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General News

Week ending Wednesday, February 10, 2009

Current events and entertainment in Rarotonga and the Cook Islands.

Family law consultation cancelled
No health cuts: Faireka
Pacific urged to create concrete outcomes
Former bank governor promotes access to credit for micro enterprise
Special interest courses overcrowded at Tereora
CITC is giving away a car
Drunk drivers and burglars in action
ADB suports budgets
Team to design plans for waste treatment overhaul
Officials coordinate immigration policy
NZ to help with Pacific shipping
New appeal body to coordinate fundraising

Attendees discuss Forster’s presentation in small groups. 10021014

Christine Forster, the UNDP representative scheduled to present at yesterday morning’s family law consultation, had just given a speech about legal separation of man and wife when minister of justice Apii Piho issued an emergency evacuation warning.

The consultation drew 26 participants – from police, the ministry of justice, Punanga Tauturu, crown law and the ministry of internal affairs – and was about 20 minutes in when Piho made the announcement.

He said to “prepare for the worst.” The consultation will reconvene upon further notice.

Forster, who leaves Rarotonga tomorrow night, said that if meetings are called off today and tomorrow, she will be back for another consultation as soon as she can.

She had hoped to get feedback from local groups this week so as to be able to finish drafting the bill by early March, but said that she cannot proceed without first considering their input.

Forster’s area of expertise is human rights, and she has been analysing Pacific legislation for five years. She intends to share with local groups what she knows about other Oceanic countries who have implemented family law bills, so as to guide and inform the process of drafting one for the Cook Islands.

Forster said that the bits and pieces of legislation that loosely make up a family law for the Cook Islands are outdated and “don’t really reflect Pacific cultural values.”

She said that the country is ready for a legal framework that upholds and respects the rights of everyone – women and children in particular.

“It’s clear that there’s a gap between what the law says and what’s actually happening in practice,” she said.

Forster was on the island for a CEDAW conference two years ago, which she said was a starting point for this year’s consultation.

`She said that she was impressed by the “really good response by government,” which acknowledged the need for a comprehensive family law bill and contacted UNDP Pacific Centre in Fiji to ask for assistance in drafting one.

She hopes to set the law in motion as quickly as possible, as legislation is a stepping stone for change.

“It’s a small step,” she said. “It’s not the end, but you do have to get the law in place first. [For example] if NGOs are going to defend women, they need the law behind them. It’s a very important first step.”

• RR

Health secretary Tupou Faireka. 10021062

The national health budget cannot be allowed to suffer further cuts this year says health secretary Tupou Faireka.

He is currently head of the eight-member Cook Islands delegation attending the Pacific conference on the global economic crisis (GEC) in Vanuatu this week.

Many countries have heard and are repeating that critical social services such as health and education should not be cut during an economic crisis. Governments faced with tight budgets are being urged not to continue or start making cuts to these social services because it could worsen the effect of the GEC.

The Cooks saw a two percent operational budget cut across the ministries last year and Faireka says the cut to the health budget saw the ministry lose around half a million.

He says this loss was devastating for health as it meant that the outer islands did not get what they desperately needed essential medical equipment.

“I have talked to the minister (of health) about the health budget. I will fight against any cut to the budget. For the next (annual) budget (in June) – government would be stupid to cut the health budget.”

Faireka says like other countries they are turning to aid to help fill the gaps.

He hopes to use a European Union fund of more than $100,000 on providing funding for the maintenance of three outer island health centres this year. Faireka says the fund has been sitting there waiting to be used and he hopes it will go Mangaia, Atiu and Palmerston health services.

The cut to the current year’s health budget for the Cooks is relatively minor given other Pacific nations have made much larger cuts – take Solomon Islands and its 35 percent cut and Kiribati with its 13.5 percent cut operational health budgets for example.

Health and food security remains an area of concern and is the topic of discussion at the conference that wraps up today.

Most of the predictions are that more countries will cut their health budgets this year and over the long term this will result in lower quality services.

It is believed that the GEC may affect health in a number of ways including reduction in health spending (reduction in government budgets and aid), rising costs of medicine and other health care supplies, reduced ability to access health care (most Pacific countries have free health care, but people have to pay for transport to the services and for prescriptions – declining household incomes would make it harder to cover these costs), and the health consequences of coping mechanisms (buying less nutritious food, stress and depression, increased smoking, drinking, drug use and sexual risk taking – all may put people at greater risk of health problems).

