Dear Editor, How considerate of (Prime Minister) Mark Brown to put his banana republic passport on ‘hold for now’! Reason being, he didn’t like what the New Zealand government would do to Cook Islanders.

Wow, after dragging Cook Islanders through para tutae, he has the nerve to blame the New Zealand Government for the repercussions and now claiming to be our saviour by, holding off his self-beloved passport for the time being?

Sorry about it but we, the people of the Cook Islands, have already flushed his cheeky proposal down the toilet forever.

Mark Brown is the prime minister of less than 20,000 Cook Islanders and yet he continues to behave as if he’s at the same level as Christopher Luxon, prime minister to millions of New Zealanders including 60 to 80 thousand Cook Islanders. This is around 300 per cent more Cook Islanders than what Mark Brown is prime minister of. Te akama.

We remember clearly when our country went through bankruptcy and thousands of Cook Islanders had to migrate to New Zealand and Australia for job opportunities. Thank goodness for our New Zealand passport, we had this option. Guess who had to come in and tidy up the mess left behind by our incompetent leaders? For the ones who don’t know, the New Zealand Government! Today, our special relationship with New Zealand is more important than ever for our own protection against foolish, dishonest and big-headed leaders. 

We, in the private sector are trying our best to grow our economy and believe me, that’s harder than being a public servant. Do we now have to consider being in Government to protect our future, our descendant’s future?

The idea of celebrating 60 years of self-government is no longer appealing as I really feel as if we’ve suddenly gone backwards! I have full memory of the last 60 years and admit we’ve experienced a lot of ups and downs and this moment has to be the number one down. Threatening our most valued New Zealand Passport!

How about focusing on more important issues like below:

• Lower interest rates for first home owners.
• There’s a housing crisis on Rarotonga.
• Finance at low interest rates need to be made available for startup businesses.
• Laws are being broken daily by reckless drivers and crime.
• Urgently increase police salaries and employees.
• Improve education.
• Make land available for our people from the outer islands to build homes and help grow our economy.
• Freight to the outer islands from Rarotonga is ten times more than from Auckland to Rarotonga. Correct, 10 times more expensive. Imagine the cost of basic essentials.

Mark Brown with his salary and rentals on Makea land and elsewhere make his life super comfortable compared to e.g. a couple with three children having to cover rental, food, transport, etc. with an earning less than $800 a week combined.

I hope all politicians do step up with their roles or face being fired at the next election which could be sooner than later.

Te iu,

Ellena Tavioni.