Williams sanguine over claim flood

The chief judge of the Waitangi Tribunal Joe Williams is confident that a flood of Treaty claims which came in prior to the midnight deadline for historical claims will be dealt with expeditiously.

Joe Williams says all political parties in parliament agreed that the process should not be allowed to dribble on which means the treaty process generally will not fail for want of resources.

“What’s happened probably over the past 12 months of treaty settlements is about as intense and fast as I have seen in my entire career either as a judge or a lawyers, so I don’t think we are going to be sitting here or our children are going to be sitting here in 20 years time wondering when the conclusion of this process of historical claims will be done,” Judge Williams.

Since the deadline for historical claims was set the Waitangi Tribunal has received more than 1400 claims most of which have come in during August.

This is equal to the number of claims since 1975.

LABOUR COALITION A CORPSE SAYS HARAWIRA

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira has launched a stinging attack on the Labour Coalition Government describing it as stale, arrogant and looking like a corpse.

He says big business is rubbing its hands at what the emissions trading scheme is likely to look like, while the carry on with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is dragging the government into the mud.

“I've actually spoken to Labour’s Maori MPs on a number of occasions lately and I’ve said to them ‘Guys, I know that you think we should be talking coalition, but you’ve really got to get your numbers up. You’ve really got to do a hell of a lot better than you are at the moment. Because at the moment you’re actually looking like a coalition corpse, not a coalition partner,’” Mr Harawira says.

He says the way the polls are stacking up the only option for government is National but the Maori party wants Labour to be a coalition option after the election.

NATIONAL COALITION WOULD BE DEATH KNELL FOR PARTY

However Labour's challenger to Hone Harawira in the Taitokerau electorate has gone onto the front foot in response to the Maori party MPs criticism of the Labour Party.

Ranked 29th on the party list released over the weekend Kelvin Davis is virtually assured of a seat in Parliament.

He says while some commentators are calling the Maori Party 'kingmakers' because they may hold the balance of power after the election, it's obvious Maori voters want the Maori party and Labour to unify to stave off the threat of a National-led government.

“They are probably saying that themselves more than anything, but if they make the wrong decision, it will be the death knell. In other words, if the jump in bed with the National Party, then I can’t really see the Maori electorate standing for that and I think it will be the death knell of the Maori Party in years to come,” Mr Davis says.

TE TAURA WHIRI LAUNCHES MAORI-ONLY DICTIONARY

The Maori Language Commission has launched He Pataka Kupu – te kai a te rangatira, a monolingual Maori language dictionary for highly proficient speakers of Te Reo Maori.

Sharon Armstrong, project co-ordinator with Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori says yesterday's launch of the dictionary is a significant point in efforts to foster and sustain Maori language proficiency.

“Probably the most important distinction between this dictionary and all those others that have come before is this one is monolingual so there are no Pakeha words in it whatsoever,” Ms Armstrong says.

She says the 1200 page dictionary with 24,000 entries is the culmination of seven years work from a team of dedicated writers.

It includes synonyms, tribal variants and some of the more recent developments in Maori language.

IRITANA TAWHIWHIRANGI HONOURED BY TE WAKA TOI

One of the founders of the kohanga reo movement, Iritana Tawhiwhirangi, will receive this year's premiere $20,000 award from the Maori arts board of Creative New Zealand.

Creative NZ awards organiser Haniko Te Kurapa says Mrs Tawhiwhirangi will be presented with the Te Tohu Tiketike a Te Waka Toi award at a ceremony later this year.

“Iritana has been a staunch advocate for the Kohanga Reo movement. In fact she was one of the drivers in there. The actual award is more about the recognition of her hard mahi in driving that because te reo is an art form in Maoridom so this is why she was given this award, because of her tireless mahi over the years in terms of te reo,” Mr Te Kurapa says.

Mrs Tawhiwhirangi graduated as a teacher on the East Coast in 1948, before shifting to Maori Affairs and coming became the first general manager of the Te Kohanga Reo National Trust Board in 1982.

Past recipients of the award included Sir Howard Morrison, Diggeress Te Kanawa and Don Selwyn.

POKIES DAMAGING LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES

The Greens spokesperson on gambling says the party can no longer tolerate the damage poker machines are doing to low income communities.

Sue Bradford say their policy on gambling released yesterday gives local councils the power to determine whether pokies are allowed in their communities.

The outspoken former head of the union for unemployed workers says Maori and Polynesian gamblers make up the bulk of those seeking help for problem gambling, and most are getting into trouble on the pokies.

“The dreadfully harmful and terribly addictive machines are placed deliberately in low income communities like South Auckland, Waitakere, Kaikohe and elsewhere around the country. Maori and Pacific Island people are totally disproportionality affected by problem gambling and we’d like to do something about it. We think it’s a disgrace the major parties in our Parliament have done something about it,” Ms Bradford says.