Wananga settles property stoush with institute

Te Wananga o Aotearoa has signed off on a settlement with its founding organisation, the Aotearoa Institute.

The Te Awamutu-based institute set up the Maori tertiary provider in 1984, and kept ownership of many of its campuses when the wananga became part of the state tertiary sector.

Relations between the two bodies were strained when the Government effectively took over management of the wananga in 2005 through its appointees on the board.

Executive chairperson Craig Coxhead says part of the wananga's restructuring involved unpicking what had been a muddled relationship.

Mr Coxhead says the wananga now owns the intellectual property to some key courses, such as its reo Maori programme, while the Institute took over some of the wananga's properties.

“We've looked to do a settlement where there has been minimal to no exchanging of cash between the two organisations. It’s a cashless deal where we’ve looked to sort out historical matters between the two organisations and put our future relationship on a commercial basis,” Mr Coxhead says.

The Aotearoa Institute ended up with the controversial Glenview library and conference centre on the outskirts of Hamilton, which cost the wananga more than $14 million to buy and do up.

BRADFORD BELIVED SMACKING COLONIAL IMPORT

Green MP Sue Bradford is says there is nothing she knows of in Maori culture which says violence against children is acceptable.

The Government dropped plans to seek urgency for the remaining stages of Ms Bradford's bill repealing section 59 of the Crimes Act, which allows parents who hit their children to claim they were using reasonable force.

Ms Bradford says while the delay will give opponents of the bill more opportunities to lobby against it, she hope its Maori supporters will stay firm.

“Violence against kids is not a traditional Maoir taonga or value. I actually think it’s something my settler ancestors brought here from Victorian England, the concept that children were the property of their parents and part of being that property was the right to beat them. I think it’s really sad my ancestors brought that to this country,” Ms Bradford says.

She's tired of her bill being called the anti smacking bill, because the issue is about the level of violence acceptable in society.

RANGATAHI COMMUNICATIONS LACKING

The Auckland Police district's Maori responsiveness advisor says his colleagues need to review how they communicate with Maori youth.

Senior Sergeant Huri Dennis says iwi liason officers will hui in Rotorua next week on how police are seen by rangatahi, and how relationships can be improved.

“If you ask me how connected the youth services are to the aahua, the tikanga of our rangatahi, it would be about 50-50. I think the commitment and willingness is there form our youth services, but the know how and the how and the where, why, tikanga attached to it may still be eluding them,” Mr Dennis says.

COXHEAD WANTS CONTINUED CROWN PRESENCE AT WA

The Crown-appointed chairperson of Te Wananga o Aotearoa says Crown managers have started to shift to more of a monitoring role.

Craig Coxhead says a wananga council meeting today is likely to discuss what more needs to be done before the managers will leave.

The Government brought in Brian Roche from accounting firm Price Waterhouse Coopers two years ago because it was alarmed at the wananga's growth.

Tertiary Education Minister Michael Cullen says Mr Roche and his team has so far cost the wananga more than $3 million dollars over the past two years, but he wants to see them stay on the job until the end of the year.

Mr Coxhead says the Crown's presence is not as obvious as it was last year.

“They've handed over some of those responsibilities to staff and they’ve taken on a more monitoring role and training rather than the actual doing, and where we want to get to is that their presence, rather than the Crown currently being here on two days a week or one day a week, it may be they’re here once a fortnight,” Mr Coxhead says.

He says despite the Crown control, the wananga is still Maori led.

NEED TO START EARLIER TO GET MAORI INTO UNI

The co-ordinator of Victoria University's high school outreach programme says more can be done to get Maori students into higher education.

Everard Halbert says Maori need proper support so they gain the confidence to o pursue tertiary studies.

Mr Halberd says instead of just working with year 12 and 13 pupils, younger students should also be brought into the programme.

The earlier we make contact with our students then I think the more chances they have of being successful, if in this case success means going to tertiary education for them,” Mr Halbert says.

He says a lot of potential Maori tertiary students are falling through cracks in the system:

WESTERN BOP SIT DOWN WITH NGATI TE WAI ON TAUPIRO

The threat of occupation has got the Western Bay of Plenty District Council talking to a Katikati hapu about what it is doing with a former pa and burial site on the shores of the Tauranga Harbour.

Nepia Bryan from Ngati Te Wai says the hapu objects to the erection of a toilet block and car park on the Taupiro Point Reserve, which looks across to Athenree.

Mr Bryan says Ngati Te Wai met with the council this week, and further meetings are planned.

He says the parties are still some distance apart, but at least the council is now talking to the right people.

“They want control. They don’t want us to have control. But they’re saying now why don’t we work a joint venture with them, joint management. We said well, we’ve got to meet with the hapu and not just make rash decisions by a few, you see,” Mr Bryan says.

Ngati Te Wai does not believe the council has proper title to the reserve, and it wants to get the land back.