Waitangi Day 2009 - Message from the New Zealand Prime Minister

Hon John Key, New Zealand Prime Minister

Today we celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi 169 years ago.

As well as being a special time for New Zealanders to be with family and friends, Waitangi Day is a chance to pause for a moment on our long journey of nationhood – to look back on the path we have travelled, and to cast our eyes ahead to the next turn in the track, the next river to be crossed, the next ridgeline we must climb, and the bright, promising land that lies beyond.

The Treaty recognised that New Zealand was a nation of two peoples: Maori – the people of the land, whose culture and rights deserved respect and protection – and those who came to New Zealand in search of a better life.

More importantly, in my mind, the Treaty was a promise – that these two peoples would work as one, building their futures together, and walking at each other’s side.

Sometimes that promise has not been kept. Sometimes we have argued about where we are going, which path we should take, and how fast we should walk.

But all the while our journey has continued. And along the way we have started to build a real partnership where, together, we can feel a sense of achievement and pride in our magnificent country. A partnership of people who can see the very best in each other and know that the very best lies ahead of us.

This Waitangi Day, we pledge again our commitment to that partnership, to carry on our journey together, walking side-by-side and building a nation that is rich in culture, strong in diversity, and great in promise for all who call it home.

Best wishes for the year ahead.

Hon John Key
Prime Minister

What Waitangi Day means for New Zealanders

Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, 1840 (Alexander Turnbull LibraryNZHistory.net

Every year on 6 February, New Zealand marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. The day was first officially commemorated in 1934, and has been a public holiday since 1974. For some people, Waitangi Day is simply a holiday; for many, it is also the occasion for reflecting on the Treaty and its significance as a founding document that is still helping to shape contemporary New Zealand.

The Treaty of Waitangi

The Treaty was concluded between representatives of the Crown and of Maori tribes and sub-tribes, and is named after the place in the Bay of Islands where the Treaty was first signed. The Treaty was not drafted as a constitution or a statute: It was a broad statement of principles upon which the British officials and Maori chiefs made a political compact or covenant to found a nation state and build a government in New Zealand to deal with pressing new circumstances.

The Treaty was prepared in just a few days. About 500 Maori debated the document for a day and a night before it was first signed by over 40 chiefs on 6 February 1840. Copies were then taken all around the country, and chiefs from many places added their signatures or marks. Eventually, about 540 chiefs gave their agreement.

The Treaty has three articles. In the English version, these are that Maori ceded the sovereignty of New Zealand to Britain; Maori gave the Crown an exclusive right to buy lands they wished to sell and, in return, were guaranteed full rights of ownership of their lands, forests, fisheries and other possessions; and Maori would have the rights and privileges of British subjects.

The Treaty in Maori was intended to convey the meaning of the English version, but over time some important differences have been identified and debated. Most significantly, in the Maori version the word 'sovereignty' was translated as ‘kawanatanga’ (governance): some Maori believed that the governor would have authority over the settlers alone. The English version also guaranteed undisturbed possession of all “properties”, but the Maori version spoke of “taonga” (ie treasures, not necessarily those that are tangible).

Observing the Treaty today

Since 1840, some actions taken by New Zealand governments resulted in the alienation of Maori land, waters and other resources from their owners without proper consent or compensation. Maori have tried to have their grievances addressed, and some early governments made inadequate attempts to settle some of their claims. But recent governments have recognised that the way some land transactions took place was unjust, leaving a strong sense of grievance with the original owners and their descendants.

In 1975, a commission of inquiry called the Waitangi Tribunal was created, to investigate the Crown's alleged breaches of the Treaty, and make recommendations to government to provide recompense. Since 1985 the tribunal has been able to consider Crown acts and omissions dating back to 1840. This has provided Maori with an important means to have their grievances against the actions of past governments investigated. The Tribunal is not however a court of law. It has authority only to make recommendations, which in most instances do not bind the Crown, the claimants, or any others. But the Tribunal's process is more inquisitorial and less adversarial than that followed in the courts. And it can actively search out material and facts to help it decide on a claim (courts are limited in their ability to do this).

