Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku says there was a strong public interest in the plan to establish a US Embassy in Tonga.
PM Hu’akavameiliku
He said he would raise it again with the US authorities during the Pacific Island leaders meeting which will be hosted by the US President Joe Biden at the White House next week.
He said a team from the US arrived in Tonga recently and surveyed a “possible site” for the embassy to start with before moving to a “permanent site”.
“It is understood they pushed to speed it up”, the Prime Minister said.
He said he would “reemphasise” the plan for the ambassy when he met the US authorities in Washington.
“Especially the visa, consulate services if they can start with that before the full embassy”.
The Pacific island leaders meeting comes as Washington accelerates diplomatic efforts to counter China’s presence in the region.
The 28-29 September meeting will be the first US-Pacific Island Country summit.
“The summit will demonstrate the United States’ deep and enduring partnership with Pacific Island countries and the Pacific region that is underpinned by shared history, values, and people-to-people ties.”
The US has invited the 12 fully independent Pacific Island countries, but not New Zealand, Australia, Cook Islands, Niue, New Caledonia or French Polynesia.
The 171 islands that make up the Tongan archipelago have a new addition, after scientists said an undersea volcanic eruption in the Vava’u islands had created a new landmass.
The new island in Tonga
The island was formed at the Home Reef, a volcanic island atop a submarine volcano in the area, after it has been pushed up from beneath the waves to about 10 metres above sea level.
It is located southwest of Vava’u, between the islands of Kao and Late along the Tofua volcanic arc.
The new island was built after successive eruptions which dated back to 1852, 1857, 1984 and 2006.
The Ministry of Natural Resources said the new island is six acre with a width of 182m south to north and a length of 173m west to east.
It has issued a hazard alert and put in place a restriction zone around the volcano. However, it said the volcanic activities should not disrupt flights.
Volcano expert Professor Scott Bryan, from the Queensland University of Technology, said Home Reef’s earlier eruptions only lasted a few months.
But this time, things might be different.
“This effuse eruption has produced lava, which is a hardened and more resistant rock, so this island may last a little bot (sic) longer than the previous islands,” he said.
“Over the next thousands I would expect that if Home Reef continues to erupt with this frequency that it will be able to make itself a permanent island.”
A man and a woman are dead and three people have been injured after a serious smash on Nualei’s Taufa’āhau road this morning.
“Five people were heading west in a vehicle at high speed where the driver lost control and the vehicle swerved and crashed head-on to an electric pole on the opposite side of the road resulting in the death of the male driver and a female front passenger”, Deputy Commissioner Operations Command Tevita Vailea said.
Three passengers sustain serious injuries and are currently at the Intensive Care Unit, Vaiola hospital.
“It is suspected that driving under the influence in addition to high speed contributed to the incident”.
Vailea urged the public to be extra cautious and make responsible decisions especially when alcohol is involved.
“It is another sad day for us and the families of the two people that died today because the incident could have been avoided. There is only one life, and we must value it.”
“Let us work together in complying with our laws and current curfew and be always responsible for safety on our roads.
This incident has tallied up road fatalities to ten so far this year.
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio began a speech to introduce a new health Action Plan for Pacific Peoples recently by singing a well-known spiritual.
The Minister asked about 100 guests to join him in singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot, visibly heightening the emotion at the Fale O Sāmoa in Mangere.
Afterwards, the Minister briefly reminisced about how the song had become popular in Samoa. He said it brought to mind people who pursued difficult tasks and those who prayed for the success of those tasks.
Hon. Sio was speaking at the launch of the Pacific Health Promotion Action plan.
The Minister said the plan was designed to address the inequity in the New Zealand health outcomes.
The new initiative for the Pacific Peoples has been given the Tongan name Siu Ki Moana, meaning to travel, to sail or to fly over deep water.
He acknowledged the use of Pacific peoples’ knowledge, wisdom, cultural values and practices as centrepiece of the plan.
The Minister said the only way for the Pacific Peoples to address their own problems was to totally abandon what he referred to during his speech as “colonial approach to health education”.
He compared his statement to the African-American writer and civil right activist who fought for Black American rights, Audrey Geraldine Lorde. Lorde wrote the “The master’s tools, will never dismantle the master’s house”. It was a metaphor which was interpreted as meaning the people could not solve problems of oppression working with the tools of a system of oppression.
Hon. Sio said the only way forward for Pacific Peoples to get rid of the inequity was to start fresh and create their own tools.
“Where do you get the inspiration to create your own tools?” he asked.
“Our traditional knowledge, our cultural intelligence, the stories that are carried in our songs, in our poetry, in our oratory”.
Siu Ki Moana was created for Pacific peoples to enjoy the full benefits of equitable health outcomes.
Siu Ki Moana represented the journey of Pacific youth, not only in developing this plan but also in their roles and positions within their community. It offered advice on how to work towards equitable Pacific health promotion by doing things differently where necessary.
This meant Pacific Youth would create and deliver health messages, Pacific Communities were enabled to advocate for change, Pacific Communities could access funding easily, health workforce teams were culturally intelligent and connected and health promotions and service delivery was cohesive and connected.
Alongside the launch of Siu Ki Moana, was the announcement of the Tanoa Community Grants programme which provides a pool of funding to local Pasifika communities who are well connected, trusted and well placed to improve health and wellbeing outcomes and address inequities.
The New Zealand gang member who stabbed a Tongan seasonal worker to death in central Blenheim was sentenced to seven years in jail at the High Court in Blenheim on Thursday.
Auckland man George Junior Pikaahu, 34, plunged a 24-centimetre knife into 23-year-old Lynch who was trying to defend a wounded friend during a large brawl in central Blenheim in the early hours of June 20, 2021.
