Dear Editor, I am disturbed by the article “Parliament fixes oversight on preferential residency for Kiwis” published on Friday, May 17.

There is a doctrine called the Doctrine of the Separation of Powers which simply means that there are three distinct and separate powers in the administration of Government – these are the Legislature (Parliament), the Courts and the Government (Administration). Generally speaking, they act independently under well-established rules and procedure. 

The purposes of this letter is to point out that it appears to me that the Court is telling Government to eliminate preferential residency treatments for New Zealanders coming to live in the Cook Islands so that Kiwis will be treated like our Pacific neighbours – Samoans, Fijians, etc. That is a policy matter and Courts have no business to tell the Government or Parliament how to enact immigration laws and regulations that are properly passed so long as these are done within the law. The Courts job is to apply the law as it is and if I read the newspaper correctly it seems that the Court is telling Parliament to “fix oversight on preferential residency for Kiwis”.  What oversight? Kiwis should get special rights because we Cook Islanders get exactly the same rights as they in New Zealand – it is reciprocal.

Our Parliament has the right to pass immigration laws which distinguishes and have different applications to New Zealand and Samoa and Fiji and so on. We have a special relationship with New Zealand and as a result we carry New Zealand passports and have free entry to New Zealand and can work and live there. We cannot do that with Samoa and Fiji. We do not carry Fiji and Samoa passports and if Cook Islanders go to Fiji and Samoa we are treated in the same way as Kiwis are treated.

So what is happening here? Are the Courts trying to tell Government how to enact our Immigration laws? If so then the Courts are overstepping their boundaries. Immigration laws are based on Government policy and the Courts have no power to dictate to Government how those policies are to be established – it is the people – the voters – who will tell Government how. So do we want to give Fijians, Samoans, Vanuatu and other Pacific neighbours free access similar to Kiwis? That is a decision by the people and if Government wants these countries to have free access to the Cook Islands, then they have two options – to go back to the people in an election or pass a law in Parliament and get thrown out of Government come the next election.

Wake up politicians – you being influenced by your Fijian and Samoan advisers. Where are your Cook Islands advisers.

Cicero

(Name and address supplied)

Editor’s note – Earlier this year, Chief Justice Patrick Keane granted the application filed by Friends of Fiji Inc challenging the residency threshold for permanent residence set by Immigration’s 2022 regulations, that established a five-year residency requirement for New Zealand citizens seeking permanent residency in the Cook Islands, while all other nationalities faced a 10-year wait. This framework was challenged by Friends of Fiji Inc. on grounds that it contravened both the Cook Islands Constitution and the Immigration Act 2021 itself. The amendment maintains a five-year residency requirement for New Zealand citizens seeking permanent residency in the Cook Islands, while all other nationalities face a 10-year wait.