If the government decides to accept the Tribunal’s recommendation to settle a claim, a separate body (the Office of Treaty Settlements) then negotiates on behalf of the Crown with the claimants. Once claimants and the Crown agree on the terms of a settlement, they sign a deed, and the Crown passes legislation to give effect to it and remove the tribunal's ability to inquire further into that claim.

More than 1000 claims have been lodged with the tribunal. Several large historical claims have already been settled, with a total value of NZ$600 million (over 400 million Kina).

NZAID - Helping Papua New Guinea realise its potential

Papua New Guinea is a country of great cultural diversity and breathtaking natural beauty. However, it country faces serious health problems, including increasing rates of HIV and AIDS. Education and employment opportunities are limited for many people, and law and order is an ongoing problem. Despite these challenges, PNG is also a country with many opportunities, and New Zealand is committed to helping make the most of them.

New Zealand’s assistance

In July 2008 NZAID (New Zealand’s international aid and development agency) signed a joint strategy with the Government of PNG. The goal of the strategy is “To contribute to a just society, free of poverty, through equitable and sustainable social and economic development of PNG and all its people”. The strategy will guide NZAID's programme in PNG, and focuses on improved social services in education and health, and improved livelihood opportunities for rural people.   Between July 2007 and June 2010, NZAID aims to contribute NZD74.5million (106.5 million Kina) to Papua New Guinea to help realise these aims.

The NZAID programme in PNG is not about one-off projects but about using existing knowledge and encouraging the long-term development of the people of PNG. NZAID works with local organisations and government departments, and recognises that training and informing people is often an effective way to make changes in communities.

HOW HAS NEW ZEALAND HELPED?   SOME HIGHLIGHTS

 

Health

 East Sepik - 400 villages now have access to basic healthcare (estimate 8-12,000 people) in East Sepik

 Bougainville - 300 more villages linked to health services in last three years

 Bougainville – 4,500 eye patients seen, and been provided with 2,400 pairs of glasses in last three years

 

Rural Livelihoods

 Bougainville - 2,500 people trained in business skills and how to start their own enterprises

Business training school established for 160 students a year

 

Huon Gulf - 14 Cocoa co-operatives set up, helping farmers get their produce to market

 

1,200 farmers trained on how to produce better quality produce and to add value to it in the cocoa and fish farming sectors.

 

Launched a new programme with the Fresh Produce Development Agency in 2007 to help FPDA better meet the needs of farmers nationwide.

 

Peacebuilding

Bougainville - 300 community police officers trained by a resident NZ Police team.  Dealt with 4500 criminal incidents

 Kup District – work on voter education and community groups working with candidates contributed to a violence-free national election in that district in 2007.  The work of the Kup women was later recognised with an international peace award.  NZAID supported similar work by 50 groups nationwide in what was regarded as the most peaceful election in decades.

 

In Bougainville 28 domestic violence officers trained, counselling 850 people in just 6 months.

 

Education is the future

 

Since 2002, New Zealand has provided over NZD19 million for education in Papua New Guinea. New Zealand supports a wide range of activities that reflect the diverse training needs of Papua New Guineans.    This includes almost 1800 scholarships for study at New Zealand universities and at the PNG universities of Goroka, Vudal, Unitech and the Timber and Forestry Training College.   New Zealand alumni have gone on to make many solid contributions to PNG’s socio-economic development including as Members of Parliament and Cabinet Ministers, senior officials, businesspeople and NGO managers, successful academics and journalists.

Since 1996, New Zealand has supported the production of indigenous school journals in Pacific Island countries.  The PNG School Journals are the most well known.  They are completely written and illustrated by Papua New Guineans.  These colourful books provide enjoyable reading, positive role models and a strong sense of national and cultural identity. Over 400,000 journals have been distributed to 7,000 Elementary and Primary Schools nationwide since October 2007.   

NZAID recognises that other organisations are better placed to provide services or support the development of communities.   NZAID is working with the UK Volunteer Service Organisation to help implement PNG’s making a living curriculum in Chimbu and Madang.  The programme assists secondary schools to tailor their curriculum to help the bulk of graduates who will not get formal employment become economically productive once back in their villages.   Another such group is HOPE Worldwide (PNG).  It has more than 70 staff within PNG providing health, educational and other social services to the underprivileged or disadvantaged groups.  NZAID has supported HOPE’s School library programme since 2004 to offer:

·                      A Mobile Library Service in Port Moresby with 12,000 books in stock. Each week the colourfully painted custom-fitted bus offers over 2000 books to schools that don’t have libraries. 