The knife pierced Lynch’s heart and he died at the scene, reported the Stuff.
The fatal incident happened after an altercation between local RSE (Recognised Seasonal Employer) workers and members of the Rebels gang from outside Marlborough.
Another gang member Peter Uelese was sentenced to six months community detention, 100 hours community work, and 12 months supervision for the charge of assault with intent to injure.
Lynch was out celebrating a friend’s birthday when the fight broke out.
Lynch arrived in New Zealand from Tonga as a Recognised Seasonal Employer worker. He worked for Hortus farm.
His body was returned to Tonga on a repatriation flight after his relatives and friends in Auckland held prayer services in front of his coffin.
Lynch, one of seven children, had been in New Zealand since 2019 working in the horticulture and viticulture industries. He hadn’t been able to return home between seasons because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A new law in New Zealand makes it an offense if a salesperson refuses to leave a property when told to do so.
An uninvited seller who contacted a household through email or phone call could face a court order to cancel or vary a sales agreement, as well as compensation, the law says.
A door-knocker who breaches the ‘Do Not Knock’ sticker law will face hefty fines of up to $30,000.
Joseph Liava’a, the Associate Commissioner of the Commerce Commission, welcomed the law, saying it gave extra protection to buyers about the information salespeople had to give them.
Liava’a said the law gave customers time to change their mind about sales and what they should do if they decided to cancel the sale.
“The new rules mean residents can stop sale people from coming into their homes without being invited”, Liava’a told PMN.
The householders could use a sign or a ‘Do Not Knock’ sticker to tell salespeople not to enter their property.
People can put the signs on their front gate or their front door.
“It doesn’t have to be a fancy sign it can be simple handwritten sign it just has to be legible, readable and visible. And it can say things like do not knock or no salespeople or something to that effect”.
“If you tell them not to come to your property that salesperson can’t return for two years, unless you invite them back,” Liava’a said.
He advised householders to make a note of the date that they ask the traders to go.
“Write down the name of the business. Take a photo or video if that is possible,” he said.
Residents could also complain to the Commerce Commission if traders refused to leave, or ignored stickers, but Liava’a advised people to talk to the knockers first and see if they could resolve it.
“If that sticker is ignored give them a call: Hey, this is the situation we don’t think this is on,” Liava’a said.
An Auckland labour hire company director has been sentenced to 27 months in prison, with his company, now in liquidation, still owing more than $1.1 million in PAYE, KiwiSaver and student loan deductions.
Sione Na’aniumotu Pōme’e ran Pome’e Engineering Services, which provided workers to the building construction industry.
He was sentenced in the Manukau District Court on May 12 after earlier admitting 66 charges of evading or attempting to evade PAYE, student loan and KiwiSaver deductions.
Despite warnings and offers of help from Inland Revenue, Pōme’e continued offending over a seven year period. The court heard the magnitude of the offending was a significant breach of trust for the community in general and his employees in particular.
From November 2012 until March 2019 Pomee filed returns where he intentionally understated or didn’t disclose wages and bonus payments made to staff. The effect of that was to reduce the amount of PAYE his company owed to IR.
Instead of paying tax he chose to use the money to fund personal and lifestyle choices and admitted using company’ funds for significant personal spending.
About $1 million was transferred from the Company’s bank account to Pomee’s joint account with a relative and was used for overseas travel and spending; personal shopping including in high-end luxury retail stores; bonuses, various loans and gifts to himself; and more than $25,000.00 which was transferred to Jamaican Money Market for his nephew’s music career.
In relation to PAYE, the Company remains liable for a total amount of $1,148,756.99
The judge gave Pome’e a 5% discount in his sentence for his good work in Samoa and Tonga but no discount for remorse which she found was only in hindsight.
A woman has been arrested for the murder of two young children whose remains were discovered in suitcases in Manurewa, South Auckland on 11 August 2022.
Police investigators seen outside a Clendon property in South Auckland
Police can now confirm that a 42-year-old woman has been arrested in South Korea.
Counties Manukau CIB detective inspector Tofilau Fa’ amanuia Vaaelua said South Korean authorities arrested the woman today on a Korean arrest warrant on two charges of murder relating to the two young victims.
The arrest warrant was issued by the Korean Courts as a result of a request by NZ Police for an arrest warrant under the extradition treaty between New Zealand and the Republic of Korea.
He said NZ police had applied to have her extradited back to New Zealand to face the charges and had requested she remain in custody while awaiting the completion of the extradition process.
“To have someone in custody overseas within such a short period of time has all been down to the assistance of the Korean authorities and the coordination by our NZ Police Interpol staff,” he said.
There were a number of enquiries to be completed both in New Zealand and overseas, he added.
Police said the children, believed to be aged between five and 10 years old, may have been hidden in the suitcases in an Auckland storage yard for several years.
The bodies were discovered after a Clendon Park family won an auction for abandoned goods in a storage unit, without realising what was inside.
Police interrupted and arrested two men for allegedly manufacturing counterfeit Tongan bank notes at their Popua home earlier today.
The two suspects also faced illicit drugs charges.
One accused allegedly spent some of the counterfeit notes at a local petrol station.
Police said they found what they believe to be forged $50 notes in the accused’s possession.
Police also seized three photocopy machines used to produce counterfeit currency, and illicit drugs from a residence at Popua.
Police identified one of the suspects who used a fake $50 Pa’anga at a petrol station at Lapaha and intercepted his car on Taufa’āhau Road at Vainī on Monday afternoon, September 5.
The second suspect was arrested earlier today following the execution of a search warrant at his residence at Popua.
Please contact Police on phone 922 / 0800-922 / 740-1660 if you have any information that may help police investigation or if you know of any fake currency that may be in circulation.
