Tokelau The last colony? TONY ANGELO (Taupulega) is, and long has been, the governing body. The chairman (Faipule) of the council and a village head ITUATED WELL NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND and (Pulenuku) are elected by universal suffrage in the village SWestern Samoa and close to the equator, the small every three years. The three councils send representatives atolls of Tokelau, with their combined population of about to form the General Fono which is the Tokelau national 1600 people, may well be the last colony of New Zealand. authority; it originally met only once or twice a year and Whether, when and in what way that colonial status of advised the New Zealand Government of Tokelau's Tokelau will end, is a mat- wishes. ter of considerable specula- The General Fono fre- lion. quently repeated advice, r - Kirlb•ll ·::- (Gifb•rr I•) The recently passed lbn•b'a ' ......... both to the New Zealand (Oc: ..n I} Tokelau Amendment Act . :_.. PMtnb 11 Government and to the UN 1996- it received the royal Committee on Decoloni­ • •• roltfl•u assent on 10 June 1996, and 0/tlh.g• sation, that Tokelau did not 1- •, Aotum•- Uu.t (Sw•ln•J · came into force on 1 August 1 f .. • Tllloplol ~~~~~ !•J.. ·-~~~oa wish to change its status ~ ~ 1996 - is but one piece in ' \, vis-a-vis New Zealand. the colourful mosaic of •l . However, in an unexpected Tokelau's constitutional de­ change of position (stimu- velopment. lated no doubt by external The colonialism that factors such as the UN pro­ Tokelau has known has posal to complete its been the British version, and decolonisation business by it has lasted so far for little the year 2000), the Ulu of over a century. This has TOKELAU Tokelau (the Faipule of been a varied history with Nukuno"u \j .._: Nukunonu) stated to the the administrative capital of Fabofo UN Pacific Regional Semi­ Tokelau being at various nar in June 1993 that 'it is times in Tonga, Suva, Ocean .., Tokelau's wish to shoulder Island, Apia and Welling­ L_.._L_,__, ·- A,I . MI/ A. the new responsibilities'. ton. A particular feature of This was followed in July this colonial past is that, depending on the era, there has 1994 by the presentation of a written statement of the been a limited or non-existent imperial presence. Remote­ Tokelau position to the UN Visiting Mission to Tokelau. ness and lack of resources have undoubtedly been the The document was presented by the then Ulu of Tokelau reasons for this. (the Faipule of Fakaofo) after consultation with each vil­ The New Zealand period of administration began in lage. The full title of this document in English is Tokelau's 1926, and since then there has been no resident New Voice: New Wind, New Waters, New Sail - The Emerging Zealand official in the islands. The most visible, and argu­ Nation of Tokelau. ably the most invasive of the colonial activities was the In 1993 the process of scaling down the Tokelau Public introduction in 1967 of a Tokelau Public Service. This was Service, and of taking it home to Tokelau began in ear­ visible because it introduced a national and externally nest. This was the beginning of Tokelau national govern­ organised work force into the villages, and also included ment in the contemporary and decolonising sense. Within non-Tokelauans in the form of builders, school teachers, a short period of time, there were two significant delega­ and on occasion non-Tokelauan medical staff. The Tokelau tions - those by the State Services Commissioner to Public Service had its main centre in A pia, Western Samoa, Tokelau Public Service Commissioners, and the other by and was until 1993 an increasingly dominant feature of the Administrator of Tokelau to the Tokelau national fo- Tokelau governmental life. rum, the General Fono, and (when the General Fono was On each of the three islands a Council of Elders not in session) to the Council of Faipule (an executive 8 NEW ZEALAND STUDIES NOVEMBER 1997 committee in the nature of a cabinet). At the New Zealand tion, not in its own right. end, these developments had been foreshadowed by the The key features of the new law-making power are appointment in 1992 of a full-time Administrator for that its exercise is subordinate to the powers of the New Tokelau. Zealand Parliament and to those of the Governor-General By 1994 an enquiry as to the degree of internal self­ in Council. The powers may not be used to make laws government in Tokelau would have disclosed that there which apply or have effect outside Tokelau, they may not was a local judiciary and a be exercised to contradict local executive, and local any international obliga­ budgetary and policy re­ tion which affects sponsibility. There was, Tokelau, and all rules however, no local legislative made are subject to a power at the national level. power of disallowance by Laws for Tokelau could the Administrator