National
Mitiaro a key biodiversity area
Saturday 21 April 2012 | Published in Environment
Te Ipukarea Society visited Mitiaro last month to raise awareness about the unique biodiversity on the island and the identification of Mitiaro as a Key Biodiversity Area and Important Bird Area. This follows visits to Mangaia, Mauke, Atiu and Aitutaki where similar work was done. Mitiaro qualifies as an Important Bird Area because of the […]
Webb Ellis Cup coming to Raro
Saturday 21 April 2012 | Published in Local
One of the world’s greatest sporting trophies – the Webb Ellis Cup – is coming to Rarotonga. The 4.5kg silver gilt trophy won by the All Blacks at the Rugby World Cup last year will be on the island for four days – coinciding with the Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions (FORU) annual general meeting […]
Businessman makes $153,000 civil claim
Saturday 21 April 2012 | Published in Local
An Arorangi business is proceeding with a claim of over $153,000 against Robert Heather Wichman and police commissioner Maara Tetava. Motherland Limited, trading as The Sharp Shop, and its director Peter Robertson are plaintiffs in a case against Wichman, one of the landowners of the Arorangi property on which the business is situated. Robertson alleges […]
Takitumu land decision delayed
Saturday 21 April 2012 | Published in Local
The Privy Council will not hand down a decision in the Takitumu land dispute case currently before it for another two months. According to Terri Judd, legal affairs correspondent for United Kingdom newspaper The Independent, tensions have been running high in the London court. As the highest court in the Commonwealth, it is the final […]
Vaka crew feeling the call of home
Saturday 21 April 2012 | Published in National
Kia Orana kotou katoatoa! We send our love and greetings from the sweltering hot deck of Marumaru Atua early on Sunday afternoon of April 15. There is a little breeze which is only allowing us to puff along at three to four knots, which has been the case for the last few days this week […]
WOF revamp underway
Saturday 21 April 2012 | Published in National
Draft legislation designed to lift the standards of motor vehicle fitness tests and documentation remains in the pipeline, with Cook Islands Police and Crown Law in consultation on the proposed laws. The legislation has been in the works since 2010, when police first convened a committee to explore the possibility of introducing updates to the […]
Eye care improves over a decade
Saturday 21 April 2012 | Published in National
Since eye care specialist Jo Simms started visiting Rarotonga a decade ago, eye care services at Rarotonga Hospital have “improved quite a lot”. Simms says that visiting specialists do still have to refer some cases to New Zealand, but that for the most part, surgeries, laser treatments and check-ups can be done here in the […]
Rarotonga trochus potential highlighted
Friday 20 April 2012 | Published in Local
The Ministry of Marine Resources is concerned that a valuable export, trochus shell, is not being used wisely on Rarotonga, with people missing out on the opportunity to earn additional income. Trochus were originally introduced into the Cook Islands in 1956, with a view to developing an income generating opportunity and small export industry for […]
Fines possible for dangerous operators
Friday 20 April 2012 | Published in Local
Fuel suppliers in the Cook Islands are being gently pushed into making reforms that will improve the safety and standards of the handling of dangerous goods, but authorities have the option to penalise or remove the licences of any operators that don’t show improvements. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the body tasked with issuing and […]
Blackout for 3 hours
Friday 20 April 2012 | Published in National
A mechanical fault at the Avatiu Valley power station is responsible for a three-hour blackout in Rarotonga’s northeast on Wednesday evening that affected homes and businesses from Ngatipa to Turangi. Motorists driving though the area from 3.30pm to about 7pm passed by shops and stores operating by candlelight as the sun set that evening, with […]
Blood donoring partnership formed
Friday 20 April 2012 | Published in National
The Ministry of Health and the Cook Islands Red Cross signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) this week that aims to have a 100 percent voluntary blood donor system for the country by 2020. The agreement provides for Red Cross to manage a voluntary blood donors programme which the Ministry of Health will give $10,000 […]
Aotearoa links celebrated in new MOU
Friday 20 April 2012 | Published in National
Ceremonies that began in New Zealand to mark the new relationship between the University of the South Pacific Cook Islands and the Auckland University of Technology have been completed in Rarotonga this week. Representatives from USP, AUT, the Cook Islands government and New Zealand High Commission officially signed off on the new tertiary link in […]
Prefects beautify national college
Friday 20 April 2012 | Published in National
It may be the school holidays but Tereora College prefects think there is still work to be done at the college. As part of a beautification programme, the prefects this week, during the school holidays, organised and completed a working bee to re-paint the front part of the school facing the back road. The whole […]
New farmers market will be regular
Friday 20 April 2012 | Published in National
Produce from across the southern group islands will feature at a farmers market in Rarotonga next month that will be the first of a regular feature on the markert calendar. The farmers market will be held on Wednesday, May 2, at Punanga Nui markets and organisers say it will return regularly thereafter. There are hopes […]
Free website offer for accommodators
Friday 20 April 2012 | Published in National
Members of the Cook Islands tourism industry who don’t yet have an online presence are receiving a leg-up on to the web this month thanks to a collaboration between Pacific Islands Trade and Invest and South Pacific Tourism Organisation. The two bodies have come together, with organisational help from the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation, to […]
TAU compliance 'a work in progress'
Thursday 19 April 2012 | Published in Environment
Te Aponga Uira (TAU) has acted “constructively and responsibly” to safety upgrades recommended to its Avatiu valley power station, but the complexity of some problems remain as a major hurdle to upgrades, according to chief executive officer Apii Timoti. Timoti said that TAU had taken steps to address the specific problems highlighted by New Zealand […]
Takitimu land case heard in London
Thursday 19 April 2012 | Published in Local
The Cook Islands made its first appearance at the Privy Council, thousands of kilometres away in London, this week. A dispute over 53 acres of Takitumu land came before the Supreme Court judges of the United Kingdom – the highest judicial authority throughout the Commonwealth. Popular UK newspaper The Independent published the story about the […]
Power station posed 'dire' threat
Thursday 19 April 2012 | Published in Local
“Unacceptable” levels of leaking diesel at the Te Aponga Uira (TAU) Avatiu valley power station have the potential to ignite and cause “dire consequences” for the power station and Rarotonga as a whole, according to a report released to the media this week. The report, conducted by New Zealand Department of Labour inspector Kim Comben […]
Century-old battle goes to Britain
Thursday 19 April 2012 | Published in National
Popular UK newspaper The Independent published this story about a Cook Islands land dispute currently before the Privy Council. Following a Court of Appeal decision in 2009, June Baudinet is taking her case to the top and battling it out with Ellena Tavioni and the Macquarie family before Supreme Court justices in London. A decision […]
Bonny storage must be paid for
Thursday 19 April 2012 | Published in National
The owner of a yacht that was found abandoned at sea in January with its skipper missing will be pursued for charges relating to its mooring and storage at Avatiu harbour, Cook Islands Police Inspector John Strickland said. The yacht Bonny has been stored at the harbour since January 3 when police patrol boat Te […]
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