Sixteen Pacific countries, donor agencies and development partners have gathered to find the best way to work together to find ways to reduce the pressure the GEC is putting on the region.

Cook Islands News Port Vila

• Helen Greig

Twenty-two year old Solomon Islander June Atomea won the Human Face story competition in the lead up to this week’s Pacific Conference on the Human Face of the Global Economic Crisis.

On Wednesday evening she received her prize from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) administrator Helen Clark in Port Vila, Vanuatu where the conference wraps up tomorrow (Friday, Vanuatu time).

Atomea, from Northern Malaita, was overcome with nerves as she took the stage at the UNDP hosted cocktail function alongside Clark.

Her essay titled ‘Silent cry of John, a village boy’ won the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) competition which was open to young people in the Pacific, aged 18–25 years. Entrants were asked to write about how they feel the global economic crisis is affecting them or those around them.

UNICEF Social Policy Officer, Mereia Carling commented earlier this week that Atomea’s story was chosen because it was ‘clearly time-bound to the impacts of the economic crisis and it highlighted a number of impacts and the compounding nature of these’.

“She describes the ‘human face’ of the crisis and the struggles made to survive. Her point is made clear - those who are currently on the brink of survival are the ones who will not survive the crisis,” said Carling.

The essay competition linked to the three day conference this week where heads of international and regional agencies, heads of Pacific Island states, non-governmental organisations, academics and young people are discussing the impacts of the crisis in their countries with the aim of learning from experiences shared and preparing for any future crises.

Cook Islands News Port Vila

• Helen Greig

On the final day of a regional conference on the global economic crisis, Fiji’s Wellington Sevens win was cited as an example of how the Pacific can rise to its economic development challenges.

University of the South Pacific vice chancellor Rajesh Chandra said the Pacific’s strength in sport could serve as a lesson for tackling the challenges of global economic crisis (GEC).

Chandra said the Pacific teams in the Sevens competition last week showed that these nations can not only compete against the best but outperform them in sports.

“I’m sure we can perform similarly in other areas. I mention this because we don’t frequently celebrate what the Pacific does achieve and sometimes over-emphasise the difficulties that we face.”

Yesterday as the Pacific conference on the human face of the GEC wrapped up, Chandra reiterated the need for concrete and actionable outcomes.

Over 220 delegates from 16 Pacific island countries and donor partners gathered in Port Vila, Vanuatu this week to come up with a pathway both nationally and regionally for economic development in the face of the GEC.

Each country delegation took part in a policy and action planning session to come up with and present their wish list of outcomes from the conference.

Chandra said the next step following the conference is to respond to the challenges and expectations put to the countries during the opening of the high level meeting.

He said the countries had been challenged by the opening addresses of UNDP administrator Helen Clark and Vanuatu prime minister Edward Natapei to come up with concrete outcomes that were innovative and would improve economic development in the region.

“There is a feeling that Pacific countries themselves should take more ownership of their development agenda,” he said, adding there is a view that development partners should then support these agendas.

Chandra said while Pacific countries and their development partners have acted swiftly to address the GEC they now need to work on such actions as making social development policies an integral part of national planning and embrace a balanced approach in which women and children are given particular attention.

He said the conference had heard that international development partners need to find new ways to help the Pacific – to tailor solutions to the region’s context.

“The Vanuatu prime minister challenged us to move to the next generation of reforms towards a knowledge infrastructure.”

Chandra said in the knowledge society technology would play an important role.

“There is a need to make the best use of various policies, especially ICT which will enable our countries to leapfrog into the future,” he said.

He made mention of discussions on the need for the region to be ‘greener’ and take advantage of opportunities to embrace a low carbon future and green technologies.

Regional cooperation and integration on development plans was another key part of talks.

“So you have to look at what can be done appropriately and most effectively at national levels, but at the same time what can be done at the regional level.”

The Cook Islands delegation will return from the meeting this weekend.

