For this current government to potentially threaten our ability to hold a New Zealand passport is a concern not just to those at home but to all of us who hold this passport and have akapapa or genealogical ties back to our beautiful Ipukarea, writes Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.

For the more than 94,000 of us here in Aotearoa, it is a resounding NO, based on the hundreds of comments, messages, and social media engagement on this issue.

And while those at home can often ignore the views of those of us who live beyond the reef, any decision that jeopardises our relationship with New Zealand as citizens and passport holders will affect us all.

For all the many things that make us different, the New Zealand passport is the united banner we currently all sit under as citizens of New Zealand and citizens of the Cook Islands, with all its rights and privileges.

New Zealand Government support for us as a country has been critical. We only need to think back to when Covid-19 closed our borders and our economy. The New Zealand government provided Covid-19 Economic Recovery Support, with an additional NZD 20 million to bolster cash reserves and fund immediate costs related to livelihoods, social protections, and Covid-19 preparedness. Let alone the supply – free of charge – of Covid vaccines for all in-country so they could be vaccinated sooner rather than later.

My parents are here now, receiving much-needed health support, with the health referral process at jeopardy if we lose our citizenship and passport. How many would now be dead or in a much worse condition but for our ability to be referred or get our parents on a plane to New Zealand to receive the health support they need, as granted under our current constitutional status?

Let alone our education and public service sector, with teacher referrals from New Zealand and education agency support. This includes just this year a New Zealand commitment of NZD 3.5 million annually for three years to enhance public sector capabilities and foster cross-agency cooperation. The list goes on and on and on—so why would we support anything that would jeopardise this?

The balance, of course, is that as a nation, we are on a pathway toward greater independence and a stronger sense and demonstration of our sovereignty, and this is something I also support. It would be remiss of me not to consider the contribution Cook Islanders have made to the New Zealand economy since the 1940s, with many of us being the children or grandchildren of that migrant labour.

Working in jobs and factories that New Zealanders were not keen to work in, we fuelled an economy that needed our blood, sweat, and tears for the factory, timber, and freezing work floors. We, as a country, have earned the right to continue this conversation.

Our contribution to the New Zealand economy can now be measured. In 2023, Cook Islands Māori made up 20 per cent of the total Pacific population in Aotearoa. This means we represent 20 per cent of the $5.7 billion Pacific people contribute each year to the New Zealand economy and 20 per cent of the 27,000 volunteer hours annually since 2018 or $1.14 billion, and 5400 hours annually.

Have we earned the right to have this conversation? Most definitely. But as is clear, the diplomacy or way this has been managed has halted at the same outcome when it was discussed with Prime Ministers Kirk, Clark, Key, and now Luxon.

But this is not a discussion for government officials or leaders. This is a discussion to be had by the people of the Cook Islands. The people must drive this change, and the people must be the ones asking for a Cook Islands passport – not a small group speaking on our behalf without consulting us or simply saying: What do you think?

Working in several governments, the end result of leaders who ignore their people is that they are ignored when it counts – at the polls. Leaders around the world have been toppled simply because they lost the trust and no longer led with the ear, heart, or confidence of their people. Samoa and Fiji are recent examples in the Pacific. If this is what the people of the Cook Islands want, then so be it. If not, then leave it alone.

Or as Papa Jon Tikivanotau Jonassen said: ‘Akaruke ua ia Maungaroa ki reira – Leave the ancient mountain where it is.’