·                      An outreach programme that helps schools set up libraries. Since 2001, HOPE has distributed well over 1 million books to 2000 schools nationwide. 

·                      Provincial workshops for teachers on how manage school libraries.

·                      Computers to schools improve children’s IT skills.

From time to time NZAID helps schools that have raised funds for building projects but can’t cover the full costs.  This is done through NZAID’s Small Project Fund or the Head of Mission Fund.   They include:

School	Project	NZ funds
Asitavi High School	Kitchen Facility Upgrade	154,324
Bereina Diocese, Goilala District	Training local teachers	70,000
Carr Memorial School, NCD	Classroom construction	100,000
Holy Spirit High School, Madang	School Water Supply	122,048
Mainohana High School, Central	Infirmary and school water supply	475,680
Tapini High School, Central	Staff housing, Girls Dormitory and Telecommunications upgrade	318,035
Hagara School, NCD	School desks	30,700
Abau Island School, Central	Classroom construction	19,340
Marunga/Kavudemki schools, ENB	School water supply	15,180
Koki Primary School, NCD	School desks	19,470

 

 

New Zealand volunteers - helping Papua New Guinea for 39 years

Caption: NZAID official in the field, Bougainville.  Photo courtesy Caroline Newsom

Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA), New Zealand’s international volunteering for development agency, has been sending volunteers to Papua New Guinea since 1970.

 In 1998, VSA set up a field office in Arawa to co-ordinate the programme in Bougainville, with the programme for the rest of PNG being co-ordinated from Wellington, New Zealand.

Up until 2005, PNG-based VSA volunteers worked with NGOs and government agencies in Bougainville and the mainland provinces only.

 In 2005, the first volunteer took up an assignment with the East New Britain Province’s secondary education office and since then VSA, in response to the development needs of the Island provinces, has shifted its focus and placed a number of volunteers in the New Britain provinces.

VSA recognised that to strengthen its relationship with the New Guinea Island provincial governments and communities and to assist them with their development objectives, plans and projects, that VSA needed to move closer and become part of the local community, as VSA has already done successfully in Arawa, Bougainville. 

 In December 2008, Camille Kirtlan, VSA’s programme officer for PNG, moved to Kokopo, East New Britain and is setting up the new VSA field office there. 

Currently, VSA has 11 volunteers working in Bougainville, seven in East New Britain and two in West New Britain – not to mention a number of their partners who make significant contributions of their own to local communities.

 Later in 2009, VSA plans also to work with the New Ireland provincial government and communities, to extend its relationship with the New Guinea Island provinces, and work alongside the New Guinea Island people, assisting them in their development.     

 

 

New Zealand receives first Papua New Guinea fresh produce export

Papua New Guinea has successfully completed a trial export of ginger to New Zealand, the first time PNG fresh produce has been exported there for commercial distribution.

Many other Pacific countries already export significant quantities of tropical fresh produce to New Zealand, and PNG coffee and spices can be found there, but to date PNG fresh produce has been missing from shop shelves. 

Under the 2008 trial, coordinated by a committee of PNG government departments established to explore fresh produce export options in cooperation with the Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commission office in Auckland and the New Zealand High Commission in Port Moresby, the PNG ginger sent to Auckland complied fully with New Zealand’s relevant import health standards and was distributed on to interested importers.  

Both sides agreed that there is scope for PNG fresh produce to be marketed commercially in New Zealand, especially in Auckland given its large Pacific population. 

The key now is to fully explore the commercial viability of exports to New Zealand, including other crops in addition to ginger, and to strengthen the capacity of PNG growers and exporters to ensure continuity of supply and quality, and correct treatment, packaging and handling of produce. 

In the meantime, New Zealand consumers will continue to wait for their “taste of PNG”.

 

Banker + gangster = bankster

 

A POINT OF VIEW

It seems timely to resurrect this Americanism from the 1930s - one of many evocative words the United States has contributed to the English language, says Harold Evans.

