Families urged to solve land disputes outside court

Transcript

The Cook Islands house of Ariki says people should strengthen familial relationships to avoid court disputes over land ownership.

Up to 24 high chiefs from various islands belong to the parliamentary body and provide feedback on policy issues such as permanent residence and preserving traditions.

The clerk of the house, Puna Rakanui, told Daniela Maoate-Cox land use and ownership often spark family arguments.

Puna Rakanui says a combination of traditional customs and modern law could be implemented to determine land use and ownership.

PUNA RAKANUI: We are urging them, one to connect with their families, nuclear families, extended families, the clans, the tribes, talk amongst yourself, there are problems, they have family issues but come one, strengthen our traditional family structures so when it comes to dealing with land, we don't argue over it. We can easily say, yes you can use the land and when you finish bring it back to the family. The other potential solution is for those who are living abroad to give their power of attorney to somebody living in the Cook Islands, so that only one person can speak on behalf of say 50 or 100 people rather than spending a lot of money searching for all the landowners to get their consent. We haven't got that capacity, our people in the Cook Islands haven't got that capacity, so again the whole idea is to bring our people together, see what difficulties they have and share what we believe are issues in the Cook Islands that they need to know. I know a couple of people they tried to apply for more than a quarter acre under vesting orders, that was thrown out of court. So it's difficult. I am entitled to more than a quarter of an acre, why am I restricted to quarter of an acre? You go to the court and they will say, no, you are only entitled, under the vesting order to a quarter of an acre.

DANIELA MAOATE-COX: How do you know how much you're entitled to?

PR: Because the land in the Cook Islands, in most islands except for Mangaia, Mitiaro and Pukapuka, have already been determined, the shares on most of the islands have been determined. Some areas on Rarotonga are still to be investigated. So I know what shares my family owns and what my grandmother owns so it is easy for the families to determine what their shares are.

DM-C: So who determined it in the first place?

PR: It has already been determined by the court. There were surveys conducted, there were investigations of titles in the past and determination of shares were done in the past for most lands. I don't know whether that was a good thing, in Mitiaro, Mangaia and Pukapuka it didn't happen.

DM-C: What did they do there?

PR: They are still under our traditional customary practices where if they need land, they don't have any land, they go to the ariki and ask, and the ariki says, go build over there. They can do that, they are well protected by the authority of the ariki without anything in writing, nothing in black and white, once they say there are no more issues from the particular person, then the land automatically reverts back to the ariki, for the ariki to decide what to do with it. So there are problems with that one too but it seems to be a little bit more simple to apply than what we are in today.