Four police officers had been suspended from police on Wednesday 5 as a result of being caught drink driving while patrolling in a police vehicle.
Two on duty police officers were suspended for drinking alcohol while patrolling in a police vehicle on Sunday 19 January 2020.
The duo picked up two off-duty police officers before they continued drinking while on patrol in Tongatapu.
Police Commissioner Caldwell said: āThe public rightly expect the highest levels of professionalism and ethical behaviour from their police officers. There is absolutely no tolerance for unlawful and ill-disciplined behavior. Every police officer is accountable to the law, not above it.ā
āWe have seen a significant reduction of crime and road toll from good work by good police officers working with the community, and I will not tolerate having their reputation sullied by the actions of a few.ā
Since 2015, Commissioner Caldwell has suspended 50 police officers from police duty.
Thirty-three (33) officers were suspended for criminal offences and seventeen (17) for disciplinary matters. āStandards have been set and I expect them to be met.ā
Sione Filipe Jr and his co-defendant Siua Sekona have pleaded not guilty at Nukuāalofa Supreme Court yesterday.
Filipe, 34, was charged after Quarantine
Officers at Fuaāamotu International Airport intercepted 242.22 grams of cannabis
seeds.
The son-in-law of Princess Pilolevu had been charged with unlawful importation of illicit drugs, unlawful possession of illicit drugs, possession of firearms and ammunition without a license and making a false declaration on arrival card.
Sekona has been also charged
along with him in charges relating to the seizure of 242 grams of cannabis
seeds brought into Tonga, at Fuaāamotu International Airport in March
2019.
Sekona,
who lived in the United States was arrested while visiting Tonga and released
on bail.
The body of the JAZZ singer who claimed a psychic white whale spoke to her in a “vision” was due back in Germany last week.
Marina Trost, 43, from Osterhofen,in Bavaria went missing in Tonga while diving off āEua on Sunday,
August 11.
Her body was
located on a beach at the north west coastline of āEua a month later, by a
local fisherman.
The finding came after a Tonga Police search and rescue team
joined by local divers failed to find any trace of the missing woman.
Trostās body was referred to a coroner at Vaiola hospital for official identification process.
It is understood, DNA test which was processed overseas delayed the release of her body until last week.
Trost had
earlier claimed one of the marine giants visited her while she was meditating
and told her to make a unique documentary about whale music.
She has spent the last few months together with a film crew diving around Tongatapu, to film for her project ‘Ama’ara – The Song of the Whales’.
Marina Trost’s mother Erna, 81, was reported by UK’s The Sun as saying: “I fear my daughter has been ripped away by the current. Not knowing what happened is proving very difficult for me.”
On her website Marina describes how she was inspired to do the project while meditating, the paper reported.
She
said: “In February 2017, I started meditating in my apartment in Munich,
in Germany.
“I
closed my eyes and within a few seconds a very big eye appeared, followed by
the incredibly beautiful and impressive body of a huge white whale.
“‘She’
introduced herself and immediately started to communicate with me. The next
moment I received from her what I call a ‘download’.”
She
described the download as a message which was essentially: “We want you to
come to us, out on the ocean, sing with us and do a documentary film about
it.”
The ability to work in Australia was more important for Tonga than aid or trade, according to research by two Australian academics.
They said the Pacific was heavily aid-dependent region in the
world and aid cost the Australian taxpayer.
In contrast, Tongan workers who came to Australia on seasonal
worker programmes benefitted the Australian economy.
And they said it was time for Australia to consider opening up
more permanent migration options.
Professor Stephen Howes and Beth Orton from the Development Policy
Centre at the Australian National
University in Canberra, said the amount of
money sent home by workers on the
season rural workersā programme exceeded the combined value of Australiaās
financial assistance and the kingdomās trade balance.
In 2019 a total of 3737 Tongans went to Australia to work in the
Seasonal Worker Programme.
The most recent available estimate of net earnings by SWP workers
was made by the World Bank in 2015. It calculated that Tongan seasonal workers
made an average A$9759 each after tax. The ANU researchers said this figure
would have risen since then.
