Maori economy central to emissions scheme

Prime Minister John Key says Maori involvement in the emission's trading scheme is one of the reasons international experts rank New Zealand in the top group of countries with proposals to fight climate change.

Mr Key heads to Copenhagen at the weekend to lead the New Zealand delegation to the United Nations Climate Change summit.

He says the treaty process has put the country in a unique position as far as indigenous people are concerned.

“The Maori economy is intimately intertwined with big parts that are affected by climate change, whether it’s agriculture or fishing, some parts of manufacturing, forestry these are big interests that Maori own,” Mr Key says.

The analysis released by the Greenhouse Policy Coalition ranked New Zealand's conditional target of 10 to 20 percent reductions from 2012 as medium in terms of adequacy, while targets set by Australia, Canada and the United States were considered inadequate.

ACC MEDICAL ADVISOR SAYS CHANGES IMPROVE SUPPORT

The Accident Compensation Commission's senior medical advisor says changes being made to ACC sensitive claims process should benefit Maori women.

The National Council of Women has claimed the corporation is discriminating against Maori women because Maori health providers can't act quickly to deliver treatment.

But Dr Peter Jansen, from Ngati Raukawa says ACC was concerned it had not been doing the best it could for people who lodge claims as a consequence of rape or sexual abuse.

“For example children, people with alcohol and other drug issues, people with intellectual disabilities and of course for Maori clients and what we needed to do was to strengthen and understand what other supports we could develop to support Maori with a sensitive claim,” Dr Jansen says.

ACC is consulting widely with Maori on what supports it needs to put in place.

JENNY TE PAA AUCKLAND DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI FOR 2010

The principal of Te Rau Kahikatea at St John's Theological College has been named a distinguished alumni of the University of Auckland.

Jenny Te Paa says she's honoured to be the first Maori woman to receive the honour.

Past alumni have included Professor Hirini Moko Mead, former governor general Sir Paul Reeves and judge Mick Brown.

Dr Te Paa says when she studied there in the early 1990s for a bachelor's degree in theology and a masters in education, the university was firmly within the old style scholarly tradition.

“I particularly enjoyed my education degree, and I want to pay tribute to Graham and Linda Smith because it was at the time they had identified that there were less than 50 Maori in higher education and with PhD degrees. The masters in education degree I did under their tutelage fit me well to do my PhD in Berkeley,” Dr Te Paa says.

She has been named by the London Daily Telegraph as one of the most influential voices in the Anglican church.

MAORI PROGRAMMING FUNDING NOT RELIANT ON CHARTER

Maori programmes on Television New Zealand should be safe despite the demise of the public service charter, according to a former senior Maori manager with the broadcaster.

Minister for Broadcasting has introduced a bill yesterday repealing the charter, which was created by Labour in 2002.

Former kauhautu Hone Edwards believes the existing Maori line-up will remain ... in off-peak timeslots.

He says the majority of Maori programmes are funded by New Zealand On Air and Te Mangai Paho rather than through charter funding.

“As long as that funding is still coming in from the broadcast funding agencies I think TVNZ will be quite prepared at this stage to leave the level of programming like it is, its core programming like Te Karere, Marae, Waka huia, the rangatahi music programme, those sorts of shows,” he says.

Mr Edwards says minority or niche programming not specifically mentioned in the bill are more vulnerable, such as programmes for Pasifica, Asian or disabled peoples.

BIAS BUILT IN TO NCEA MAORI EXAMS

The Maori Party says the National Certificate of Educational Achievement discriminates against pupils in Maori immersion settings.

Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell has picked up a complaint by the party's deputy president and kura kaupapa principal Pem Bird about the Maori language paper.

The one for students not fluent in te reo is written in English, while kura students sit the same paper with instructions in Maori ... for the same maximum 12 point score.

“If that's the case the theory would be you need more knowledge, more skills are required to understand the questions in Maori, therefore the value of that exam should be lifted, the credits from that exam should be lifted to cater for that,” Mr Flavell says.

Education Minister Anne Tolley has told Mr Flavell the ministry is looking at the issue.

MAORI CONTRIBUTIONS BOOST SUCCESS LIST FOR PM

Prime Minister John Key is ranking what the Government has done for Maori among its top achievements for the year.

John Key says the successful marriage of National and the Maori party has put race relations on a stronger footing.

He says there been good gains in treaty settlements and education.

“We're going to end of the year at one levbel very symbolically by flying the flag next Waitangi Day but we’ve also made great progress when it comes to home insulation for Maori New Zealander. We’ve done a lot of things around the development of whanau ora that you’ll see a great deal talked about next year. You’ve seen an emissions trading scheme that has had serious input of Maori,” Mr Key says.

The progress is confirmed by a recent Marae Digipoll which showed more than 20 percent on the Maori roll would give their party vote to National, up from an historical five or six percent, while 42 percent of Maori on the general roll support the party.