within only be made in Welling­ 30 days. ton. The fourth visit of a The 1996 Act is of in­ mission from the UN terest not only because of Special Committee on the constitutional devel­ Decolonisation in 1994, the opment of the legislative UN target for the eradica­ power but also because tion of colonialism by the of the use of Tokelauan year 2000, and the specific language in the preamble. Tokelau needs for manag­ This preamble covers two ing its fiscal affairs, put a New Zealand Governor General sir Bernard Freyberg' s tour pages of text and sets the focus on this absence of a of the Tokelau Islands, Nukunonu, July 1948. An accompany­ historical background to legislative power. ing caption reads: 'His Excellency feeding sweets to kids'. the grant of the legisla­ The issue of a legislative Mr Christensen. National Archives. tive power and the pur- power was one which had poses for which the been discussed in Tokelau and with Tokelau over a number power was granted. The Tokelauan language version pre­ of years. In its early forms the request had been for a cedes the English language version and reflects the initia­ limited legislative power to deal with specified domestic tive of the Select Committee. It was the Select Committee matters with the intention which proposed to Par­ that the power could be liament, in its reporting used on a trial basis in the back, that a preamble be first instance. The grant of added and that it include such power never eventu­ Tokelauan language text. ated but, as a consequence This is a first, both for the of undertakings to Tokelau New Zealand Parliament and to the UN Special Com­ and for Tokelau. Addi­ mittee on Decolonisation, tionally the translation of the 1996 Tokelau Amend­ the preamble presented ment Act was passed and, something of a linguistic among other things, it gave challenge for Tokelau, be­ a domestic law-making cause of the necessity to power to the General Fono New Zealand Governor General's tour of the Tokelau Islands, deal with alien concepts of Tokelau. July 1948. Lady Freyberg being carried ashore at Atafu. and to settle spellings in This Act is a significant Mr Christensen. National Archives. the con text of a predomi- step along the way to inter­ nantly oral culture. nal self-government for Tokelau in constitutional terms. Will Tokelau meet the year 2000 deadline for It does not, however, represent full internal self-govern­ decolonisation? In 1994 Tokelau committed itself to the ment. The legislative power is limited and subordinate to process of development of internal self-government, but the powers of the New Zealand Parliament and those of has expressly not committed itself to any timetable for the Governor-General in Council. Further, the main pow­ achievement of full internal self-government or for the ers of the General Fono are executive powers, which are exercise of its right to self-determination. In order to ad­ exercised by it as a delegate of the Administrator; the vance the goals of internal self-government, Tokelau has executive powers of the General Fono are held by delega- since 1993 been very active. It has brought the Tokelau NEW ZEALAND STUDIES NOVEMBER 1997 9 Public Service home from Apia in Western Samoa, it has their government. The workshops combined information, significantly restructured the Public Service, it has devel­ discussion groups and entertainment. They were in gen­ oped its first national strategic plan, and set up a special eral very lively and pleasurable affairs. Their novelty, committee on constitutional development. their informality, and the fact that they did not involve The UNDP, a long term provider of aid to Tokelau, has decision-making meant that people were free from the been particularly supportive of the development of self­ many inhibitions which would otherwise operate in government in Tokelau and Tokelau gatherings. There the moves towards were several interesting decolonisation. Of impor­ features of this informal­ tance to the recent develop­ ity: The elders spoke of ments was UNDP support their relationship to the for a series of constitutional villages and to the villag­ and government work­ ers; General Fono del­ shops in Tokelau in 1995. egates were asked ques­ These workshops were sig­ tions about, and answered nificant. They extended questions on their role in across the whole of Tokelau the General Fono and on and over a period of ap­ the extent to which they proximately five weeks. reported their activities in They were Tokelau organ­ the General Fono back to ised, and Tokelau control­ the villages; youth asked led, with one non- elders about the right of On boat day in 1956, each producer's copra was weighed and Tokelauan participant who youth to participate in the payment made by W G Potter, Paymaster of the Samoan provided information and government of Tokelau; Treasury, Apia.