Beth Orton (Left), Stephen Howes
Total estimated earnings for Tongan seasonal workers in Australia
since 2012ā13 are estimated to have risen from Aus$11.7 million in 2012ā13 to Aus$36.5
million in 2018ā19.
āWe can compare SWP net earnings with other major sources of
foreign exchange that Australia provides to Tonga,ā Howes and Orton said.
āLast year we provided Tonga with Aus$28.9 million in aid and last
year, Tonga is reported to have exported Aus$2.3 million worth of goods to
Australia.
āAs you can see from the graph SWP net earnings exceed Australian
aid to Tonga and imports from Tonga both separately and combined.ā
Tonga
was the first Pacific nation to achieve this milestone in 2018ā19.
Of
all the Pacific nations, Tonga had embraced the potential of seasonal work most
enthusiastically, the researchers said.
In
2018, Howes and Orton estimated 13% of Tongans aged between 20-45 left the
country each year to work on either Australian or New Zealand farms.
āItās not only an impressive achievement by Tonga, but also the
sort of fact that should change the way we think about Australiaās relationship
to our Pacific family,ā they said.
āAid is important, but more aid is not the answer to the Pacificās
development problems.
āAlready the Pacific is the most aid-dependent region in the
world. Moreover, whatever the benefits to Australia, aid costs the Australian
taxpayer.
āLabour mobility by contrast benefits the Australian farmer, and
the Australian economy more broadly.
āTonga
has long had duty-free access to Australia, but is unable to take much
advantage of it. Tourism is important to several Pacific nations, including
Tonga, but very few Australians holiday in Tonga.
āTemporary schemes like the SWP work well for Tonga, but suit
other Pacific nations much less well. We need to move beyond temporary and
start talking about expanding permanent migration options.
āThere are also no fewer than three policy processes and inquiries
in Australia currently underway to which this striking fact about Tonga is
relevant.ā
The first was the governmentās preparation of its new
International Development Policy. It is meant to look at expanding
opportunities for Pacific workers to fill workforce shortages in regional
Australia.
The Senate Select
Committee on Temporary Migration was looking
into the effect of temporary migration
on the Australian economy, wages and jobs, social cohesion and workplace rights
and conditions.
āItās unfortunate ā and symptomatic of the disconnects in this
area ā that this Committee wonāt also look at the impact of temporary migration
on sending countries, especially in the Pacific,ā the ANU researchers said.
āTongan seasonal workers compete mainly with foreign backpackers,
not Australian farm workers.
āBetween them, letās hope these inquiries look into what other Pacific
countries can do to emulate Tongaās achievement, and what more Australia can do
to make the future of the Pacific less about aid and more about mutually
beneficial economic opportunities, like the SWP and labour mobility more
broadly.ā
The main points
The ability to work in Australia was more important for Tonga than
aid or trade, according to research by two Australian academics.
Tongan workers who came to Australia on seasonal worker programmes
benefitted the Australian economy.
They said it was time for Australia to consider opening up
more permanent migration options.
For more information
Stephen Howes is
the Director of the Development Policy Centre and a Professor of Economics at
the Crawford School. stephen.howes@anu.edu.au
Beth Orton is a
Research Officer at the Development Policy Centre and works on labour migration
across the Pacific region. She recently completed a Master of Demography at
ANU. elizabeth.orton@anu.edu.au
Tonga: net
earnings from SWP, aid and trade
By Stephen Howes and Beth Orton, edited by Philip Cass
Four Tongans were among 198 passengers including five pilots, 11 cabin crew, and medical engineering staff on an emergency charter flight touched down in Auckland just after 6pm on Thursday.
They were evacuated from the
epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak and were “relieved to be in New
Zealand”, a government official says.
Flight
NZ1942 departed Wuhan, China, at 6.45am on Wednesday, and
landed at Auckland International Airport around 6.12pm.
There were 54 New Zealand
citizens on board, and 44 New Zealand permanent residents on Chinese passports.
Also on board were 35 Australian passengers ā 23 citizens and 12 residents on Chinese passports.
Upon arrival, all passengers will be quarantined at a WhangaparÄoa military base, while the Australian passengers will be transferred to a flight to their homeland.
One person was stopped from boarding the flight after being screened because they were unwell.
