Didn’t donate enough
June 6th, 2012 at 9:00 am by David FarrarThe Herald reported:
Australian-born Miss Otago Monique Cooley assumed she qualified for Miss New Zealand automatically after living here for 12 years.
The Queenstown 22-year-old has been dragged into a beauty contest citizenship row after it was revealed newly crowned Miss Universe New Zealand Avianca Bohm may be stripped of her tiara because she is a South African.
Organisers today revealed Miss Cooley, the third runner up, was also ineligible for the crown because she is an Australian.
Australian-born Miss Otago Monique Cooley assumed she qualified for Miss New Zealand automatically after living here for 12 years.
The Queenstown 22-year-old has been dragged into a beauty contest citizenship row after it was revealed newly crowned Miss Universe New Zealand Avianca Bohm may be stripped of her tiara because she is a South African.
Organisers today revealed Miss Cooley, the third runner up, was also ineligible for the crown because she is an Australian.
No, no, no. Citizenship s only automatically granted if you donate to Labour.
June 6th, 2012 at 9:08 am
Only Maori should be allowed in these competitions.
Talking of representation I find it extraordinary that one need only be resident in Aotearoa for 12 months in order to become a voter in a general election. I reckon that devalues the concept of citizenship.
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 9:10 am
Desperate…
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 9:19 am
for me the funniest thing from the article was the last line which wasn’t quoted above.
“She said she would be applying for citizenship as soon as she could, even if it meant doing some more paperwork while she was on holiday with her mother in Hawaii.
The pair flew out from Auckland at midday. ”
Wouldn’t a quick glance at her passport tell her what citizenship she held ? What box did she tick on her departure card ?
But yeah, desperate article from DPF, especially when there is a formal investigation of the Jones thing going on.
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 9:35 am
“Talking of representation I find it extraordinary that one need only be resident in Aotearoa for 12 months in order to become a voter in a general election. I reckon that devalues the concept of citizenship.”
I kind of agree in principle that citizenship should be valued more – but am Ok with the current rules.
It can take a couple of years on a work permit to get residence and it is another 5 year wait to be eligible for citizenship. Seven years is a long time to be a tax paying resident of New Zealand but have no right to representation.
I’d hate to see New Zealand to go down the path of the United States where complicated residency conditions, prior convictions etc are endlessly tightened up by governments in various jurisdictions as a means for disenfranchising a minority of the population if they think there may be political advantage.
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 9:41 am
I think if you pay tax in a country then you should be allowed a say on how it is spent. But that’s my opinion, and it is formed entirely because of my circumstances living in Australia and paying a truckload of tax.
I think the point of the Herald article isn’t that the girls don’t have citizenship, it is that they are ineligible to enter the competition because they are permanent residents and not citizens, even though they have lived here for a long time.
Vote:DPF of course put a different spin on it.
June 6th, 2012 at 9:42 am
DPF made a funny
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 9:44 am
Well as a permanent resident, I can only agree. The only reason for me to get citizenship, would be to make it easier to go to Australia…go figure, as the Seppos say.
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 9:46 am
I think people should become citizens before they can vote. Visitors to our country (even those on a work permit) should not have a say in the future of New Zealand. Even permanent residents – until they make that final commitment to become a NZer – they should not have a vote. We sell ourselves to cheaply.
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 9:48 am
Gazzmaniac
Yeah a fail all round and especially for failed mayoral candidate Jack Yan.
The Pageant director Val Lott took a fee from each contestant with their entry form, including the girls she knew weren’t eligible?
I thought it was a corrupt practice to take money when someone isn’t eligible and cannot win and take a prize according to the rules?
Then Sponsor, Judge and Company Director Jack Yan didn’t put a stop to it when Mrs Lott informed him that the eventual winner wasn’t eligible, but not to worry as she wasn’t going to win.
Talk about a Fail.
Surely, they understand that the 2nd place contestant can lay criminal charges against them and sue for her rightful title?
Now they want to “put it right” by getting a “Quickie NZ Citizenship” for the South African?
I don’t think Jack Yan is going to be on my short list of people I want in charge of the city’s finances!
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 9:49 am
Great headline DPF! If the MSM wasn’t collapsing all around us you could get a job as a subbie…
Alan Johnstone: Why is it “desparate”? Is this a new meaning I need to catch up with, like “random” as now used by the yoof?
