Patronising dismissal earns Laws rebuke

One of the Otaki kura kaupapa pupils who wrote to Wanganui mayor Michael Laws says the correct spelling and pronunciation of te reo maori is important to her class.

Mr Laws has escalated the row with tamariki, accusing them of being abused by adults with a political agenda.

But 13 year old Amokura Rangiheuea says spelt with an H, Whanganui means big harbour - without an H it is meaningless.

She says the class was angry at the way Mr Laws championed bad spelling.

“They were all our ideas. They came from us and nobody helped us. We saw it on the news and we thought it would be a good idea to wqrite him a letter about how we think about putting the H back into Whanganui. He thinks we can’t think but we are the eyes and ears for ourselves,” Amokura says.

Her class won't take up Mr Laws' invitation to afternoon tea in his mayoral office, but want him to travel down to their school where he would get more than a cup of tea.

LAWYERS LOOKING FORWARD TO CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW

Maori lawyers are looking forward to the promised review of New Zealand's constitution.

Nga Roia Maori, the Maori lawyers' association, is holding its 21st annual conference at Owai Marae in Waitara.

Co-president Damien Stone from Ngati Kahungunu says it's a useful forum to network, share ideas and develop common views on issues of the day.

“As part of the confidence and supply agreement between the Maori Party and the National Party was that there will be some form of constitutional review occurring over the next year, and we want to use this opportunity when we’ve got pretty powerful legal minds from round the country gathered in one spot to have a wananga about this and develop a position for our organization,” Mr Stone says.

He says the roopu will hikoi to Parihaka tomorrow morning to learn more about the place where Maori developed a unique non-violent response to colonisation and land theft.

MAORI BOYS SEEKING FATHER FIGURES TURN TO BIG BUDDY

Tamariki Maori make up one in five of the boys dealt with by mentoring organisation Big Buddy, and numbers are rising.

Chief executive Richard Aston says Big Buddy has dubbed this Sunday 'Fatherless Day' to highlight the needs of thousands of boys being brought up by solo mums.

He says the number of Maori mothers and caregivers coming forward means Maori mentors are highly valued.

“It's quite different for us working with Maori families. All we are looking for is for a relationship to develop like a father figure. The mentor and the mum and the boy drive the relationship, and the relationships we help forge, we look for a lifelong relationship,” Mr Aston says.

Fatherless Day will be Big Buddy's first fundraising appeal, with supporters urged to text DAD to 883 to make a $3 donation.

MAORI STUDENTS FIGHT ANTI-UNION BILL

Maori tertiary students go into their annual hui this at Lincoln University this weekend facing a proposed law change which will silence the voices of students on campus.

ACT MP Sir Roger Douglas's Voluntary Student Membership bill was drawn out of the ballot last week, which would mean students would no longer have to join and pay fees to their local student association.

Victor Manawatu, the president of Maori tertiary students association Te Mana Akonga, the National Maori Tertiary Students' Association, says it would weaken and probably wipe out student associations, with huge repercussions for Maori.
IN: That is a big take for us and it goes to its first reading next week so we’re meeting with MPs, trying to get them on our side, because it will just decimate all the student associations so the students won’t have a voice within the institutions any more,” Mr Manawatu says.

Student associations provide services such as financial advice and support, advocacy, magazines, foodbanks and arrange student discounts on goods and services.

LONG RUNING KAPA HAKA FESTIVAL IN GISBORNE

The longest running Maori performing arts festival in the country happens this weekend in Tairawhiti.

Tamararo was started in 1953 by Anglican priest Brown Turei - now bishop Turei - as a parish fundraiser.

Organiser Willie Te Aho says seven kapa haka roopu line up tomorrow at the Gisborne Events Centre, including top guns Waihirere, Whangara Mai Tawhiti and Te Hokowhitu a Tu.

He says the annual competition helps the Tairawhiti groups keep on the top of their game, and the competition is always taken seriously.

Willie Te Aho says Maatatua are due in the morning to deliver the mauri from this year's Te Matatini national competitions in Tauranga, in preparation for the national primary school kapa haka competitions to be hosted by Tairawhiti in November.

