Legal eagle accepts challenge

As a lawyer, Tim Arnold earns his daily bread by employing his verbal talents. That’s why it came as no surprise that Arnold was the most outspoken member of the Seabed Minerals Policy Taskforce when the group fronted up to the media Monday morning.
Surrounded by some of the biggest guns in the public sector’s arsenal, Arnold and Nadine Newnham were definitely in the minority when it came to representing the private sector, but Arnold, ever the silver-tongued orator, opined freely on several aspects of the taskforce’s goals and mandates.
The group has been charged with setting up the early framework to guide the country towards the day when mining polymetallic nodules from the ocean floor will help fill government coffers.
“I’ve accepted the challenge of coming here and saying, alright, let’s see what we can do in terms of a legal approach to that framework,” Arnold said. “Let’s see what we can do to identify suitable people, and let’s see – again, from the private sector perspective – if we can front-end these challenges with a degree of foresight, rather than, as is so often the case here in the Cook Islands, just have a series of knee-jerk reactions on the part of politicians when they come under pressure from third parties.”
What Arnold hopes the taskforce can avoid is the blind fumbling that occurred after the financial transactions reporting protocol was foisted on the country to prevent money laundering in the wake of the 9/11 attack on the U.S.
“In that case, the Cook Islands government did not move pro-actively,” Arnold said. “It did not assemble the sort of panels and expertise that you see here (with the Seabed Minerals Policy Taskforce). As a result of that, we needed two sets of legislation, two sets of the Financial Transactions Reporting Act before we got it right. We’re still working through the legislative underpinning in terms of regulations.”
Arnold acknowledges that the technology to commercially exploit the nodules – and the valuable minerals they contain – in a cost-effective manner is still at least a decade away.
“I believe that one of the things the taskforce can and should be doing is letting the public of the Cook Islands know that we’re not here because there are huge amounts of money to be made next year,” he said. “We’re here because we’re dealing with something that belongs to all Cook Islanders and it’s part of people’s heritage over the next 50, 100, 150 years. There’s an opportunity to be involved in setting something up in a responsible manner.”
Arnold disagreed when it was suggested his role on the taskforce might be that of the voice of reason.
“I think there are a number of voices of reason here,” he said. “There are a number of us here who are sceptical about government in various ways, shapes and forms. People in government know that. We’ve had a fairly full and frank exchange of views.
“In terms of the chairmanship of the committee and the way it’s being driven forward, I find it all sensible and rational. If I had heard anything that I thought was otherwise, now is the time to tell you, and I haven’t.”

By John Ireland

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