Dear Editor, now with the final election results completed and petitions likely to come, can the Secretary of Justice inform the general public when is the criminal case for DPM Robert Tapaitau going to Court?

Also, when will the delayed case of former heads of ministry, Nga and Dianne Puna, be heard?

International flights are regular now so a New Zealand High Court judge should be able to travel to hear these cases. There should be no more further delays in these overdue criminal cases.

Rumours are flying that there are unusually high number of VBD’s or votes by declaration. These are people not on both rolls. Are they all eligible and do they comply with the voter qualifications of the Electoral Act?

It will be interesting to get all the VBD data for the Rarotonga electorates? Is the Chief Electoral Officer satisfied as to the integrity of the VBD voting system?

Justice for all

(Name and address supplied)

Editor – Right of reply requests were sent to Secretary of Justice and Chief Electoral Officer yesterday. There was no response by the time this edition went to print last night.

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Research symposium

I read in Friday 12 August’s edition of the one-day research symposium which was held on Thursday.

As a former member of the Cook Islands Research Association (which was established by the late professor Ron Crocombe), I am interested in knowing as to what “work and research” is currently being conducted by its current members and graduates.

Moana Moeka’a
Ruatonga, Rarotonga

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Why was there so little public notification about this symposium? Or is it for people with titles after their names only? One gets the impression the organisers are trying to be inclusive of Maori by using Maori titles yet they don’t seem to want ordinary Maori people to attend. This person might have liked to have gone to the Symposium but did not find out about it soon enough.

Kuki Kumara
(Name and address supplied)

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Cook Islands Research Association’s Dr Christina Newport (PhD) – The association was revived in 2019/2020. In 2020 a new executive committee was elected which included Mama Margie Crocombe as our patroness.

With a small membership we have been working on getting things going again and our administration in order. This year's symposium builds on a low-key event we held in February 2021. Thursday’s event was advertised on our Facebook page - Cook Islands Research Association and website www.tevairangakitepakiri.com. The website has information about our activities and becoming a member.

Kia manuia.