Americans are pretty good at adding words to the English language. We owe them pin-up girls, highbrows, killjoys, stooges, hobos, drop-outs, shills, bobby-soxers, hijackers, do-gooders and hitchhikers who thumb a ride.

The Americanisms are so much more concise and vivid. Instead of saying "sorry we're late but drivers ahead of us slowed us down when they craned their necks to look at a crash" you can say "we were held up by rubberneckers".

Words pop in and out of our language as social conditions change. The American gangster, which is still with us, has been around as a noun and a reality since 1896 according to my Shorter Oxford, but it seems to have dropped another Americanism from the 1930s and I think now is the time to revive it.

The word is bankster, derived by a marriage of banker and gangster.

It was coined, as far as I can deduce, by an American immigrant, a fiery Sicilian-born lawyer by the name of Ferdinand Pecora. He was the chief counsel to the US Senate Committee on Banking set up in the early 30s to probe the origins of the Crash of 1929.

He exposed quite a lot of the Wall Street practices that Harvard's Professor William Z Ripley had condemned in 1928. The believable Ripley called them - get ready for these Americanisms - "prestidigitation, double-shuffling, honey-fugling, hornswoggling and skullduggery".

The professor had vainly tried to warn President Calvin Coolidge that Wall Street was full of gas and was bound to blow up. To great discomfort all round, Pecora identified Coolidge himself, by then out of office, as one of those who'd been in on the honey-fugling.

The great banking house of JP Morgan had the president on a "preferred list" by which the bank's influential friends were given a chance to buy stock at half price. Shall we say, they made out like bandits?

Today the term bankster perfectly fits Bernard Madoff, whose crooked Ponzi scheme lost $50 billion of what the trade calls OPM - other people's money - invested with him.

Costly rug

But the revelations come thick and fast. People are now struggling for words to describe the latest example of Wall St's money madness. The fabled investment bank Merrill Lynch, run by one John Thain, had so many big zeroes on its balance sheet it would have been liquidated in December but for a merger with the Bank of America.

That was actually a shotgun marriage - in the US vernacular - since the Bank of America was forced to take billions of government money when it learned later that Merrill Lynch was down another $15bn.

Then what? In the few days in December while he was still in charge, Mr Thain reportedly spent nearly $4bn on staff bonuses. That's peanuts on Wall St. In 2007 Mr Thain himself received $83m.

But a week ago, CNBC's Charles Gasparino, in a detailed scoop on the Daily Beast website revealed that during the time Mr Thain was busy cost-cutting, he spent $1.1m doing up his office - $86,000 for a rug, $35,000 for something called a commode on legs.

Readers bayed for blood, posting comments such as: "Oh how I wish this was Revolutionary France and we peasants could storm the offices."

The anger about the greed that got us into our mess is, in my view, wholly justified. And now we hear that 10 of the big banks that got $148bn from Uncle Sam so they could make loans to get things humming again have actually reduced their loan totals by $46bn.

Mr Thain now is history, having resigned, but the great Bank of America, the biggest in the US and maybe the world is now on the list of banks that may have to be nationalised - a word no red-blooded American ever thought would be uttered in the land of enterprise.

Have money, will lend

The piquancy of all this is that if the term banker is ever to be restored to its former prestige, the public and Wall St might reflect on one highly relevant example of a banker who was not a bankster.

It is the story of Amadeo Peter Giannini, a big man on the side of the little man. When the transcontinental railway started services to California after the line's completion in May 1869, he was among the very first passengers.

He was in the womb of his newlywed mother, 15-year-old Virginia. His father, having made money in the goldfields, had gone back to Italy for her. It is nice to think that as the young immigrants crossed the Rockies, their adventurous spirits somehow crossed the placental barrier.

Amadeo was born on 6 May, 1870. He grew up on a little farm, whose produce his mother and father sold in booming San Francisco. In 1877 when he was six, he saw his father gunned down. His mother moved to the city to buy wholesale from farmers and sell to shops.

Amadeo - or AP as he became known - grew into a tall, strong man, more than able to hold his own in the rough auctions for fruit and veg on the wharfs where traders met the farmers' boats. He helped to build a thriving business.

