Ground broken for Tainui Airport hotel

Maori King Tuheitia has broken the ground for Tainui's new hotel at the entrance to Auckland Airport's international terminal.

Tainui Group Holdings chief executive Mike Pohio says yesterday's dawn blessing was a significant milestone for the project, with construction starting early in the new year and the 12-storey hotel due for completion in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Tainui will own 70 percent of the four star hotel, with the Auckland Airport Company owning 20 percent and multinational hotel operator Accor the remaining 10 percent.

Mr Pohio says it's an excellent time to be building, with construction companies providing keen pricing.

“We'd done a lot of work developing a budget and it’s fair to say we are marginally under budget so it’s a good time to be building, We see over the next 18 months as we start the opening it’s a good time to be on the uplift if you like of that economic bounce back,” Mr Pohio says.

The hotel is on a 100 year lease, and Tainui sees it as an excellent long term income stream for the tribe.

OFFSHORE NOT FORESHORE MANTRA FOR NEW FISHERIES CHAIR

The new chair of Te Ohu Kaimoana says Maori need to focus on marketing their goods and services internationally.

Ngahiwi Tomoana from Ngati Kahungunu says that could be done as part of a Hawaiiki brand, which also draws in their Pacific cousins.

The kaupapa will be a key feature of the fifth Maori Fisheries Conference early next year.

He says while Maori have put a huge amount of passion and energy in recent years fighting for the foreshore, the real prize is offshore.

“We need to be kotahi about going offshore and presenting Maori Pacific Hawaiki in the most positive light. That’s what we’re doing next year, we’re calling the Pacific in to our conference and we’re saying kotahitanga offshore for sure,” Mr Tomoana says.

He says New Zealand doesn't make enough of Maori in its branding, so Maori need to do it for themselves.

MAORI LANDOWNERS USING GRANTS FOR EROSION CONTROL

Maori landowners have picked up more than half this year's grants to plant trees on the East Coast.

The fund was set up after Cyclone Bola in 1992 to encourage erosion control measures in the catchment.

Randolph Hambling from the Ministry of Agriculture says more than 1000 hectares of Maori land will be planted over the next three years at a cost of $1.8 million.

“The successful grantee is given the right to go ahead and plant or to revert the land, put up fences and things like that to keep stock out. When they’ve done that work they will get the grant payment,” Mr Hambling says.

The grants will be particularly useful for Maori land owners wanting to gain carbon credits as part of the emissions trading scheme, as most of the planting to be radiata pine, douglas fir and eucalptus.

KATENE DEFENDS MAORI INVOLVEMENT IN PRIVATE PRISONS

The Maori Party says iwi groups lining up to help run private prisons.

Justice spokesperson Rahui Katene says while she can't name the groups because of commercial confidentiality, the Maori Party supported a low change allowing private management because of the likelihood of Maori participation.

“If there is money to be made, why shouldn’t Maori be making money and the other thing is that once you get a Maori prison, a Maori unit, you get Maori running it then you are gong to be bail to get those programmes in place so you can reduce reoffending,” Mrs Katene says.

She says the Corrections budget has swelled to more than $1.5 billion a year, and the time is overdue for complete review of the justice system through a royal commission.

PROPERTY BOUNCE BACK HELPING TAINUI PROSPECTS

Tainui's commercial arm is enjoying a bounce back in residential property sales.

Tainui Group holdings chief executive Mike Pohio says only 16 sections were sold last financial year at its Huntington subdivision at the northern edge of Hamilton, but twice that many have gone this year.

He says while prices have come back from the highs of the property boom, the tribe is not offering the deep discounts some other developers have been forced to make.

It's also dusting off some plans that stalled as the slump hit.

“There were two residential developments we did put on hold, one at Ruakiwi Rd, it was a townhouse development, and another in Queens Ave just by the train station. We’re starting to pull those plans off the shelf and dust off the resource consents and consider the marketing for the timing on those,” Mr Pohio says.

Tainui Group Holdings is concentrating on the next stage of development of the Base retail complex at Te Rapa and the Auckland Airport hotel, which is due to be completed in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

MOHI EXCITED BY MOTEATEA UNCOVERED FOR SHOW

Musician and television producer Hinewehi Mohi wants to give viewers a better appreciation of the poetic craft that keeps Maori oral traditions alive.

She's now putting the finishing touches on the seventh Moteatea series for Maori Televison.

Over the years the programmes have delved into the stories and composers behind old waiata.

She says the new series will get viewers even closer to the waiata she's uncovered in the Radio New Zealand archives.

“We have Apirana Ngata singing famous moteatea from the coast. To hear these old voices and their original way of performing waiata koroua has just been fantastic,” Mohi says.