CCook Islands News, Port Vila

• Helen Greig

Dr Sachiko Yamamoto the International Labour Organization regional director for Asia Pacific says green jobs will probably help accelerate employment recovery in the region. 10021262

A former governor of the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, focused on aid dependency and widening income gaps in the Pacific in his presentation at this week’s regional conference on the global economic crisis in Vanuatu.

Anthony Hughes, took part in the session on inclusive economic growth and social policies on Thursday.

“All Pacific countries make extensive use of foreign aid and developed countries are willing to supply it. I would say we’re hooked on it. We can get assistance readily and on generous terms,” said Hughes.

He said despite the continuing aid flows and efforts to counter the economic crisis, the poorer people in the region are still getting ‘relatively poorer.’

“In the Pacific, income distribution is becoming more and more skewed. People don’t want to stay poor and rely on handouts. In the rural areas they want to be productive and sell their goods and services, but many links are missing. The urban poor want jobs mainly. From what I hear they would rather not have handouts – they’d rather do it themselves.”

Hughes said his candid presentation was based on thinking about how governments behave in response to a crisis and how households might react similarly.

“Governments often seem to think they can make a policy statement and then relax and go home.”

Hughes said turning policy statements into reality is another matter which many governments don’t get round to doing.

He suggested that ‘better a leg up than a hand out’ was the way to go, saying if the poor had better access to credit, they may be able to help themselves.

“It’s about the importance of people’s own efforts in improving their circumstances.”

Hughes said advisors have for years told the Pacific countries to improve their integration into the global economy through such changes as deregulation, increasing foreign investment, and increasing imports and exports.

“Some countries have done this and now these countries are more exposed to the impacts of the global economic crisis (GEC).”

He says households in several countries have similarly embraced globalisation.

“It’s basically changing from a non-monetary to a monetary economy.”

Hughes said the impact of the GEC is now showing the downside of globalisation and the need to integrate in a way that reduces this kind of effect.

Hughes believes governments, aid donors, and international monetary institutions should direct particular attention to the availability of credit for small or micro enterprises.

He said commercial banks need to scale down their costs so that lower income people can access credit. The view that ‘poor people are not credit-worthy’ could be changed, said Hughes.

“The central banks have the clout – the power to change the commercial bank’s perceptions. But will they do it?”

He said credit for micro enterprise is working in some places and these need to be looked at and used more widely.

Hughes owns businesses in the Solomon Islands where he was governor of the central bank from 1982-1993, is an independent consultant regionally and internationally, has worked for governments, aid donors and international financial companies and has a special interest in the interaction of the private and public sector.

Cook Islands News, Port Vila

• Helen Greig

Tereora College is experiencing an unusually high enrolment of 659 this year but has managed to accommodate students in what principal Teaea Parima calls the core areas of learning.

Parima said that mathematics, English, science and social science courses are not filled to maximum capacity and are open to students who meet the pre-requisite requirements.

“It’s our intention to cater to our students in the real core subjects,” he said.

But newer special-interest courses like horticulture, visual and graphic arts and computing are immensely popular, impacted and crowded.

Teachers have had to turn students away from some specialised subject courses simply because classrooms are not designed or equipped to seat more than 25 people.

This year, one graphics course has 32 students and a horticulture course started with 41. Parima said that subjects like these are simply in higher demand than others and that the line has to be drawn somewhere.

“We’ve only got two qualified art teachers and one performing arts teacher. And we’ve only got 80 computers but computing at all levels is popular,” he said. “We just haven’t got the resources.”

Students might be unable to add a course of their choice if they don’t meet the pre-requisites or if the course is simply too full, but Parima said that college faculty is working hard to cater to all of its students’ needs.

He said that faculty responded to the problem of overcrowding by creating five new classes: level two horticulture, one extra level two mathematics, one extra level one science and two extra English.

Parima said that the bulk of the student body is in the senior school, and faculty is trying to balance student-teacher ratios in levels with high enrolment.

Sometimes, a year 12 student will be given priority over a lower-level student if the course that both are trying to add is full. The logic, Parima said, is that a lower-level student can add the course another year.

The other option is to take a course by correspondence through Tereora or USP.

But though special-interest courses are being “flooded” with students, the fundamental courses are “not at maximum,” Parima said.

He encourages students and parents with concerns about courses to come and see him so as “to work something out”.