LAST GAME ON NZ SOIL FOR STACEY JONES

A Maori rugby league great plays his last game on New Zealand soil this week.
Stacey Jones from Ngapuhi and Maniapoto will play his 261st game for the Warriors on Saturday against Melbourne.

He holds the club record for most games, tries, points and fieldgoals.
Peter Leitch, a New Zealand Rugby League ambassador and devout Warriors fan, says has inspired a generation of young players.

He says the little general had some big boots to fill, as his grandfather Manga Emory was a great player.

Peter Leitch says there should be a big crowd at Mt Smart Stadium tomorrow night to give the popular playmaker a rousing send-off.

Ngati Whare mark 25 years of Whirinaki preserve

There's celebrations this weekend marking 25 years since logging of podocarps stopped in Whirinaki, but tangata whenua around the eastern Bay of Plenty forest don't have much to celebrate.

James Carlson, the chair of Ngati Whare, says unlike the West Coast which was given millions of dollars to develop alternative industries after native logging stopped, the community around Whirinaki was abandoned.

He says Ngati Whare had to use the treaty claim process to map a way ahead, which now includes a 1000 year regeneration project and ther prospect of co-management of the forest with the Department of Conservation

“Ngati Whare believe we are from there and we will remain there. All those tree huggers and all those loggers who were there 25 years ago, they’re all gone. None of them are there any more. It’s only Ngati Whare that are left behind,” Mr Carlson says.

Ngati Whare is looking forward this morning to welcoming kokako to Murumurunga Marae for reintroduction to the forest ... as well as other manuhiri including naturalist David Bellamy, who has agreed to be patron of the regeneration project.

EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM TO LOOK AT MOTIVATION

A symposium starting in Taumarunui today will look at how different concepts of Maori education help Maori students.

Te Huinga Jackson-Greenland, an early childhood lecturer, says the hui will look at the whole sector from pre-school to secondary, including Maori and mainstream options.

She says the emergence of kohanga reo and kura kaupapa served to validate Maori notions about the way they wanted their children educated.

“Culture matters in terms of children and how they learn. When kids know what their identity is, where their traditions come from, their protocols, and they are motivated to learn, which is what kohanga and kura kauapap do very well, you’ve already got them halfway there,” Ms Jackson-Greenland says.

Speakers include educator and Maori affairs minister Pita Sharples, Rose Pere and Wally Penetito.

MEMORIAL PLANNED FOR TARANAKI WARRIOR TUTANGE WAIONUI

A nineteenth century warrior is being honoured by his Taranaki descendants.

Tutange Waionui of Ngati Ruanui fought alongside Titikawaru during the land wars and claimed credit for killing flamboyant Austrian mercenary Gustav Von Tempsky.

One of his descendants, South Taranaki deputy mayor Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, says a memorial will be unveiled in October at Pariroa Pa at Kakaramea near Patea, which Waionui and his wife Ngaati established 115 years ago.

She says Tutange Waionui was the model for the warrior who featured on the shilling coin.

MAORI COUNCIL WANTS ANTI-POVERTY DRIVE

The Maori Party has renewed calls for tax cuts for struggling families, a rise in the minimum wage, and no GST on essential foods.

It follows the release of an OECD report which paints a grim picture of child poverty in New Zealand.

Co-leader Tariana Turia, the Associate Minister of Health, says despite the recession the government has an obligation to ease the burden on the country's most vulnerable families.

“There's been evidence around for some time that at least 50 percent of Maori families are living below the poverty line, that our people are the ones who are most impacted on, but of course there are many families in New Zealand today who are living on very low incomes and struggling to survive,” Mrs Turia says.

TRIBUNAL SETS PACE FOR HISTORICAL REVISION

The work of the Waitangi Tribunal in uncovering Maori historical experiences has led to a major rewrite of a standard textbook.

Editor Giselle Barnes says the Oxford History of New Zealand was last revised in 1992, and there have been massive changes since then in the way history is described and understood.

Professor Giselle Byrnes, from the University of Waikato, commissioned 22 scholars to write chapters for the book.

She says research done for claims has helped scholars to pull apart the myth of national identity which has been written into previous histories of the country.