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 9:49 am
DPF that is very true but also very selective of you. She could have alternatively donated to John Banks Mayoral campaign or donated to the National Party with an Envelope to JK to pass on if I recall the media reports correctly
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 9:58 am
I don’t care about beauty contests, but I think you qualify as a NZer if you have lived here for 12 years, regardless of citizenship.
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 10:01 am
If Shane Jones was still in office, and given his previous history in hotel rooms, I am sure there are other ways the girls could have got citizenship that didn’t require donating money.
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 10:02 am
RETRACTION
I spoke to Jack Yan at his offices just now and he says that he never had that conversation with Mrs Lott.
Vote:The Dompost report was incorrect but the Herald has it right apparently.
“He says that if he had known he would have walked away as soon as he had known”.
June 6th, 2012 at 10:08 am
David Garrett posting in a thread about passports eh ?
Well he does have some expertise in the matter I suppose :>
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 10:10 am
Crude ad hominem, I know but couldn’t resist
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 10:13 am
Heh, reminds me of the time my sister and her British born partner visited from Australia. He was the son of a ten pound pom travelling on a newly issued British passport and had no trouble entering NZ but upon arrival back in Sydney he was promptly detained by Australian immigration. Turns out he had never been naturalised as an Australian and was viewed as an undesirable. Much hilarity, the man’s an obnoxious arse and it could only happen to him, and panic ensued and despite the happy ending he’s sworn never to leave Australia again.
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 10:24 am
Get a sense of humour people. Like Alan Johnstone did above – I’m sure David Garrett can take a joke…
Does this confirm NZ born women don’t measure up?
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 10:25 am
I laughed, at, not with, the pathetic wanna-be communists as well as DPF’s funny.
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 10:26 am
OOOOhhhh Alan…I am sooooo (as one of the airhead beauty queens says) wounded by your arrows!
That your real name by the way, or are you another brave boy?
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 10:58 am
To Michael McKee above: thank you for your retraction and accurately reporting our conversation this morning.
No conversation on eligibility ever took place. I believe the Herald initially said that I disputed Ms Lott’s version of events. The Fairfax report summed it up as ‘judges weren’t told of the citizenship issues surrounding Bohm and Cooley,’ which is correct. Determining citizenship or eligibility is not the job of the judges.
If both Avianca Böhm and Monique Cooley were ineligible, they shouldn’t have been in the pageant.
If they were, they should have an equal chance to win.
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 11:08 am
Don’t know if the system has changed since we emigrated here in ’74. At that time we couldn’t get citizenship until we’d been here two years.
I was in Defence at the time and had the Secretary of Defence backing my bid for earlier acceptance. But no dice!!
So I was in the ridiculous situation of attending overseas conferences in the US, Australia UK and Canada as a – or even the – NZ representative, and yet I had to apply for a reentry permit every time.
I used to wonder what would happen if I hadn’t bothered to apply. Would ‘they’ have refused to re-admit me? I hope its changed by now.
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 11:09 am
Jack
Glad I could put it right.
Character & Integrity is more important than Ability in my book.
So you would you agree that to knowingly take someones money and form knowing they weren’t eligible is fraud?
I suspect that this Mrs Lott knows the South African lass, as she is on the “beauty circuit” and the other competitions don’t require citizenship in order to enter, unlike the Miss Universe One as it is a National Pageant with overseas participation as a prize.
How much is it worth to the winner in total prizes monies, deals and donated goods and services, $20K?
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 11:20 am
Citizenship has benefits over residency. The NZ passport is a damn site cheaper than a UK one for a start – I don’t even have a valid UK passport at the moment. Easier to buy a farm, shorter queues at the airport, having 2 passports can get useful if traveling around dubious places in Africa but the real one is committing to the country you’ve chosen as home (cue big ahhhhhhhh – sorry about the soppy moment).
“I thought you could qualify under the blond passport”, she is quoted as saying
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 11:26 am
Lighten up, of course it’s my real name, why would I bother to create a fake name just to chat about something as largely inconsequential as my views on NZ current affairs.
No idea what a “brave boy” is, but I’ve certainly no interest in getting involved in an argument on the internet.
If you’re going to suggest that I’m some type of Labour apparatchik or union member then you’re wrong; just another suburban, middle class voter :>
Vote:June 6th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Yawn- The citizenship “scandal” seems to be the only way Miss New Zealand competition seems to make the news these days….
Vote:The picture in the Herald showed a group of awkward looking schoolgirls wearing far too much slap…
June 6th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
The organisers should have asked for the long form birth certificate , apparently they are the hard ones to get.
Vote: