Brown tinge for green tourism

Ecotourism operators are being challenged to introduce more Maori elements into their business.

The message to the two day Ecotourism New Zealand Conference in Greymouth is coming from the chair of Maori Tourism, John Barrett from Ngati Toarangatira and Te Ati Awa.

He says Maori growth within the sector is moderate but increasingly important.

Mr Barrett says the industry hasn't been good at communicating with Maori operators.

"There's been a lot of nervousness and a lot of ignorance in terms of developing Maori components by non-Maoir operators. I'm going to be suggesting to the non-Maori part of this conference that unless we do start collaborating well, development of ecotourism in the country won't go as smoothly as it should," Mr Barrett says.

Principles like kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga should be embraced by all ecotourism operators.
 
ANOTHER ASSAULT PLANNED ON BENEFITS

The Prime Minister is warning National's beneficiary policies shows it's planning another assault on Maori families.

John Key is promising to make solo parents on the domestic purposes benefit do at least 15 hours work or training a week once their youngest child reaches the age of six.

Helen Clark says once again some of the country's richest people are attacking some of the poorest.

Maori have already seen the consequences of that.

"We always knew that nothing had changed since the 1990s when Jenny Shipley came in, slashed benefits, they put state house rentals up to market levels and forced people to pay to go to the emergency department of the public hospitals, the horror story went on, and here they go again," Ms Clark says.

She says parenting is one of the most important jobs in the country, and it's not right single parents be forced to compromise on raising their kids to prove a political point.
 
COMMUNITY DIABETES PROGRAMME CUTS DOWN INTER-GENERATIONAL RISK

Participants in a research programme looking at diabetes prevention strategy have been getting the simple message that eating less fat and exercising more can reduce the risk of catching the disease.

Elaine Rush from AUT University, the chief researcher, says Te Wai o Rona has proved the feasibility of using community health workers to drive the strategy among Maori, and it is likely to result in significant reductions in the incidence of diabetes.

"She says the children of the participants will benefit the most from the three year project.

"Within another three years we will see a slowing down in the rate of new cases of diabetes but I think the biggest bang for the buck is going to be the children of those women who have taken part, how much healthier they are and the children that they have," Professor Rush says.

Te Wai o Rona community workers made sure their food recommendations were achievable by breaking them into low, medium and high cost bands.

MUSSEL SPAT COLLECTORS ENRAGE TE RARAWA WITH TRACTOR ANTICS

Te Rarawa is considering extreme measures to uphold its kaitiakitanga or guardianship of the lower 90 Mile Beach.

Spokesperson Reuben Porter says it is warning companies collecting mussel spat mechanically to expect confrontation with hapu.

Recently a tractor gathering spat near Waimimiha got stuck in the sand below the high tide mark,  setting off a 12 hour saga as a succession of rescue vehicles also got bogged down.

Mr Patterson says the companies may have legal permission, but they also need to respect the hapu.

"We'll go through a process of asking them to remove themselves from that area, recording the situation if they refuse us. If they force us to take other actions, and that means confiscating their vehicles, it may mean perhaps physical confrontations at the extreme, we don't want to go there but we are very serious about protecting our resources," Mr Porter says.
 
MAORI SEATS MORE IMPORTANT THEY CHUMMING UP

The Labour Party Te Tai Tokerau candidate says the only people who should be making decisions about the Maori seats are the Maori who choose to vote in them.

National has promised to abolish the seven seats once the historic treaty claims settlement process is complete ... but it won't start anything in its first term if elected this year.

Kelvin Davis says that's a promise National has no intention of keeping.

"Their call for a referendum on MMP is another way that they hope to get rid of the Maori seas, to do it by stealth. What they'll do is ask the country whether there needs to be a change, The country will probably say yes and one of the changes they'll more than likely make is to get rid of the Maori seats," Mr Davis says.

The Maori he's meeting as he goes around the electorate want a representative answerable specificially to them, and not to everyone else in New Zealand
 
WHAKAPAPA GIVE TUHOE THE EDGE IN UREWERA TOURISM VENTURE

A Maori ecotourism operator is making whakapapa his point of difference.

Joe Doherty of Te Urewera Treks provides day walks and overnight camping in the rugged forests.

He's set up Te Urewera Rainforest Route as a brand so ecotourism operators from the area, both Maori and non-Maori, can point international clients towards an indigenous experience.

"Our key point of difference is I'm Tuhoe no te Urewera ae and we share with our visitors some of our history, how we as an iwi interface with the ngahere, the trees and the birds and other things that live in the ngahere, so basically that's what Te Urewera Treks is about and most of our clients are international clients," says Mr Doherty, speaking from this week's Ecotourism New Zealand Conference in Greymouth.