The New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal has refused a Tongan woman an appeal of humanitarian grounds, but ordered that she be granted a work visa for three months.

In its report on the appeal, the Tribunal was extremely critical of the way Immigration New Zealand had handled certain aspects of the case.

The woman had lodged work and residence applications based on her partnership with a New Zealand citizen, but because of delays in processing both applications her interim visa had expired.

The woman first entered New Zealand in 1997 and stayed unlawfully for seven years before she was deported in December 2005.

In September 2009, following the death of her mother, Immigration New Zealand exercised its discretion to allow the appellant to re-enter New Zealand for a short visit. Since 2010, she has made frequent visits to New Zealand, usually staying between two and four weeks.

During one such visit in late 2013 she met her current partner, a 59-year-old New Zealand citizen of Maori descent.

In September 2014, the appellant graduated from the University of the South Pacific with a Bachelor of Commerce. She re-entered New Zealand in December 2014 and in May 2015, she was granted a one-year partnership work visa. This was renewed for a further year in May 2016.

In July 2017, she was granted a further work visa to give her time to lodge a residence application under the Family (Partnership) category.

In May 2018, Immigration New Zealand wrote to her saying her partner did not meet character requirements for supporting partners because of past convictions for domestic violence.

The Tribunal said it was wrongly stated that the partner’s four historic convictions for common assault and one conviction for a domestic assault meant he needed a character waiver. The date of the most recent conviction was also wrongly recorded as 2013 rather than 2003.

The partner responded on 24 May 2018 stating that he disputed the 2013 conviction and was applying to the Justice Department for documentation to confirm this. He also stated that only one of the assaults had been of a domestic nature.

The woman and her partner went to considerable lengths to correct the information held by Immigration New Zealand, but the department continued to question his convictions, his relationship with his former wife.

In February this year, Immigration New Zealand advised the appellant that her interim visa had expired, that she was now unlawfully in New Zealand (and that processing of her residence application had been suspended.

In May  the woman’s application for a work visa was declined. Immigration New Zealand said it was not satisfied that the appellant’s relationship was genuine and stable or entered into on the basis of being maintained on a long-term and exclusive basis.

The Tribunal also noted the partner’s pending trial on charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and the appellant’s desire to be present to support him at this time.

The Tribunal said that if the appellant had to return to Tonga she would be separated from her partner.

“Given the current challenges for the relationship, including a possible period of separation should the partner receive a sentence of imprisonment, the Tribunal does not consider that separation would in itself be harmful to the relationship,” the Tribunal said.

“Once the appellant was no longer unlawfully in New Zealand, assessment of her residence application could resume. Should she intend to maintain the partnership and her application be successful she would be able to return and be reunited with her partner.”

“Although the appeal is declined, the Tribunal orders that the appellant be granted a work visa for three months

“This will enable her stay in New Zealand while her partner’s sentencing and to decide whether she will pursue her outstanding residence application.”

The main points

• The New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal has refused a Tongan woman an appeal of humanitarian grounds, but ordered that she be granted a work visa for three months.
• In its report on the appeal, the Tribunal was extremely critical of the way Immigration New Zealand had handled certain aspects of the case.

By Radio New Zealand

The last two people charged in relation to the country’s biggest methamphetamine haul have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Stevie Norua Cullen and Selaima Fakaosilea appeared in the High Court at Whangārei this morning before Justice Gordon.

Cullen has been sentenced to 27 years in prison with a minimum period of imprisonment of nine years.

Fakaosilea has been sentenced to 12 years and six months to be served cumulatively on the 14 years and six months sentence she was given last year for further drug dealing following the Northland bust.

She was given a minimum period of imprisonment of seven years.

Lawyers for both said the pair’s involvement in the operation had been relatively menial, providing logistical support for the main players.

But Justice Gordon said Cullen had been a trusted lieutenant who organised boats, cars and motels for the group.

Justice Gordon also told Cullen the law demanded an emphatic response to the unprecedented scale of the crime.