• RR

Look out for the ‘silver smile’ promotion at CITC supermarket, Oasis Energy and Foodland and be in to win this silver Suzuki swift car. 10021403

Take advantage of CITC’s ‘silver smile’ promotion and you could be laughing down the road in a new silver car.

The new CITC promotion, which started yesterday and ends on April 10, is all part of the company showing that they care for the community.

“The hurricane season is always a worrying time for everyone and we felt we could put some excitement into the everyday grocery shopping experience,” says CITC general manager Gaye Whitta.

“When we raised the idea for the prize of a new car with some of our major suppliers, they were keen to support CITC in giving something back to the community.”

CITC, Foodland and Oasis Energy customers simply have to purchase one product from each of the four suppliers –Tip Top, Tegel, Fonterra and Zap Mosquito coils and enter your receipt into the draw to win the Suzuki Swift XE car.

Along with the car, the winner will receive a $500 petrol voucher.

“We are looking forward to seeing the winner drive away in a brand new car in two months’ time,” says Whitta.

So the next time you’re in CITC supermarket, Foodland or Oasis, pick up your favourite tub of Tip Top ice cream, a Fonterra milk carton, Tegel chicken and a packet of Zap mosquito coils and go into the draw to win yourself a brand new silver car.

• Matariki Wilson

Kids’ clothes and toys, a pick-up truck and tools were among items stolen over the weekend in four separate burglaries reported to Rarotonga police.

A cheeky burglar broke into a Pokoinu home by climbing a mango tree and gaining access through a window.

The home owner reported that toys were stolen from their home which they believe was burgled around 7.45pm on Friday.

Earlier on the same day, people in a rental property in Atupa reported that baby clothes had been stolen from their house at around 5.30pm.

Meanwhile at 10.15am on Saturday, a single cab Hilux pick-up truck and various tools and electrical appliances were stolen from a property next to PTS Plumbing in Arorangi.

The stolen goods have been estimated to cost over $80,000.

The last burglary occurred on Valentine’s Day at the Magic Reef bungalows in Arorangi.

Nothing was taken from the reception of the Arorangi accommodations, however the office has been rifled through and the thief had tried to make off with the safe in the room but it was fortunately bolted to the floor.

Local police have also reported attending to four motor vehicle accidents over the weekend.

The most serious accident occurred at the Takuvaine roundabout at 2.05am on Friday.

A 19-year-old was seriously injured when he crashed his motorbike. The young man was reportedly flown to New Zealand for medical attention.

At 12.30am on Friday a male motorcycle driver crashed in Rangiura and was admitted to Rarotonga hospital with minor injuries.

Police have taken a blood sample from the man and will be pressing charges.

Careless driving was the cause of a collision between a motorcycle and a pick-up truck at 7.45 on Friday morning.

Luckily no injuries were sustained by the drivers but vehicle damage and a police investigation is what they have to look forward to now.

The final motor vehicle accident was when a reveller from the Rehab bar fell off his bike causing serious facial injuries to himself. A blood sample was taken from him and charges will be laid.

Sergeant Ngatamariki Pouao says that alcohol was a major factor in motor vehicle accidents at the weekend.

He adds that police are still concerned at the high numbers of burglaries.

• Matariki Wilson

Most Pacific economies are stuck at zero growth but cash-strapped governments are now being provided some budget support from the Asian Development Bank, said vice-president Larry Greenwood.

Speaking at a press conference after the second day of talks at the UN Pacific conference on the human face of the global economic crisis (GEC) in Vanuatu, Greenwood said zero economic growth is becoming a problem leading to social issues such as poverty. The bank launched two new programmes following the findings of its 2008 report on the impact of the GEC on the region.

The Cook Islands is one of the first countries to benefit from the budget support programme – late last year it received an economic recovery support loan of $13.4 million. It is now using this loan to support its annual budget.

Tonga has also received assistance under the programme and three to five other countries in the region are looking to take advantage of it in the ‘very near future’. Greenwood said the financial pressures and contraction in government revenues are set to continue this year.

“A lot of these governments are going to face very, very difficult budget choices,” he said.

ADB also has a joint programme running with the government of Japan to help Pacific countries in the area of social protection.

Greenwood said ADB is providing technical assistance for the Pacific to set up social safety nets.

