Myanmar is "a nation that I carry in my heart with much affection, ever since my apostolic visit there in 2017," he said after the Angelus on Sunday.

New Zealand's leaders are likewise concerned about the 1 February 2021 military coup which deposed Myanmar's democratically elected government.

The military has detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi whose National League for Democracy Party won a landslide in a November general election.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, making the announcement after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, said all "high-level" political contact would be ended, and New Zealand's aid programme "should not" be delivered in conjunction with, or benefit, the military.

Ardern, speaking earlier, said the Government's response represented "important, fundamental changes" to the relationship between New Zealand and Myanmar, and were "right up there" among the strongest actions that could be taken.

Ardern said New Zealand would maintain its aid programme - which mostly consists of agricultural, educational, and renewable energy spending - as none was currently connected to the military.

"This will mean being very cautious about the way that we enter into aid programmes in Myanmar from henceforth," she said.

A travel ban on Myanmar's military leaders will be formalised later in the week.

Meanwhile tens of thousands of people rallied across Myanmar on Sunday to denounce last week's coup and demand Aung San Suu Kyi's release, in the biggest protests since the 2007 Saffron Revolution that helped lead to democratic reforms.

A line of armed police with riot shields set up barricades, but did not try to stop the demonstration. Some marchers reportedly presented police with flowers as a sign of peace.

Closer to home, hundreds of Myanmar demonstrators and their New Zealand supporters showed solidarity with the people protesting in Myanmar's city streets, by banging pots and pans on Parliament's forecourt on Tuesday evening.

"We are deeply concerned and fearful for our family at home. We will do anything we can to help our family, friends and loved ones in Myanmar. Please help support us and our families," Christalin Thangpawl​, chairwomen of the New Zealand Myanmar Ethnics Council, told the crowd.

Source

• Stuff
• Stuff
• La Croix
• Vatican News
• Image: CNN

The Ohariu electorate MP received a phone call from the Prime Minister after he criticised, on NewstalkZB, Ms Adern's handling of Clare Curran's resignation.

"Yeah, it could have been done better, I don't think anyone will disagree with that.

"I'll tell you what, it will be done better next time," O'Connor said Monday.

He said there was "a little bit of confusion about interviews on Friday morning - yep, can't have that," O'Connor told Wellington NewstalkZB host Heather du Plessis-Allen.

A spokesperson for Ardern confirmed O'Connor received the call and affirmed his support and confidence in the Prime Minister.

However, the matter was not over and, on Tuesday morning prior to Labour's caucus, an apologetic O'Connor fronted the media saying about half a dozen times that he'd "got it wrong."

"I got it wrong - my understanding of the events - it was wrong.

"I've spoken with the Prime Minister, or she's spoken with me, and I know what was right," O'Connor told NewsHub.

He said it was a "long conversation."

"It would be fair to say that the Prime Minister wasn't happy.

"I wouldn't be happy either so, yes, I got a telling off," O'Connor said.

Sources

• NZ Herald
• NewsHub
• Image: NewsHub

This was the question Mata'afa Keni Lesa put to the New Zealand prime minister in his opinion piece published in the Samoa Observer after her recent visit to Samoa.

"We cannot keep referring to a special relationship founded upon the Treaty of Friendship and then continue to treat our Samoans like second-class citizens by subjecting them to the vigorous and expensive process of having to obtain a visa simply to fly across for the weekend," he said.

This issue was raised in what was an otherwise very positive coverage of Ardern's visit.

"The truth is quite simple. The Samoan Government doesn't need to look far to find a role model." Lesa said.

"If Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr Sa'ilele Malielegaoi and his administration need some inspiration, they only have to look to New Zealand."

In a related matter, the issue Recognised Seasonal Workers (RSW) was raised by Tuilaepa during talks with Ardern and her deputy Winston Peters.

He said the Samoan workers under New Zealand's RSW scheme are trustworthy, skilful and are meeting the expectations of their employers.

Samoa called for the RSE workers to be eligible for the immigration quota because they already have established employment, which is one of the key requirements for applicants to meet.

New Zealand has an annual quota for 1,100 Samoans to immigrate to this country but it is frequently unfilled.

Source

• sobserver.ws
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: pro.newsroom.co.nz

She says however that the State is still consulting on the terms of reference and there is room for someone to have their say if they thought the Government was doing an "absolute disservice."

Ardern's comments came after calls for the Church to be included.

Critics say Ardern is going back on a pre-election promise.

The terms of the upcoming Royal Commission on abuse in state care excludes institutions such as churches - unless children were sent to them by the state.

Ardern said there is a significant difference between a child sent to a church-run institution by the state rather than by their parents.

Ardern told Morning Report the reason they made the distinction was that for thousands of children between the 1950s and late 1990s, the state was essentially a parent - therefore the state needed to take responsibility.

Ardern said church institutions will still be covered by the inquiry by virtue of the State sending them there.

"There is no doubt that there will be religious institutions who will be brought into the remit of this inquiry by virtue of the fact that children in state care may have in some form been sent there.

"This inquiry allows us to look into both what occurred to that child via the state, the state's role in seeking to respond when that abuse was often raised and they didn't always respond to it but also what actually happened with those institutions too."

Ardern said the reason the government was focusing on children in state care was that the State called for the inquiry.

"The original impetus for this and what the Human Rights Commission pushed for, what those victims and survivors pushed for, did come from the place of 'you are the state and you have to be responsible for us so please undertake this piece of work'.

"They were also worried that, if we strayed too broadly, their case and their situation would be diluted and the state's responsibility would be diluted.

"For the children who came from state care they wanted us to focus on our responsibilities."

Source

• RNZ