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Gov’t says it cannot prioritise RSE workers on flights home as New Zealand lays down new rules on 2021 seasonal worker intake

By
Kalino Latu
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The Tongan government had to give a fair chance for all Tongans stranded overseas to return to Tonga, CEO Dr Fotu Fisi’iahi of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Kaniva News today.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs CEO Dr Fotu Fisi’iahi. Photo/Facebook

About 7000 people became stuck overseas because of the border closures.

Dr Fisi’iahi said the government could not just prioritise RSE workers.

He said the number of rooms in the quarantine facilities and the number of front line workers at the isolation facilities were also a significant issue.

The only available quarantine facilities in Tonga were the Tanoa Hotel, Makeke and the Taliai camp.

The New Zealand government wants all RSE workers repatriated so Tonga can be allocated a new share of the 2000 employees who were expected to arrive here in New Zealand next month from the Pacific. This meant Tonga missed out on the opportunity.

Tonga is the only Pacific nation with RSE workers left in New Zealand. All other countries taking part in the RSE scheme, including Samoa, Solomon and Vanuatu have flown all their workers home.

More than 400 Tongan RSE workers have been repatriated back home leaving 1475 employees to be repatriated. Most of them continued to work in New Zealand and many wanted to return to Tonga.

Dr Fisi’iahi said Tonga was expected to meet other conditions before it was allocated a share of the 2000 workers expected to arrive in Auckland in January.

RSE workers who had been repatriated to Tonga included those who had family issues, those who were very tired and wanted to have a rest and those whose employers or contractors wanted them to leave as soon as possible because of bad behaviour, he said.

This meant that even though these people had working experiences, it was up to the farmers to decide whether they were selected to return to New Zealand.

“The selection of the new 2000 RSE to come to New Zealand in January 2021 has to be done by the farmers and their associations,” Dr Fisi’iahi said.

“The New Zealand government is not involved in that selection process. The associations were not concerned about Tonga being left out because we still have a lot of workers in New Zealand who are available to work.”

RSE rules

According to Immigration New Zealand, only workers who have completed at least one season in New Zealand will be eligible for employment.

The horticulture and viticulture industries consulted with employers to provide INZ a list of nominated workers to recruit from Pacific countries.

Eligible employers will be required to make special commitments including managed isolation and quarantine requirements.

Visas of RSE workers expiring between 18 August and 31 December 2020 have been extended by six months.

Those who wish to continue to work in New Zealand for the same purpose after these additional six months can apply to stay longer.

All RSE scheme workers granted a flexible visa will be able to re-enter the scheme and work again for a Recognised Seasonal Employer with 30 hours per week average pay.

Cyclone takes roof off government building; photo of damage stirs controversy, complaints

By
Kalino Latu
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Category One Cyclone Zazu was strong enough to rip off the rooftop of this government evacuation building in Leimātu’a in Vava‘u. Photo. ‘Etimoni Vete (Facebook)

Cyclone Zazu has ripped off the rooftop of a government evacuation building in Leimātu’a in Vava‘u.

The damage, which occurred on December 14, has triggered huge debate online and a town officer has been threatened with court action.

The damage went unnoticed until a photo surfaced yesterday on Facebook.

The photo was posted by Neiafu Town Officer Vāvā Lapota, who said it was important for the building of the centre to make sure it could withstand a category five tropical cyclone.

The photo was taken by Leimātu’a Town Officer Etimoni Vete. Vete told Kaniva News he took the photo as part of his report to the Ministry of Disaster Management (MEIDECC) of the damage caused by Zazu.

He uploaded the photo, together with several other pictures of damage caused by Cyclone Zazu, to his Facebook page on December 15. He said at the time he did not allow his people to make comment under the photos.

MEIDECC Minister Poasi Tei told Kaniva News the building was left unfinished before Zazu struck.

The Minister of Infrastructure has been contacted for comment.

Tropical Cyclone Zazu was reported to be a category one system with winds gusting up to 120 kilometre an hour.

On December 15 at noon TVNZ reported that Zazu had passed by the islands of Vava’u bringing destructive storm force winds, thunderstorms and high seas.

Some people have questioned the structural soundness of the building before the cyclone struck.

Government supporters blasted Lapota, saying he politicised the damage and shared the photo online to denigrate the government.

