Smoke Signals
Government naivety knows no bounds
Saturday 29 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller asks: “Does marine resources minister Teina Bishop think we all came down in the last shower? He cannot be serious when he denies what 99% of the population would undoubtedly see as the clear conflict of interest that ensues from him appointing a foreign fishing company’s CEO, whom his ministry is negotiating […]
Who are you kidding, minister?
Friday 28 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller writes in response to Wednesday’s front page interview with Teina Bishop, the minister of marine resources: “Minister Bishop sees no conflict of interest in the appointment of his honorary fisheries advisor also being the chief operating officer of Luen Thai Fishing Ventures Ltd, who is also involved in the foreign and local […]
Watching where the tax dollars go
Tuesday 25 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
“We must all be thankful to CITV for screening the compelling feature on Sunday evening of the Forum Leaders partners’ activities,” a smoke signaller writes. “Although initially thinking it would be a waste of time to watch, rather it was enlightening to hear the dreadful speeches – if you could even call them that – […]
Avatiu's leftovers delight
Thursday 20 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller writes: “Congratulations to Bim Tou [Ports Authority general manger] and his men for the free sand from Avatiu wharf; all we have to do is pay for the transport costs to our place. It reminds me when the Chinese workers were here to construct the government buildings – they were assigned to […]
'No stretcher, no medics, no ice'
Tuesday 18 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller texts to 188: “Every year the rugby semi finals are held at the BCI Stadium and every year the Cook Islands Rugby Union forget to prepare for injuries – no stretcher, no medics, no ice, and no plan. Get it together!” SS: A person who was at the game commented: “Yeah, there was an injury in the Senior B game between Tupapa Panthers and Ngatangiia Dragons. The injury was to a Ngatangiia player and it looked pretty serious as they put the player into the recovery potion and straight away an official called for a stretcher, but there wasn’t one. The player was out cold for a little while before he was roused and gingerly got back to his feet and was helped off the field. It seems that only at grand finals time – which is next week – do the right things happen and the right people appear, such as Red Cross. But during the season having a fist aid kit and a stretcher and even a medic available on the day should be the hosting club’s responsibility, enforced by the CIRU. At this stage of the competition CIRU need to lead by example by providing this important equipment, especially as our local teams play hard and ruthless rugby. But each player and club should also take responsibility for their own safety.
Visa change impacts foreign workers
Saturday 15 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller texts to 188: “The New Zealand High Commission in Rarotonga’s decision not to process visas for non-Cook Islanders will create a lot of inconvenience for a significant number of foreign workers in the Cook Islands. Perhaps it’s time that government underwrites direct flights to Fiji.” A smoke signaller writes to TXT188: “Just […]
Wake up, own what's yours
Friday 14 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
The minister of Marine Resources and his secretary have the audacity to go overseas and receive gifts, free trips, perks etc from very rich Asian businesspeople and not even be transparent at home first with fishing licences, shark fin hauls and fish catches requested by Reuben Tylor. Now we see that the Prime Minister’s wife […]
Police pay rates are 'a disgrace'
Wednesday 12 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller writes regarding the police pay figures published in Monday’s CINews: “There is an old saying: ‘If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys’, and that seems very much to be a truism regarding the pittance Cook Islands police are paid. Morale must be very low indeed in a force bereft of decent pay […]
Maggie: standing up for the people
Monday 10 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
“Congratulations to the Tupapa MP George Maggie Angene for standing up and risking his own neck in support of the CIIC workers who were laid off work,” a smoke signaller writes in response to Friday’s front page article ‘George Maggie breaks rank’. “This is the spirit of the kind of MP we all want, standing […]
We all need better pay to stay
Saturday 8 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
“The government has increased the prices to nearly everything here in Rarotonga,” a smoke signaller writes. “Why don’t we all stand up and strike for a rise on the minimum wages so we can afford to stay on our island instead of relocating to New Zealand or Australia? Pay rise for all, just saying.” A […]
Looking after your own, not yourself
Monday 3 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller writes: “The Cook Islands and other Pacific nations are in a unique but potentially very profitable ‘meat-in-the-sandwich’ scenario between the competing regional interests of the USA and China – with both being played off against each other by various small Pacific nations intent on scoring hundreds of millions of dollars in hand-outs […]
UPSIDE DOWN
Saturday 1 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
THIS LOCAL WOMAN, flying an upside down American flag, was sending mixed messages outside the Avarua court house yesterday as the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived for breakfast at Traders Jacks. The woman didn’t seem to have a bone to pick with the Americans as she stood alone waving her flag, however according […]
Too late for fish surveillance?
Saturday 1 September 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
“The $50,000,000 that New Zealand has pledged for surveillance and management of Pacific fisheries is a bit laughable for us here in the Cook Islands,” a smoke signaller writes. “We don’t need any surveillance; we’ve given the Chinese carte blanche to take all our fish and sharks. One wonders if the amount of that $50 […]
Tahiti: what's the hold up?
Friday 31 August 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
“We have recently heard of fears that Moruroa atoll may collapse releasing buried radiation that could head west straight for the Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji and other innocent island nations,” a smoke signaller writes. “The nuclear testing performed against the will of the peaceful Pacific Island people is surely the worst ‘act of terrorism’ the […]
Looking for new military bases?
Thursday 30 August 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller writes: ”I was wondering why the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was going to visit such an unassuming group of islands and then I saw the answer in the New Zealand Herald online: ‘Security’. The South Pacific is an area lacking in United States bases and troops. To fend off […]
Depopulation: the real reasons
Wednesday 29 August 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
”What a lot of hogwash from Minister Mark Brown on why our people are leaving in droves for overseas,“ writes a smoke signaller in response to yesterday’s p11 article ‘Be more productive’. ”We don’t want to hear why they are leaving because we all know the real reason why they are leaving. What we want […]
Kia orana cobber, nice to meet you
Tuesday 28 August 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
”This may be a wonderful opportunity for Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard to make the acquaintance of the Aussie expats resident in the Cook Islands,“ a smoke signaller writes, ”an opportunity which regrettably the Australian High Commissioner from Wellington did not take on his recent visit here. One would have thought that looking out for […]
Motorcade madness, mayhem coming
Monday 27 August 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
”This cavalcade business is way over the top,“ writes a smoke signaller. ”Who gives this lot the right to break the law and speed through town dangerously? The whole thing is overly obtrusive and sometimes pathetic when you look in the VIP cars and see one or two passengers. Saturday night’s effort, all for the […]
Feeling second class
Saturday 25 August 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller observes: ”Frenzied activities on the roads, putting in tiger eyes on the centre line, painting white lines down the middle, grooming, brushing and cleaning…all this just to impress the Forum delegates. Then there’s the new police cars, wow, and we all thought that the police had nothing left in their Budget as […]
Public still paying for joyrides
Wednesday 22 August 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals
”A couple of months ago,“ a smoke signaller writes, ”the Public Service Commissioner came down hard on public servants misusing motor vehicles. Well, all that talk has done nothing, commissioner. The same practice of the misuse of motor vehicles is going on within government. Public funds paying for free fuel for these joy riders is […]