Teilweise neu: 2001-10-09 Contents of this issue:
1. Journalist Chair 2. Good Sailing 3. Spreading Wings 4. Community Study 5. Office Review 6. Internet Quandry ======================================================================== Old contents were: 1. Good Sailing 2. Spreading Wings 3. Community Study 4. Office Review 5. Internet Quandry October 9th, 2001 1. Journalist Chair: Tongan publisher and journalist Kalafi Moala has been elected founding chairperson of the new Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA).He is the publisher of Pasifika Times ( in association with the Niue Economic Review) which is circulated weekly on Niue. Moala was elected at the head of an executive committee tasked with formalising the establishment of PIMA - a support group for Pacific Island media professionals based in Aotearoa/New Zealand. PIMA's website reported the elections at the body's inaugural conference at the Auckland University of Technology over the weekend. Moala is one of the Pacific community's leading publishers and journalists and a strong advocate of free speech. He runs the Lali Media group which publishes the Taimi 'o Tonga, the recently acquired Cook Islands Star and the Pasifika Times newspaper.(PIR) 2. Good Sailing: Another great season for the Niue Yacht Club which has hosted 116 yachts so far this season. That's 887 yacht days - sailors providing a valuable input to the local economy that almost matches that of tourists who flew into the island from May to October. "It was a late start to the season this year," said NYC commodore Wally Saunders. "Because of the weather patterns many yachts stayed in French Polynesian and the Cook Islands later than usual." "But yachties have again provided a good boost to the local economy and with the number of tourists limit this season the country has needed that," he added. Last year 135 yachts visited Niue spending 1037 days on moorings. This year two American yachties have entered the record books on Niue. Janet and Ken Slagle of Aquila have enjoyed their stay so much they're still on Niue after anchoring on May 21. Most yachts in the eastern Pacific are now heading south-west to avoid the coming cyclone season. Many of them shelter at Vav'au Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. 3. Spreading Wings: An Air Pacific Boeing 737 and crews have been based in New Zealand to operate New Zealand domestic services for the Australian airline Qantas. This valuable deal for Fiji's international airline has enabled Qantas to free one of its own planes and crews from New Zealand to help in Australia following the collapse of Ansett Airlines. The state-of-the-art Air Pacific Boeing 737 is one of three it operates on its international services and will be in New Zealand for at least three months. Air Pacific managing director John Campbell said there is also an option to extend the lease for another three months. He said this is a major accomplishment for Air Pacific. The company will be earning significant revenues from otherwise idle aircraft time, guaranteed employment for staff as well as achieving extensive exposure for Fiji and Air Pacific in the New Zealand market, he said. Air Pacific also has a Boeing 747 and Boeing 767. It operates its own flights from Fiji to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington in New Zealand and to Apia, Honolulu, Nuku'alofa, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Vancouver. (PINA Nius Online.) 4. Community Study: The future of Niue's constitutional relationship with New Zealand takes another major step this month. Vital factors necessary to maintain a living community on the island are to be examined by a specialist team adding to discussions already held by the Joint Consultative Group, set up in February 2000, and the island's current Constitutional Review Committee. The team, which includes a Niuean counterpart, is being funded by the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and its hoped the report will be completed before the end of the year. Called the Niue "Living Community" Study it will attempt to reveal Niueans future aspirations and realistic options for the maintenance of a community on the 265 sq km raised coral atoll island which is self governing in free association with New Zealand. Representatives of the 18,000 Niueans living in New Zealand will be encouraged to take part in the study. Officials say community consultation is vital and its hoped the report will contribute to the establishment of a group in Niue representative of all sectors of society to develop a "home grown" model of governance to achieve greater economic and social development. The structure and cost of the island's Legislative Assembly which has 20 members has come under the spotlight in the past 12 months with suggestions that the six common roll members could be dropped. Other suggestions have included a regional local body type government with members elected from constituencies which include three or four villages. The reduction in the island's population to 1750 and a stagnant economy has resulted in New Zealan examining its future constitutional role. New Zealand is obliged under the Constitution Act of 1974 to provide necessary financial and administrative assistance to Niue. A recent poll taken among residents of Niue indicated around 65% opted for maintaining self government in free association with NZ. Around 25% indicated they favoured re-integration with New Zealand. 5. Office Review: The performance of the Niue Tourism Office is to come under scrutiny. The Wellington based NZODA plans to carry out a cost benefit analysis of the office operations and examine the effectiveness of promotional strategies sinc 1998. A consultant is being hired to also report on the returns on expenditure from tourism promotion compared to a selection of other Pacific countries. Since 1998 NZODA has provided almost $NZ9000,000 in funding for the tourism office. The Niue Government has contributed almost $400,000. Part of the review includes recommendations for future NZODA support for tourism development on Niue. This year the Niue Government has budgetted to contribute $187,000 to the tourism office. 6. Internet Quandry: A study conducted in New Caledonia shows that the number of Internet subscriptions is comparatively low because the French territory's population thinks it us "not useful" and "too expensive." According to the study, which was conducted by research firm Louis-Harris, one third of the population in the Greater Nouméa do have a computer, but only 12 per cent are connected to the Internet. Some 25 per cent of the surveyed sample said they did not have a computer because it is "too expensive", another 25 per cent said it is "not useful". Another 20 per cent said they intended to buy one shortly. In the population structure, Metropolitan French nationals were the best equipped: 53 per cent of this category have the Internet at home. Another hindering factor cited by the survey was the cost of telecommunications, which is perceived as too high by 48 per cent of the sampled persons. But this did not seem to be a cause for worry among New Caledonians: only four per cent of the surveyed individuals would like steps to be taken to improve Internet access, three per cent ask for better rates. Connection to the internet is free on Niue - the only country in the world with such a service. E-mail registration and use is also free - users only have to pay the standard local telephone call from their PC to the Internet Users Society servers. (Oceania Flash/SPC) __END__