A number of foreign nationals
were also on the flight, predominantly from the Pacific.
Passengers included those
from Papua New Guinea (17 passengers),
Timor Leste (17), Samoa (5), Tonga (4), Fiji (2), Kiribati, the
Federated States of Micronesia, Uzbekistan and the Netherlands (one from
each). Eight British nationals were also on board.
Meanwhile, the Tongan government has imposed a range of travel restrictions and medical requirements .
The Ministry of Health said this week all travelers entering the kingdom
must complete and submit a Health Declaration Card.
All travelers originating or having transited through China must spend
14 days in self-quarantine at the last port that is free of the coronavirus and
obtain a medical clearance within three days of their departure to Tonga.
Exemptions will be made for Tongan citizens, permanent residents and
their immediate family members.
Air crews on direct flights from mainland China who have been using
personal protective equipment will also be exempt.
All international travellers will have to provide a medical clearance,
as set out above, prior to being granted entry to Tonga.
If they do not, they will be refused entry or sent back to their country
of origin.
All international travelers, including Tongan citizens, permanent
residents and their families, who have been in China for 14 days before their
arrival must report to the Ministry of Healthās Public Health Communicable
Disease and Environmental Health Units on arrival.
Shipping operators and airlines are required to report the presence of
any sick passengers.
The Tongan government has recommended that all travel to China be
postponed unless necessary.
The Samoan government said 10 of its students would remain in Wuhan under the care of their universities, alongside more than 70 other Pacific students.
The Samoa Observer reported a student in Wuhan saying it seemed safer
to “ride out” the virus than to leave the city.
Two people are in isolation in Fiji with what have been described as
mild symptoms of the coronavirus.
Kiliki āi he halangaope āi āolungaā ke ke fanongo ki he fakataha āa e kÄinga Vavaāuā mo e āEiki PalÄmiaā āi he lea fakaTongaā.
Sponsored:
An audio of the Prime Ministerās meeting in Vavaāu was provided by his office and transcribed and translated into English by Kaniva News. This English version of the audio had been abridged.
Prime Minster PÅhiva Tuāiāonetoa has briefly summarised his meeting in Vavaāu last week saying safer water tanks, flush toilets for every household and road constructions and maintenance were Vavaāuansā urgent needs.
He said these were priorities for the people of Vava’u apart from the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Tino.
He said he understood there might have been obstacles but his government undertook to complete them.
He
said tenders for the rocks for the roads were underway as part of the
governmentās attempts to get cheaper prices for the road project.
He said once the tender processes were completed everything would be fine to go.
READ AND LISTEN TO ALL STORIES ON PRIME MINISTER’S MEETINGS IN HA’APAI AND VAVA’U:
Hon Tu’i’onetoa said more roads were needed in some parts of Neiafu to make transport to plantations more convenient.
He said he talked to two airlines last week and there was hope the complaints about the domestic services would be resolved shortly.
100-day pledge / Civil Servants
The Prime Minister said the government undertook to rebuild and repair damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Tino in Vavaāu within 100 days.
He
said he knew some of the civil servants were still loyal to the former
government.
āAnd thatās true. But I asked them to please leave the past and work with us together. Letās love one another so that we can move on because after all we share all the benefits we had from what we are doing,ā the Prime Minister said.
China / Tonga Security Council
The Prime Minister told the meeting in Vavaāu China has said it has spoken for Tonga at the United Nationsā Security Council.
Hon Tuāiāonetoa said this was because China was a member of the United Nations’ Security Council while Tonga was not. He said it was not ānormalā in the United Nations for China to speak for Tonga.
He
said it was just China trying to say that if something was raised about Tonga
in the Security Council China would stand by the kingdom.
The
Prime Minister also said Tonga did not officially lose its vote at the United
Nations General Assembly because of a failure to pay its membership fees.
He
said the procedure should include the UN sending a letter of warning to Tonga
saying it had not paid its fees, but Tonga had not received such a letter.
He said the outstanding money had been paid and Tonga would continue to vote at the General Assembly.
Allegations on Facebook
The Prime Minister denied allegations
shared on Facebook that actions the government pursued to fulfill its policies
and priorities included illegal activities.
