The Cook Islands Constitution

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30760, 26 May 1965, Page 16

The Cook Islands Constitution

When the Cook Islands Constitution Bill was introduced in the House of Representatives last year, the Minister of Island Territories (Mr Hanan) said it would be implemented in 1965 after the new Cook Islands Assembly had requested its implementation. The bill was introduced after consultation with the Cook Islands Legislative Assembly, which had had the advice of a team of constitutional experts, and was acceptable to that body. The Cook Islanders voted for the new Assembly on April 20, and the Assembly has asked the New Zealand Government to amend certain clauses of the constitution. Parliament must therefore consider this request before giving effect to the bill passed last year. The leader of the Cook Islands Party, which won 14 of the 22 seats in the Assembly last month, is Mr Albert Henry, who is disqualified, under the present constitution, from taking a seat in the Assembly. Mr Henry, after working in New Zealand for some years, returned to the Cook Islands less than three years—the minimum residential qualification—before this year’s election. His party objected, during the election campaign, to the three-year clause, and the Assembly has since recorded its opposition to the clause. The purpose of the qualification (which had applied to candidates for the old Legislative Assembly) is to ensure that candidates are bona fide residents who, if they have spent some time abroad, have fully readjusted themselves to the island way of life.

The residential qualification, whether three years or some shorter period, is likely to remain a controversial question. At the time of the elections this year, there were about 20,000 people (of whom 8000 were electors) in the Cook Islands; but there were some 6000 Cook Islanders, mostly adults, in New Zealand. Some of the Cook Islanders now resident in New Zealand came here originally to complete their education. Others migrated as adults in search of wider employment opportunities and a higher standard of living. Among this large emigre population there must be many capable men and women whose New Zealand experience would be of great value to the Cook Islands Assembly. Some of these might be prepared to return to the Cook Islands one year—but not three years—before an election, in the hope of winning a seat in the Assembly. The big majority for the Cook Islands Party in the elections shows that the islanders are very ready to accept among their elected representatives men who have comparatively recently returned from New Zealand. The New Zealand Government can therefore claim the support of the islanders for a shorter residential qualification. This should encourage more of the politically ambitious Cook Islanders in New Zealand to return, at least periodically, to the islands. Even if their hopes are not realised in their first election contest, they should make a worth-while contribution to the social and economic life of their native community.