Kawe mate o te motu at Koroneihana

At Ngaruawahia today, Maori from around the motu are taking time out to remember their dead.

Through the day whanau will be bringing their kawe mate onto the marae atea at Turangawaewae, often bringing photographs of those who have died in the course of the year.

It's an important part of the annual coronation hui, and it will provide an additional impetus to the Maori Party's hikoi there today.

Co-leader Tariana Turia says their primary reason for being their this year is to support the family if the party's former Te Tai Tonga candidate.

"We're taking Monte Ohia's hare mate onto the marae and joining with Monte's family," Mrs Turia says.

She says MPs will probably stay for the actual Koroneihana itself on Thursday, when King Tuheitia will speak.

This evening will be given over kapa haka.
 
TAURANGA OPENS PROCESS TO CONSIDER MAORI SEAT

Tauranga City Council is reviewing whether it should establish a separate Maori seat.

Huikakahu Kawe, the chair of the council's Tangata whenua consultative committee, says under the Local Governemnt Act the question needs to be looked at every six years.

He says while there's still a lot of talking to be done, Maori at this week's representation workshop were keen to have their own representative on the full council.

"That's always been our goal, because we've said for many years that it's good to have consultation, but the real decisions are made around the table where the full council sits, and while we can made recommendations to them, it doesn't mean we take note of them," Mr Kawe says.

He says the growth of Tauranga means Maori feel their views are swamped by the Pakeha majority.
 
FARM MARAE CASE POOR GROUNDS FOR APPEAL

A Maori land law expert says there's little point in a north Taranaki farmer appealing a district court judgment that he can't build on his land without a building consent.

Russell Gibbs from Tongaporutu faces a $10,000 a day fine unless he talks with New Plymouth District Council about getting a permit for his new wharenui.

Mr Gibbs says it's on a Maori reservation, so the law doesn't apply.

But Tom Bennion, the editor of the Maori Law Review, says the court cited similar cases where people were told the Building and Resource Management Acts apply to Maori freehold land.

"This is a little bit different because it's a Maori reservation, but the same general principle the judge is saying applies, that is the Building Act says all building work, it doesn't talk about any particular bits of land, it says all building work needs building consents, an in fact even within that Building Act it talks about Maori land and how you send notices to multiple owners, so there is just no basis for saying Maori reservations wouldn't be covered," Mr Bennion says.

He says the Judge did suggest the Building Act could allow a different consent process for customary Maori buildings, but that would require Mr Gibbs to open dialogue with the the New Plymouth District Council.

HOPE NGATI WAI COULD SAVE MATAPOURI WAAHI TAPU

A Ngati Wai hapu hopes a promised re-survey of a Northland coastal reserve will lead to the protection of its waahi tapu.

Kris Macdonald, the chair of Te Whanau o Rangiwhakaahu hapu trust, says a 1999 survey done for the Department of Conservation by the Department of Land and Survey Information miscalculated and area at Matapouri which was set aside as a reserve in 1970 by the Maori Land Court.

The trust and Pakeha residents have placed poutiaki to make the disputed site, and they're joining forces for a High Court action against the departments.

He says DoC has indicated it is willing to resurvey ... which will please Maori and Pakeha residents alike.

"The Pakeha of the Matapouri community have been brought up with our grandparents and great grandparents. They eat at each other's houses. They were more like a Maori community than a Pakeha community. The waahi tapu is as special to them as it is special to the tangata whenua," Mr Macdonald says.
 
MAORI TOLD HIGH STAKES IN TUNA STEAKS

Maori consumers are being encouraged to chose carefully when they buy fish for dinner.

Green Party MP Metiria Turei says Maori should be concerned about the overfishing of tuna as it moves between the Pacific islands.

She says demand drives the overfishing ... so Maori consumers can make a difference for their Pacific whanaunga if they buy carefully.

"Those fish stocks, big eye and yellowfin, are over-fished. They're in decline, and they're enormously important to a variety of Pacific Island nations, both for subsistence fishing but also economically," Ms Turei says.

The Greens want New Zealand should push for a marine reserve in international waters ... which will push fishing boats into territorial waters where sustainability-based management systems can be put in place.
 
FULBRIGHT FOR KIDMAN TO STUDY CULTURE N THE CLASSROOM

A Maori researcher has been picked to take part in an international study on the role culture plays in motivating students.

Joanna Kidman, from Te Arawa and Te Aupouri, has a Fulbright Scholarship to join a multidisciplinary group of indigenous education researchers from the United States, Hawai‘i, Canada, Taiwan and the Russian Altai Republic.

The senior lecturer in education at Victoria University says more work needs to be done on  what culture really means in education.

"In New Zealand there's an awful lot of talk between policy makers and teachers and researchers about how culture matters and abut how being Maori matters but there's not a lot of actually thinking about where do you go from that and in what way does it matter," Dr Kidman says.

The Fulbright scholarship will take Dr Kidman to the University of New Hampshire, where she will compare her data on Maori children's achievement with that of other researchers in the project.