This story was originally appeared on TVNZ and is republished with permission
Police have launched a homicide investigation after a body was found in a vehicle on fire in Auckland’s Manurewa this morning.
Source: 1 NEWS
Detective Inspector Chris Barry, of Counties Manukau Police, said emergency services were called to the scene on Alfriston Road at about 3am.
Firefighters extinguished the fire, then a body was found, Barry said.
“Police quickly attended and we have established a cordon at the scene.
“Police is currently speaking with a man in relation to this matter and he is assisting us with our inquiries.”
Barry said there were diversions in place from the intersections of Alfriston Road and Mill Road, along Alfriston Road to the intersection with Brookby and Alfriston Ardmore Road.
“We thank our community for their patience and understanding as we deal with this incident.
“Police now has a number of inquiries underway to establish the identity of the deceased, and to determine the circumstances of what has occurred. Our priority is to identify the deceased and locate their next of kin.”
Prime Minister Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa said this morning the relationship between government members and the companies awarded the quarry contracts was unimportant.
Kaniva News reported yesterday that three companies with strong links to the government had been awarded contracts to supply rocks for a major road project.
Responding to our report on the awarding of the contracts yesterday, the Prime Minister said the most important news was that the companies had accepted the government’s proposal to pay only $70 for a single load.
“It’s simple arithmetic,” the Prime Minister said.
“Subtract $70 from $190 equals $120 and from $220 that’s $150.”
He said the government may have paid more than double for the quarry material the government had contracted with other companies.
“A huge amount of money has been saved from taxpayers’ money after the prudent decision we made,” Hon. Tu’i’onetoa said.
“But you are wasting your time on writing about how it has been linked to blood relationships as if it was something important.”
As we reported in February, Government road projects in different electorates have been a priority for Hon. Tu’i’onetoa’s government.
The quarry contractors are Island Dredging Limited, City Engineering and Construction Ltd and Inter-Pacific Ltd.
The Minister of Police, Lord Nuku, used to be a Director for Island Dredging. Lord Nuku’s son Faka’osifono Valevale is the current Director of Island Dredging.
Tongan People’s Party Deputy Chairman Etuate Lavulavu was made a Director of Inter-Pacific Limited in February 2016 but was later replaced by ‘Inoke Finau Vala in May this year.
‘Etuate Lavulavu is married to the Minister of Infrastructure and Tourism. Saia Moehau is the sole Director of City Engineering and Construction Ltd.
Prime Minister Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa has confirmed that three companies with strong links to the government have been awarded contracts to supply rocks for the government’s new multimillion roading project.
Companies with strong government, family, connections awarded road building contracts. (L-R) Saia Moehau, Lord Nuku and ‘Etuate Lavulavu
The contractors are Island Dredging Limited, City Engineering and Construction Limited and Inter-Pacific Limited.
In April the Prime Minister said claims that a contract had been awarded to City Engineering and Constructions were “false and misleading.”
The Minister of Police, Lord Nuku, used to be a Director for Island Dredging but his name was taken off the director’s list on July 31 last year.
Lord Nuku’s son Faka’osifono Valevale is the current Director of Island Dredging.
Tongan People’s Party Deputy Chairman Etuate Lavulavu was made a Director of Inter-Pacific Limited in February 2016 but was later replaced by ‘Inoke Finau Vala in May this year.
‘Etuate Lavulavu is also the husband of the Minister of Infrastructure and Tourism. Saia Moehau is the sole Director of City Engineering and Construction Ltd and he is a strong supporter of the People’s Party.
The Island Dredging Ltd will supply rocks for Tongatapu 10, Tt9, Tt2, Tt4 and Tt3. City Engineering will supply rocks for Tongatapu 6, Tt7, Tt5, Tt8, and Tt1. Inter-Pacific Ltd will supply rocks for Vava’u 16, VV15, and VV14.
The names of the three contractors were revealed on social media in June. Democrat MPs accused the Prime Minister and his Government in Parliament of nepotism and conflict of interest in regards to the road project.
Opposition MPs claimed that other contractors involved in the bid for the contract were cheaper than the government’s favoured contractors.
Kaniva News reported in April this year that the government claimed it could not afford to pay the market price of between TP$190 and TP$220 for the rocks and so had lawfully cancelled the procurement process.
The Prime Minister said at the time it was following due process for the procurement contract.
Hon. Tu’i’onetoa then said the government had set the price at TP$70 for each truck load.
A bill to tackle online abuse and cyber crime is being introduced by the Tu’i’onetoa government.
It aims to make it an offence to post content that is offensive, threatening, defamatory and causes distress.
