Nga Rauru gets fish mandate

Wanganui iwi Nga Rauru has been cleared to take delivery of it fisheries settlement assets.

That means less than a quarter of iwi are still to complete the mandating process set by Te Ohu Kaimoana.

Iwi chief executive Marty Davis says Nga Rauru is set to receive $1.9 million dollars in deepwater quota, cash and shares in Aotearoa Fisheries.

Because of the limited coastal fishery in the region, its inshore quota package, which will come later, will be relatively small.

Mr Davis says because Nga Tauru has just completed it raupatu settlement, the mandating process was relatively straightforward.

“There was some very cosmetic changes that had to be made to our constitutional matter once the (Maori Fisheries) Act came along, but essentially we met the iwi mandating requirements at the same time as we mandated for the post settlement governance entity,” Mr Davis says.

Because the fishing industry has moved away from Wanganui, Nga Rauru will be using partnerships to fish its quota.

CONTRACEPTION ADDRESSES HEALTH SECTOR DISPARITY

Free long-term birth control to Maori families is a way of addressing some invisible discrimination in the health system.

So says Erica Amon, the operations manager for Waikato Primary Health.

Her organisation is offering contraceptive implants for women and vasectomies for men in high need groups, including Maori and Pacific Island people, because Waikato Hospital can't keep up with the number of women seeking tubal ligation sterilisation.

Ms Amon says the hospital gives priority to older women ... to the disadvantage of Maori mothers.

“A lot of Maori families, Maori women, had their children younger, so it kind of disadvantaged them. They were already on the back foot. If they made their decision that they’d had their family and they didn’t want any more children – and of course they have to make that decision this isn’t about reducing family size for the sake of it, it’s when the family choose to, they were on the back foot because they finished earlier,” Ms Amon says.

She says unintended pregnancies, as are all too common among women on the sterilisation waiting list, can createnegative health consequences for the whole family.

AIRPORT MARAE TIMETABLES TOURISTS AROUND TUPAPAKU

Tangata whenua are balancing culture and cash at the Auckland Airport Marae.

Te Manukanuka o Hoturoa is a partnership between Tainui and the airport company.

Sonny Rauwhero, a kaumatua for Mangere hapu Te Akitai, says since it opened late last year, the marae has been used by business groups, schools and churches, by wananga for reo classes ... and by whanau greeting tupapaku being brought back to the country for burial.

He says that requires sensitivity to manage.

“You have a tupapaku there and suddenly tourists turn up – how are you going to ask them not to come in. That’s the part of things that frightens us a little at times, because tangihanga was the priority then, but tourists are needed to help pay for the place,” Mr Rauwhero says.

The airport marae has taken on a business manager, Zella Morrison-Briars from Ngati Maniapoto and Te Arawa, who will be looking for new ways to generate activity there.

TEACHING REVOLUTION NEEDED FOR TE KOTAHITANGA

One of the pioneers of Te Kotahitanga says raising Maori student achievement requires a revolution in New Zealand teaching.

Brian Smith is principal of James Cook High in Manurewa, where half of the students are Maori.

It was one of 12 schools to pilot the new system developed by Waikato University researchers.

He says Te Kotahitanga tries to make the classroom more suited to the learning needs of Maori students.

“We make some changes in the way the teacher works with the student so there’s more teacher-individual student interaction, there’s more small group-student interaction. We have a slightly different way of organising the work the youngsters do, so the teachers have got to change the habits of a lifetime, and for older teachers like myself who’s been in the game a long time, that's a big ask,” Mr Smith says.

Te Kotahitanga has helped James Cook High lift literacy levels for all its students to well over the NCEA average.

MAORI 1080 INTEREST SHOULD BE MET

The Environmental Risk Management Authority believes Maori concerns about 1080 should be met by the its new guidelines.

ERMA has approved the poison for continued use in possum control, saying it's a necessary evil.

Spokesperson Linda Robinson says among the 1400 submissions received by the independent review, there we many from Maori concerned at the processes being followed.

She says some parts of the country seem to be doing it right.

“A number of iwi and hapu groups in particular have really good relationships with Department of Conservation or with regional councils in their areas and have really good models of how things can work really positively. The committee was mostly concerned that that was inconsistent across the country,” Ms Robinson says.

Maori want to be more involved in decisions around conservation and pest management in their rohe.

DISABILITY CAKE NOT CUT FAIRLY

Maori whanau are not getting equal access to disability services.
That's what disability support group Te Roopu Waiora will tell Parliament's social services committee when it meets in Auckland today.

Kaiwhakahaere Tania Kingi says Maori communities often don't know what support is available to them.

She says they don't want to access mainstream services - but that's where 97 percent of the money goes.

"Now that doesn't equate. If the highest need is among Maori communities, and yet the lowest utilisation is also with those communities, how can you reconcile that sort of funding split,” Ms Kingi says.