Lapota denied this and said it was part of his job to let the people knew what had happened in the community and he did this from time to time without being selective.

Leimātu’a local George Paongo said in Tongan it was good to report the damage so people knew about how their taxes were being used.

“Mea lelei ohake ketau ilo kihe gaahi maumau oku hoko ki heetau tukuhau koe natula fou kihe hufaga iha afaa ka koeni e uluaki haea ia,” he said.

Critics also referred to the damages caused by Zazu to the government’s newly constructed road under the Prime Minister’s multi-million road project.

As Kaniva News reported last week, some new roads were overwhelmed by flooding and some roads were closed  because of the damage.

Lapota told Kaniva News he was contacted by a person who said his name was Angus Naupoto and claimed to have built the Leimātu’a evacuation centre. He accused Lapota of lying to the public by saying that the evacuation centre was damaged by Cyclone Yasa. Naupoto told Lapota to remove the photo or he would sue him. Lapota told Naupoto he stood by his post. The Town Officer told Naupoto to go ahead and sue him and said he would never remove the photo.

Men arrested in Vava‘u after call to fireworks being set off on Sunday

By
Sisi Latu
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Three Chinese men were arrested after Police responded to reports of fireworks being set off in ‘Alo’italau yesterday Sunday 27.

Gary L Jones/Shutterstock

Initial indications from the scene are that the suspects were allegedly drunk when the fireworks being let off, Neiafu Town Officer Vāvā Lapota told Kaniva News. 

The accused could also face charges of breaching Tonga’s Sunday Law taboo ban.

Police could not be reached for comment.

Name of Grace Millane’s killer made public, other sex attack convictions revealed

By
Kaniva Staff
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This story was originally appeared on TVNZ and is republished with permission 

The name of the Auckland man who murdered British backpacker Grace Millane can finally be revealed as Jesse Shane Kempson.

It can now be revealed that Jesse Shane Kempson also sexually violated two other women he met on Tinder. Source: 1 NEWS

Earlier this year the 28-year-old was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years, after strangling Millane to death the night before her 22nd birthday.

Until now, his identity’s been suppressed, partially due to further trials he was facing involving sex charges against two other women he met on Tinder.

1 NEWS
Grace Millane Source: 1 NEWS

We can now report that Kempson has been found guilty on all of those charges, including sexually abusing, physically assaulting and threatening to kill a former girlfriend.

In October she told the High Court: “Whenever he got angry, and something inside of him snapped, he would go straight to the kitchen, get one of those knives, and hold it to my throat.”

The woman first went to police in April 2017, seeking a protection order against Kempson.

Police kept her complaint on file and contacted her when Millane went missing 20 months later.

Last month she told the court, “I didn’t want to bring up my past again, but I also wanted the truth to be out about who Jesse is and the pattern of behaviour and how this whole thing could have been avoided. It really could have.

“I was Grace’s voice and I will be Grace’s voice,” she said.

In a separate trial Kempson was found guilty of raping a woman on their first and only date.

She told the court last month: “I was just frozen and I let him do what he needed to do so I could try and go to sleep or go home as soon as possible.”

An Official Information Act request by 1 NEWS shows Kempson has cost the taxpayer close to half a million dollars in legal aid costs for his three cases.

More than $400,000 of that is from his murder case.

Appeals are ongoing so the overall cost is not final.

It’s now been more than two years since Kempson was arrested for Millane’s murder.

Law expert Chris Gallavin said, “This is an interesting case for name suppression because normally you have name suppression in the context of protecting the identity of the victims or the family members of the perpetrator… in this circumstance, it’s actually name suppression to protect the fair trial rights of the accused”.

“At the time that the Grace Millane trial occurred, he had name suppression because they needed to protect his anonymity for the fair trial rights for the charges that were yet to come.”

However, even when Kempson elected to be tried by judge alone in his other cases, the name suppression remained.

Gallavin said, that was “because of the possibility the Millane charges might be appealed… there might have been a new trial and if a new trial a new jury would need to be pulled from the public and then the court was aware they didn’t want members of the public knowing he was to face what was quite simply a raft of charges”.

Questions are now being asked about whether a jury should be allowed to know.

Gallavin said, “It might be time to relook at that”.

Kempson’s been sentenced to 11 years in prison for his other convictions, but that will be served concurrently with his penalty for murder.

