Beyond an ‘Independent’ Foreign Policy

The Following are extracts from the Speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs by Mr John Hayes MP ONZM on the 20th October 2009 which relate to the Cook Islands. Space does not permit the whole speech to be printed.

“Today I will assert that the debate here about an independent foreign policy has direct implications for the failure of self government in Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau. With the very best and kindest of intentions and some encouragement from the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation we have allowed our preoccupation with an independent foreign policy to encourage Cook Islands and Niue to have theirs. The fact is that the age of decolonisation has ended.”
Mr Hayes continues his speech.
“Firstly, in the matter of New Zealand aid, Wellington’s new sharpened focus is squarely on the Pacific. The emphasis of aid has shifted from the nebulous concept of ‘poverty alleviation’ to supporting sustainable economic development. This is the best way to secure a stable and prosperous Pacific region. We have a clear sense that, in a region that is as resource-rich as the Pacific, we must be able to support sustainable economic activity at higher levels than has been the case to date. Our objective is to help the energetic and productive members of the community to be more energetic and productive. The economic system must deliver fair and sustainable returns. If it does not we can expect to see instability like the recent burning of Chinese businesses in Port Moresby, Honiara and Nukualofa. For long term sustainability there must be buy- in to the economic system from the grass roots.
New Zealand has always had a special relationship with the island states of the Pacific. New Zealand and the Pacific nations share a unique combination of history, constitutional links, family and community ties and geographical proximity which binds us together as Pacific peoples. Within that broader relationship, New Zealand has had for some 35 years a particular constitutional and legal relationship with Niue and Cook Islands, which MFAT officialdom recently attempted to extend to Tokelau.
A comparison of the numbers of Cook Islands, Niuean and Tokelauan people living at home or in New Zealand shows unequivocally that the time has come to acknowledge that the “self government in free association”, model has failed to deliver New Zealand levels of income and social services though it does work for the political and bureaucratic elite.
A significant majority of these communities have voted with their feet; over 90% in the Cooks and 98% in Niue. Yet Niue retains 20 members of parliament for a community of 1200 people. One MP was elected with 6 votes being cast.
If Auckland was populated with Cook Islands’ ratio of MP’s then Auckland would have 2,400 members of parliament. No community can afford that level of representation. A core issue is that the large political and bureaucratic establishment has not delivered income or services at a level their communities want. Entities in this situation will never be able to operate an independent foreign policy.
The self governance model has also created inefficient, uneconomic and wasteful governance. The model and emphasis on a plethora of regional meetings combined with UN per diems payable to participants has created financial inducements for the regions leaders and public servants. They maximise their incomes by constant travelling rather than focussing on issues at home and the delivery of services including education, health and infrastructure to their people. Cook Islands parliament passed a law making it a crime to divulge how much parliamentarians spend on travel. I understand it is around $5m i.e. 5% of the national budget. The model has encouraged Niue to employ around 90% of its total population from 18 and 60 years of age in the public service.
The island of Aitutaki, a community of 2000 has 3 members of parliament, a mayor, 3 police and a full time harbour master who copes with a once a month ship visit.
We need to rethink our involvement in those communities and how best we can all meet the aspirations of the people living in them. If we don’t they face the very real threat of not being economically viable and possibly unstable in the future.
New Zealand has a lot to offer in working with these communities to identify new, relevant formats which can meet the reasonable aspirations of these communities – similar to isolated communities here in New Zealand.
For too long the regions’ public servants have used aid funds to build bureaucracy.
They spend too much time and resource on activities of little or no direct benefit to the people they are meant to serve. Instead, they spend time and funding servicing the needs of international organisations.
The self government model provides instutionalised incentives which encourage the political and bureaucratic elite to enjoy the status and trappings of sovereignty abroad rather than addressing the real issues concerning their citizens at home.
New Zealand is providing almost $40 million each year in aid to less than 3000 people living in Tokelau and Niue which is absorbed by dysfunctional systems. It is essential that we take a fresh look at these arrangements because the people adversely affected are the very people we provide aid to.
Some Leaders have taken actions which come close to corruption and do not reflect the behaviour expected from those travelling under the protection of New Zealand Diplomatic Passports.
I don’t have sufficient time to expand on this theme today. Suffice to say communities in Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau are choking on the trappings of pseudo sovereignty which benefit a very few.
Generals are said to always fight their last wars i.e. employ strategies that they found successful in previous situations that are no longer relevant. The “thinking” that went into the creation of the pseudo-states developed in Europe over 100 years ago. It is time to rethink which beliefs, theories and constructs are actually relevant to today’s circumstances and to work constructively to create a more successful set of beliefs, policies, attitudes and institutions to better deliver to those communities. Fresh new thinking is called for.
Sacred cows need to be put to pasture.
New Zealand needs to engage constructively and positively in the process and given that many of these mistakes were created by us it behoves New Zealand to play a leading role in creating a reality that is more productive for the communities of Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau.
The New Zealand government must hold itself accountable for the delivery of acceptable standards of services to all communities of New Zealanders. We must move forward with sensitivity and in a respectful way acknowledging the needs of all communities who hold our citizenship.
Former Niue Premier, Young Vivian, once expressed frustration to me that his government could not match teacher salaries paid in New Zealand and advanced this problem as underpinning the low quality of education in Niue. A similar comment was made to me a few days ago by a parent in Aitutaki who sent his children to New Zealand “because schools in Auckland provided better quality education”. When I asked how the problem could be addressed he said pay our teachers more and train them to NZ standards.
The policies of successive governments in Cook Islands and Niue have not been able to achieve the necessary results on their own to date and I see nothing that to suggest this will change. The people being affected have New Zealand citizenship. Therefore it is our problem as well. While we have rights we also have responsibilities.
Depopulation is inevitable for as long as there is a massive wage differential (in terms of hourly pay rates) and core services between Niue, Cook Islands and Tokelau, on the one hand, and New Zealand on the other. There is a pressing need for a pragmatic way forward to secure parity in pay rates. That would be a strong contribution to allowing New Zealand citizens of Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelauan heritage to make real choices about living as part of the New Zealand community in New Zealand or as part of the wider New Zealand community in Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelau.
New Zealand should offer communities living in Niue, Cook Islands and Tokelau the option of harmonising services in the areas of education, health, infrastructure, law and order and justice. In return, consideration should be given to harmonising tax arrangements between all entities and redirect aid flows from the government to the private sector. That’s where jobs need to be created. It is unlikely that such an arrangement could extend to the payment of welfare benefits but superannuation payments ought to be fully transferable. We should avoid tampering with existing constitutional arrangements so as to avoid costly and extensive litigation between constitutional lawyers.”

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