“Waitangi Tribunal narratives have really shifted the direction of historical scholarship considerably over the past 20 years so this book hopes to capture something of that,” Professor Byrnes says.

The New Oxford History of New Zealand will be launched at Waikato University next Monday.

KOKAKO CENTREPIECE OF WHIRINAKI FOREST CELEBRATION

In about an hour a group of kokako will be centre of a welcome at Murumurunga Marae which start celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the end of logging in Whirinaki.

James Carlton, the chair of Ngati Whare, says the birds are an important part of the estern Bay of Plenty tribe's plans for the ancient podacarp forest.

He says Ngati Whare has used the treaty claim process to map out a future for the area, which has suffered years of economic stagnation after the closing of the native timber mills.

“We have regeneration programmes that we are going to work in partnership with the Crown and also through a co-management with the Department of Conservation so we have a true partnership with those two organisations we will have certainly and say and we will be part of the future of the Whirinaki Forest rather than a token group of people living in the vicinity,” Mr Carlton says.

One of today's manuhiri is British naturalist David Bellamy, who has agreed to be patron of the forest regeneration trust.

Maori war memorial shedding shells

One of the country's only Maori war memorials is in a race against time.

The shellrock obelisk at Wanganui's Moutoa reserve was built in 1925 to acknowledge Whanganui Maori who died in World War 1.

It's topped by an Italian marble statue of local man Herewini Wakarua, and soil from four World War 1 battlefields is buried below it.

Rangi Wills, the chair of the Pakaitore Historic Reserve Board, says experts say it will cost more than $300,000 to repair cracks to the obelisk to heritage standards, and it will take a while for the board to raise the money.

He says it might collapse in a moderate earthquake, which could damage the marble statue.

The Pakaitore board is considering fencing the memorial so stonework doesn't fall on the public.

TACTICAL VOTING NEEDED FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS

Waikato Hauraki MP Nanaia Mahuta says Maori candidates in local body elections should stop cutting each other's throats.

She says Maori need to vote tactically in next year's local body elections for Maori candidates to have any chance of success.

Ms Mahuta says in her own rohe Maori candidates have brought each other down in past elections.

“The experience in Hamilton is that while we have good Maori candidates stand, two or three stand in the same ward. We’ve got to be tactical. People have to talk first and throw their weight behind and make sure they vote at the local body elections next year,” Ms Mahuta says.

MAORI NURSES KEY TO CERVICAL SMEAR PROGRAMME

A shortage of Maori nurses in Counties Manukau is being blamed for disappointing numbers of Maori woman getting regular cervical smears.

Ruth Davy from WONS Nursing Education and Health Promotion Services says new cultural training for nurses has resulted in more Pacific women getting smears, but it wasn't proving as effective for Maori women.

She says more training is needed across the primary health sector.

“Maori PHOs are doing a fantastic job. However the majority of Maori women in Counties Manukau are not in Maori PHOs so we’ve got to address the other workforces as well to make sure they are culturally competent,” Ms Davy says.

She says 20 years ago the Maori Women's Welfare League called for cervical screening to be part of a wider well woman focus, but the recommendation wasn't taken up and screening is still treated as an isolated procedure.

LAW ON WRONG TRACK BLAMING MAORI FOR ABUSE

A Maori academic says Wanganui mayor Michael Laws should look to his own back yard before attacking Maori children for high rates of child abuse within Maori society.

Mr Laws told tamariki from an Otaki kura kaupapa that he wouldn't take their views on the spelling of Whanganui seriously until the class started addressing the real issues affecting Maoridom, such as child murder.

Rawiri Taonui from Canterbury University's school of Maori and indigenous studies says while the incidence of violence against Maori children is much higher than in the Pakeha world, OECD figures show it is trending down.

“Abuse and violence against Pakeha children is actually increasing and it’s increasing at a rate faster than any other country in the OECD, still not as much as Maori, but Maori are trending down and Pakeha trending up and that has a lot to do with the positives that are coming out of the Maori renaissance,” Mr Taonui says.

He will present his research on traditional Maori child rearing practices to a conference in Italy next week.

MAORI HEALTHCARE OVERSIGHT BODY SOUGHT

Maori health providers are advocating a national body to oversee delivery of primary healthcare services to Maori.

