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Thursday 28 April 2022 | Written by Caleb Fotheringham | Published in Local, National
The flag of the Cook Islands, officially known as the Cook Islands Ensign, waves in the wind at Muri Lagoon in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Photo: SUPPLIED
Head of NGO Friends of Fiji Tangaroa Vakalalabure says the organisation will take the Cook Islands Government to court if it does not change its “racist” permanent residency (PR) application rules.
Head of NGO Friends of Fiji Tangaroa Vakalalabure says the organisation will take the Cook Islands Government to court if it does not change its “racist” permanent residency (PR) application rules.
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Comments
Tony Heays on 28/04/2022
Exactly! Well said
Te Tuhi Kelly on 28/04/2022
Yes, it was coming and no matter how well it is couched in legal terms or special relationships, as a justification for giving New Zealanders preferential treatment, the fact is the supreme document for the founding of our nation, rests with the Constitution of the Cook Islands. Add to this the Human Rights conventions we have signed up to on a global scale and Cook Islands Crown Law is starting to sit on shaky legal grounds and interpretation. This is another test case that may well end up in a Court of law and all the way to the Privy Council in the UK. At the end of the day the cost will come from the public purse (again) and the private sector. I understand that this is politicking gone mad because our MPs want to sit at the gravy train table and if they don’t follow the wishes of their constituents they will be gone. We need strategic and level-headed people to make these decisions based on what is good for our country rather than what is good for those who only want the Cook Islands for Cook Islanders. We are living in an ever changing world, language, customs, culture and intermarriage on a huge scale, but, this means that the Cook Islands is becoming richer for this integration and amalgamation and it behoves Govts to develop, invest, support, provide and properly communicate how we as a people can take advantage of these changing times and to use all the necessary means to preserve the culture, the language and heritage without creating a closed and gated community. None of these current crop of MPs and the latest crop of prospective candidates have the wit to even consider this without getting into self-serving policies that are designed to discriminate, the very thing that goes against our christian values and our Constitution which we need, to prosper and survive in the 21st century.