When he was 31 he sold his share, saying he had no interest in accumulating wealth. "No man owns a fortune," he said. "It owns him." It was the motto of his life.

He'd married and on the death of his father in law, was persuaded to take his vacant place on the board of a little bank in North Beach. He was appalled that they'd not lend money to poor immigrants. The rows in the board room reverberated over North Beach until AP walked out and started a little bank of his own to do that, the Bank of Italy.

From his work on the wharves, he'd become a shrewd judge of character, so he'd cheerfully lend money to pay doctor's bills for delivery of a baby if he judged the couple had integrity.

Phoenix from the rubble

On Wednesday 18 April, 1906, San Francisco was devastated by earthquake and fire. AP rushed to get all his gold and paper money out of danger, hid it under orange crates to conceal it from looters, and stood guard all night in his home.

It must have been a debilitating moment the next day to find his baby bank a mass of charred rubble. The bigger banks, who had vaults too hot to open, had no records and were not lending.

AP instead went down to a wharf close to the smouldering North Beach, flung a plank across two barrels, and with his baritone booming across the desolation, started lending some of his $80,000 to rebuild San Francisco.

He looked for steamship captains he knew, shoved money into their hands, saying "go north and get lumber". AP radiated so much confidence, making a big show of jiggling his little bag of gold, hundreds who'd been hoarding cash and gold banked it with him. North Beach was built faster than any other area.

By 1918 he'd established California's first state-wide banking system. A little local bank in the valley that would have closed in a run after a bad harvest could now keep open by borrowing from the city branch.

He set out to build a nationwide banking system so that distressed areas could be helped by ones that were prospering. Wall St hated him. He beat off their attempts to destroy him. In the Great Depression, he took every opportunity in the New Deal legislation to get California revived in time for the war and the boom that followed.

He did it by putting the community first, himself last. He set up low interest instalment credit plans which enabled thousands to avoid the loan sharks and buy cookers and refrigerators and autos, and he built a whole new electrical industry with his loans.

He financed the Golden Gate bridge, and the Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

No man could do so much good without being maligned. It was said he wore the mask of populism to create a dangerous instrument of personal power and personal wealth.

The truth is that the man whose life was money had no interest in money. He refused to take increases in pay and spurned every bonus. He banned insider trading. Shortly after retiring in 1945, when he found himself in danger of becoming a millionaire, he set up a foundation and gave it half his personal fortune.

And the little bank for the ordinary man that he founded?

The Bank of America.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/magazine/7861397.stm
Published: 2009/01/30 17:11:35 GMT
© BBC MMIX

 

InterOil Safety milestone

InterOil has achieved a major safety milestone for its operations throughout Papua New Guinea.

Figures just released show that at the end of January 2009 the company had notched up a total of more than 6-million man hours without a lost time injury (LTI).

InterOil President Bill Jasper says such a result would be the envy of any major industrial company anywhere in the world.

“It is a tribute to all our employees, particularly those involved in our health and safety programs”.

The figures show InterOil’s Port Moresby Refinery has operated for more than 2,400,000 man hours without an LTI.

In fact, the Refinery has never had a major safety incident since being commissioned.

 The company’s Exploration Division has also operated for more than 2-million man hours without safety incident. 

InterOil Products Limited, the company’s distribution arm, also boasts a flawless safety record totaling more than 1-point-7 million continuous man hours.

“The equation for our entire operation in PNG is more than 6-point-1 million safe and productive man hours”, Mr. Jasper said.

 Despite the impressive record to date, Mr. Jasper said that the Company and its workforce were not resting on their laurels.

“It is the responsibility of everyone involved in our operation from our most senior manager to our newest employee”.

“Safety doesn’t just happen”, Mr. Jasper said.

“It only comes about when everyone involved takes the safety message seriously and acts accordingly”.

“We put safety first and consider the health and well being of our people as paramount”.

“When we first established ourselves here we made a series of commitments to the nation and people of Papua New Guinea”.

“The most important of those commitments is to our workers and our environment”, Mr. Jasper said.

For further information and to arrange media interviews please contact

Susuve Laumaea

Senior Manager Media Relations InterOil Corporation

Ph: 321 7040

Mobile: + (675) 684 5168

Email: susuve.laumaea@interoil.com