBM issues at hand’.

Government employees need to remember they are accountable to the taxpayer.

Teresa Arneric 

Kiikii

Some very fair and valid questions here from Jacqui Evans, a very well educated and knowledgeable Cook Islander who has gained international recognition for her work as an environmentalist ((Referendum on seabed mining, Saturday, October 9, 2021).

The reply from the Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA) is disappointing. This letter from Ms Evans contains valid questions from a concerned member of the public, which other members of the public are just as interested in the answers to.

SBMA should not get to decide that the questions are sensational, and not worthy of a response. In a democratic society, letters to the editor are acknowledged as one way to bring issues to the attention of the public that otherwise may be ignored by government – no doubt the reason this letter was sent to the editor in the first place, and not to the SBMA.

If the Authority is able to adequately answer the questions privately, responding publicly should not be an issue, and will go a long way in demonstrating good faith and transparency.

Kelvin Passfield

A plea to the

government

Kia Orana e te katoatoa, te iti tangata o te Kuki Airani. Kia orana to the leaders of our government, our Honourable Prime Minister and to the Secretary of Health. I am writing today because I feel very concerned, to the point of heartbreak, to read that our Government is thinking of following NZ’s footsteps in applying the ‘No Jab No Job’ policy (Cooks may consider ‘no jab, no job’ policy: TMO, Tuesday October 13, 2021).

Please, we beg of you, Secretary of Health Mr Bob Williams and Honourable Prime Minister Mark Brown, whom we respect very, very much – please do not do this to us! We do not have to follow NZ’s footsteps in all things. We have our own context and values and obligation to protect our people whatever the challenge may be. It is a proven fact that there is equal opportunity for the coronavirus to spread – whether you are vaccinated or not vaccinated. Equal opportunity – that means same level risk of transmission. The only difference between a vaccinated person and an unvaccinated person is that one may suffer more severely than the other! The vaccination does not prevent the spread of the virus nor does it cure it! Therefore, if a person chooses not to be vaccinated, they are not a threat to the vaccinated but rather have chosen to take on the illness naturally. This doesn’t make the person more contagious than the other! There is no evidence to prove that they are!

We beg of our Government to please consider the context of our Ipukarea, not Aotearoa’s – they are different to us, they have a way bigger population, they have different economic needs and environment. It doesn’t make sense to apply a framework of solutions that works for them here!

Also, please can we start considering what it might look like to build our own local economy! Can we strategically plan around this so that we don’t have to rely on tourism for our economy to be sustained? Can we exercise our self-governance and prove to the world that we can stand on our own and take care of our people because we love them all! Are there other strategies to consider rather than continuing to rely on NZ all the time!

This is our plea to the government, to consider the voices of the minority of people who have chosen not to vaccinate. The threat to exclude us is very real and scary and just not right! We need to remain employed just like everyone else. This is our Constitutional Right, our Human Right – our provision for life as God has promised. Please, do the right thing for the Cook Islands.

God bless us all.

Pukuatu

(Name and address supplied)

Editor’s note – According to Aljazeera, studies show that while both the vaccinated and unvaccinated can have similar levels of the virus in their bodies, the vaccinated are less likely to pass it on to others.