Local
Joint ministerial forum is still on
Monday 18 January 2010 | Published in Local
Prime minister Jim Marurai says plans for the first joint ministerial forum with New Zealand are still in place. Last week Marurai said cabinet had decided to go ahead with the forum which is due to be held in Rarotonga this year. The forum would be the second official visit of NZ prime minister John […]
PSC waits on audit
Saturday 16 January 2010 | Published in Local
Public service commissioner Navy Epati says he will await the findings of an audit report into the Toagate scandal, before launching an investigation into the financial secretary’s role in the whole affair. Epati, who has returned this week from leave overseas, says he wants to meet with a number of people, including PM Jim Marurai, […]
PM must act now – Bishop
Saturday 16 January 2010 | Published in Local
Prime minister Jim Marurai must ‘do the honourable thing’ and either resign, call an early election, or face a vote of no confidence, says Opposition MP Teina Bishop. Marurai has already admitted that he does not command the confidence of the majority MPs since the Democratic Party split and the larger faction joined forces with […]
MPs still the key
Saturday 16 January 2010 | Published in Local
Political reform advocate Tata Crocombe says the support of the majority of MPs would be the most practical way forward on political reform. He says prime minister Jim Marurai’s renewed interest in pursuing reform is very commendable. Crocombe heads the private sector member economic development taskforce formed by government last year asked to come up […]
Legal opinion supports PM's view
Friday 15 January 2010 | Published in Local
Prime minister Jim Marurai is content to rely on a legal opinion on the calling of parliament as he continues to thwart attempts to remove him from power by the majority of MPs. The legal opinion concludes that without his advice the Queen’s Representative cannot call parliament to sit – a view the PM and […]
Church leader urges Demos to settle 'marriage problems'
Friday 15 January 2010 | Published in Local
A prominent church leader is calling on politicians to settle their differences or step aside. Apostolic Bishop Tutai Pere wants feuding Democratic Party MPs to resolve their “internal marriage problems” or hand over the reigns of government to the Opposition Cook Islands Party. In his Churchtalk opinion piece on page 11 today, Pere shares his […]
500 get NCEA results
Friday 15 January 2010 | Published in Local
Eighteen-year-old Tara Ngari is one of 500 local students who can now access national certificate of educational achievement (NCEA) exam results online. Results for all 140,000 students (mostly in NZ) that sat the exams are available online, but they must register first to log in. Tara and others who sat NCEA here will start receiving […]
6 arrests in police raids
Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in Local
Police arrested six men after a target operation this week on burglaries, theft and drug offending. An investigation which had been ongoing for the past couple of months culminated with a team of detectives executing search warrants on six homes on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. The men arrested ranged from ages 15 to 22 and […]
2 shipping companies merge
Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in Local
PDL (Pacific Direct Line) and PFL (Pacific Forum Line) have formed a joint venture company to provide shipping to the Cook Islands. The new venture sees the withdrawal of two vessels which will be replaced by the larger MV Forum Pacific. The withdrawn vessels are PDL’s Southern Phoenix, which will no longer operate the New […]
PM presses for reform
Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in Local
Prime minister Jim Marurai is taking steps to show he’s serious about a referendum on political reform. In a statement issued yesterday he said he wants the public to support him in pressing ahead with political change. The day after announcing he will put together a team to work on preparing the referendum, the PM […]
Roadside deliveries no problem for Raina
Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in Local
Babies who couldn’t wait for the ambulance to get to the hospital are among the highlights of 35 years of service to the Rarotonga Hospital for 64-year-old Raina Raina. The ambulance officer, who took on a supervisory role in 2008, recalls having to pull the ambulance over to the side of the road and deliver […]
Not sitting soon
Wednesday 13 January 2010 | Published in Local
Parliament is unlikely to sit until government is forced to table a budget in July, says prime minister Jim Marurai. The PM says the threat from the 19 MPs outside of cabinet to have him removed by a vote of no confidence when parliament sits is too great to consider calling a sitting. “The danger […]
PM promises referendum
Wednesday 13 January 2010 | Published in Local
Government now intends to ask every voter in the country if they want political reform through a referendum. Prime minister Jim Marurai has announced that a referendum on political reform will be launched sometime this year either before or at the election scheduled for September. Marurai said that cabinet, which met yesterday, has decided that […]
Happy to be back at 102
Wednesday 13 January 2010 | Published in Local
At 102 years old, Louie Grau has still got her wits about her, and she’s showing no signs of slowing down. Born in New Zealand in 1907, Louie came to the Cook Islands for the first time in the 1930s to be with her brothers. Walter was the Resident Commissioner for Atiu and Harry co-owned […]
Hoax protest?
Wednesday 13 January 2010 | Published in Local
Police security was set up outside the office of prime minister Jim Marurai following a rumour that a protest against the new cabinet would be staged yesterday morning. No protest actually took place, but Police Comissioner Maara Tetava decided to ‘err on the side of caution’ and deploy six officers as security. Just who was […]
CIP confirms 2 candidates
Tuesday 12 January 2010 | Published in Local
Cook Islands Party vice president Mark Brown confirmed recently that the party is already on track for preparing for an election this year. Brown said under the new party constitution formed last September they are working on election campaign preparations – whether it be for a snap election or the one currently scheduled for September. […]
Audit to lift the lid on Toagate
Tuesday 12 January 2010 | Published in Local
All aspects of government’s failed fuel farm scheme that has left the country over $2 million out of pocket will be investigated in the audit review underway this month. The audit office expects to complete the review by the end of the month or early February. The controversial plan to make fuel cheaper for the […]
QR rejects no-confidence petition
Tuesday 12 January 2010 | Published in Local
The Queen’s Representative has reportedly rejected the no-confidence petition put to him by the 19 MPs outside of cabinet last week. The two political parties are once again due to issue a joint statement on the development which is likely to be delivered today. The QR Sir Frederick Goodwin is understood to have declared the […]
Mayor charged
Monday 11 January 2010 | Published in Local
Aitutaki mayor Tai Herman was remanded on bail to appear in the High Court this morning on a charge of assault on a male. This follows an incident that occurred on Friday evening near the office of the ministry of infrastructure and planning in Avarua.
Rasmussen hits back at MPs
Monday 11 January 2010 | Published in Local
Minister Wilkie Rasmussen says the joint announcement by the Sir Terepai Maoate faction of the Democratic Party and the Cook Islands Party MPs to remove prime minister Jim Marurai and cabinet, is simply absurd. Putting aside the CIP’s natural intention to defeat the government, Rasmussen says the Demo MPs involvement makes a mockery of the […]
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