Appeal planned on Tongaporutu wharenui

A North Taranaki farmer has vowed to fight a judgment that a whare built on his land needs a building permit.

Russell Gibbs says the whare tipuna is on land set aside as a Maori reservation, so he doesn't need to ask the New Plymouth District Council for permission.

But the district court has sided with the council, and threatened to fine Mr Gibbs and his wife Parani $10,000 a day unless they comply.

Mr Gibbs says the case should have been heard by the Maori Land Court, which has a better understanding of the issues.

"We are very sure it does not apply on Maori reservation. It's not for councils to say whether or not you can construct a wharenui and it's not for them to lay down their kawa. The hapu were building wharenui in 1839. They were building them in 1841. We don't see what's changed," Mr Gibbs says.

He says if the judgment is allowed to stand, it makes the idea of a Maori reservation meaningless.
 
NGAI TAHU TEAMS UP FOR GIANT 20 YEAR SUBDIVISION
 
Despite plummeting property prices, Ngai Tahu is planning a massive subdivision at the northern edge of Christchurch.

The new suburb called Prestons will cover a 200 hectare block in Marshland with up to 2500 sections and a commercial area.

It's a joint venture between the South Island tribe, Singapore-owned CDL Land New Zealand and supermarket giant Foodstuffs South Island.

David Schwartfeger, Ngai Tahu Property's development manager, says a slowdown in the property market won't have a significant impact on the project.

"Well it's been two years in design so far and it will be another two years in the consenting process. We will expect to see in the life of this project ups and downs in the housing market. We're a long term player and 2500 houses are going to take a long time to work its way through and we're prepared for the long haul," Mr Schwartfeger says.

Ngai Tahu is looking for a sustainable community, taking into account issues such as recreation spaces and public transport links.
 
PUKUNUI AND MOA GET TO TREAD THE BOARDS

A play based on a series of children's books is touring schools around the country until the end of the year.

Moa can't fly, features big-bellied Pukunui and his pet moa.

Author James Waerea says he's set his long-running series in pre-European times, because it's a way to teach the values of te ao Maori.

"The value systems that Maori had prior to the European, how they actually related to al the elements in nature as being living beings, like Pukunui talks to the sun and to the stars and he talks to the wood in the trees as though they were human beings because I believe at that particular time Maori were closer than they are today," Mr Waerea says.

He has published five books in the 'Pukunui' series and is working on an animated series.

MAORI LIST LINE-UP PUTS PARATA ABOVE BENNETT

National could have six Maori in its next caucus is electorate and list votes fall the right way.

The Party list released yesterday includes sitting list MPs Georgina te Heuheu at 17, Tau Henare at 26 and Paula Bennett at 41.

Ms Bennett is ranked behind its Mana candidate, former Te Puni Kokiri policy manager Hekia Parata, who at number 36 has a strong chance of getting into Parliament this time, after being one list place off in 2002.

Former All Black Paul Quinn has no chance of winning Hutt South, but on current polling his number 48 list placing could get him on the on the Treasury benches.

And at 51 Simon Bridges will almost certainly have to win Tauranga seat to get in.

Former Labour MP John Tamihere says most of the candidates are well known in Maoridom.

"Paul's been around, apart form that fact that in our day he was an exceptional footballer , a gritty determined one too, and that often tells you the type of character a bloke's got when you've seen him on the footy field stepping up. He's there. Hekia Parata we all know is a very capable person. Georgina te Heuheu, without her there wouldn't be Maori in the National Party," he says.

Mr Tamihere says National is trying to send a message it's no longer just a white man's party.
 
CODE UNWRAPPED ON DBP MESSAGING

An Auckland university researcher says political attacks on the DPB may be playing on a mistaken popular belief that a majority of domestic purposes beneficiaries are Maori.

The National Party has made new work conditions for solo parents part the centrepiece of its social welfare conditions.

Christine Todd says her post-graduate research involved interviews with single parents, as well as an extensive study of newspaper coverage of the issue over the past decade.

She says inaccuracies abound.

"My perceptions of the stereotype in the newspaper and the media and from my readings was that the majority were young, were Maori, there's other kinds of stuff that goes with it that they were promiscuous, that they ere substance abusers, there's all kinds of stuff that gets perpetuated in the media, and from my reading and my research I knew that just wasn't the case," Ms Todd says.

Fewer than three percent of beneficiaries are under 20, and the majority are Pakeha women.
 
RANGITANE WANT CONSULTATION FEE FROM WAIRARAPA COUNCILS

Rangitane o Wairarapa say the aroha has run out when it comes to providing free advice to local government.

Mike Kawana from the Masterton-based runanga says after 20 years of consultation on resource consent applications, waahi tapu notification and fisheries, the iwi wants a fee.

It is asking the region's councils to pay where specialist iwi knowledge is likely to be sought.

He says the councils are happy to pay other people and groups for consultation.

"For far too long now we've gone ahead and done things and we've done them because of this aroha we have for our whenua, our kaumatua and our kuia, and they're now saying aroha is not going to feed our moko, and although we still have that aroha, it's time that our time, our experience, our expertise was valued," Mr Kawana says.

Rangitane o Wairarapa. hasn't established a set fee scale.