Simon Royal, the chief executive of the National Maori PHO Coalition, says the kaupapa will be raised at a series of hui aimed at informing Maori provider about changes in health policies under the new government.

He says while growth in the sector is strong, the way providers are funded needs to change.

“Our Maori providers end up being contracted for what they do rather than what they achieve. The idea we’ve been advocating is moving to more outcomes based purchasing arrangements with the government and a more investment strategy approach rather than an auditing and compliance approach of contracting,” Mr Royal says.

The new body could also be responsible for Maori workforce development and coming up with better ways to target resources to achieve the greatest gains.

PAKURANGA KOHANGA GUTTED IN BLAZE

Whanau of an east Auckland kohanga reo gutted by fire last night are making sure their tamariki don't miss out on their reo.

Missy Blackmore from Waikaremoana Kohanga Reo rang parents last night asking them not to bring their tamariki today because she didn't want them seeing the devastation.

The National Kohanga Reo Trust has offered assistance, and whanau met this afternoon for a karakia at the site.

Missy Blackmore says the Pakuranga community is rallying round the kohanga reo, which has been open for 17 years.

“Riverhills Primary School has given us a classroom and we have asked for resources to set it up next eek and open the Monday after so we keep our tamariki and parents together, we don’t want them away for too long,” Ms Blackmore says.

There's still no word on what caused the fire.

Maori committee battle prelude to super city stoush

Manukau mayor Len Brown says his council's stoush over marae funding shows the challenges the Auckland super city will face with Maori representation.

An attempt to change the rules to allow council's Treaty of Waitangi Committee to allocate the $145,000 budget for marae development failed to attract the necessary support from 75 percent of councilors.

Mr Brown, who this week announced he would run for the greater Auckland mayoralty in 18 months, says some councilors opposed the change because the committee included some members appointed through a process of iwi consultation.

“That give you some idea of the challenge we will face if the Government do not take a stand and make a decision round Maori seats. The only option then will be for the council and the community to make that decision in Auckland,” Mr Brown says every local government is required to review its Maori representation every three years.

GREENS LINE UP WITH MAORI PARTY OVER EMISSIONS SCHEME

Greens' co-leader Meteria Turei says Maori values are behind her party's determination to oppose the government over its climate change policy.

She says both National's emissions trading scheme and the Labour government plan it replaces would subsidise polluters for years before they need to take responsibility for carbon emissions.

That's why the Greens and the Maori Party are lining up against the major parties, who have indicated a willingness to work together on the issue.

“We agree completely with the Maori Party that the environmental impacts have to be the key issue and then managing the costs to the community, to the most vulnerable, as part of that too, and what Maori Party and Greens are saying is that the polluter must pay. Those who are doing the damage must be financially responsible for it,” Ms Turei says.

She says National's emissions trading scheme will make the public pay twice - once for their own costs and again to subsidise the big polluters.

TOBACCO RESEARCH FERTILE FIELD OF STUDY

The director of Auckland University's Tobacco Control Research Centre wants more Maori researchers to turn their attention to tobacco control.

Marewa Gover says a new strategy released at this week's Public Health Association conference by the Tobacco Control Research Steering Group puts the needs of Maori and Pacific peoples as a priority.

She says the strategy may improve the funding available.

“We still have no dedicated funding for tobacco control research as such for the monitoring we need to do and the evaluation of programmes and approaches that are being used. It’s still pretty much left up to researchers to chase research funding,” Dr Glover says.

Areas for research include the nature of addictiveness and what works to help people quit smoking.

MAORI SUPPORT A DIFFERENCE IN MAYORAL RACE

Auckland super city mayoral aspirant Len Brown says his support for Maori is a point of difference with likely rival John Banks.

The Manukau City mayor says that suport goes further than just advocating Maori seats on the super city council.

He says Maori leaders provide an example of the way forward for the city as a whole.

“I look at how much of the waterfront is owned by Ngati Whatua. I see Tainui investing in our place and I see young Maori people in our schools looking out at those leaders and saying ‘Yo, look at that, I can aspire to that, look at those guys.’ If we can have Maori kicking some serious backside in business and education, then we are all going to profit as a country,” Mr Brown says.

