ROLE OF THE OPPOSITION
citizens and carry New Zealand passports. The Cook Islands has a local population of 10,900 as noted in the 2011 census; but there are close to 80,000 Cook Islanders living in New Zealand and several thousand in Australia with smatterings in other places around the world. In 2001, a Joint Centenary
Declaration was signed between Cook Islands Prime Minister Dr the Hon. Terepai Maoate and New Zealand Prime Minister Hon. Helen Clark to acknowledge that in the special relationship between the two countries, the Cook Islands has evolved into virtual independence apart from New Zealand being responsible for its defence. Today, Rarotonga is the hub of commercial, government and social activities in the Cook Islands. It is where the Parliament of the Cook Islands is located. Prior to Parliament, political representation of Cook Islanders was to the Legislative Council which was constituted in 1946.
There are 24 elected Members
in the current Parliament and the government has 14 while the opposition has nine with one Member of Parliament as an Independent. Elections are held every four years and the last being held in November 2010. The electoral boundaries of the Cook Islands set out for all inhabited islands to have at least one MP although some islands have had separate constituencies created within those islands based on representation according to population. Once elections are held, a Prime Minister is elected by Parliament and is usually the MP that commands the confidence of the majority of Members in the House. The current Prime Minister of the Cook Islands is the Leader of the Cook Islands Party (CIP) and his party holds the majority of seats in the House. On the other side of the Floor
of the House is the opposition: all nine MPs represent the Democratic Party, the other major political party in the Cook Islands. The Democratic Party, known as the “Demos”, lost the
last general election after being in government for about a decade.
The position of the opposition As it is the case in any parliamentary democracy, the opposition in the Cook Islands plays the role of watchdog over the government and it readies itself to take charge of the Treasury – that being its ultimate objective. The opposition in the Cook
Islands is a good spread of people with different backgrounds and ages. Three of the opposition MPs are in their early and mid-60s and are long- serving MPs and former Ministers. In fact one of them is a former Prime Minister. The rest of the MPs, along with
myself, are in our 50s but less than 55 years old. There are three women MPs in the opposition, all three of them first entered Parliament after the male incumbents died causing by-elections. Two of the female MPs are first-time Members, one being elected in October last year and the other only a few days ago at the time of writing. There is no particular law that
defines what an opposition is apart from some conventions that set the number of MPs to comprise the Official Opposition. For instance the accepted number is five MPs as opposed to three some years before. Achieving the establish number entitles that party to funding to be channelled to the Office of the Leader of the Opposition. That office hires staff and carries out activities pertaining to the functions of the Leader of the Opposition and the rest of the MPs in the opposition. The current annual budget of the
Cook Islands government sets aside by way of the Appropriation Bill a total sum of $205,000 for the Leader of the Opposition. A Social Responsibility Fund of $8,000 per MP, including the opposition, is also made available for small constituency projects and activities. Expenditures of such funds are all to be receipted for and the budget for the Office of the Leader of the Opposition is also subject to government auditing.
32 | The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue One There are no offices for other
opposition MPs. That is also the case for government Backbenchers although they can use the offices of Ministers and appropriate Ministries over which they have been assigned some responsibility.
An accepted moral duty The evolution of the opposition has been gradual; but it is a largely accepted view that it plays an important role in the development of the democratic process of the Cook Islands. Conventions and Standing Orders set out a working framework as to what the opposition does in Parliament, in particular how it challenges the government on a
“Times have certainly changed for the better and the opposition is a lot more dynamic; but there is still some way to go.”
number of its initiatives in Parliament. However, it does not enjoy the full services of some of the Public Administration Offices. For instance, it cannot utilize Crown Law for opinions as would any Ministry of government, nor is it necessarily on the mailing list for circulars the government sends out amongst its own agencies. The Leader of the Opposition can demand access to confidential information and, if not given it, can apply under the Official Information Act like any member of the public. The opposition engages in debate
with the government in Parliament over legislation or papers submitted for deliberations. It also engages in debates on matters of procedure. In issues where a two-thirds vote of all MPs is required, the opposition can certainly defeat the current government if it does not agree with the matter. For instance, there
is an ongoing demand for political reform where some seats with a very low number of electors would be abolished and the electoral boundaries redrawn. The government will definitely need to work with the opposition to ensure passage of amendments to the constitution or the Electoral Act to establish the electoral boundaries. When in session, opposition MPs
are not compelled to actually stay in Parliament because the government with its majority can carry on in complete disregard of the opposition. However, politeness being a feature of Cook Islands politics, the opposition often sits throughout lengthy sittings and in fact takes up most of the speaking time otherwise government
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