The killer’s name suppression was set to lapse last Friday, when the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against his murder conviction and sentence.

However, the Supreme Court issued an order for interim name suppression after a last minute notice of appeal from his lawyer.

The Supreme Court today has allowed his name to be finally made public.

Auckland-based contractor considering legal action against Tongan government over claims it failed to pay equipment shipping costs

By
Kalino Latu
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Sione Foaki Fifita (Left) and Finance Minister Tēvita Lavemaau

A New Zealand-based Tongan company is considering suing the Tu’i’onetoa government after it allegedly refused to pay cargo freight fees.

Tripac International Ltd which is also known as Friendly Islands Freight Ltd claims the government owes it more than TP$100,000 after it shipped heavy machinery from New Zealand to Tonga.

The equipment belongs to owner New Zealand-based Tongan Sione Foaki Fifita and his company Pacific Works and Civil Contractor.

Tripac held the equipment at its facility at the Queen Salote wharf when it arrived in Tonga because Mr Fifita wouldn’t pay for the freight.

It has been claimed the Minister of Finance contacted Tripac and asked the company to release the equipment with a guarantee the government would pay it afterward.

Tripac director Angina Finau told Kaniva News yesterday the government had not paid the money.  

However, he declined to make further comment, saying he did not want the issue to be reported in media. 

He said he was surprised when he heard the dispute had reached media.

Minister of Finance Tevita Lavemaau and Prime Minister Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa have been contacted for comment. Mr Fifita could not be reached for comment. 

Dispute

The move by Tripac came after critics and the government clashed in March after a letter purporting to offer government projects in Ha’apai’s main island of Lifuka to Mr Fifita surfaced.

The letter, which appeared to use the government coat of arm and the signature of the Minister of Finance Lavemaau, was dated March 12 2020.

Mr Fifita shared the letter online. Critics quickly re-posted it and accused the government of supporting Mr Fifita for the job while the tender process appeared to be still in progress.

Critics accused the Prime Minister of offering the bid to Mr Fifita, who lived in New Zealand, while there was a Tongan contractor in Tonga which could do the work.

They also blamed the Prime Minister for giving the bid to Mr Fifita because they came from the same village of Talafo’ou in Tongatapu.

“This is unfair to those businesses who are established in Tonga and have proven themselves capable to the job,” a critic said on Facebook.

Denial

The government denied the accusation at the time, saying it had not awarded the tender to Mr Fifita. It said Fifita had asked for the letter to facilitate his attempts in New Zealand to buy equipment and machinery if he won the bid for the Ha’apai projects.

The government said the same letter was given to other bidders for the same reasons.

The letter to Mr Fifita said: “I wish to inform you herein that the projects in the Ha’apai Island District are in the pipelines for completion of documentation to award to your company the total costs of which is Tongan pa’anga of $4.7 million.” The letter said the project was to upgrade the Foa causeway and Holopeka Road Connection and upgrade the wharf and seawall foreshore at the palace.

A statement apparently issued by the Minister of Finance at the time said all the bids for the projects had to be processed through the government’s legal procurement process.

The government accused Mr Fifita at the time of sharing the letter to Facebook.

Poor road work blamed for dramatic damage to Vava‘u roads as Cyclone Zazu hammers island

By
Kalino Latu
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Officials and locals in Vava’u have blamed poor construction for the level of damage caused to newly constructed roads by Cyclone Zazu last week.

A truck belonging to the Inter Pacific company was seen getting bogged on a newly constructed road in Ta’anea. Photo/Vāvā Lapota

The cyclone caused widespread erosion and flooding with winds gusting up to 120 kilometre an hour.

Flooding in Ta’anea overwhelmed some of the roads and washed away many of the rocks that have been used to construct them.

Some roads have been closed because vehicles cannot use them because of the damage.

Neiafu Town Officer Vāvā Lapota told Kaniva News the damage was huge.

He said Vava’u main island was mostly steep, which made it easy for rain to erode the roads because they were not sealed.

He said a heavy truck belonging to one of the rock suppliers – Inter Pacific Ltd, which is owned by ‘Etuate Lavulavu – was seen getting bogged on a newly constructed road in Ta’anea.