While he is a proud Aucklander his heart and soul will always be in South Auckland with its Maori and Polynesian populations.

MAORI ETHICS FRAMEWORK DEVELOPED FOR HEALTH RESEARCH

The Health Research Council has developed a Maori ethics framework to guide researchers wanting to engage with Maori.

Khyla Russell, a member of the council's Putaiora Writing Group, says the guidelines will be available to anyone seeking funds to research in Maori communities.

She says Maori have complained about the amount of research on them which fails to be translated into action.

“If you just take education and health and being told we’re obese, we’re under educated, we’ve too much diabetes, we’re over something or other else, and yet that has been being produced since the 1950s and yet there has been no action to redress and address that,” she says.

Dr Russell says the ethics framework will challenge some of the assumptions which have driven research on Maori, and should lead to better follow up and allocation of resources.

TE MAORI PROVIDES FUEL FOR YOUNG IMAGINATIONS

Childhood memories of the Te Maori exhibition have flavoured an exhibition opening at the Mangere Arts Centre today.

Curator Nigel Borell says Kawakawa is a tribute to the first international touring exhibition of taonga Maori, which opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in September 1984.

When it returned to Aotearoa in 1986, it became the first point of contact for many tamariki Maori with traditional Maori art forms.

“It's amazing what some people remember about that experience because on one hand it’s such a profound moment but also some people remembered it was so hot and sticky and smelly and not necessary the things you think they would remember but as a youngster those are the memories they have of that occasion as well,” Mr Borell says.

Kawakawa at Mangere Arts Centre includes the responses of 12 contemporary Maori artists, including Natalie Couch, Charlotte Graham, Hemi Macgregor and Saffron Te Ratana.

Coromandel iwi eye prospecting prospect with alarm

A Hauraki treaty negotiator says Coromandel iwi won't stand by if conservation land in their rohe is opened up for mining.

Energy and resources minister Gerry Brownlee has asked from a review of whether some parts of the conservation estate should be excluded from Schedule Four of the Crown Minerals Act, which bars prospecting.

Paul Majurey from Marutuahu says the Hauraki iwi has laid claim to a range of minerals, including precious metals.

He says the Waitangi Tribunal found the Crown used mining as an excuse to take Hauraki land, and the government should not be compounding that injustice.

The fate of those lands are so important to us. They were taken from us. For the moment and in the past they have been off the table for treaty negotiations. The Tuhoe negotiations may change the landscape there. The Marutuahu people are not going to stand by and watch the DOC estate go to any other folk and all that may go with it in terms of what is below the surface of the land,” Mr Majurey says.

He says the Crown's determination to hang on to mineral rights is a continuing breach of the treaty.

HEALTH EDUCATION SYSTEM NOT CONSIDERING MAORI NEEDS

The Public Health Association conference has been told New Zealand’s health education system is failing Maori.

Khyla Russell, the kaitohutohu at Otago Polytechnic, told the hui in Dunedin the system has no way to take into account Maori knowledge.

She says course material is often irrelevant to Maori students, and institutions are failing to train staff to deal adequately with Maori.

“If we're clever about what we put in our curriculum as a requirement for getting a degree in midwifery or nursing or becoming a doctor or an epidemiologist or whatever, anyone who is in the service of heath provision or education provision, our, before they are considered to have fulfilled the requirements of a degree, know how to engage with their treaty partner,” she says.

Dr Russell says the mainstream system doesn't need to teach Maori cultural practices, but it does need to people how to be culturally appropriate and to engage with iwi.

TE MAORI MEMORIES DRIVING YOUNGER ARTISTS

Contemporary Maori artists are paying tribute to an exhibition that defined traditional Maori art a quarter century ago.

Te Maori opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on September 10, 1984.

It was the first international touring exhibition of taonga Maori.

Mangere Arts Centre curator Nigel Borell says Kawakawa, which opens in south Auckland tomorrow, features the responses of 12 artists who visited Te Maori when it returned to Aotearoa.

“The legacy of what it did is evident in the work they produce today. Some of the artists talk about the exhibition catalogue being very important in informing their understanding of not just Te Maori but of Maori art,” he says.

