New Zealand’s pointless ‘war’ with the Cook Islands must end – Richard Prebble

The very fact that our own Foreign Affairs ministry handles relations with them is tacit acknowledgment that the Cooks are, in practice, a separate country within the “realm of New Zealand”. The Greens protest outside the Foreign Minister’s home over a Middle East conflict that he cannot influence but hold no protest over the conflict with the Cook Islands that he can end. Although I had no responsibility for the Cook Islands when I was Minister of Pacific Island Affairs, Sir Tom Davis, the Premier of the Cook Islands at the time, insisted I was his minister.

Author: Richard Prebble

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