Rangatahi Māori, Te Matahiapo Safari Hynes (Rangitāne, Ngāti Kahungunu) said it was a chance for New Zealand to think about the role of the monarchy, and the currency was a good start.

“I think these are the sorts of things we should start thinking about — what are the different things that colonisation and the Crown has entrenched over the years that we can perhaps start to pick at, and that we can perhaps start to peel back on?”

Hynes said although these kinds of conversations had already been happening for a long time, the accession of King Charles III had provided an opportunity.

“There are times where [these conversations] will come into the public eye for a short span, and they’ll dominate the headlines for a little time, and then they’ll go back, and they’ll come back eventually when something else happens,” he said.

The #ourownmoney campaign asks the Reserve Bank “to reconsider ensuring our money represents us as a country, that the people and the symbols on our money are people that are from here, that come from these places, have been in this country, even at a minimum have lived in this country.”

Hynes hoped to honour the people who had contributed to New Zealand, and showcase more New Zealand symbols.

Historical figures, blossoms
“We have so many people in our country’s history that have paved the way for us to be where we are today and how we will be in the future. This is an opportunity to acknowledge and recognise their hard work,” the petition says.

He suggested using figures like Dame Whina Cooper, Eva Rickard or Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia on the $20 note. He also proposes putting native plants like kōwhai blossom, harakeke, or kawakawa on the coins.

A constitutional scholar who has participated in the Māori Constitutional Convention, Hynes waited until after the Queen’s funeral to launch his petition, out of respect.

He said the currency conversation is one New Zealand could have without going into the immediate and impulsive calls for a republic, which he believed was a much bigger and more nuanced conversation.

“I’m sceptical of people who are attempting to push a kind of republic-based agenda because they perhaps think in some technical way Māori rights can be extinguished.”

The Reserve Bank has already signalled the next redesign will feature King Charles III, but the change is still a long way off. It will take several years before coins featuring Queen Elizabeth II are replaced, and even longer for the $20 note to change.

“We manufacture these notes infrequently and do not plan to destroy stock or shorten the life of existing banknotes just because they show the Queen. This would be wasteful and poor environmental practice,” the Reserve Bank said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape has confirmed reports his eldest son is one of two men arrested in relation to a suitcase found with US$440,000 at a domestic airport in the Highlands province of Hela last weekend.

The arrests occurred after police became suspicious of the suitcase amid heightened security in preparation for the general election which began on Monday.

One of the men arrested is Mospal Marape.

James Marape told media as he cast his first vote on Monday that his son had no association with the luggage.

“The person who was transporting the money is the director of a construction company in Hela Province. Knowing there are checks at the airport, he brought the money, for him he felt the money was legal,” Marape said.

“He was transporting money for his company. He was being picked up and police felt the money was suspicious on the eve of an election.”

Marape dismissed rumours the money was linked to his campaign.

“I don’t need the fund for the elections. Police have kept the fund.

‘Voting here without fund’
“I’m voting here without the help of the fund. Some think that it’s a link and influenced by me, far from it.

“That fund is not needed. We’re running elections on Friday.

“The message to my people is vote with no condictions. And as sitting prime minister, personally I want people to vote whether they value the office of prime minister or not.”

In an interview from Tari with the Post-Courier’s Miriam Zarriga, Marape said that rumours going around were “false” and that he “does not need the money”.

“People are saying the money was meant to assist me. I can confirm that it is not my money, I do not need that money and I did not charter that flight,” Marape said.

“It is a company charter and for safety reasons they run checks at the airport, because my son was in the vicinity, police rounded up all of them.

“My son was part of a security detail that was providing security to reporters who had travelled to Komo and the Hides Gas site.

‘Two nights in the cell’
“Just like any citizen, if police feel you are a suspect, they will lock you up and the process will follow.

“Just because he is my son, I have never gone to the police and demanded his release, just like everyone else he stayed two nights in the cell, initiated bail and now the due process is being followed.

“It is not illegal money but money for the company [which] uses the money to pay their workers. Most people don’t prefer banks because of fees.

They would rather receive cash.

“I have gone to polling without the use of that money as I have no use for it.”

Police confirmed that the main suspect in the incident had been allegedly released without any charges laid.

However, the money was still being held by police as an exhibit.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape has confirmed reports his eldest son is one of two men arrested in relation to a suitcase found with $US440,000 at a domestic airport in the highlands province of Hela last week.https://t.co/wtJvjP4gjE

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) July 5, 2022

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz