Dear Editor, a clerical oversight that resulted in the wrong version of the new Immigration Act being passed by Parliament last week has been repealed, and the intended Immigration Bill was tabled on Thursday, December 2 to begin its passage through the House and into law.

Dear Editor,

A clerical oversight that resulted in the wrong version of the new Immigration Act being passed by Parliament last week has been repealed, and the intended Immigration Bill was tabled on Thursday, December 2 to begin its passage through the House and into law.

It was a most unfortunate error. I have since introduced a new checklist for the preparation of Parliamentary documents for tabling in the House, in order to avoid incidents like this occurring in the future.

What will become the Cook Islands Immigration Act 2021, is a much-anticipated piece of legislation which will progressively replace existing Immigration law and provide Immigration with a modern, and robust legal framework from which to provide its services.

Tangata Vainerere

Clerk of Parliament

21120225

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New water system ‘better’

In response to two of your plethora of anonymous letter writers together with one of your journalists, please find attached a photo of Papua weir taken on 25 October. The water has not been flowing over the weir for weeks as alleged.  

The TMV (Te Mato Vai) project is a $90 million investment. 

I have known of people who got sick from drinking water from the old pipes, many of which were asbestos.

These old pipes also leaked, a lot. Had they not been replaced and had the catchments not been upgraded, the island would have run out of water months ago. 

As readers will recall about a year ago after heavy rain, the Avana and Turangi mains collapsed. These are two principal sources of water for Rarotonga. A premature switch to the new network was undertaken. If the new network was not in place there would have been a very serious shortage of water for the whole island for some weeks at least. To suggest that the old network was fine is quite simply untrue. 

The new network has created greater storage. It has done this not by building great storage tanks but reducing the leakage in the network by replacing the pipes. There is little point filling the bath if you don’t have a plug. 

The water is cleaner now than it’s been in many decades. White clothes no longer come out a shade of gray when washed.

And who misses the chocolate colour of water after rainfall causing one to cut out the morning shower or brush one’s teeth?

TTV (To Tatou Vai) is responsible for the collection, treatment and transport of water to the Rarotonga community. It is an essential service and critical to the public health and economic development of our country.

Although summer is traditionally our rainy season, and we are very grateful for the recent rain, there has not been sustained heavy rain for weeks. What has fallen has been insufficient to replenish the streams in the hills.

Jaewynn McKay

To Tatou Vai

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Muri Lagoon

I read in your paper the MP for Ngatangiia Tama Tuavera saying in the Parliament that the Muri Lagoon is green and dirty. He is very right about that. What I want to ask Mr Tuavera and the other people who have a business on Muri Beach if they are going to tell the truth to their tourist customers when the tourist come back to here. Yes, the Muri lagoon is green and dirty but as Christians who should be telling the truth, are we going to tell all the tourist that.

Worried Papa

(Name and address supplied)