The Tokelau community is mourning a New Zealand career diplomat who served multiple times as the administrator to Tokelau, helped build its public service and fought to ensure their right to self-determination was exercised.
Neil Walter was a widely respected diplomat in the Asia Pacific region who served as Official Secretary, Office of Tokelau Affairs from 1988 to 1990, and resumed as Tokelau administrator role between 2003 and 2006.
Walter also served as New Zealand’s Ambassador to Indonesia and then Japan in the 1990s, following earlier stints in Thailand, New York and Sāmoa.
He is frequently described by Tokelauans and Foreign Affairs colleagues as a highly dedicated, pragmatic diplomat whose integrity was beyond doubt.
“He was the most practical New Zealand official that tried to serve Tokelau,” said Aleki Silao, a veteran senior development advisor for Tokelau who worked alongside Walter for years.
“Not only that, he established the Tokelau Public Service, which was managed from the State Services Commission in Molesworth Street, but he also became an important person in trying to assist Tokelau in terms of reaching a point of making a decision in terms of its future status.”
Tokelau referendum
Walter oversaw a UN-facilitated referendum in 2006 on the future political status of the New Zealand realm country.
Had it been successful, the referendum would have changed Tokelau’s status from an unincorporated New Zealand territory to a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand, like the Cook Islands and Niue.
However, the referendum result fell narrowly short of the required two-thirds vote to pass, but his efforts to ensure the referendum went ahead reflected Walter’s determination that Tokelauans get the chance to exercise their right to self-determination.
“He was quite insistent in his own way that now, you (Tokelau) have got all the resources in terms of finance. Tokelau was in charge of finance or delegated financial responsibility. Now they were in charge of looking after its human resource through the public service, and he felt that they were in a state to make a call.
“And unfortunately, from his point of view, he missed out by a small fraction of the votes,” Silao explained.
Practical
Walter spent many hours making the arduous journey by sea to Tokelau and in between its atolls, as the country is not linked by air services to other countries.
“He was a very practical person. He would just put his suit aside and get stuck into the work, notwithstanding the fact that when I was in his office, he used to share with me interesting accounts of his life. He was very seasick on boats, and yet he travelled inter-atoll.
“He even got one of his mates to bring in a yacht, and he used that to travel from atoll to atoll, in terms of doing his work,” Silao said.
Silao told RNZ Pacific that even in retirement, Walter always kept in touch with the Tokelau community and up to date with Tokelau’s development journey, adding that he will be sorely missed by Tokelauans.
Neil Walter, middle, was a widely respected diplomat in the Asia Pacific region.
Fatu Tauafiafi
“People still remember how hard he worked, the work he did, you know, the construction of classrooms, etc – amazing.
“He tried his best. He used all his skills to serve Tokelau as required by New Zealand, and he will be remembered fondly by Tokelau.”
Neil Walter died in late August, aged 84.
