Cook Islands MP Teariki Heather says the changing face of politics is good for the country.
Mr Heather last week disbanded his party, the Cook Islands National Party, to join Opposition leader Sir Geoffrey Henry's Cook Islands Party.
And with the recent emergence of independents Brett Porter and Jessie Sword, the political arena has been injected with some fresh blood.
Mr Heather says the new faces will bring more initiative for change, and he wasn't content with sitting on the fence any longer himself.
"That's the intention, and we're hoping for that change anyway."
So it's like the saying goes: If you can't beat them, join them and I think that makes it more sensible, if we have to make a difference, and make a change, for the voices of the little people to be heard. Because I believe that maybe a few of us, the young ones coming up, will make that change.
Teariki Heather