“Most of the Pacific relies on family and informal social safety nets right now.”

Greenwood said as government representatives from the region talk about the effect of the GEC on their economies, they all have similar stories.

Samoa and Fiji saw sharp contractions in their economies last year – only PNG, Timor Leste and Vanuatu managed to grow their economies in that time.

• Helen Greig, Cook Islands News, Port Vila

Government and independent groups are engaged in discussions about how to manage a $1 million NZAID donation toward an overhaul of waste management systems on Rarotonga and Aitutaki.

ANZDEC Limited is contracting a team to design plans for the project that team member Geoff Mavromatis suspects will span up to ten years.

At present, septic tanks are funded by individual owners and no sewerage system exists except in the Tereora College area. The objective of the new waste management initiative is to install effective sewage treatment systems that comply with public health standards and environmental regulations.

The ministry of health will manage an upcoming audit of domestic septic tanks, which will determine the current condition of waste management systems and what kinds of upgrades are necessary.

Jackie Evans of public health estimates that there are 3000 domestic septic tanks on Rarotonga and 500 on Aitutaki, so even the audit itself will be a lengthy procedure.

Evans said that given its complex nature, the project will be long and expensive. The groups involved will have to check to ensure that septage ponds are functional and recruit people to install and inspect tanks.

The project will have to observe or amend the Public Health Sewage Regulations of 2008 and it will also have to comply with standards for septic tank construction issued by the Sewage and Sanitation Board.

Evans predicts that $1 million is “nowhere near enough to fix the problem” and said that because the donation will not be sufficient to fully fund the project, households will need to take partial responsibility for their own septic tank upgrades.

The design team hopes to draft project plans by March in order to determine costs and areas of focus, but as of now the project is still in its early stages.

The project will be advised by a steering committee, headed by Te Tika Mataiapo Dorice Reid, of which Evans is secretary.

• RR

Immigration officials from the Pacific region met yesterday at the Muri Beach Club for the 13th annual Pacific Immigration Directors’ Conference.

The meeting was the first of the year, and will be followed by another in July and a final conference in October.

A Cook Islands delegate represented Polynesia, delegates from Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu represented Melanesia, a Kiribati delegate represented Micronesia and a Nauru delegate represented small island states. Officials from Australia and New Zealand were also present.

Chairman Poloma Komiti represented Samoa and directed yesterday’s proceedings.

He said that the delegates discussed “pertinent issues” like illegal migration, human trafficking and people smuggling, which are becoming more obvious and exposed with the development of new technology and resources.

“[These issues] are becoming more evident because we’ve been able to identify them quicker,” Komiti said. “Criminal elements are also becoming more and more skilled and to detect them we need to be at least one or two steps ahead.”

He said that people smugglers and human traffickers, many of them from Asian countries, have been using Pacific island countries as transit points for entry into New Zealand, Australia and America.

Yesterday’s meeting purposed to “ensure we have the tools, knowledge and capacity to detect and detain” criminals and counterfeiters, Komiti said.

He said that Pacific Immigration Directors’ meetings are important because they allow officials to coordinate workshops, training sessions and courses across the region, which have proven to be effective.

Fijian officers who underwent extensive training recently caught nine people travelling with forged documents, an accomplishment that Komiti said wouldn’t have been possible ten years ago without the education and technology available to today’s immigration agencies.

• Rachel Reeves

Shipping services to the Cook Islands could be improved if New Zealand expands its initial proposal to build a ship for a Samoa-Tokelau service.

Foreign affairs minister Robert Wigmore was in Wellington last week where he met with his NZ counterpart Murray McCully to discuss shipping issues.

McCully requested the meeting which foreign affairs secretary Mike Mitchell and NZ ministry of foreign affairs and trade Pacific division director John Adank also attended.

According to Wigmore’s office, the idea of providing a cargo shipping service to the northern and southern Cooks in the proposed Samoa-Tokelau run is likely to be further explored at the joint ministers forum with NZ due to be held here in April.

Discussions with McCully included alternative shipping proposal advantages as well.

McCully indicated NZ’s interest in cooperative fishing arrangements and it was agreed this would also be a topic or agenda for the joint ministerial forum.

• Helen Greig

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