Dear Editor, all jobs are advertised here in the Cook Islands, but our local people are not applying ... you can blame minimum wage, but at the end of the day you choose to work for an income or not, no matter how small.

I don’t see Cook Islanders collecting benefits in NZ or Oz wanting to come back to the islands to work. Outer islanders are happy where they are, seasonal work overseas ensures you are away for a short time to make big money to pay mortgages here and then you can come back.

Many people living overseas have lots of answers for us living here … Cook Islands to the world – walk the talk, come home, don’t blame government or these workers from other countries coming in, they are just providing the services we need but don’t want to carry out. No hate but things are not always black and white, or as simple as we think.

Karen MacShane

(Facebook)

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Our people are moving overseas to work, not because they haven’t been offered a job here in the Cook Islands. Maybe some of them, but the majority of them went overseas to work, because their wages here is not enough to cater their families. That’s why our Cook Islands people are moving overseas for work. So, who’s going to do the work on our islands? I don’t see any problems getting people overseas to come work in our nation. They are getting the same wages, that was offered to our local people. But because our people are so smart, going after the high wages, they move overseas for work and leave their nation into foreigners’ hands to work on it. And in the near future, they will come back from overseas and complain (about) these foreigners on our island. And yet these foreigners build the nation up, while they (Cook Islanders) away building other nations up. The problem here is not the foreigners coming in for work, but it’s our own people leaving the country for work.

Mau Taverio

(Facebook)

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The battle against NCDs

George George’s advocacy for men’s health is to be commended. Like the rest of us, he fights against NCD’s that result from unhealthy life choices.

It might be all the more commendable was George’s work vehicle not emblazoned with sugar-water promotion.

And if only his workplace did not put the sugar-water and chips in the first isle when food-shoppers enter.

If we are all concerned about promoting healthy food wouldn’t every food outlet have fresh food in the first isle, and lots of it local?

(Name and address supplied)