Atiawa lodges claim for water

A top of the South Island iwi wants the Waitangi Tribunal to weigh in on its fight for the region's water.

Te Atiawa Manawhenua Ki Te Tau Ihu and the Wakatu Incorporation has been fighting the Tasman District Council over a policy which gives water use rights to land users rather than landowners.

Harvey Ruru, the tribe's chairperson, says he's lodged a claim because the council is ignoring its treaty right to water.

He expects other Te Tau Ihu iwi to join in.

“Once other iwi start moving towards their meetings beginning this year and becoming more aware of what the situation is we’re certain, like we have been in many issues including the foreshore and seabed issue, that they will come on board and support us,” Mr Ruru says.

Maori landowners in Motueka can't guarantee supplies of water from under their land, because it's being pumped up and sent off to new housing developments at Mapua.

MAORI MISS OUT ON KIWISAVER BENEFITS

Maori are missing out on the full benefits of Kiwisaver.

A study by Waikato University's Management School and the New Zealand Institute for Economic Research found the tax incentives in Kiwisaver favour rich white males with degrees.

Co-author John Gibson, a professor of economics, says Maori are joining at a lower rate than non-Maori, particularly those in self-employment, and because their average pay is lower, they will get less over the life of the scheme.

“If you think of a comparison of size of population and share of tax incentives, the Maori and Pasifika in the same group are about half of the share you would expect based on their population size,” he says.

Professor Gibson says it's the tax free component of Kiwisaver which creates the greatest inequality.

RANGATAHI SHOULD BE LEADERSHIP FOCUS

A call for Maori to focus on the rangatahi.

Former MP John Tamihere from west Auckland's Waipareira Trust in West Auckland says many Maori leaders have put their energies into treaty settlements, while their young people slip through the gaps.

Too many rangatahi leave school without qualifications, they lack self-esteem and they don't feel part of the community.

That's a recipe for trouble.

“Whilst we have got one part of our Maori society screaming ahead out of treaty settlements and all the pretty ones that have got to university and gone through, we’ve got this huge burden and huge anchor at the bottom end of Maori society and New Zealand society, and we really have to now concentrate our minds on just how to fix it,” Mr Tamihere says.

WAITANGI REMINDER OF STOLEN RESOURCES

There's one roopu heading for Waitangi next week which has no intention of celebrating.

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says Waitangi Day is a reminder of how Maori are being starved of the resources guaranteed in the treaty which they need to address their social problems.

She says the reality for many Maori families isn't the picture of positive development painted by the government.

‘The government’s crowing about how many people are in emplymewnt but our people are the working poor If we had our land, if we had our resources, our people would be fine, because we would be able to take care of our own, but we can’t. We simply don't have the means to do it," Mrs Turia says.

UNCOORDINATED SOCIAL WORK EFFORT WASTEFUL

A veteran Maori community worker says too much wasted effort is put into dysfunctional Maori families.

Iritana Tawhiwhirangi, who was a Maori welfare officer before heading up Kohanga Reo, says current approaches to community problems are often uncoordinated and inefficient.

She says a plan to test preschoolers for anti-social behaviour, and give support to their parents, will only work if it's done in a coordinated and culturally appropriate way.

“It's no use seven or eight agencies going in. Yu have to have someone going in and can deal with the whole family situation, not just the child abuse, not just the drugs,” Mrs Tawhiwhirangi says.

She says kohanga reo succeeded because it adopted a whole of whanau approach.

LEAGUE BOSSES OUT OF TOUCH WITH FLAX ROOTS

Rugby League's governing body is coming under fire for not reflecting the players.

Commentator Ken Laban says the bulk of players are Maori and Pacific Islands - but they get little say in the way the game is run.

And he says anyone south of the Bombay Hills doesn't get a look in.

“The Auckland dominance of the game may well see those people closer to the game in Auckland get first preference to a lot of those positions but I do have some severe doubts as to whether or not the governance and administrations of New Zealand rugby league is in touch with the grass roots of the sport,” Mr Laban says.

PARE-HAURAKI TIKANGA HUI GOES WELL

Organisers of a Pare-Hauraki wananga are bouyed by support for maintaining the confederation's unique reo, kawa and history.

The hui at Ngahu-Toitoi marae in Paeroa over the long weekend attracted almost 100 people keen to learn some of the skills of whaikorero and waiata required on the marae.

Korohere Ngapo says the wananga was called because of concern the ranks of kaumatua in the region are getting thin.

“The consensus was these wananga must carry on for the betterment of reo and tikanga and issues relating to kawa for Pare Hauraki,” Mr Ngapo says.

Smaller wananga will be organised in Auckland and Hamilton so groups can learn the iwi's traditional waiata.