The Cook Islands Foreign Affairs Minister, Wilkie Rasmussen, says keeping the population at home will be one of the big challenges for 2009.
He says he knows of people getting ready to move to Australian and New Zealand in the New Year.
"Some of the outer islands people are already packing up to leave for Australia or New Zealand because the budgets for the outer island operations and administrations are much less than what they got in the last year and it has been decreasing"
Wilkie Rasmussen, says the government needs to do more to support the economy.
He's called for both the Prime Minister, and the Deputy Prime Minster to step down saying the government is under performing.