“More particularly, this jurisdiction must not be viewed as soft by those who may otherwise bring large amounts of controlled drugs here, especially a drug as pernicious as methamphetamine.”

And Fakaosilea was no naive pawn as she claimed, but had played an important role handling cash and communications, Justice Fakaosilea said.

The pair were tried and convicted in June on serious drug charges for their roles in the haul. A total of eight people were charged.

Six other people are already in prison after admitting their roles in the operation.

It was the country’s biggest known methamphetamine operation, with more than 500kg found on board a boat that washed up on 90 Mile Beach in Northland in June 2016.

The methamphetamine haul, discovered in a campervan hidden in sandhills, was estimated to be worth almost half a billion dollars.

Northland police are welcoming the heavy prison sentences handed down today.

Detective Senior Sergeant Lloyd Schmid said the arrests, convictions and sentences were a great outcome.

He paid tribute to the community in the Kaitaia area, who were suspicious of the group’s activity and tipped off police.

A Tongan women’s leader has described comments  by Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack as “the ugly beast of colonialism.”

Ofakilevuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki of the Women and Children Crisis Centre has joined a chorus of criticism against McCormack, who has been condemned by political leaders in the Pacific and Australia for comments he made on climate change in the Pacific.

“They [Pacific Islanders] will continue to survive, there’s no question they’ll continue to survive and they’ll continue to survive on large aid assistance from Australia….They’ll continue to survive because many of their workers come here and pick our fruit, pick our fruit grown with hard Australian enterprise and endeavour,” McCormack said.

Guttenbeil-Likiliki said McCormack sounded like New Zealand broadcaster Heather du Plessis-Allan, who once described the Pacific Islands as leeches.

Guttenbeil-Likiliki said McCormack’s statements were “neo-colonialism at its best.”

“I read these neo-colonialist commentaries and I cringe because it’s nothing short of white supremacist domination – it is creating hate towards our Pacific peoples making them look like ‘leeches’ who should be ‘grateful’ and remain obedient and silent,” she said.

“Tell me, how will aid stop the sea level from rising? How will it stop displacement of communities? How will your aid prevent natural disasters across the Pacific? Are you also saying that the Pacific does nothing for Australia and that it’s just a one-way street?

“Think again. Who is getting richer on whose resources?”

Guttenbeil-Likiliki said she took comfort from the words of the late ‘Epeli Hau’ofa who said: “Oceania is vast, Oceania is expanding, Oceania is hospitable and generous, Oceania is humanity rising from the depths of brine and regions of fire deeper still, Oceania is us. We are the sea, we are the ocean, we must wake up to this ancient truth and together use it to overturn all hegemonic views that aim ultimately to confine us again, physically and psychologically, in the tiny spaces which we have resisted accepting as our sole appointed place, and from which we have recently liberated ourselves. We must not allow anyone to belittle us again, and take away our freedom”

“Ignorant”

McCormack’s comments have also been slammed by Australia’s acting opposition leader Richard Marles, who described them as “ignorant.”

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Australia must respect Pacific islanders’ concerns about the impact of global heating.

“Climate change and the consequences of it are an existential matter for the Pacific,” Turnbull said.

“If you are a Pacific islander and your home is going to be washed away by rising sea levels caused by global warming then this is not a political issue, it’s an existential one.

“So it’s critically important that we are seen to be helping climate change, both in reducing our emissions as part of a global effort, and of course as we do providing them with substantial resources to adapt to climate change.”

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama reacted to McCormack’s comments by accusing the Australian government of taking a “big step backwards” in its relations with the Pacific.

Meanwhile, Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga reacted to McCormack’s comments by threatening to pull Tuvaluan labour from Australia’s seasonal worker programme.

Sopoaga said he would encourage the leaders of the other Pacific countries – including Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga – to do the same.

The main points

• Ofakilevuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki of the Women and Children Crisis Centre in Tonga has described comments  by Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack as “the ugly beast of colonialism.”
• McCormack has been criticised for comments on climate change in the Pacific he made after critical talks at the Pacific Islands Forum that almost collapsed over Australia’s positions on coal and climate change.

