The Future of Tokelau by Judith Huntsman

Author:Judith Huntsman [Huntsman, Judith and Kalolo, Kelihiano]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History
Publisher: Auckland University Press
Published: 2007-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

PART THREE

CHAPTER SIX

A Tokelau National Government – the First Design

Ko nā tupua mai tai ma nā tupua mai utua e fetekenaki lava

‘Spirits from afar and spirits of the land continually contest’

– QUOTED SAYING, ADAPTED FROM MACGREGOR 1932

Administrator Absolum’s ‘package’ of initiatives designed to reshape Tokelau’s administrative and political structures was endorsed forthwith by the Fono, refined and amplified by a working party, and approved by the Fono in 1992. The approved ‘package’ called for:

(i) formation of the Council of Faipule (hereafter ‘Council’);

(ii) annual rotation of the position of Ulu o Tokelau among the Faipule during their three-year tenure;

(iii) delegation of certain of the Administrator’s executive powers to the Fono and Council;

(iv) enactment of Fono Regulations and adoption of Fono rules;

(v) delegation of SSC responsibility to two TPS Commissions – one in New Zealand and one in Tokelau;

(vi) transfer of responsibility for unskilled and semi-skilled workers from the TPS to Taupulega; and

(vii) a review of the TPS recommending structural and operational changes in light of these changes, and relocation.

The creation of the Council resurrected proposals going back to 1980 repeatedly rejected by Faipule and Official Secretaries, who persuaded Administrators they were unwise. Yet Tokelau approved it in 1992 as part of a ‘package’. Indeed, Tokelau approved the whole ‘package’ with uncharacteristic alacrity because reforms (v) and (vi) promised SSC eventual withdrawal.1

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