The artists in Kawakawa include Chris Bryant, Dion Hitchens, Charlotte Graham, Aimee Ratana and others.

WANGANUI GANG PATCH BYLAW DISCRIMATORY TO MAORI

Greens' co-leader Metia Turei says the Wanganui anti-gang patch bylaw will fuel discrimination against Maori.

Ms Turei warns police could use their new powers to stop Maori and search them and their cars for insignia.

She says the by-law which came into force yesterday is clearly focused on predominantly Maori gangs like the Mongrel Mob and Black Power

“Because of the prejudice people have against Maori in general and the association they have with Maori being in gangs it’s less likely for some of the other kinds of gangs like white power gags who tend to use less insignia so they’re less likely to be subject to this law. It promotes the use of this law in a discriminatory way,” Ms Turei says.

She says the bylaw would have been worse if the Greens had got tattoo and moko excluded from the ban.

ODDS ON FOR GETTING ANTI-GAMBLING AWARDS


Maori tackling gambling in their communities were honoured at a ceremony in Auckland last night.

Zoe Hawke, the problem gambling manager at Te Hapai te Hauora, says the Maori Gambling Workforce Awards are a way to acknowledge those who help whanau help themselves.

She says gambling is a struggle families try to keep under cover.

“It's not like drugs and alcohol where you can see visually that something’s going on. A lot of whanau are so whakama about taking about their struggle with gambling that it often isn’t until they’ve hit rock bottom, they’ve lost their whare, even their tamariki they’ve lost because of gambling, so the more we talk about it and the more we share within our whanau the healthier we become because it’s no longer a secret,” Ms Hawke says.

Whanau ora, addressing the health of the whole family, is often the most effective tool to help Maori escape the grip of a gambling addiction.

SUGAR SCULPTURE HIGHLIGHTS TRAGEDY OF INDIGENOUS DIABETES

A Pacific Island artist is highlighting the ravages of diabetes and obesity on Pacific and Maori people.

John Ioane's installation at Whangarei Art Museum features body casts of the artist's brother and sister-in-law made of sugar crystals.

The casts, which are encased in perspex, are being filmed as they are slowly devoured by ants.

Ioane says it's a metaphor for the epidemics in indigenous communities.

“So you've got this black moving shimmering colony of ants slowly eating away at these sugar figures and to me that is symbolic of the slow movement of this virus diabetes in our community eating away our beautiful taonga which is our people,” he says.

The sugar sculpture is part of a major survey of Ioane's work on show at the Whangarei museum for the next two months.

Broken promises spark compulsion call

A leading authority on the Maori language wants compulsory reo lessons for all children - Maori and pakeha.

Te Wharehuia Milroy was awarded the Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi award at the weekend for his contribution to the revitalisation of te reo Maori.

The Waitangi Tribunal member says language is a taonga under the treaty and the government has a duty to ensure it is protected and available to all Maori.

“Previously I hadn't thought of it being compulsory because I thought that it was the responsibility of our own Maori people to go out and learn but when you’re faced with obstacles, when you have to pay to learn your own language, these are things that suggest there are s0em injustices being done,” Professor Milroy says.

Making Maori compulsory will improve its status in the school system and ensure resources are put into it.

TE ARAWA TRIED TRIBAL APPROACH TO LANGUAGE LEARNING

Meanwhile, Te Arawa is researching ways to increase the amount of Te Reo Maori spoken in homes and communities.

Project co-ordinator Rukuwai Daniel says eight pilot projects will trial different ways to encourage whanau to use Maori in day to day communications.

Each project is driven by different Te Arawa hapu, giving people a personal investment in having them succeed.

Rukuwai Daniel says the 12 month project is a joint initiative between Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori and Te Runanganui o Te Arawa.

TAPU SIDE OF POLICING PUT ON DISPLAY

The police have reopened their museum with new tapu and noa sections.

Manager Kamaya Yates says redevelopment of the museum attached to the Porirua Police College included extensive consultation with Ngati Toa.

As a result, the exhibition hall showcasing community policing is considered noa, meaning unrestricted.

