Cook Islands Prime Minister, Henry Puna, and New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, in Government House in Auckland. Photo: RNZI
The Cook Islands Prime Minister, Henry Puna, is being accused of giving out wrong information, and not doing his research on the issue of depopulation.
In a response to a question about a declining Cook Islands population, Mr Puna told New Zealand reporters that the Cook Islands does not have a serious depopulation issue.
He says in 1928, a census of the Cook Islands population showed that there were just 2000 Cook Islanders back then.
Our correspondent in the Cook Islands says that figure is inaccurate, and according to Statistics, the population count in 1928 was 10,082.
James Beer of the opposition Democratic Party says Henry Puna doesn't know his own math, and it demonstrates a leader who doesn't do the research properly.
"Who is fairly sort of dismissive and flippant about these kinds of things. And it unfortunately reflects badly on us, and as a country. When there are issues that need to be dealth with, our Prime Minister doesn't deal with them in a way in which you'd expect from a leader of the country."
James Beer.