Students told money ties bind to iwi

Students told money ties that bind
Maori business students have been urged to never forget the generations who fought for treaty settlements.

Labour list MP Shane Jones told Auckland University business school's Maori business leader's dinner last night that the return of settlement assets is creating a demand for skilled and experienced people to manage them.

It is also creating more opportunities for Maori to get financial assistance to study subjects like business and commerce.

The former Te Ohu Kaimoana chair says that money comes with expectations people will contribute in future.

“Because there's one thing I believe will mark against you if you’re willing to take the financial assistance but you don’t feel obliged to contribute and add to the plaited rope that our ancestors started,” Mr Jones says.

Maori business students should learn some of their language and get to know their marae and whanau better, so they can be bicultural ambassadors in the world of commerce.

The dinner honoured Deutsche Bank New Zealand head Brett Shepherd as the year's Outstanding Maori business leader, and gave Te Toi Ururoa Kelly scholarships to Isaac Ralph from Te Aupouri and Whakatohea and Joanna Overall from Ngati Raukawa.

PRINCIPLES BILL SKIRMISH IN LONG BATTLE

Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira is warning a campaign to remove the Treaty of Waitangi from legislation isn't dead yet.

Parliament's justice select committee says there is little public support for New Zealand First's Principles of the Treaty Deletion Bill, and recommended it not get a second reading.

Mr Harawira says the bill was doomed to failure, but its sponsors are persistent.

“Oh anybody who wants to ride on the back of racism is going to keep throwing those bills up now and again, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes up again and I would be just as not surprised if it gets thrown out again,” Mr Harawira says.

He's disappointed the Bill was introduced by a Party with prominent Maori members, but sees it as a bid by New Zealand First for the votes of older, more conservative Pakeha.

MAKARETI PAPAKURA GETS NEW BIOGRAPHY

The life of one of Maoridom's first cultural ambassadors is celebrated in a new book.

Makareti: Taking Maori to the World is being launched this evening at Nga Mareikura at the entrance to Whakarewarewa Thermal Village, where Margaret Thom, also known as Maggie Papakura, began her career as a guide.

She moved to Oxford in England, and at the time of her death in 1930 had almost completed a thesis on the customs of Te Arawa from a woman's point of view.

Author Paul Diamond was inspired to write the book by a photo of Makareti and the fact she died so far from home.

He says she was an extraordinary character.

“Wherever she was she was a proud Maori New Zealander, which is why we’ve called the book Taking Maori to the World, because even when she was here as a guide, for many people, that would have been the only Maori they ever met, so their view of what Maori was in the world was through her, and so wherever she was she was taking this message of Maori and our life and our culture to the world,” Mr Diamond says.

SPECIAL EFFECTS MAVEN MOURNED

A Maori special effects expert is being remembered as a dreamer always looking for the next big effect.

Conway Wickliffe from Ngati Tamatera died in England on the set of the latest Batman film, when a four-wheel-drive he was in crashed into a tree.

Whanau member Russell Karu, who grew up with Mr Wickliffe in Paeroa, says his film credits included the last two James Bond movies, the Tomb Raider films, Black Hawk Down, Harry Potter 4 and The Da Vinci Code.

He specialised in building vehicles such as Batmobiles and Special Agent 007's four-wheel-drive Aston Martin.

Mr Karu says his life is a testament to what hard work, vision and dedication could do.

“He was a dreamer in many ways in the sense that he went from little old Paeroa to some pretty amazing movie sets and always I guess thought beyond where he came from but actually very much stayed the Maori boy from Paeroa, even though he spent his recent years in London,” Mr Karu says.

British police are investigating the accident.

FRIENDLY FACE REASON FOR STANDING

A successful Maori businesswoman wants to give Maori families a face to talk to in local government.

Christine Panapa is standing for the community board in Manurewa, which has one of the highest concentrations of Maori population in the country.

She says her experience as an advocate is that when Maori have problems with council, they are more likely to be open with someone from their own culture.

“They're very whakamaa on who they talk to. With Maori, if we’re there to represent our people, they will feel a lot more confident, by just coming to someone who is Maori and sharing their problems, their issues, so this is the reason I’ve put my name forward,” Ms Panapa says.

She runs a screenprinting company, and chairs New Zealand Women's Rugby League.

MAORI TEAM IN PACIFIC CUP

The inclusion of the New Zealand Maori Rugby team into next year's Pacific Cup is being hailed as a shot in the arm.

The New Zealand Rugby Union has substituted the Maori team in place of the Junior All Blacks, who have dominated the competition over the past two seasons.

Coach Donny Stevenson says the Pacific Cup will give the squad regular international competition.

“We've appreciated the Churchill Cup in terms of it’s given us a tournament for our Maori players to aspire to but the Pacific Cup gives us a chance to play at home and that’s probably something we’ve missed since the Lions tour in 2005 so that’s great news from players and management point of view,” he says.

Mr Stevenson says exposure in the Pacific Cup will give Maori players a chance to stake their claims for inclusion in other top teams.