Cook Islands youth demand transparency in seabed mining talks

Helena Keenan-Williams, of the Cook Islands, calls for greater transparency and genuine consultation over the government’s controversial seabed mining plans.

Speaking from Sydney following a last-minute public meeting with Prime Minister Mark Brown, Keenan-Williams says many Cook Islanders in Australia are confused and concerned about the future of the Pacific island nation.

“I was only made aware of the event two days before it even happened, which was just astonishing to me,” she tells Susnation Seta on PMN Cook Islands.

“The presentation was overcrowded with people selling a point. I felt like I was in a car sales gimmick.”

The Sydney meeting with the 11-member delegation was held at the Belmore Bowling and Recreation Club last week. Keenan-Williams, who works for the Australian government, says the speakers lacked scientific or academic expertise.

“The hosting of it all was just in shambles… I had very little time to prepare notes or ask the right questions,” she says. “I want to be shown: this is what we’re doing, this is how, and this is our contingency plan.

“The seabed authority or the group of professionals presented to us weren’t specialists [or] environmentalists. The group was made up of bishops and the everyday Cook Islander.”

Keenan-Williams says most of the support for seabed mining comes from older Cook Islanders, but she sees this as misguided.

“There’s been a lot of what I call ‘elder mind-planting’ … spreading a lot of misinformation and leaning the culture to believe that this is a completely non-invasive, easy way to make money, but we know from science, data and research collected since the 60s that this simply isn’t true.

Watch Helena Keenan-Williams' full interview below.

“The people are thinking, ‘Okay, we’re going to make some money out of this. We can fix our airport, our schools, the steps to the courthouse in the Cook Islands.”

She says language accessibility was an issue, as three-quarters of the meeting was conducted in Cook Islands Māori.

“Which was clearly aimed at Cook Islanders of an older generation. How are you supposed to educate and advise us if not all of us can connect to it?”

Keenan-Williams also highlights the lack of gender balance, saying that most of the attendees were men and that women did not speak much, “which irks me because I think women need a place at the table.”

Polymetallic nodules collected during a research survey by Ocean Minerals LLC in 2019. Ocean Minerals is a US mining company that owns Moana Minerals, one of three companies with exploration permits for deep-sea mining in the Cook Islands. Photo/Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority

At the Gold Coast meeting earlier this week, Louisa Castledine, spokesperson for Ocean Ancestors, also raised questions.

"I am a Master's student here in Australia, studying indigenous-led social equity, which looks at the outcomes of indigenous people throughout the world," she says.

"My concern is that we, as a country, don't exercise enough sovereignty and agency over our ocean to commandeer the majority of that economic benefit."

Regarding the project’s status, Keenan-Williams says the delegation assured attendees that the mining effort is in its “beginning phase".

But international media sources report that documents were signed in February, raising doubts about whether feedback from the meeting will make any difference.

Watch Louisa Castledine's full speech below.

Meanwhile, Keenan-Williams is worried about the meeting’s lack of youth representation, and says the excuse that young people “just didn’t care” is misleading.

“It's [documents] going to go sit in an inbox folder, it's going to sit in a file folder, and it's never going to be opened. The government doesn't care what we think.

“If you give people two to three days’ notice, in a hard-to-reach place, and the only platform is Facebook, how do you expect young people to show up?

“There was no viral Instagram, Facebook, TikTok series. You're not connecting with young people over just Facebook.”

For Keenan-Williams, the implications of seabed mining are generational, and she has challenged the Cook Islands government.

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown leads a delegation to Australia where community consultations are being held on seabed mining. Photo/Cook Islands News

“These leaders, they’re not going to live to see the detrimental negative impacts. The people who suffer are my generation, my children’s generation, and their children’s generation. That’s why I really want to rally the youth right now.

“If you want to be transparent with people, that’s where change happens. That’s how you’ll get me on board, if you don’t pull a rug over my head.”

Further consultation meetings are scheduled in Melbourne on 5-6 June.

Official response

According to the Cook Islands News, the Seabed Minerals Authority described the face-to-face sessions as presenting a “science-led, environmentally responsible, and sovereign approach to seabed minerals exploration”.

The authority characterised community engagement as the “next step” in strengthening the relationship between government and the diaspora, clarifying what is happening and what is not.

Speaking to Cook Islands News, Brown labelled environmental groups opposing the measures as “ideological”, reiterating that no mining has been approved and all current activities are exploratory.

"These conversations reaffirm who we are and what we stand for”, Brown says.
“Our diaspora carries our culture and pride with them. They are part of our national direction, and their voice matters."