Kapa haka choir impresses Rice

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was deeply impressed by the impact Maori culture had on her during her short stay in New Zealand.

Although a powhiri for Dr Rice had to be canceled because of bad weather on her arrival in Auckland, a Maori culture group which performed at the NZ-US Council dinner made a definite impact.

“She was fascinated by what she learned in the brief time she was here, very encouraged by the things she saw, the visual effects of seeing a brilliant choir singing on the evening function last Saturday night was not lost on her,” Mr Peters says.

Dr Rice was also moved by the way she was received by Pacific leaders in Samoa and he was confident her visit had done much to improve understanding of indigenous peoples issues across the whole Pacific.

GREENS SAY TAX BILL THREAT TO MAORI WORKERS

Maori workers stand to be heavily affected by proposed changes to taxation laws introduced into Parliament last week.

Sue Bradford, the Greens’ resource development spokesperson, says the bill will destroy manufacturing in New Zealand, and she can't understand why the Labour-led government will support it.

She says the bill give breaks to New Zealand businesses which move their operations overseas, and the loss of local jobs in the manufacturing sector will devastate communities as it did over 20 years ago.

“If it goes ahead I think it will have the same devastating effect on another generation of Maori workers as did the reforms the Labour government carried out in the 1980s when heaps of jobs were lost in manufacturing very deliberately then as well,” Ms Bradford says.

DEL WIHONGI DIES WITH WAI 262 UNFINISHED

One of the people behind a long running Treaty of Waitangi claim is being farewelled by those who were influenced by her work.

Del Wihongi is best known for being a part of the group that logged the WAI 262 Claim against the Crown in 1991.

Known as the "Flora and Fauna" claim, WAI 262 included a wide scope of intellectual property, traditional knowledge and environmental management.

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia shares her memories in tribute of the highly respected Ngapuhi kuia.

“She never gave up. When I was minister, she would write to me probably once a month over these issues that were confronting our people, mainly around the use of our traditional medicines and the way in which the land had been cleared and less and less of our people were able to get access to that, so her loss will be hugely felt,” Mrs Turia says.

The tangi for Del Wihongi will be held on Wednesday at Mangamuka Marae.

MORE MAORI NEEDED IN FORESTS
A forestry sector leader is confident iwi will develop the skills they need to get more Maori into the forestry industry.

Forestry Industry Training organisation chief executive, Ian Boyd says forestry is a strong industry with 35,000 people currently working in technical, management and operational positions.

Mr Boyd says the Maori statistics are very promising.

“They’re obviously a significant part in the industry and for example we have 11,000 trainees around the country in FITEC, 35 percent of those are Maori. In the industry, that’s right across forestry, pulp and paper, the percentage there will be between 20 and 30 percent will be Maori,”
Mr Boyd says.

The forestry training organisation is reaching out to high school students starting with schools in the Northland area this week.

MAORI BROADCASTERS NOT HITTING HITA STANDARD

A Maori language expert is critical of the level of fluency among Maori broadcasters.

Playwright and producer Quentin Hita says the expectation of Maori language broadcasters should be higher if they are to be the main source of Te Reo Maori outside the classroom.

Mr Hita says Maori Language Week serves its purpose as a promotion within mainstream for Te Reo Maori, however ongoing Maori language broadcasters need to improve their act.

“One of the advantages of television and radio is that with a very small group of people you can cover the entire country, and my argument has been that small group of people we have on television that are providing te reo Maori for our households out their, our homes, our children, our families, that small group of people we should expect more form the standard of language and the level of fluency of that group of people,” he says.

Mr Hita is in post-production of Maori language teaching show Toku Reo with a third series of Maori Television's Pukoro also on its way.

HERB FIRING UP FOR SONNY DAY TRIBUTE

A founding member of one of the most influential kiwi reggae bands says legendary musician Sonny Day's whanau deserve to know how much impact he had on the New Zealand Music scene.

Dilworth Karaka, from Herbs says the whanau of the northern born entertainer who died last year missed out on the stories that made Sonny Day an icon of the music scene in Aotearoa and the Pacific.

Musical friends including Barry Saunders, Josie Rika, Bullfrog Rata and Annie Crummer are in the lineup for a tribute concert early next month in Auckland.

Dilworth Karaka says it will be a good opportunity for Sonny's whanau to hear more about their talented brother.

“You know I’ve spoken to the brothers and that, and when Sonny left home, he left home. He encompassed the life of a musician that they’d really like to hear about, the stories about their brother on the road as a musician. It’s quite ironic that after a two hour session here with the brothers, just the little things that I knew about Sonny and related back to them, they were only too pleased to hear it and look forward to the gig,” Karaka says.