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(Photo:
Maori Party) |
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NEW ZEALAND: Maori Party outraged by the sale of
Crafar Farms
Source:
Maori Party Press Release via Scoop Independent
News
The Maori Party have today slammed the approval
of sale of Crafar Farms, with co-Leader Dr. Pita
Sharples saying “our land should stay in our
hands.”
“We are totally outraged that the Overseas
Investment Office would approve the sale of this
massive land holding to foreign investors,” said
Dr. Sharples.
“The Maori Party is absolutely against the sale
of our land to overseas interests. Iwi are
natural partners of the Crown, with cultural
traditions of intergenerational ownership and
protection of land and natural resources. They
should have a right of first refusal, in
accordance with Treaty principles, as our
election policy stated."
Co-leader, Tariana Turia stated, “Last August,
we asked the Minister of Finance to introduce a
regulation to direct the Overseas Investment
Commission to check whether the seller had
consulted with, and/or offered land to the
appropriate iwi before offering it on the open
market."
“Our view has always been that we must protect
and preserve our land to keep it from falling
into foreign ownership. We do not believe
selling off our land to offshore investors such
as Shanghai Pengxin is an act of good faith in
iwi as Treaty partners.
“This sale fails the test, because it places a
significant chunk of our land, and the economic
benefits derived from it, into foreigh ownership
and control,” said Co-leaders Tariana Turia and
Pita Sharples.
Land is not just an economic asset to be
expolited for maximum profit. Papatuanuku is the
nurturer of all life, and her care must rest
with people who are committed to her for all
time.
Whilst we oppose the decision to sell the farms
to off shore interests, we are also just as
opposed to corporate investors coming in and
selling off the land to the highest bidder.
Dr. Sharples ended: “today a great wrong has
been done to New Zealanders. Our land is not
just a commodity; it is a living, breathing part
of our history, our culture, and our people. We
just sold a piece of ourselves.”
Photo:
Maori Party Co-Leaders,
Hon Tariana Turia and Hon Dr Pita Sharples.
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(Photo:
SRU) |
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SAMOA: Manu Samoa Sevens Coach Named
Wellington/LA Squad
Source:
Samoa Rugby
Union Press Release
Manu Samoa Sevens Head Coach Stephen Betham has
named his 12 member squad for next weekend's
Hertz Sevens tournament in Wellington and Las
Vegas.
Head Coach Stephen Betham says preparations went
well for the last 6 weeks. “The boys are itchy
to get on the field, for the last 6 weeks of
hard trainings; we had not had a real game, the
boys are injury free, Levasa is back on the
field and we are looking forward to next
weekend’s battle”
Manu Samoa Sevens team will be leaving on Sunday
night.
Manu Samoa Sevens Squad is:
Forwards: Alafoti Faosiliva, Afa Aiono,
Faalemiga Selesele, Faatoina Autagavaia, Levi
Asifaamatala.
Backs: Reupena Levasa, Uale Ma’i, Lolo Lui,
Alatasi Tupou, Robert Lilomaiava, Tom Iosefo,
Taulagi Afamasaga
Non -Travelling Reserves: Sani Niue, Fale
Sooialo, Paul Perez
Management: Head Coach Stephen Betham,
Team Manager Tausa Faamaoni Lalomilo, and
Physiotherapist Akbar Bhamji
Photo: Samoa Rugby Union.
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AMERICAN SAMOA: Faleomavaega thanks NOAA
for extension of time
Congressman Faleomavaega announced today that he
has been informed by the Office of Legislative
and Intergovernmental Affairs for the National
Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that
NOAA has agreed to extend the comment period for
the proposed rule to add five new sites to the
Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary
(Sanctuary).
“I want to thank NOAA and the Sanctuary
officials for extending the comment period until
March 9, 2012,” Faleomavaega said. “During the
recent town hall meeting I convened at the Fono
Guest House on January 11, 2012, I respectfully
made the request for an extension and I
especially want to thank Mr. Dave Basta,
Director of the Office of National Marine
Sanctuaries, and Ms. Genevieve Brighouse,
Superintendent of the Fagatele Sanctuary.”
“As I said then, the January 6th deadline was
impractical given that it immediately followed
the Christmas and New Year holidays and the
public did not have enough time to submit their
comments. Making things even tougher, many have
expressed concerns that they do not have access
to computers while some do not have the
technical skills to fully utilize and access the
website to submit comments online,” Faleomavaega
noted.
“Therefore, I am very pleased that NOAA has
decided to extend the comment period on this
sensitive issue. In light of this recent
development, I encourage all stakeholders and
interested parties who were going to send our
office their petitions to do so immediately. It
is my intent to submit my final comment no later
than around the end of February next month,”
Faleomavaega added.
