Analysis: Anger in Cook Islands at recent moves

As the Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown jets off to China along with his sizeable delegation, he must know he has seriously misjudged the mood of the country he represents, writes 1News Pacific Correspondent Barbara Dreaver.

The people there are angry (and that's not an exaggeration) at a series of back-to-back actions about which they have been left in the dark.

They include the cryptocurrency bill, a Cook Islands passport, and a deal with China.

In April last year, a 1News investigation exposed how a US company, with strong links to deep sea mining in the Cook Islands, influenced the Prime Minister and his cabinet, the high-value debt collecting company Drumcliffe, which had an equity stake in Odyssey Marine a deep sea mining exploration company in the Cook Islands, hired two lawyers to draft a bill which made it all the way to parliament.

The controversial legislation allowed for legalised hacking into any account in the world suspected of holding illegal cryptocurrency and the seizing of assets.

Cook Islands Law was bypassed in the process, and its deputy Solicitor General David Greig slammed the “flawed” bill, saying some parts were “clearly unconstitutional”.

He said the legislation essentially validated carrying out criminal activities in any part of the world, which could be considered terrorism in some countries.

The bill, also slammed by international lawyers, cryptocurrency experts and the New Zealand Government, was eventually withdrawn and sent to Crown Law for redrafting.

In December, 1News exposed the deteriorating situation between New Zealand and the Cook Islands following Prime Minister Mark Brown's push for a Cook Islands passport.

Through documents obtained via the Official Information Act, it was clear that New Zealand kept telling him it was not possible under the constitutional arrangements – the Cook Islands being a realm country of New Zealand.

If the country wanted to be independent, then it could have its own passport, said New Zealand.

Brown kept pushing for it, and in an exclusive interview with 1News last week, he said he made it clear he thought the Cook Islands could legally go ahead and do it, with or without New Zealand’s approval, and everyone could retain their New Zealand passport.

A New Zealand government spokesperson ruled that out and told 1News that if the idea went ahead, anyone who applied for a Cook Islands passport would be seen as renouncing their Kiwi one.

Two days later, after an eruption of outrage from the public, he told Cook Islands News it was on the back burner and off the table“for the moment”.

Agreements with China around the Pacific are not made public.

In his interview with 1News he promised the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership would be made public “once it’s signed”.

If 1News had not got information that deep sea mining was a big part of this agreement, it wouldn’t have been made public when it was.

Speaking exclusively to 1News, Foreign Minister Winston Peters was damning, saying New Zealand had “no clarity” over the Cook Islands partnership deal with China. New Zealand is rightly furious about it.

Mark Brown has denied there are “security” issues in the agreement but that is simply not true.

Anything to do with China and “maritime cooperation” or “fisheries” poses a security threat from New Zealand’s perspective. Most if not all Chinese companies in the Pacific are state sponsored/owned.

Fishing deals, expanding airports/ports in the northern group islands with a fishing cannery for example would be seen as a serious threat.

Mr Brown’s interview with 1News, which lasted around 45 minutes, was illuminating. Much of what he said will be published on TVNZ+ over the coming days.

On February 17 Cook Islands time (18th NZ) there will be a protest march to coincide with the first sitting of parliament for the year.

While its politically organised, its clear many people are going, keen to express their dissatisfaction with the lack of transparency and details they have had to date.

Political, community, and traditional leaders have expressed their disappointment and anger at the lack of engagement with the media, including 1News, and it's set social media ablaze.

The people of the Cook Islands want to know what their leader is up to.

“This is not a decision to be made by one person, Barbara,” Brown told me. But it very much feels like it is.