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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Hauraki unravels as negotiations approach

A potential challenge by Hauraki iwi against the Government's proposed settlement of Ngati Whatua's Auckland claims could come unstuck because of a rift in the iwi.

The Hauraki Maori Trust Board and the Marutuahu Working Group have both sought funding from the Crown Forestry Rental Trust to challenge the settlement, which gives the orakei-based hapu right of first refusal to Crown land across the Auckland isthmus.

Ngati Maru Runanga general manager David Taipari says the split is regrettable, but he's confident a solution can be found.

POVERTY REPORT INDICTMENT OF GOVT

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says the government's good news story about low unemployment is blinding it to the reality of rising poverty.

A new report by the Ministry of Social Development Report has found that in 2004 two thirds of benefiticary families with children reported significant hardship.

Mrs Turia says the government wants to brush the report off as being superceded by rising employment, but the reality is things aren't getting better for poor New Zealanders.

“What they fail to tell the people is, the majority of Maori people who have gained employment in this period of time are on incredibly low wages, many of them are in casual work, not even working full time, and we have got 1.9 million people in this country whose take home pay is under $400,” Turia said.

Tariana Turia says the government should stop commissioning reports and start taking action.

HINEMIHI LINTEL OUT OF REACH FOR HAPU

Rotorua historian Jim Schuster of Ngati Hinemihi says his people have been priced out of the chase for an historic taonga.

The original pare or lintel from the Hinemihi meeting house recovered from the Tarawera eruption is up for sale in Paris.

The Museum of New Zealand has advised the government the $3 million plus price tag is too high, and Mr Schuster says it is also too much for Te Arawa to contemplate paying.

He says the monetary valuation has no relation to what Maori feel for the piece.

WHAIKORERO STANDARD FALLING

Former Maori Language Commissioner Timoti Karetu says the standard of Maori spoken on marae is falling.

Professor Karetu is organising a wananga, Te Panekiritanga o te Reo, or the pinnacle of the language, at Hawke's Bay's Eastern Institute of Technology this weekend.

He says the invitation-only event is for confident speakers of Maori who want to take their language to a higher level for use in formal situations.

Professor Karetu says male kai korero and female kai karanga need to be confident and creative on the marae.

“And you can go to a lot of marae, and you find one paepae will just say what the previous speaker said, and so on and so on and so on. There’s no imagination with the whaikorero in the sense that one sets a theme, and the following speakers should elaborate that theme further. What happens, there tends to be a general repetition of what the previous speaker said, so there is nothing new added to the conversation, and the audience tends to drift off,” Karetu said.

Timoti Karetu says because many kaumatua are not fluent in the language, younger people are taking up speaking roles on marae.

POVERTY POLICIES HIT MAORI FAMILIES

Child Poverty Action Group spokesperson Susan St John says a Ministry of Social Development report confirms the government's policies are hurting poor Maori families.

The report found 17 percent percent of all Maori families in 2004 reported they suffered severe hardship, compared with 4 percent of Pakeha families.

Dr St John says wages are too low to counter rising living costs.

She says Maori families on benefits with dependent children have been particularly hard hit.

“We in Child Poverty Action Group have been very critical of the Working For Families package because it treats children in families with benefits differently by denying them part of that package,” St John said.

FELLOWSHIP FOR RANGI KIPA

Taranaki carver and ta moko expert Rangi Kipa is the first Maori to receive the 65 thousand dollar Creative New Zealand Craft - object Art Fellowship.

The two previous recipients were potter Peter Lange and fabric artist, Malcolm Harrison.

Kipa says he will use the fellowship to work on a piece for the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, in which will go on show next May.

The work will combine traditional and contemporary materials, and is unique in that it features two mahou, or verandahs.

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