Exhibits relating to violent crime and death are in the tapu section, including items with hair and other body residues.

Water has been made available so people can wash the tapu off as they leave the area, in the customary manner,

Kamaya Yates says the museum tries to focus on themes rather than objects, telling stories like the Rainbow Warrior inquiry and the policing of the 1981 Springbok Tour.

MANUKAU KEEPS TREATY COMMITTEE IN SUBSERVIENT ROLE

A Manukau City councillor says a refusal by fellow councillors to let Manukau's Treaty of Waitangi committee allocate marae grants is a portent of the fights Maori will have in the new Auckland super city.

Alf Filipaina says six councillors blocked his proposed rule change on the grounds the five mana whenua and four taura here representatives on the 18 member committee were appointed rather than elected.

He says that sort of thinking makes advisory committees unsatisfactory for tangata whenua.

“In light of the announcement there’s no representation on the Auckland council for Maori, of course it doesn’t look too well when we have a standing committee and we can’t even get the councilors to agree on allowing out Te Tiriti o Waitangi committee which I chair to allocate funds solely and wholly to marae,” he says.

Alf Filipaina says he intends to stand for the super city council.

NZ FIRST MAKES A PLAY FOR MAORI VOTE

New Zealand First wants the Maori vote next election.

Former MP Pita Paraone says the election of three Maori to the party's nine member board at last weekend's conference shows its commitment to tangata whenua.

They were leader Winston Peters, another former MP Bill Gudgeon, and Hineraumoa Apatu of Hamilton.

Mr Paraone says support for New Zealand First in the Maori seats remains high, and that's one of the reasons the conference voted to change the constitution so the party can go back to contesting them.

“People tend to under play the support Maori might give to New Zealand First. Last election the support exceeded 5 percent in all Maori electorates and in one it exceeded 8 percent,” he says.

Mr Paraone says standing candidates in the Maori seats should increase its share of the vote.

GOOGLE SCANNING OVER RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS STORYTELLERS

The author of one of New Zealand's most popular Maori tales is alarmed at Google's scan plan.

Writers and publishers around the world have until Friday to opt in or out of the Internet giant's voluntary settlement, under which it will make a nominal payment to rights holders whose books it digitised without permission.

Witi Ihimaera says one of the books affected is Whale Rider, and the case demonstrates how indigenous communities can be disadvantaged by cultural appropriation.

“To be frank The Whale Rider doesn’t belong to me. All the intellectual property belongs to the people of Whangara so when something like this happens I have to be very careful and acknowledge that this isn’t my work. This is to do with the mythology and the landscape and the seascape of the people of Whangara,” Ihimaera says.

He backs a call by the New Zealand Society of Authors for an inquiry to ensure the country's authors and its literature is protected.

NZ First takes aim again at Maori seats

New Zealand First will stand candidates in the Maori electorates at the next election.

The party's weekend conference voted to change its constitution, reversing an earlier bar on contesting the seats, which New Zealand First made a clean sweep of in 1996.

Former list MP Pita Paraone says the change is sure to be ratified by the party's board, and should boost its harvest of list votes.

“The voters, whether they be Maori or Pakeha and irrespective of which party they support will be looking at what did these parties achieve for them during the parliamentary term. I think even Maori are asking themselves what has the Maori Party delivered thus far,” Mr Paraone says.

He says the conference also confirmed the party's commitment to Maori by electing three Maori decent to its board - leader Winston Peters, former MP Bill Gudgeon and Hineraumoa Apatu from Hamilton.

HEALTH RESEARCH TO BE TURNED INTO ACTION

A conference starting in Dunedin tomorrow aims to turn research on Maori health into action.

Peter Thomas, the Maori caucus representative on the Public Health Association council, says although life expectancy is improving slowly, Maori still live shorter lives than non-Maori.

He says the gap could be narrowed further if inequalities in health service delivery are addressed.

Peter Thomas says as health service providers get greater autonomy because of government policy, sharing research becomes even more important.

SINKING FEELING FOR WAIKATO RIVERBANK MARAE

Central North Island hapu Ngati Tahu is getting ready to shift its marae.