Some of the roads in Vava’u constructed under the Prime Minister’s multimillion roading project. Photos/Supplied

Lapota said another heavy truck from Inter Pacific became bogged in one of the roads in ‘Utulei after the cyclone and a loader was sent to pull it out.

Locals claimed there was no proper road drainage  and some of the roads did not appear to contain enough layers of rocks to withstand heavy vehicles.

They said roads constructed with only rock as a top layer would be unusable.

People commenting on photos of the Ta’anea damages uploaded to Facebook last week said this was a waste of money.

Kaniva News has asked the Minister of Infrastructure, ‘Akosita Lavulavu, for comment.

We have asked Hon. Lavulavu to tell us how the road engineering plan was designed to cope with Vava’u’s steep hills and vulnerability to tropical cyclones. We also asked her to tell us how much will it cost for the government to rebuild or repair the road damage.

The Prime Minister’s New Road Construction project has been criticised for being designed to benefit Cabinet members and the Prime Minister’s People’s Party members.

It was announced to have cost taxpayers TP$300million. Hon. Tu’i’onetoa said the government had set the price at TP$70 for each truck load.

Opposition Leader Sēmisi Sika said the way money was allocated to the project would cause an economic disarray to the whole country.

Early this year, photos uploaded to Facebook by ‘Eua residents showed huge damage to the newly constructed roads after a storm struck the island.

Family ‘devastated’ after Kotu pastor’s body found

By
Sisi Latu
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Searchers have found the body of Pastor Silakivai ‘Ahoafi, who had been missing for nearly a day at sea.

Rev Silakivai with his sons. Photo/Facebook

Photos and video clips shared to Facebook appeared to show the family were devastated by the news.

The 49-year-old from Ha’avakatolo was serving the Free Wesleyan Church of Kofu island.

Police said Rev ‘Ahoafi had “drowned” while fishing at sea.

A jury has confirmed his cause of death, Police said.

As Kaniva News reported yesterday, Rev ‘Ahoafi went for a fishing trip with one of his sons before the incident happened.

Meanwhile, tributes are flowing for the “funny, free-spirited” pastor since yesterday.

Friends and family have shared their memories of him online.

“You always kept your listeners awake and laughing while delivering your sermons,” one person said on Facebook.

Another described him as a “special person” who always shared his fish with his people on his way from the sea.

Video clips appear to show his wife Tupou was overwhelmed with emotions and understandably devastated as the body of her husband was being carried by the searchers in what appeared to be a mat from the water.

Search continues for missing pastor in Ha‘apai islands

By
Sisi Latu
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The search for the missing fisherman pastor Silakivai ‘Ahoafi resumed at first light on Friday.

Pastor Silakivai ‘Ahoafi (Right) with his family. Photo/Facebook

The pastor and one of his sons went on a fishing trip in the Kotu island seas before the incident occurred yesterday, reports said.

Rev ‘Ahoafi was serving the Kotu Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga.

Family and friends of ‘Ahoafi have posted tributes and asking for prayers for his soul.

In 2018 Pastor Fifita, the Chief Minister of the Assembly of God church in Ha’apai, died at sea in Ha’apai while he was fishing with a brother.

Analysis: Does appointment of Lord Ma‘afu mean PM has lost trust in his independent Cabinet Ministers?

By
Kalino Latu
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Kaniva News Analysis: 

Lord Ma’afu was appointed Deputy Prime Minister by  the king yesterday after he was nominated by PM Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa to replace former Deputy Prime Minister Sione Vuna Fā’otusia.

Lord Ma’afu. Photo/Tonga Parliament

The move could allow voters to see what is in the Prime Minister’s mind about the upcoming Vote of No Confidence. One of the views is that Tu’i’onetoa has  his trust completely in the seven Noble MPs after it was obvious that two of the Nobles are trapped overseas. Those seven, plus the Prime Minister and MP ‘Akosita Lavulavu make a group of nine. They only need four of the independent MPs to stay loyal to have the numbers to win the vote of no confidence when Parliament resumes in January.

The Democrats only needed two so they can win.

However, there is a question about whether Hon. Tu’i’onetoa still trusts the Independent MPs in Cabinet. The outgoing Deputy Prime Minister, Vuna Fā’otusia, was an independent. Why did the Prime Minister not appoint another independent MP to replace Fā’otusia? Fā’otusia joined the PTOA Party after he was elected to Parliament as an Independent MP, but before the recent premiership election, he joined the People’s Party and supported PM Tu’i’onetoa.