The
Prime Minister thanked those who attended the meeting for their supports and patience.
Vavaāu Governor Lord Fakatulolo congratulated
the Prime Minister for the opportunity he had given the people of Vavaāu to
share their concerns and priorities directly with his government.
He warned the people of Vavaāu the roads
were to be repaired for them to go to their plantations, but not for the
robbers to go and steal othersā crops.
As the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in China reaches 490, the Tongan government has imposed a range of travel restrictions and medical requirements .
The Ministry of Health said today all travelers entering the kingdom must complete and submit a Health Declaration Card.
All travelers originating or having transited through China must spend
14 days in self-quarantine at the last port that is free of the coronavirus and
obtain a medical clearance within three days of their departure to Tonga.
Exemptions will be made for Tongan citizens, permanent residents and
their immediate family members.
Air crews on direct flights from mainland China who have been using
personal protective equipment will also be exempt.
All international travellers will have to provide a medical clearance,
as set out above, prior to being granted entry to Tonga.
If they do not, they will be refused entry or sent back to their country
of origin.
All international travelers, including Tongan citizens, permanent
residents and their families, who have been in China for 14 days before their
arrival must report to the Ministry of Healthās Public Health Communicable
Disease and Environmental Health Units on arrival.
Shipping operators and airlines are required to report the presence of
any sick passengers.
The Tongan government has recommended that all travel to China be
postponed unless necessary.
Evacuation
Meanwhile, Radio New Zealand has quoted Tonga’s Ministry of Internal
Affairs as saying flights to bring home four Tongan sports teams from China
would be confirmed soon.
It was reported on Tuesday that Pacific Islanders could be among those
people being evacuated from Wuhan by Air New Zealand.
The Samoan government said 10 of its students would remain in Wuhan
under the care of their universities, alongside more than 70 other Pacific
students.
The Samoa Observer reported a student in Wuhan saying it seemed safer
to “ride out” the virus than to leave the city.
Two people are in isolation in Fiji with what have been described as
mild symptoms of the coronavirus.
The main points
As the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in
China reaches 490, the Tongan government has imposed a range if travel
restrictions and medical requirements .
The Ministry of Health said this week all travelers
entering the kingdom must complete and submit a Health Declaration Card.
For more
information
Coronavirus
epidemic ācontrollable and curable,ā Chinese embassy tells Tongans
Police Magistrate PetelÅ Pa’anga Soakimi also known as Pita Soakimi has died aged 73 in Pagopago, Samoa.
His body was flown to Tonga on Monday before his burial ceremony yesterday at the Catholic cemetery in Lapaha, a relative told Kaniva news.
Soakimi was
widely known to Pacific media when he presided over the murder case of New
Zealand Police officer Kali Fungavaka in 2012, when the case was first brought
up with the Magistrate court.
Kiliki āi he halangaope āi āolungaā ke ke fanongo ki he fakataha āa e kÄinga Vavaāuā mo e āEiki PalÄmiaā āi he lea fakaTongaā.
Sponsored:
An audio of the Prime Ministerās meeting in Vavaāu was provided by the Prime Ministerās office and transcribed and translated into English by Kaniva News. This English version of the audio had been abridged.
A businesswoman has raised with the Prime Minister her concerns about what she described as spouses of staff at Ministry of Immigration becoming partners with foreign business operators in Vavaāu.
āAneti
Taumoepeau asked why another business woman in Vavaāu was doing businesses with Chinese, but did not own a
business.
She claimed
there were foreign business owners in Vavaāu who did not hold the appropriate
visa permits.
Taumoepeau
said she was disappointed to see these foreigners succeeding when they did not
go through the struggles she experienced when she started her businesses in
1990s.
Taumoepeau,
who owned 12 acres of kava plants and once operated a night club and a pearl
farm, told the Prime Minister foreign business operators should come to Vavaāu under
a business licensed category so that government could collect money from those applications.
She also
complained that her businesses did not receive any funding from the government
business loan scheme.
The Minister of Finance Tevita Lavemaau told Taumoepeau to contact his office so they could sort out her concerns about the scheme.
Poor airline services
A retired
government director told Hon Tuāiāonetoa that tourists to Vavaāu had complained
because of the poor service and expensive charges imposed by the inter-island
airline.
