Maori culture country's top asset

A Maori academic says it should be recognised during Maori Language Week that Maori culture is New Zealand's most appealing asset.

Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi lecturer Tamati Waaaka says it's the uniqueness of Maori that draws people to our land.

Kua taka enei korero mai i a Tamati Waaka, kaipapaaho Maori mo nga tumomo ahuatanga e haere ana i waenganui ia tatou te hunga o Aotearoa.
 
SPIN-OFFS COMING FROM TOP OF THE SOUTH BOOK

The co-author of an award winning book on the Maori history of the top of the South Island says non Maori are keen to learn more of the country's early history.

Dr John Mitchell  says non-Maori intrigued by the region's rich history of Maori occupation bought a high percentage of the first volume of his history Te Tau Ihu o te Waka, and he expects the same with volume two, Te Ara Hou- the New Society.

"We are getting asked more and more to contribute to things like interpretative panels, information boards that are being erected around the province as organisations like local authorities, the Department of Conservation put up panels explaining the landscape, the local stories. That's quite encouraging," Dr Mitchell says.

Te Tau Ihu o te Waka: Te Ara Hou - The New Society by John and Hilary Mitchell won the history section of the Montana Book Awards earlier this week.
 
GREEN DISABILITIES POLICY COULD BENEFIT MAORI

The Green Party says its disabilities policy released earlier this week would provide considerable benefits for Maori living with disabilities.

Spokesperson Meteria Turei says a recent survey found 40 percent of Maori children had not had sight or hearing tests which lead to children sitting at the back of the class not really knowing what was going on.

She says the failure to identify disabilities early results in behavioural problems and down the line Maori being over-represented in suspensions and expulsion statistics.

"That just leads on to poor employment and other social issues later on, so if you set up a system so the whanau, right at the first point, is getting the proper assistance they need, whether they have moderate needs like vision or hearing issue or whether they've got more serious needs, we can protect that whanau all the way through," Ms Turei says.
 
CHATHAMS CASHING UP FISHERIES SETTLEMENT

A row is brewing on the Chatham Islands over the sale of deep sea fishing quota allocated as part of the Moriori treaty settlement.

Maui Solomon, the vice chairman of the Hoketihi Moriori trust board says the board is holding a postal ballot which closes early next month to approve the sale.

"We see long term that the deepwater quota is an eroding asset, you've just got to look at what's happened in the north Atlantic with the fisheries out there. We don't have any control of the deepwater fisheries. We don't fish it ourselves, it's just on lease. So we're looking to rationalise our asset base and replace deepwater assets with inshore quotas like crayfish and paua. It's all part of our strategic development plan," Mr Solomon says.

However Dennis Solomon, a former trust board member representing a whanau group on Rekohu, is calling on Moriori to oppose the sale, which needs 75 percent support to go ahead.

GOOGLE MAORI OPTION LAUNCHED
 
Maori internet users are now able to search the web in Te Reo... with Google launching a Maori language option in Rotorua yesterday.

Potaua Biasiny-Tule and his wife Nikolasa headed a team of volunteers who spent 15 months translating the 8000 words needed to run the search option in te reo.

He says the American-owned IT giant was open to the idea of a Maori option but it needed a lot of hard work from many people.

"They provide all language users the basic template. They've got the list of what you have to translate. They say here you are, go ahead, and it wasn't until we got close to completion that some of the higher ups got involved," Mr Biasiny-Tule says.
 
SPEAKING TE REO FUN AND PRACTICAL
 
Speaking Te Reo Maori is not only fun but practical too according to a television broadcaster.

Ahakoa te kaupapa kua whakatakotohia mo tenei wiki o te reo Maori, te korero i roto i te kainga, ka taea hoki tenei ahuatanga ki waahi kee.

Lanita Ririnui, the producer of TVNZ's Rangatahi show I AM TV, says using Te Reo Maori is always beautiful.

"I like using Maori in public because not only should other people hear it spoken well and pronounced properly, it's fabulous when you've got your kids out there and you need to give them that little touch of whakarongo mai, and it's sounds fabulous and people don't understand that you are just pulling them line because when you pull kids in line in te reo, it's still lovely," says Ms Ririnui, a mother of two.