“Again I want to thank the officials at NOAA and
the Sanctuary for their willingness to
accommodate the needs of our people. I am very
pleased that the public is allowed more
opportunity to participate in the discussion and
express their views on this important issue,”
Faleomavaega concluded.
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COOK ISLANDS: Cooks police say no other vessel
involved in case of missing NZ yachtie
Source:
Radio New Zealand International
Cook Islands police have ruled out the
possibility of another vessel’s involvement in
the case of a missing yachtsman, wanted in New
Zealand on sex charges.
The man disappeared from the yacht he was
skippering off Rarotonga two weeks ago.
The man, who has name suppression in New
Zealand, is wanted on 26 charges and is due to
appear in an Auckland court next month.
The Cook Islands News reports officials last
heard from the yachtie on the third of January
when he complained of heart problems.
John Strickland of the Cook Islands Police says
he’s aware of rumours the skipper was on his way
to South America.
“We have gone to the extent of checking with
communications with our telecoms ... radio
communications out there for anything to do with
any vessel ... within the area in those dates.
From what we have gathered so far there has been
no reports of any vessels within the vicinity at
the time.”
Inspector Strickland says four staff are working
on the case which now focuses on the missing
man’s movements in Rarotonga.
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(Picture:
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FIJI: No Fiji election in 2014, says PM Tuilaepa
Source:
Ministry of the Prime minister & Cabinet Press
Secretariat Press Release
The citizens of Fiji and the international
community are again being led down the cassava
patch with promises of free elections in 2014.
Asked of his views on the recent uplifting of
the Public Emergency Regulations in Fiji, only
to be replaced by more repressive public order
laws, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele
Malielegaoi said;
“Promises from the military regime of general
elections in two years’ time are a pipe dream.
It’s just more deception and creating more false
hope among Fiji citizens and the international
community. It is synonymous of those who rule by
the gun without a mandate from the people.
“This (public order decrees) is just the latest
in what’s become an endless litany of lies and
excuses to hold on to power.”
Prime Minister Tuilaepa believes Commodore Frank
Bainimarama has gone too far.
“The public service has been fully militarized
with unqualified army colonels occupying
top-level public service positions. The
commodore cannot take away their fat salaries
and round them back to the military barracks.
It’s beyond him now. He’s gone too far and lacks
the strength and smarts to pull Fiji back to
democratic government..and governance. It’s just
survival for him now at whatever cost.”
Those close to the Commodore, the Prime Minister
said, are ‘shamelessly milking the taxpayers’.
“The Attorney General who constantly feeds Bani
with legal fodder, I’ve been told, holds five
different government portfolios collecting five
different pay cheques. How much is he getting? A
million dollars in just six months? How can you
pocket that amount of public funds while people
in Fiji are slaving away? Obviously there
continues to be a lack of moral consciousness
among Bainimarama’s band of thieves. What he set
out to do – to remove corruption – he is now
rolling in the mud enjoying and indulging in
every facet of it.”
The Prime Minister said Fiji could soon
experience the Pacific version of the recent
Arab Spring. A “South Pacific squall”, he called
it.
“The Fijian people are gradually awakening. And
one cannot continue to suppress people
indefinitely. People power is always mightier
than all the guns in the world. Bainimarama must
avoid at all cost a South Pacific squall.”
Drawing parallels to Samoa, the Prime Minister
said.
“It’s extremely odd and embarrassing to see
soldiers patrolling the streets of Suva with
bazookas. The PacificIslands region is not used
to seeing these frightening images of
trigger-happy idiots in full war garb trudging
up and down the road.
“If what is happening in Fiji happened in Samoa,
long ago people would’ve come out of their
homes, from the plantations, from the mountains
and countryside and a 100,000 would march the
streets of Apia. Old women armed with brooms,
particularly, would be climbing over each other
to get their hands on the regime. Bainimarama
and his co-cohorts would now be safely behind
bars, if this had happened in Samoa of course.”
Photo Caption: Samoa Prime
Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.
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TOKELAU: Below average rainfall predicted for
Tokelau and Tuvalu this wet season
Source:
Radio New Zealand International
Pacific Islands hit by drought last year are
expected to see lower than average rainfall this
wet season.
The international community rushed water
supplies and desalination units to Tuvalu and
Tokelau last October after the atolls declared a
state of emergency.
A climate scientist at New Zealand’s National
Institute of Water and Atmospheric research, Dr
Andrew Lorrey, says Tuvalu, Tokelau, Western
Kiribati and the northern Cooks will continue to
be dryer than normal.
“We certainly expect intermittent rainfall over
the three month period but as a whole the
climate forecast is suggesting that below normal
rainfall for those island groups is going to be
expected in the coming three month period.”
Dr Lorrey says above normal rainfall is expected
this wet season in Vanuatu, New Caledonia,
Tonga, Fiji, Niue and the southern Cook Islands.
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