Former Director of the Ministry of Agriculture Haniteli Faāanunu told the Prime Minister the national airline service was late and it did not keep to its schedules.
Faāanunu,
who is from Tuāanekivale, said the $30 charges imposed on international
travelers to Vavaāu was too much.
He suggested
reconstructing the Vavaāu international airport and extending it so that
wide-body airliners such as Boeing 747s could land in Vavaāu.
He said the international airport should move to Holonga and leave the domestic airport at LeimÄtuāa which is currently the international airport.
He said the
roads at Tuāanekivale which tourists used were among the worst in Tonga.
Faāanunu is
the owner of the āEneāio Botanical Garden at Tuāanekivale.
He said the main
road was too narrow and the roadside vegetation needed to be cut down and removed.
He asked the
Prime Minister to repair the roads ahead of the upcoming visit of a cruise ship
to Vavaāu in March.
He said bus
drivers always complained about the conditions of the roads.
Faāanunu
said āEneāio beach was popular with tourists, as was his botanical garden.
Level of
government staff
He also told
the Prime Minister the level of government senior staff at Vavaāu should be
upgraded from OIC and additional people should be employed at deputy levels.
He said developments in Vavaāu were stalled and it was a pity to see it reflected in what he described as the worrying status of the tourism industry and the labour and commerce sectors.
He said
these industries were really needed for the development of Vavaāu.
He told the
Prime Minster to bring better educated and young government staff to Vavaāu.
He said he
and his house in āEneāio were supportive of the Prime Ministerās government policies
and priorities.
He said he
was emotional when he heard on the radio that Hon. Tuāiāonetoa won the
premiership election.
He praised the Prime Ministerās leadership when he led the delegation to Vavaāu last week. He said it was an āindication of a very good leader.ā
The Prime Minister said he has talked to two new airlines and he believed this would lead to a solution to resolve the problems with the domestic airline.
He also said his Cabinet has approved an extension of the Vava’u international airport by 1000 metres.
The Minister of Tourism āAkosita Lavulavu, the Minister of Police, Lord Nuku, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Lord Tuāilakepa as well the Prime Minister thanked the Vavaāuans at the meeting for sharing with them their concerns and supports.
The Minister
of MEIDECC Hon Poasi Tei, who was the Master of Ceremonies, told the meeting
all their concerns had been recorded and would be dealt with accordingly.
The main points
A businesswoman has raised with the
Prime Minister her concerns about what she described as spouses of staff at
Ministry of Immigration becoming partners with foreigners business operators in
Vavaāu.
āAneti Taumoepeau asked why another
business woman in Vavaāu was doing
businesses with Chinese, but did not own a business.
Nine people have been arrested as part of an ongoing police operation targeting drug suppliers and dealers.
Police busted six different
locations last week and seized 3.79 grams of methamphetamine and 144.05 grams
of cannabis.
On Wednesday 29 January 2020 police arrested a 39-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman from a residence in Popua and seized 0.93 grams of cannabis and drugs utensils. Police have charged the 39-year-old man with possession of illicit drugs while the 24-year-old woman has been charged with interference with police investigation.
Following this arrest on
Friday 31 January the Taskforce arrested a 46-year-old man from a bush
allotment at Fatai with 0.32 grams of methamphetamine and 128.69 grams of
Cannabis.
On Saturday 1 February the
Drug Taskforce arrested two men, a 29-year-old man from Tuāatakilangi and a
30-year-old man from Haāateiho from a residence at Tuāatakilangi with 15 packs
of cannabis (13.99 grams).
This was followed by the arrest
of a 34-year-old man from Haveluloto with seven packs of methamphetamine (2.72 grams)
and cash.
Police yesterday Monday 03
February arrested three men from two different vehicles and seized 0.75 grams
of methamphetamine and 0.43 grams of cannabis with drug utensils.
All nine accused have been
charged accordingly and are in police custody to appear at the Magistrate Court
at a later date.
Deputy Commissioner Tevita Vailea
said police were committed to disrupting and detecting the supply of drugs and
holding those responsible to account.
He encouraged anyone who might have
any information relating to drug-related offending to contact police.