Prime Minister Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa
Known as the Internet Abuse Offences Bill 2020, the Prime Minister said this was “a very important bill for the poor people of the nation.”
Tu’i’onetoa told local media the people had been bullied and intimidated on social media.
He said some people created fake accounts on Facebook to hide their identity while defaming others.
“It’s going from worse to worst,” he said.
The bill, containing 26 clauses and 19 pages, is expected to be submitted to Parliament this week.
The bill came after a move by the Late ‘Akilisi Pohiva government last year to shut down Facebook after vicious allegations of a sexual nature against the royal family was posted to Facebook.
Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva said at the time the government had been long concerned about people abusing Facebook.
The Supreme Court has adjudicated on a custody dispute involving a separated couple.
The court was told that the couple became estranged after the wife began an affair with another man while the husband was away working overseas under seasonal picking fruit programmes.
The husband subsequently sought custody of all the children, three boys aged 11, 8 and 7, and two girls aged 5 and 3, which was granted by the magistrate’s court.
The wife appealed and was given custody by another magistrate.
Before the current case the three boys went to live with their father’s mother. The girls were living with their mother’s sister.
The court ordered that a guardian be appointed to investigate the best interests of children Following the guardian’s report, Judge Niu ordered that the two daughters remain with their mother.
He ordered that the three sons be given into the custody of the father.
He ordered that the parents have access to all the children at set times during the weekend.
Judge Niu ordered that maintenance and school expenses of the children will be provided by the parent in whose custody the children are.
“Each parent shall ensure that each child is properly cared for and shall be responsible for the good health, honesty, discipline and religious teaching of the children in his/her custody,” the judge said.
The PTOA Core Team seems to have completely lost sight of ‘Akilisi Pōhiva’s policies and principles.
Their support for the current government and policies that only benefit the nobles threaten to roll back all that the champion of Tongan democracy achieved after the reforms of 2010.
PTOA supporters protesting outside a venue in Mangere, Auckland while PM Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa was holding a meeting with the Tongan community. Photo/Kalino Lātū
It is a situation that should greatly worry Democrats supporters. The Core Team, which consisted of Democratic Party MPs, no longer seems dedicated to making the late Prime Minister’s vision of a truly democratic Tonga a reality.
Pōhiva was a political reformist who believed the monarchy needed changes. He believed democracy was the right political system for Tonga. He also believed there was need for some immediate changes and also believed in gradual changes through the existing autocratic system which could eventually lead to fundamental changes.
Pōhiva’s core political policy could be summed up by his mission – to free commoners and tax payers politically from the absolute rule of the monarchy and allow them to control the decision making bodies, the government’s executive branch and Parliament. He said the king would still retain his other powers and entitlements stipulated by the constitution, including keeping his estates, privy purse funded from the people’s taxes and his nobles.
Pōhiva was well aware of the danger of having to totally remove the power of the king and nobility all at once. He said it was good to begin with removing the king’s executive powers.
This was clear when I interviewed him in 2011 after the political changes in 2010 when Tonga became partly a democratic system. He told me he was not satisfied with the changes, especially when the king relied on Lord Sevele ‘O Vailahi to implement the changes. Sevele became Pōhiva’s and the Democrats’ enemy and he did everything to ensure the changes were not what the Democrats expected.
However, Pōhiva said he was okay with it as long as the changes he had pushed for finally materialised and left the rest for the future. He left this important message for the PTOA Core Team or whoever would step up to carry on his mission. Pōhiva wanted them to continue pushing for more changes.
New law for king to appoint Secretary for Foreign Affairs
Unfortunately, since Pōhiva’s death the Core Team has done the opposite. In Parliament, the Core Team sometimes appears disorganised. They voted in support of a law to return the power to appoint the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to the king. This was a big blow to Tonga’s democracy and if Pōhiva was still alive he would have strongly opposed this move. Only his son, Siaosi Pohiva, voted against this bill in parliament
New law to consider tradition and custom during trials
Not only that, the Core Team recently voted in support of the noble-led government to allow courts to use traditions and cultural practices in their decision making. Again this was injurious to the democratic reforms the Party’s founder ‘Akilisi pursued for many years. Only Veivosa Taka from the Core Team voted against. It was ridiculous that when the Bill was put into debate some Core Team MPs spoke against it and suggested ways to support their views, but when the Bill was put to the ballot they all voted for it.
New law to give noble MPs $25,000 constituency allowance
They also voted unanimously in support of a move by the noble MPs to give them constituency funding of $25,000 each. This motion was first put into Parliament last year, but ‘Akilisi strongly opposed it, saying it was undemocratic because the nobles were not elected by the people and they were unaccountable to taxpayers.