The question that arises is whether the appointment of Lord Ma’afu a show of Tu’i’onetoa’s distrust of his  Independent MPs and Ministers after Fā’otusia’s departure?

Hon Fā’otusia claimed in an interview last week with Kaniva that there were members in Cabinet who supported them and will vote for them. Without naming them, he said these Cabinet ministers did not agree with what the Prime Minister and Lavulavu have been doing for Tonga.

Fā’otusia and PTOA

Kaniva News understands that Hon. Fā’otusia and the nine PTOA MPs regularly held meeting after his resignation and the submission of no confidence motion. Nothing has been made public about any arrangements or who would be in their proposed Cabinet list. We can only speculate at this stage. Because Hon. Fā’otusia helped meet the legal requirement that 10 MPs submit the motion of no confidence, many people have speculated he would be the Prime Minister and Democrat Party Leader Sēmisi Sika would become Deputy Prime Minister.

Observers said if that was the case, it could be very hard for them to persuade any more independents from the government bench to join them. They will need to do some very clever horse trading if they want to win back some of the independents. One suggested outcome is that the PTOA and Fā’otusia would have to trade the Prime Ministership and Deputy position  to Hon. Tu’i’onetoa’s independents. If they gave the premiership to Siaosi Sovaleni and the Deputy role to Poasi Tei for example there would be a high possibility for them to get those two on side. Hon Tu’i’onetoa will also try his best to offer his independents the best deal. However, it appears that Hon. Tu’ionetoa could not step down and allow one of his independents to become Prime Minister, which would benefit the PTOA.

A warning has been posted on Facebook telling PTOA members to stop asking who their new ministers will be. Some PTOA supporters keenly want to avoid what they see as a repeat of previous mistakes where the Party failed to take the reins of power because the members fought each other for power and not for the Party to become the government of the day.

There have also been speculation that some of the Nobles could side with Hon. Fā’otusia and the PTOA when it comes to the vote of no confidence. Unfortunately, history did not support this. These kinds of rumours have been heard many times since the democratic reforms of 2010.

History shows that the Nobles have stuck together and supported the conservatives. They never support the PTOA or any democratic movements because it would put them in a position where they would be opposing the kings and the royals. Only Lord Ma’afu, who joined the ‘Akilisi Pōhiva government, did this. It happened because the late Hon. Pōhiva  wanted someone from the nobility to take the Ministry of Lands because there were sensitive issues in regards to the large blocks of lands in the country owned by the nobility and the royals.

Finally, one of the most important pieces of information the public would be interested to know is whether the PTOA Core Team has developed guidelines on how to act during a vote of no confidence and whether Hon. Fā’otusia would follow them. There is also the very important question of whether they would be going into the vote of no confidence under the PTOA banner or whether the former Deputy Prime Minister would expect the group to re-brand itself and institute new voting rules.

New Zealand spending $75 million to help Pacific nations access Covid-19 vaccine

By
Kalino Latu
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By Anna Whyte of TVNZ. This story is republished with permission

New Zealand is supporting the Pacific’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out with a $75 million package to ensure the region has effective and fast access to immunisation.

1 NEWS
Nanaia Mahuta. Source: Q+A

It comes as the Government today confirmed it had purchased enough vaccines to cover the entire population of New Zealand and the Pacific.

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said a vaccine would be key to the region’s economic and social recovery.

“New Zealand is pursuing a portfolio of potential Covid-19 vaccines to ensure we have flexibility and choice in the fast-moving global marketplace,” she said.

“We want to make sure Pacific countries can also access suitable options, and have the support they need to run successful immunisation campaigns.”

New Zealand would buy enough vaccines to cover Realm countries of Tokelau, Niue, Cook Islands and also Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu if the Governments want to take up the offer.

Associate Foreign Affairs Minister Aupito William Sio said New Zealand was best placed “to support these countries directly because of our constitutional relationships in the Realm, and the strong links between our health systems and our close people-to-people ties across Polynesia”

“We will also be scaling up existing health investments to enable us to play our part in vaccine roll-out.”

Accordings to Johns Hopkins University, Samoa has recovered two cases of coronavirus, while Tokelau, Niue, Cook Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu have managed to keep it out.

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