15 Jul 2003

Cooks Opposition threatens resignations over Attorney General's inaction

4:31 pm on 15 July 2003

Opposition MPs from the Cook Islands Party are considering resigning en masse to force a general election because of the inaction of the country's Attorney General.

Party spokesperson Wilkie Rassmussen says the MPs are unhappy with Dr Terepai Moate's delay in starting the legal process to decide the status of seats held by MPs Norman George and Paora Teiti.

The MPs want Dr Moate, who's also the Deputy Prime Minister to file an application for the High Court to make a declaratory judgement as to whether the seats are vacant or not.

Mr Rassumssen says party members will wait until the budget debate to see what to do next.

"we believe that he's been dragging this thing far too long, I think it's a fairly straight forward decision for him to make. It's a question of timing really. One, those applications need to be made, two, the budget is now in Parliament for debate, we might then see the budget through and then take action."

Wilkie Rassumussen - Cook Islands party spokesperson.

Cooks Islands National party leader Teariki Heather says he will file an application if Dr Terepai Moate doesnt.