Neu: 2002-01-17 Contents of this issue:
1. Soft Touch? 2. Lineup Without Niue 3. Carpenters Needed ======================================================================== January 17th 2002 1. Soft Touch?: The Government must heed a warning New Zealand is a new target for people smugglers after granting refugee status to asylum seekers Australia turned away says National leader Bill English said. Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said it has been suggested people smugglers "are now talking more about New Zealand than they are about Australia", after it granted refugee status to most of the 131 Tampa asylum seekers who Australia refused to take in. It was "unsafe to assume that smugglers have not noticed" New Zealand's high refugee status approval rate for the Tampa asylum seekers. Mr English said Prime Minister Helen Clark must take notice of Mr Ruddock's warning. "New Zealand is clearly now seen as a soft touch and it is not hard to understand why," he said in a statement. "Clark's original decision reflects her tendency to short-term thinking and now Philip Ruddock is alerting her to the long-term consequences." Miss Clark had a duty to tell New Zealanders what the Government's policy on the issue was and what advice she had received on dealing with boatpeople if they arrived here. Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile the Niue Government will refuse to accept any boatpeople for processing. At the last Legislative Assembly meeting the Alliance Independent Opposition member O'Love Jacobsen convinced the 20 seat Parliament to adopt a policy of non involvement in the asylum seeking refugee issues.( NZPA). 2. Lineup Without Niue: The Niue sevens rugby side may miss out on this year's Wellington leg of the World Sevens Series on February 8-9. Niue played in its first international series this time last year when France withdrew from the Wellington match. The field is: Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Cook Islands, England, Fiji, France, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, South Africa, Tonga, United States and Wales. However Niue remains on standby and is the first pick to replace any side that withdraws.Six players are training daily on the island and at least one NZ based sevens players would join the team. 3. Carpenters Needed: Tonga is considering asking for skilled builders from Australia and New Zealand to help rebuild the cyclone-devastated islands in the northern part of the kingdom. Cyclone Waka tore through Vava'u and Niuafa'ou early in the New Year with winds up to 150 miles per hour. Many people who have lost their homes are living in Australian-donated tents, but Tonga's disaster office head, Malui Takai, says more assistance is still needed. "The local warehouses are running out of building supplies and we are considering requesting assistance from skilled builders to help out with the building of schools. "I think that is one of our top priorities at this point," Mr. Takai said. "One reason we are so concerned about schools is that the academic year starts at the end of this month and we are considering various options like putting up marquees or huge tents as temporary classrooms." After Cyclone Ofa in 1990 which devastated Niue, volunteer tradesmen from New Zealand assisted with the re-construction of the damaged Niue Hotel. (PIR). __END__