For more information

Pacific islands will survive climate crisis because they ‘pick our fruit’, Australia’s deputy PM says

Fiji prime minister slams Australia’s deputy PM over ‘fruit picking’ comment

Tuvalu condemns Australia’s conduct, ‘neo-colonial’ attitude at Pacific Islands Forum

By Makereta Komai
FUNAFUTI, Tuvalu (Pacnews/Pacific Media Watch): Tonga’s Prime Minister, ‘Akilisi Pohiva, has delivered a stinging attack against regionalism and the Pacific Islands Forum’s stance of leaving no one behind, for failing to amicably resolve the issue of West Papua.
 
Pohiva admitted the issue has divided the 18 members of the Forum for many years since it has been on the agenda of the leaders’ meeting.
 
“Is regionalism a myth, is it real or based on reality, he questioned leaders during the dialogue with the regional civil society organisations (CSO) this week in Funafuti.
 
Pohiva called out Indonesia – claiming it has a powerful influence over some members of the group – naming Fiji, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
 
“How can they reconcile the concept of leaving no one behind when they are friends with Indonesia?

“We should not let others control us. We should stand together in solidarity in support of the people of West Papua,” said Pohiva.
 
There was pindrop silence when the Tongan Prime Minister delivered his intervention responding to the regional CSO’s call for a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua.
 
Human rights importance
“None of us can speak of an inclusive and peaceful Pacific and remain silent on the serious human rights issues for West Papuans. We call on Pacific Leaders to observe the importance of human rights in all parts of our region.  
 
“We urge that Forum Leaders call on Indonesia to immediately allow access of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN special mandate holders to West Papua, said the CSO statement.
 
Civil society organisations also requested Indonesia to immediately restore the access of independent journalists in the region, so that the international community can have better access to the ongoing human rights situation in West Papua.

Responding to the concerns of civil society organisations, Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said that while Fiji heard the CSO’s position “loud and clear” on West Papua, it would be guided by the leaders’ previous decision.
 
“Fiji fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states, including Indonesia, and we will always uphold the principles of the UN charter,” said Bainimarama.
 
He said Fiji was concerned with alleged reports of human rights violation and would continue to advocate for the protection of the human rights of all West Papuans.`
 
“This is a matter of life or death to many West Papuans and we must tread boldly – but thoughtfully – as we move forward as a region.

‘War and chaos’
“Territorial disputes have fuelled war and chaos since the beginning of time and we must approach this situation with both caution and hope in finding a solution,” said Bainimarama.
 
The Tongan leader warned that Indonesia was powerful and could challenge anyone in the Forum membership.

“We will never get a solution because Indonesia is so powerful. Our only weapon is to stand together in unity and in solidarity and support the people of West Papua,” said Pohiva.
 
Samoa’s Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, said that despite Forum leaders taking a position over the years, the violations and challenges for the people of West Papua had not reduced.

“It keeps on increasing. We can’t continue to ignore the violations of human rights against the people of West Papua. Its time that we review our position.”
 
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister reserved his government’s position on the issue.
 
United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) spokesperson Jacob Rumbiak greeted with emotion the strong support from some Pacific leaders – particularly Tonga and Vanuatu.
 
Papuan tribute to Tonga
“We are happy that it has taken the 50th session of the Pacific Forum Leaders meeting to see some positive movement in the leaders of the Pacific. I am deeply appreciative of the great efforts of the CSOs for pushing this issue through their position to the leaders,” Rumbiak said.
 
He paid tribute to Tongan Prime Minister Pohiva for his powerful intervention.
 
“The response from Prime Minister Pohiva was the strongest so far and very powerful, especially when he urged them to unite and stand up to Indonesia.
 
“This issue has been on the regional agenda for 10-15 years and it’s not a domestic issue any more. It’s now a regional issue and leaders should now act on it’,” said Rumbiak.

Makereta Komai is editor of the Fiji-based Pacnews regional news service. This story is published under Kaniva’s content shared agreement with Pacnews.