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RNZ News
7 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Cook Islands PM: ‘If we can't get help from NZ, we will go somewhere else'
By Teitimoana Tairi , Cook Islands News Cook Islands PM Mark Brown Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Lydia Lewis Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown defended the nation's new strategic partnership with China, citing the need for diverse international partners to fund a $650 million infrastructure plan that New Zealand alone cannot support, despite NZ's concerns and paused funding. Brown made this comment on Monday (Tuesday NZT) while officially opening the 2025 Pa Enua Governance Forum, held at the USP Cook Islands Campus until Thursday. The Forum is attended by outer island leaders, who are in Rarotonga for the 2025 Te Maeva Nui festival and the Cook Islands' 60th self-governance anniversary in free association with New Zealand, running from 25 July to 5 August. Addressing the ongoing diplomatic row between the Cook Islands and New Zealand, Brown said: "Kua akaari mai a Nuti Reni e, to ratou manamanata, the main one is, kare oki tatou e uipaanga Kapiti ana kia atou, I mua ake tatou I rave teia koreromotu a tatou I sign ki te baseleia o Tnito (New Zealand shared their concerns with us, the main one is that we didn't discuss this partnership with New Zealand before signing the comprehensive strategic partnership with China) ." This has resulted in New Zealand pausing over $18m in core sector support funding, which targets key areas in the Cook Islands' annual budget. Brown said he was surprised to learn that New Zealand had signed an agreement with China similar to the Cook Islands' deal, which resulted in "$60 billion worth of trade" for New Zealand in exchange for relaxed visa entry requirements for Chinese visitors. According to the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, exports to China total $20.85 billion, comprising $17.75b in goods and $3.1b in services (figures for the year ended December 2024). New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will not attend the milestone event in Rarotonga, which will celebrate the Cook Islands' six decades of self-governance in free association with NZ. Photo: RNZ Pacific "There's not one dollar out of this koreromotu (signed partnership) a te Nuti Reni e te Tinito ka tae mai kia tatou," the Brown said. He said that last week, the Australian Prime Minister signed a partnership agreement with China, adding this agreement involves over $200b in annual exports to China and promotes Australia as a tourism destination for Chinese travellers. "Kare okotai meitaki I roto I teia koremotu e ka aere mai kia tatou (Nothing out of this partnership will benefit us), nothing, we have to do our own," Brown told Pa Enua mayors and council members. "… what we did (with China) was sign a friend work engagement in the areas that we would collaborate, and one of them was infrastructure development." Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown defended the nation's new strategic partnership with China. Photo: LIU BIN According to Brown, the country's national infrastructure investment plan costs $650m for infrastructural work across the country, including buildings, transportation, and so on. "New Zealand can't afford to give us that amount of money…we have to develop our partnerships with other larger countries to get the support we need to meet our infrastructure needs," Brown said. "Let me set the record straight about the reality of life, we need to build our infrastructure, we need to improve our standards in the Pa Enua, me kare rauka mai ta te Nuti Reni (if we can't get help from New Zealand), we will go somewhere else and look for that help, and that's what we've been doing." Highlighting the significance of the 60th anniversary, Brown stated that in 1965 the Cook Islands had only one development partner, New Zealand. "Sixty years later, we have 70 development partners, with formal relations with over 70 countries, including all of the biggest countries, the biggest economies in the world today." The 2025 Pa Enua Governance Forum opened on Monday local time (Tuesday NZT), bringing together leaders from across the Pa Enua, government officials, outer island mayors, executive officers and other distinguished guests to discuss ways to strengthen the collaboration between Pa Enua and central governance. In her opening speech, Karopaerangi Ngatoko, the chief of staff at the Office of the Prime Minister, welcomed attendees with words of gratitude and purpose. "…your presence reflects the strength of your commitment to your islands and to our shared development journey," Ngatoko said, acknowledging the distance many had travelled to attend. "This is a working week, it is about progress about delivery and about impact. It is about building the bridge between planning and action - and ensuring that