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Future amendments to the Cook Islands Christian Church Constitution will no longer have to be passed by Parliament when the Cook Islands Christian Church Amendment Bill becomes law.
The church was originally established by an act of Parliament the Cook Islands Christian Church Incorporation Act (1968-1969).
Because it was established by an act of Parliament the new draft constitution also requires adoption by Parliament and this will be done by amending the original act - simply repealing the old constitution and substituting the new one.
The draft bill will be presented to Parliament this month so that the CICC General Assembly can meet under the new constitution on July 20.
The CICC now has 24 church branches or Ekalesias in the Cook Islands, 16 in New Zealand and eight in Australia.
The Minister responsible for the Religious Advisory Council, Peri Vaevae Pare, said the church had operated under the old constitution for almost 40 years and in that time several amendments had been proposed and adopted.
It was felt that it was time to bring the constitution up do date incorporating all past amendments and it was decided that the best way to achieve that was to replace the old constitution with a new one, the minister said. |
