Opinion
Saturday 11: Imagine $1.2m in road works
Wednesday 15 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I do not know how other tax-paying citizens of this country feel, but it is outrageous that this government can fork out $1.2 million for the construction of a one-off synthetic track for the national stadium in preparation for the Pacific Mini Games, a two-week regional sporting event. That’s right, a whopping $1.2 […]
Saturday 11: Critical shortage of medics in Aitutaki
Wednesday 15 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, There is a critical shortage of medical staff on Aitutaki. Although I have retired from public service, I am still observant of anomalies within our island’s essential (medical/health) services and this is serious for the people of any outer-island, especially as we have experienced a recent type A influenza epidemic, which could have […]
Wednesday 15: How much longer for road works?
Wednesday 15 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Speaking to a few tourists at the Punanga Nui last Saturday, a few of them raised concern about the congestion along the shopping centre in the middle of town. At one stage a couple were shouted at while entering the newly sealed road without a no entry sign. When is the Maire Nui […]
Wednesday 15: Stop daydreams, stop globetrotting
Wednesday 15 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, It took me a while to make up my mind whether or not to comment about encouraging our people overseas to return home. The issue was discussed by Minister McCully and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands. If I can remember rightly, the same issue was raised by the DPM. That was […]
Wednesday 15: It's too easy to get day licence
Wednesday 15 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Drink driving sentences are a joke. One of the recent court reports published in the Cook Islands News contained a long list of cases where the defendants were found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol. All age groups were represented. What concerns me is that approximately 90% were granted day licences […]
Tuesday 7: SMOKE SIGNAL- We sell our souls but can't go solar
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
The drawings for the new airport terminal buildings don’t seem to show the north facing roofs covered every square metre in photovoltaic panels, observes a signaler, who writes: Surely we are not going into a building from the past? We sell our souls to the Tiger of the East for millions of dollars to put […]
Tuesday 7: More trips by MPs, and more spending
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, There appears to be no real financial planning by the DPM and Sholan on this massive $50 million loan from China. On top of this, another $20 million seems to be given as extra under a grant. Government has not shown just how much our road and water repairs will cost, but at […]
Tuesday 7: Pukapuka decision outrageous
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Although not of Pukapukan descent, I am 100% supportive of the justified stance taken by the president of the Pukapukan community in Rarotonga, Mr Makirere Poila, and his group, in regards to the proposed European Union funded cyclone shelter project for Pukapuka island. In view of the obvious simplicity of such a project, […]
Tuesday 7: Lack of tourists is too important
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I would like to reply to two recent letters to the paper criticising the suggestion that the $3m stimulus package should be put into tourism. They have other opinions and fair enough. I would like to comment on each of the points in these two letters – not to be smart but to […]
Monday 6: Issue fishing licences carefully
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I would like to voice my concern at the issuing of fishing licenses to foreign countries. All I ask is that it is done with the greatest of care, thought and with careful restrictions put in place. Some of these countries have depleted their own fish stocks and will do the same to […]
Saturday 4: Sports awards a bit of a joke
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I just have to write in about the sports awards. The awards seem like they’re turning into a bit of a joke. In some cases you only had two nominees.Not sure if that’s because some codes couldn’t be bothered, or if 2008 was a non-event year. Congratulations to the Dearloves, but I do […]
Friday 3: There's room for 2
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I write in reference to Helen Greig’s story in Thursday’s paper ‘Forum Line reviews shipping situation’. The long list of problems associated with shipping will continue, unless there is an urgent review of the current shipping act. The country needs a shipping service that is independent and transparent. Independent in that NO importer […]
Friday 3: Businesses need stimulus more than tourism
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I am surprised no complaints about the ‘stimulus package’ are coming from the struggling businesses. The only complaints seem to be coming from the obviously well off. So I will stand up and say, I find the possibility of the $3 million business assistance possibly going to tourism disconcerting. The small businesses make […]
Friday 3: Kuki 101: work before play
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I feel sick and I wonder if taku iti tangata feel this maki-ness also. It’s that sick feeling you get when you have been betrayed before your own eyes. In 1998, the Cook Islands were referred to as sparsely populated islands with a resource of minerals conservatively estimated at $150 billion dollars in […]
Thursday 2: The quest for meaning of life
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I admit to a personal fascination for science – sort of a ‘quest for the meaning of life’ as Keith Koekoe would put it. For example, 20 years ago I dug 40,000 fossil bird bones out of the soil of Henderson Island in the Pitcairn Group, South Pacific. I used these fossils in […]
Thursday 2: Meitaki e Gumby
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Meitaki maata kiakoe Sam Crocombe no toku mataora i taau i tuatua mai kia matou no runga i taau e rave nei, i te aruaruanga kia tu tatou i tetai ava (port) maata, kia tomo mai te au pai mamaata turoto ki roto i to tatou ava, i toou tereanga ki Marike. Kua […]
Thursday 2: Put $3m into Punanga Nui
Wednesday 8 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, May I suggest that the ‘stimulus package of $3 million’ that the government has already budgeted and earmarked for struggling businesses, be looked at again. One writer suggested that this money be diverted to promotion of tourism, which to me will be hard to monitor and gauge the actual dollar for dollar value […]
Friday 27: Not deluded
Wednesday 1 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I have not read ‘The God Delusion’ but have read reviews of it. Its author is jokingly called the “evangelical atheist” and one reviewer said his purpose is to convince his reader that he is no more than “an interruption in nothingness”! If Graham feels so passionate about ‘this brilliant little book’ as […]
Friday 27: But who do we believe?
Wednesday 1 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I was amused, or should I say confused, by the comments made by the religious advisory council (RAC) in your March 18 edition. My impression of this article is that the RAC are not happy to grant a new religious group or church the legal status of becoming an incorporated society like they […]
Friday 27: Handouts are political suicide
Wednesday 1 April 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Further to the letter by Don Carlaw (CINews March 24), I would totally agree that the $3m stimulus package put aside by parliament in early February be utilised for something far more beneficial than handouts to a select few businesses. The example quoted was on a loan of $500,000 at an interest rate […]