action delivers real outcomes for our Pa Enua." Under the theme, "Akatinamou'anga I te itiki'anga Ora" symbolising unity, collaboration and a shared goal, the Forum marks a significant moment in the Cook Islands journey, coinciding with the nations 60th anniversary of self-governance. Public Service Commissioner Carl Hunter urged integrity and action in the public sector. "We are public servants, servants of the public, not public owners," shared Hunter, highlighting the values that define the nation's public service. He emphasised impartiality, transparency, accountability and added hard work as a core principle, calling for service that puts people before self-interest. Hunter also acknowledged workforce challenges, especially in the Pa Enua, worsened by Covid-19 and ongoing out-of-migration. "In the Pa Enua, these effects have been compounded by long-standing challenges, including high living costs, limited employment opportunities and continued outmigration. These trends have resulted in the loss of skilled workers and have placed real strains on local services and community capacity." Hunter shared early steps in a National Workforce Development Plan and reaffirmed the government's commitment to deeper engagement with island communities through ongoing visits and partnership. Mayor of Atiu, Timaau Mokoroa, representing the Pa Enua, warmly welcomed all attendees and acknowledged the event. Mokoroa extended his gratitude to the Office of the Prime Minister for hosting such an important gathering, which provided a platform to address concerns, share ideas and discuss further improvements for a sustainable country. "I thank our Prime Minister at the moment of the day, for convening this important platform, not only as part of the celebration marking 60 years of self-governance, but more critically, as a space where the voices of our people, especially in the Pa Enua, can be heard. Our concerns acknowledged, and our collective aspirations discussed," he said. "May we move forward in unity, grounded in Christ. Together we carry the weight of our islands, our people, but together we can also carry the weight that leads us forward." -This article was first published by Cook Islands News .
RNZ News
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
A New Zealand photographer's 'poetic journey' into Papua New Guinea's past
From A Welcome Adventure by Victoria Ginn. Photo: Supplied Forty-eight years ago, a young New Zealand photographer set off on a brief solo journey into the remote Papua New Guinea Highlands. Victoria Ginn is now in her seventies and has a gallery in the small Taranaki town of Normanby. That trip, almost five decades ago, was the first in a series of exotic trips she undertook and resulted in a remarkable collection of photographs of the indigenous people, which she has called 'A Welcome Adventure' . Victoria Ginn spoke with RNZ Pacific. Kabo – the Sorcerer, from A Welcome Adventure into the PNG Highlands, 1997 by Victoria Ginn. Photo: Supplied (This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.) Don Wiseman: So when you were 23 years old, and I guess, a fairly inexperienced photographer, you took yourself off on your own into the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Why did you do that? Victoria Ginn: Well, I probably wasn't as inexperienced as you state. I began photography when I was about 14 years old, in the 1960s, after a friend of mine realised I could take good photographs. He gave me his Leica camera, and I self taught. I was interested in human culture and nature right from day dot really. Why I took myself into the Papua New Guinea Highlands at the age of 23, probably a yearning to connect with a deeper part of my own self and also a deeper part of the human culture, than was represented in my own modern culture, in terms of 1970s modern Melbourne, Australia, and that sort of system. I was probably a natural photographer in terms of my yearning to use a camera as a way to connect with people. It is a form of connection, photography, or was. Nowadays it is a form of intrusion and narcissism. From A Welcome Adventure by Victoria Ginn. Photo: Supplied But back then it was an art form, and it mesmerised me to know that you could translate a moment in reality into something that was a beautiful essence of somebody through black and white portraiture and a moment in time, where you saw an emotion or an expression or a sense of the self that was portrayed In another person. It was never intrusive photography. When photography became fashionable in the 1970s, art photography became fashionable in the 1970s through the production of a book by Diane Arbus, and everyone had to be a photographer, sort of thing. But photography in a way, became corrupted by wide angle lenses and people not realising the sensitivity of the other, meaning the subject, and a lot of deceitful photography happened that was calling itself art photography at that time. DW: It's still very difficult on a number of levels to access the Papua New Guinea Highlands. But in 1977 and on your own, it would have been very, very difficult. VG: Yes, it was. But I was an adventurer. I enjoyed the attraction of the unknown and the challenge of finding a way into an area of such remoteness in the world, where there was not a pollution of modernity, if you like, upon the peoples that I wanted to meet. So yes, it was difficult. It was basically bussing up the Highlands into the Highlands, and then finding ways to get around. And I did have some fairly hairy encounters, not with the local people, but with imports, imported construction managers and things like people from Australia. Papua New Guinea was only two years into its independence at that time, so there was still a very raw aspect to the confusion between what was meant to be and what was, where you have an important psyche, like the Australian mentality, wanting to civilise and develop a country, and you had the indigenous people who had stayed sane and intact and culturally together and had a very rich, beautiful culture that was kind of timeless. From A Welcome Adventure by Victoria Ginn. Photo: Supplied DW: How did you communicate? VG: That is an interesting one, because I discovered the art of non verbal communication, and it sounds stupid or nonsensical, but there is a way. I developed it later, when I was travelling through other remote regions of the South Pacific and Southeast Asia, particularly. There's a way to communicate that does not require speech in terms of your tongue, and it becomes a very basic, essential, means of communication, which involves gesture, but it also involves something that is unspoken, and it is very difficult to describe that, and you connect. It is about someone connecting to you, and you connecting to them on a level that is not cerebral, and it is not through your tongue, so not through speech. I used that method. It grew on me. It developed. I was not there long enough to become adept at that sort of thing, but I got a taste of it, and I learned how you can communicate without language. I have spent time in a lot of different cultures using that means. DW: This happened back in 1977, so 48 years ago. Why has it taken you so long to bring a book out? VG: I have gone backwards, looking at my work, in a way, I'm going backwards. I am in my 70s now, and I mean, I have had other work that propelled me to do other creative essays that I was prompted to do by my own artistry, and that has come to an end. I am no longer a photographer, so I am more a writer now, and I am looking backwards and tidying up my life, you could say. And it is a beautiful little essay. It is a very poetic essay which portrays a form of gentleness, contrary to what is happening in Papua New Guinea today. It is a counterbalance to what is what is occurring in the Highlands today, which is now a lawless place where people have had their essential culture stripped from them by the incursion of missionaries and what have you, and mining companies and so on. It gives voice to a portrait of a people. DW: You've visited a number of places, as you say, remote areas around the Pacific, particularly, where does this adventure into the PNG Highlands in 1977 sit? VG: That is a hard one. I think the last big work I did in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia was called The Spirited Earth , which was subtitled dance, myth and ritual from South Asia to the South Pacific, which was a philosophical look at the religious and spiritual forms of expression through performance art and ritual in those regions. Mostly color photography. Back in 77 you could say this was a stepping stone to my awareness of the depth of understanding of the spiritual aspects of the human psyche within a people that were so called prehistoric and primitive. It's candid work. It is more portraiture, portraiture in terms of face rather than form or body, which my book, The Spirited Earth , looks at the complete picture of face and form and body and environment. This is mainly a portrait, and it's a poetic portrait which involves the poetry of the people, but also the more prosaic sort of day to day, here am I sitting in a marketplace, or here am I pulling my bow and arrow, carrying my grasses from the fields and so on. It is more a documentary portrait than an artistic portrait, but it contains artistry, of course.
RNZ News
19-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Tagata o te Moana for 19 July 2025
In Tagata o Te Moana this week Sam Kauona is again vying to become President of Bougainville. An agreement is signed that may end the political impasse in New Caledonia. Nauru gets closer to a controversial seabed mining deal. The NZ government in a fit of pique ignore Cook Islands 60th anniversary celebrations. All these stories and more from the RNZ Pacific team. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
