Little impact

for Niue and Tokelau

Niue and Tokelau can rest easy in the certainty that the outcome of New Zea land’s general elections on August 15 will have little impact on their futures. New Zealand is obliged to provide its two South Pacific territories with aid and administrative help. Successive National and Labour governments have tried to pursue a policy of giving more reponsibility to the island administrations. The fourth Labour Government has shown more active concern for the welfare of Niue and Toke lau. But the tenor of relations is forged most by the frequent contacts between Wellington’s bureaucrats and their Niuean and Tokelauan conterparts.

Niue’s ties with New Zealand

since self-government in 1974 have been unfortunate in seve ral ways. Last year, a joint Niue review group, chaired by Sir James Stewart, urged a radical change in outlook to save Niue from complete depopulation.

The review called for Niue to be kept as a living community.

Niue has suffered a severe population loss: down from 5111 in 1970 to about 2900 in 1984. Niueans have New Ze land citizenship but the review rejected the idea of encourag ing people to leave the island or that Niue be reintegrated with New Zealand.

Both governments had to accept as “a paramount objec tive” the maintenance of a living community on the 258 sq

km island north east of Tonga.

Central to this policy was an effort to ensure that the stan dard of living for islanders did not differ markedly from that of the nearly 10,000 Niueans in New Zealand. The review said Niue’s most important re source, its people, had been “slowly draining away”. Retain ing the population was essen tial, so Niue’s social and econo mic life had to be made more competitive with New Zealand’s attractions.

“People should not be temp ted to leave for New Zealand simply because they see no other way of improving their economic position or escaping excessive social and community commitments,” the review said.