He said if the nine Nobles in Parliament were given the allowance, this would set them apart from other Nobles who were not in the House and would not get the same benefit for their estates.
Democrat frontliner Mateni Tapueluelu, who fiercely attacked the noble MPs move to get a share of the constituency funding at the time, has given a very muted response when the motion was resubmitted and discussed in Parliament this year before it was approved.
Lack of transparency and accountability
The Core Team has recently been criticised for its lack of transparency and accountability in its decision to forgive MP Māteni Tapueluelu after claims were made that he and his brother-in-law Siaosi Pohiva had engaged in a power struggle that may have lost the Party the government in 2019.
The Core Team’s decision to keep the public in the dark was undemocratic and it undermines the public’s confidence in its impartiality.
‘Akilisi was always transparent and come clean about situation like this.
There is a real danger that the Core Team’s continued support for the nobles will encourage them and the government to continue to make laws to roll back the democratic changes of 2010 and return power to the king.
A Tongatapu police officer has been suspended after being charged with assault and bodily harm.
A Tongan Police officer. Photo/Kaniva Tonga
The 42-year-old male officer, whose name was not released, faces charges of assault of a police recruit.
The case continues a run of allegations of offending by Tongatapu police in the past few weeks.
As Kaniva News previously reported earlier this month, a police officer was suspended and charged with rape and indecent assault of an 18-year-old young woman who was in police custody.
“I have set standards and expect them to be met from all ranks within the Tonga Police,” Police Commissioner Stephen Caldwell said in a statement after the latest incident.
“Every police officer is accountable to the law, not above it. The public rightly expect the highest levels of professionalism and ethical behaviour from their Police.”
This story was originally appeared on TVNZ and is republished with permission
Louena Tupa hasn’t seen her kids in eight months, after finding herself stranded in Japan amid Covid-19 border closures.
Louena Tupa is stuck in Japan after the Covid-19 pandemic closed New Zealand’s borders. Source: Breakfast
Covid-stranded mum pleads with officials to let her return to Tonga to see her children
Now, she’s pleading with officials in New Zealand to let her transit through so he can return to Tonga.
“Being away from my kids for eight months has been very hard, and has been taking a toll on us emotionally,” she told TVNZ1’s Breakfast this morning.
Tupa has been living with her husband in Japan for almost a decade. Earlier this year, the couple decided to send their five-year-old daughter and one-year-old son to Tonga to keep them safe after a Covid-19 cluster broke out in their neighbourhood. Her husband accompanied her children.
Tupa, who was hosting family members in Japan on a trip they’d planned months before, stayed in Chiba. She planned to join her family a week later, but flight after flight she booked was cancelled.
Her final attempt was with Air New Zealand.
“They said everything was fine. By then, they had already announced that only citizens of New Zealand were allowed to come back,” she said.
“I was praying they would let me on for the sake of my kids. But they just said, ‘No sorry, you can’t get on the flight.’
“Ever since then, we’ve been trying.”
She begged the Tongan government to allow her on their repatriation flights, which began last month. But, they were only leaving from Brisbane and Auckland, meaning Tupa had to find a way to transit through either Australia or New Zealand.
She’s been in contact with officials the entire time she has been stranded in Japan.
Tupa is now one step away. After Breakfast discussed her case with the Tongan government, officials there changed their stance and confirmed Tupa will be included in the next repatriation flight to Tonga, set to leave Auckland next month.
Now she’s waiting to hear from Immigration New Zealand to allow her to transit through the country. The Tongan government is only allowing her to travel to Tonga if she completes quarantine in New Zealand.
Tupa is offering to pay for her own stay in managed isolation.
In the time she she’s been away from her children, she’s missed most of the first year of her son’s life.
“Them not being here, it’s just been really hard.”
But Tupa said she was “happy and grateful” her children were in Tonga, where they are safe and surrounded by loving family members.
Pacific Legal lawyer Richard Small said it is a story he’s heard “dozens of times over”.
“We have many clients in the same position. New Zealand is a gatekeeper for the Pacific,” he said.
“They say, of course, that Tonga is an independent government. But it’s New Zealand who really control the transit.”
That means people need to get approval from both New Zealand and Tongan governments, Small said.
He said, at times, it could be a “complete brick wall” for people trying to make it back to the Pacific.
“We’ve got people on antidepressants. We’ve got families at the end of their tether through this process in so many different ways.”
He urged authorities to look at the “human side to this story”, because there were “no real safety issues” if people were able to quarantine.
The husband subsequently sought custody of all the children, three boys aged 11, 8 and 7, and two girls aged 5 and 3, which was granted by the magistrate’s court.
