News in Brief

CIP want early sitting
The Cook Islands Party says a parliamentary sitting must be held soon to sort out financial matters and claim the Prime Minister is planning to delay calling parliament as long as possible. Radio Cook Islands understands the Prime Minister may face a vote of no confidence from the 19 MPs outside of Cabinet when Parliament does sit again, despite the recent political upheavals, parliament still has duties and responsibilities to perform. The Cook Islands Party says there are a number of matters that need attention and why Parliament must be called to sit. The matters include the $1.2million US settlement payout to Toa Petroleum and budget talks. It is understood that in order for the monies to be transferred to Toa and Triad Petroleum, Parliament must appropriate the money through a supplementary budget. Earlier this week, the Prime Minister told Media, the details surrounding the out of court settlement are not known as the QR has a copy and not cabinet and its not known whether a date had been set and taxpayers money transferred to the two companies. The Cook Islands Party says, they will need to ask the Prime Minister whether it is in the country’s best interests for him to contravene the principles of democracy, whereby the majority have the right to govern.
No spraying
The Department of Public Health says no requests have been made from the public to have their homes sprayed due to the high number of mosquitoes noticed. According to the tutaka program held last month, 22 properties were re-inspected and only 3 properties will need some-time to clear rubbish. The cause behind the high number of mosquitoes on some properties is due to rubbish and breeding sites such as water collected in empty cans, barrels and tyres therefore the public is asked to dispose of waster properly and to keep grounds clean.
Focus on bio-diversity
National Environment Service Officers Deyna Marsh and Tauraki Rongo have been moved into the education and awareness division within NES to increase awareness on Bio-diversity. The National Environment Service focused on climate change last year and this year will focus on Bio Diversity. The objective is to enhance awareness of the threats to bio -diversity and the means to conserve it. Tauraki Rongo says, the main aim is to encourage the community to take action and conserve bio-diversity. NES will be launching this campaign towards the end of next week however an official date is yet to be confirmed. As part of this campaign they will also be playing the Doobie Brothers concert later on in the year as the Doobie Brothers support wildlife conservation.
Call for PM to resign
Today the Democratic Party on Radio Cook Islands issued a plea to the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Jim Marurai to resign from his post. The 1-hour program saw the Party President, Makiuti Tongia and media spokesman Sam Crocombe requesting the public to pressure the Queens Representative, Sir Frederick Goodwin to call on Parliament to move the motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister to have him removed or else resign from his post. Radio Cook Islands has obtained a copy from NZ Constitutional Lawyer, Alex Frame states that ‘there is no authority for the Queens Representative, to exercise the power to call Parliament under Article 29 of the Cook Islands Constitution without the advice of the Prime Minister or Cabinet. The Democratic Party executives claim that Frame’s advice has been misinterpreted. The Democratic Party also claim that the ousted Deputy Prime Minister has been humble to the country and the Cook Islands people.
Academy to cater for younger age group
Kevin Iro’s Cook Islands Sports Academy formally known as Sports Education New Zealand has plans to extend this years range of classes. Previously the sports program catered only for years 11 – 13. However for the year 2010 they will also be including years nine (9) and ten (10).
Check on Games Village
With the Commonwealth Games to take place in Delhi, India in October 2010, our Chef de Mission George George will be heading off to Delhi in March to see if there have been any improvements made to the Games Village. His previous visit was in October 2009 and was said to have been not as impressive. In fact the Commonwealth Association was “unhappy”. With regards to preparation for Team Cook Islands Mr. George says the first (HPC) High Performance Commission meeting had taken place and next week they will be meeting with National Federations to discuss qualifing criteria. As far as Mr George is concerned the only team that has qualified and is confirmed, is the Women’s Netball.
Aid for Haiti
Charlie Numa of Disaster Management (Cook Islands Red Cross) says at this point they haven’t made a call in regards to whether the Cook Islands Red Cross will be doing anything for or contributing to the Haiti earthquake disaster. A decision won’t be made until Nikki Rattle returns to the Cook Islands as she is currently off island. Numa states that once Rattle arrives they will contact the Federation which is in Fiji to see what the Cook Islands can do in terms of helping.
Political reform
The Prime Minister yesterday met with Tata Crocombe and Iaveta Short to discuss options to decide political reform measures in a referendum. The meeting went well and the Prime Minister will formalise the process at next week’s Cabinet meeting. Short was a key figure in the 1997 political review process along with John Herrmann and the late Professor Ron Crocombe. Tata Crocombe has since revived several reform initiatives in the framework of the Economic Development Task Force proposals. The measures according to the Prime Minister will need to be addressed by Members of Parliament and will be up to the people to let their members know how they feel about change.
Scholarships awarded
The NHRD will be holding an orientation for the new awardees of 6 scholarships. Three scholarships have been awarded to students to study in New Zealand, two regional scholarships and one Cook Island government scholarship. The official details are yet to be released and the new awardees will depart early next month.
12 students for Takamoa
Takamoa Theological College will begin on the 25th January with an orientation to be held over 3 days. Monday the 1st of February will see the beginning of the academic year. Training is over a four-year period. The students will undergo the study of Hebrew and Greek languages, theology and ethics, as well as biblical study and pastorals studies. There are twelve students. Three are from Penryhn, Auckland, Christchurch and nine are from Rarotonga.
Netball qualifying matches in June
The annual Netball World Ranking Qualifiers will be held in the Cook Islands this year. Margret Matenga President of Netball Association says the competition will be held in the first week of June 2010, however the exact dates are yet to be confirmed. Last year the tournament was held in Samoa. Ms Matenga says they may make slight changes to the days and are hoping to have it over a Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Initially, the Netball WRQ consisted of four nations – Cook Islands, Fiji, PNG and Samoa. However, due to the situation with the Commonwealth, Fiji were unable to attend last years tournament and may not attend this years one. As far as preparations are concerned, coaches are yet to be confirmed. Matenga hopes to see Anna Noovao coaching the side. Dates for trials have not bee confirmed yet. However Matenga says they are hoping to have trials by February 2010.

Headlines : Times 290 02 March 2009
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