John Hayes MP
National Party Associate Foreign Affairs Spokesman
17 February 2006
Tokelau vote a waste of time and money
The Labour Government has wasted a huge amount of taxpayer money conducting the ill-advised independence vote for the
Tokelaus, says National Party Associate Foreign Affairs spokesman John Hayes.
"Foreign Affairs, its former Minister, Phil Goff, who gave his initial blessing to the vote, and new Foreign Ministers
Peters who gave the final authorisation, have wasted taxpayer funds in what is nothing more than an exercise in
stupidity.
"How on Earth did anyone ever think that 1500 people living on three atolls 400 kilometres across the ocean from Samoa
would have sufficient cash surplus as a group to afford the cost of self-government.
"The bureaucrats who recommended this process and the Ministers who blindly accepted it have lost their grip on common
sense and reality.
"Foreign Affairs, it seems, does not learn from its mistakes. Niue was forced down the same path, and the same process
failed them.
"Given this background, why would Phil Goff and Winston Peters not question the ideas and recommendations put to them by
officials? Papers released under the OIA show that not one question was asked.
"The papers show that Phil Goff sent Taito Philip Field as a bag carrier to Tokelau. Why did he not question the
process? Did he not ask himself what was going on here?
"I will be drawing this to the attention of the foreign affairs select committee and will ask for an inquiry into this
and wider Pacific policy-making so we stop making the same mistakes," says Mr Hayes.
"I am in no doubt, after reviewing all the documents, that there was a lack of rigour and common sense in the thought
processes of Foreign Affairs and the Ministers involved. If they can't get their game right in the Pacific, where can
they?"
ENDS