Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Pacific People's Minister Dr Shane Reti show off their island alo'a (shirts) in Samoa before heading home. Photo / Michael Appleton
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Pacific People's Minister Dr Shane Reti show off their island alo'a (shirts) in Samoa before heading home. Photo / Michael Appleton
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Pacific People’s Minister Dr Shane Reti have wrapped up their first Pacific Mission together - island-hopping between Tonga, Cook Islands and Samoa and announcing various amounts of funds and agreements to help with development, climate change action, health and education projects.
Despite the rocky reception he received in Waitangi, Peters is welcomed warmly in the respective island motherlands. He is no stranger to the region and is referred to as an old friend and welcomed to a second home.
Peters will refer to Shane Reti as NZ First’s Shane Jones several times during the trip and I’m not sure who is embarrassed more - Peters, Reti or their respective press staff travelling with them.
The main event today is the opening of a new pharmaceutical warehouse built with the help of $2.4m from NZ as part of its Covid-19 response in Tonga.
It’s an event steeped in Tongan tradition and protocol, as the Crown Prince is in attendance. Much of what is said is also entirely in Tongan.
Health workers perform a traditional Tongan dance at the opening of a new pharmaceutical warehouse in Tonga. Photo / Vaimoana Mase
However, there are hearty chuckles from the crowd and Peters himself when the host introducing him to the stage talks about his many achievements over the years - including being a former rugby representative.
At one point during the tour of the warehouse, Peters manages to get away from the media pack. He’s spotted standing outside the room with a sign for “Injectables”. But with no photographers nearby, the opportunity is missed.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters arrives at a Waitangi Day reception in Rarotonga. Photo / Grace Tinetali-Fiavaai
They are greeted not as guests, but like returning sons, with the words “welcome to your second home” used and the acknowledgement of the connections between Aotearoa, Māori and Rarotonga.
Next on the agenda is a bilateral meeting with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, whose office proves to be a highlight when the reporters find a large mango tree outside is a perfect spot to file stories from - in between eating juicy mangoes.
The large mango tree outside Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown's office in Rarotonga is the perfect spot for reporters filing their stories. Photo / John Pulu
It was very hard to leave the plentiful mangoes on the ground, knowing the cost of a single mango back home is about $8.
At a media stand-up with the two ministers, a journalist asks Peters how he’s feeling in a suit, given the heat. He points out that this is how they always dress and will not “dress down” here.
It seems odd given we are indeed in the Pacific region and there is therefore formal island wear. The Tongan deputy PM met the ministers wearing a tupenu (formal lavalava) with a suit jacket and tie. The Cook Islands PM turned up earlier to the bilateral in a bright aqua island shirt and necklace.
Even the majority of the media delegation from New Zealand, 90 per cent of whom are of Pasifika descent, are standing there in formal island wear representing the respective island motherlands they hail from.
It is a beautiful thing, especially on this trip.
Health and Pacific minister Dr Shane Reti visits Rarotonga Hospital. Photo / Grace Tinetali-Fiavaai
Reti must have realised this too as about half an hour later, he arrives for a tour at the Rarotonga Hospital in a blue island shirt and flower lei. Or maybe it was a get-back at Winston for forgetting his surname yet again.
Jones - sorry, Reti will surprise us all again later that evening when he busts out a song at a special Waitangi Day reception. His voice is surprisingly good and would tickle any Jim Reeves fan’s fancy.
SAMOA
Onto the plane again and we touch down in Samoa - where there’s a saying that real men wear skirts.
Samoan PM Fiame Naomi and Deputy PM Vaovasamanaia Winston Peters face the media in Apia, Samoa. Photo / Vaimoana Mase
The next day of official business is a Friday and off to another bilateral meeting we go. This time it is with Samoan palemia (prime minister) Fiame Naomi Mata’afa.
It is a packed press conference, with more local reporters than Kiwi media. We are told by some of those reporters that they only found out about the trip after overseas media reported on it.
A strict press secretariat warns us all that we can only ask a total of four questions - two from Samoan media and two from New Zealand. Several of us jump in with a question anyway, despite the side-eye from Uncle Press Secretariat.
Asked whether he felt a special obligation or sense of responsibility to Samoa, given he is a Samoan matai, Peters says: “It’s in the Good Book - about my title. I was a stranger and they took me in.”
I’m not sure what that answer means exactly; only that it wasn’t what I expected.
Everywhere we go, the motorcade - with several police cars with flashing lights and security personnel on motorbikes - gets lots of attention. Young children wave excitedly and point to the police motorbikes as we zoom by.
Winston Peters and Dr Shane Reti meet students at the National University of Samoa. Photo / Vaimoana Mase
At the National University of Samoa, ministers Peters and Reti meet first-year health science students.
A smiling Peters can’t draw out any questions from the students, who probably stay quiet out of fa’aaloalo (respect), as is the Samoan way.
The only real laughter - albeit a little awkward - comes when the two Kiwi ministers are asked to pose for a photo with a skeleton in the room.
Peters will get Shane (Jones) Reti’s name wrong yet again a few minutes later and at this point, maybe a Samoan name would be easier to remember.
The media bring up the topic of their island wardrobes - or lack of - again. But we all get a pleasant surprise the next and final day, when they turn up in crisp island shirts looking fresh and just as important as they would in any suit and tie.
Deputy PM Winston Peters and Health and Pacific People's Minister Dr Shane Reti show off their island shirts on the last day of the Pacific Mission, in Samoa. Photo / Michael Appleton
Vaimoana Mase is the Pasifika editor for the Herald’s Talanoa section, sharing stories from the Pacific community. She won junior reporter of the year at the then Qantas Media Awards in 2010 and picked up the best opinion writing award at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.
