Harawira whipping interest in Foreshore Act review

Northland hosted the first of several consultation hui for the review of the foreshore and seabed act today.

Maori Party MP from Te Tai Tokerau, Hone Harawira, who is leading this round of hui says the Maori party campaigned on repealing the act and are committed to getting the best deal for Maori.

He says the hui will enable Maori to have their say and to understand what the Act means.

“Does it enhance mana whenua. Does it provide for customary rights? Does it provide for public interest? And if you are picking no to all the above, then what are we going to do about it? And if it’s get rid of this Act, are we happy with what we had before, and if we’re not happy with what we had before, what is it we want now?” Mr Harawira says.

He will be holding hui throughout Northland and Tamaki Makaurau with plans to continue around the motu.

NGATI KAPO GET FIRST AID TRAINING

A first aid course designed for vision and hearing impaired Maori participants started in Tamaki Makaurau today.

The pilot course was set up by St John and the Maori national body for blind, Ngati Kapo o Aotearoa.

Course instructor Morty Mortinson says Ngati Kapo came up with the idea and St John hopes to officially launch the course in July. He says the challenges to teach first aid to the blind are no different to teaching the sighted.

“Accidents can happen anywhere anytime, and just because a person is blind doesn’t mean they can’t help someone in need when they are injured or sick,” Mr Mortinson says.

The one-day course covers scene assessment, safety, basic life support (CPR), bleeding, shock and burns.


NGATI WHATUA WANTS CROWD TO HAUL RUBBISH HOME

Ngati Whatua o Orakei is cleaning up their rohe.

The iwi used a zero rubbish strategy at its Waitangi Day Festival at Okahu Bay this year, recycling or composting 90 percent of the total waste stream.

Ngarimu Blair, the tribe’s heritage manager, says their marae and wharekai now operate worm farms, composting and recycling systems to take care of waste and in time hope to extend their strategy across the papakainga.

“We really put the onus back on the individual, walking around, talking to whanau, and giving them a bag to say hey, please take your rubbish home with you and sort it out as you would normally. We have teams of volunteers who are working for nothing but the love of the whenua and when peole see they are passionate dedicated b that they get inspired by that or they get whakamaa over that, and with way, the pick up the rubbish themselves,”
Ngati Whatua o Orakei will promoting its zero-waste strategy at the tangata whenua village at Pasifika next Saturday in the hope that organisers of other events follow suit.

REEVES UNSURE OF NEED TO RETURN TO KNIGHTHOODS

Former governor general Sir Paul Reeves says he's surprised by the Prime Minister's decision to reinstate knighthoods.

Sir Paul says although he has a title, he thought Aotearoa was getting used to not having them.

He says back dating the system may also create all sorts of controversy as eligible Maori like Ngatata Love may not want to put themselves forward for it.

Sir Paul says having the honour given to you is quite different to choosing to take the title.

“There’s nothing wrong with having an honour. It’s the title as such we are talking about. I am aware that in the latter years of the former National government they played around with all sorts of variations of titles but Labour seem to have got it right and so be it but we’ll just have to watch and see where this one goes,” Sir Reeves says.

Dr Ngatata Love says he has not been contacted and is unsure whether he would assume the title of Sir.

WANANGA KEEN TO EXTEND REACH TO YOUNGER MAORI

Te Wananga O Aotearoa wants to provide educational opportunities to Maori school leavers as young as 14.

Responding to a call at the weekend by Professor Ngatata Love of Victoria University's managament school for the government to "think Radically" about Maori education and consider wanagna taking students as young as 14.

Chief executive Bentham Ohia says although the wananga is an adult learning institute the scope to provide for Maori rangatahi is there.

Mr Ohia says following a meeting with Education Minister Ann Tolley last week to discuss providing services for the new youth guarantees scheme for 16 and 17 year olds, the wananga came up with the idea of offering courses to a younger age group.

“Our own meeting sort of identified the need that 16, 17, some of our people may be a bit past it by then and there is a need for us to work in the system to engage our rangatahi at an earlier age,” Mr Ohia says.

He says the wananga will engage with other Maori private training establishments, whanau and the community to establish a strategy for this provision.

CHARITY AIMS TO DRESS WOMEN FOR SUCCESS

Maori women entering the workforce are looking good, thanks to a charity helping low-income women by providing interview-appropriate clothes.

Sue Lewis-O'Halloran, the executive manager of Dress for Success, says clients, over half of which are Maori, are referred by organisations such as Work and Income and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

“Sometimes it’s women who have been out of the workforce for a long time raising their children. Often it’s women whose husbands have left them and they’re suddenly having to go back into the workforce to pay their mortgage and feed their children. We don’t know what to expect when people walk in the door and we never have an expectation, only that we’re here to help women who need our support,” Mrs Lewis-O'Halloran says.

She says Maori women are often most vulnerable when redundancies are made as they take part-time shift work to raise families.

Dress for Success has five affiliates nationwide and is preparing for its annual Celebrity Waiters Dinner on May 15.