Week’s highlights:
- It was interesting to give the welcoming speech on Monday evening at the ‘Meet the Candidates’ Tongan community meeting at the Lotofale’ia Methodist Church in Mangere. The meeting was attended by over 100+ people. They got a chance to listen to election candidates from National, Labour, the Conservatives and Internet-Mana. The sitting MP, Su’a William Sio was also present. Interestingly for Labour and National, many of the questions were related to people’s opposition to the Marriage Equality legislation and other moral issues;
- The Small Island Developing States conference starts on Monday 1 September but most people, including the contingent from Massey, will be making their way to Samoa this week/weekend. Massey will be hosting a side event during SIDS to highlight our expertise on climate change and indigenous approaches to disaster risk management. This will be followed by a Massey-hosted workshop at the Wellington campus next year;
- Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley and I visited BEST at their Auckland City offices on Wednesday to explore possible synergies and collaborative areas between our institutions. A subsequent future meeting will hopefully confirm the common areas of interest;
- The Cook Islands general election result will now be decided by the courts after a petition was lodged alleging election irregularities. It is now 7 weeks since the election. I was interviewed regarding a likely result on Radio New Zealand International on Tuesday evening;
- My columns and radio slot this week dealt with: Hone Harawira; most recent political opinion polls; election campaigns by National and Labour; Cabinet reshuffle in Tonga; sale of New Zealand farms to foreigners; Israel and Hamas