Awatere redemption forseen

Leading Ngati Porou kuia Iritana Tawhiwhirangi says Donna Awatere-Huata still has a lot to contribute to the Maori world.
The former ACT MP has been granted home detention and should be back home in BridgePa near Hastings next week.
Awatere-Huata was sentenced last September to two years and nine months in jal for defrauding her Pipi Education Foundation. Mrs Tawhiwhirangi, the former head of Kohanga Reo National Trust, is a long time friend and supporter of Awatere-Huata. She says the imprisonment has been traumatic for the whanau, but Awatere-Huata will bounce back.
"Donna, you know nobody wants to go through this, but she's not her father's daughter for nothing, she'll rise up again. Having gone through such as awful period of time for anyone to get up again, I mean most people would just crawl under a rock and stay there but she'll redeem herself in the long term," Mrs Tawhiwhirangi says.
She says Maoridom needs people like Awatere-Huata who are willing to challenging systems they think are wrong.

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The Education Ministry is denying a claim by Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia that ministry staff have been told not to speak Maori. Mrs Turia made the claim on an Auckland Maori radio station yesterday. Rawiri Brell, the ministry's Maori Group Manager, says the Ministry supports te reo Maori as an official language of New Zealand and strongly values its staff who are fluent. He says a key part of the ministry's business is working with Maori language teachers and educators to develop new curriculum professional development, so having staff fluent in te reo Maori is particularly valuable.

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Let the dead rest in peace.
That's the word from South Taranaki man Ruka Broughton, about Patea Community Board's continued search for the graves of colonial troops killed during the battle of Moturoa, in the summer of 1868. He says the issue hasn't been discussed with tangata whenua, who fear their ancestors' remains will be unearthed in the process of locating the Pakeha gravesites. Mr Broughton says the community board should show more respect for the dead.
"It's about the preservation of our tupuna, ensuring that the scared line places our tupuna are kept that way. All the dead, all those who died are tapu," Mr Broughton said.
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Size does matter when it comes to driving a golf ball.
Maori golfer Baden Waiwai says working in the freezers at AFFCO's Wairoa works for the past three years has helped his fitness levels. Waiwai has just been picked for the New Zealand long drive team after coming second in the national championships. He says he has some natural advantages which help him drive a ball over 380 metres.
"It's all timing that helps being 6ft 8'' for starters. Having an arch, so you drive the ball abit harder, and through it more. It's a lot of practice as well," Mr Waiwai says.
He got he got his love of golf from his grandfather, who brought him up.
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The chairman of Labour's Maori Caucus says the Maori Party has insulted the Te Arawa Confederation, and that will hit them in the polls. The Maori Party refused to vote on the introduction of the Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Bill, under which the Crown will return the beds of 13 lakes in the Rotorua region to Te Arawa iwi and pay $10 million compensation. The party says Maori claimants have too little power in settlement talks to get a fair deal. But Shane Jones says the Maori Party should respect the tino rangatiratanga of Te Arawa tribes to make their own decisions.
"When the Arawa leadership, the tribe, comes in force to parliament to support a bill, that will go to the select committee and there’s an opportunity there to further ventilate, that it was grave insult to the Te Arawa tribe by Tariana and her team in opposing them," Mr Jones said.
He said Maori voters will become increasingly turned off if the Maori Party keeps lining up with the National Party to oppose the decisions of tribal leaders.
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Act Party leader, Rodney Hide says Maoridom will continue to lose many of its best and brightest if the government won't give tax breaks to workers and business. He says Maori leaders should be concerned at the exodus of Maori talent across the Tasman, in search of more opportunities and a better lifestyle. The Australian Budget yesterday announced tax cuts totalling $37 billion. Mr Hide says with its bouyant economy, Australia is an attractive proposition for Maori looking to get ahead.
"We have the extraordinary situation where Maori do better in Australia then they do in New Zealand and I find that sort of sad really. New Zealand, our home, and in order to get a better life, in order to get ahead, I'm afraid for young Maori would get up and go and the best thing they could do is go to Australia, " Mr Hide said.
Almost 100,000 Maori are believed to live in Australia.
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The chief executive of the Maori Language Commission, Haami Piripi, says claims by an English amateur historian that Maori are descended from a mix of Chinese and Melanesians is pure fantasy. Former Royal Navy captain Gavin Menzies has been in New Zealand promoting his book about a fleet of Chinese ships which he claims explored the world in 1421. Mr Menzies claims at least one of the ships got to Aotearoa, but Mr Piripi says that has no historical basis.
"It's been fairly established that Maori people have lived in Aotearoa for at lest 2000 years been. The date of 1400 is way off, Kupe was estimated to be traveling around in the year 600 AD so every way you work it out these stories doesn't make sense and amazing how this fantasy can be developed," Mr Piripi said.