Ohaaki Marae at Orakei Korako on the banks of the Waikato River has been sinking 17 centimetres a year since the Ohaaki geothermal power station was commissioned in 1989 on land leased from the tribe.

Tribal trustee Aroha Campbell says Contact Energy has offered to fund the move to a more stable block of land about a kilometre away.

She says the hardest part of the project may be convincing whanau of the need to move.

“Because the subsidence is moving equally at the marae, you can’t see it because the whole thing is going down. It’s not just going down in one place and not in the other. So from a lot of the iwi who do go back to the marae, they do not see any changes in the marae, other than the river rising,” Ms Campbell says.

She expects there will be some emotional arguments when the proposal is put to the hapu at a hui on September 12.

IHIMAERA GETS TOPU MAORI CULTURAL AWARD

Witi Ihimaera says getting the country’s most prestigious Maori cultural tohu is as good as winning an Academy Award.

The Whale Rider author was named Te Tohutiketike a Te Waka Toi at the Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi Awards over the weekend.

Past recipients include Sir Howard Morrison, the late master carver Pakariki Harrison and weaver Diggeress Te Kanawa.

Ihimaera says he felt honoured to be alongside the kaumatua who were given Ta Kingi Ihaka awards for lifetime contributions to Maori arts and culture, including Te Uruhina McGarvey, Mere Broughton, Bill Tawhai, Whero Bailey and Kukupa Tirikatene

“They are the unsung heroes of Maoridom. This is simply because New Zealand, being the kind of country it is, is really not aware of this almost underground movement that constitutes Maoridom and in our own communities we have these people we honour and they are as important to us as any sir or dame,” Ihimaera says.

He will be presented the award in January at his turangawaewae, Rongopai Marae in Gisborne, during the 110-year anniversary reunion of descendants of 19th century Maori MP Wi Pere.

ARMY TAKES ON CULTURAL ADVISOR

For the first time the New Zealand Defence Force has taken on a Maori cultural advisor.

He's Jerald Twomey from Ngati Raukawa ki Te Tonga, a 22 year veteran of the army.

Warrant Officer Twomey says his job will be to enhance the Defence Force's unique cultural identity and give protocol and policy advice to the force chief, who currently is Lieutenant-General Jerry Mateparae.

He says his interest in Maori language and tikanga was sparked by learning traditional martial arts.

“It started off with the mo rakau they introduced me to when I was at Waiouru many years ago, Most people who have done mo rakau who don’t know much of anything else, it becomes an avenue for something else. Just follow the pathway to where it takes,” he says

Mr Twomey says defence personnel are now so busy, it can be a challenge to make the time for learning cultural skills.

SPRING TIME FOR PLANTING KUMARA

Today is the first day of spring, and that means it's time to plant your kumara.

That's according to Maori chef and gardener Rewi Spraggon.

He says many people plant their kumara too early, and they should heed the ancient pepeha.

“Kei a koi a tangi o pipiwharauroa, ‘Where were you at the sound of the shining cuckoo’ which is around about now and that is the time to plant your kumara. A lot of people in the country think Matariki is the time for planting but it isn’t. It’s the time for getting the tapapa or getting the beds ready,” Mr Spraggon says.

As well as planting kumara on the new moon, it's also a good time to harvest some crops such as watercress.

Tuhoe elders strive for peace

Tuhoe treaty negotiators say they've struck a truce with the Maori Party.

Te Kotahi a Tuhoe chair Tamati Kruger had accused Te Ururoa Flavell of having a Jesus complex over the Waiariki MP's support of a group of hapu challenging his organisation's mandate.

He says a meeting in Ruatoki last week attended by Mr Flavell and other Maori party representatives resolved the differences.
“We're both Ngai Tuhoe and the Maaori Party straight with each other on expectations and a way forward and the outcome of that meeting I thought was very positive for both parties,” Mr Kruger says.

The next step is for Te Kotahi a Tuhoe and the Maori Party to step aside and let elders try to health the rift with the hapu group, Te Umutaoroa.

TOTAL PACKAGE NEEDED TO ADDRESS VIOLENCE

The government's Whanau Ora Taskforce believes violence can't be addressed in isolation.

The group yesterday unveiled the Maori and Pacific Family Violence Programme of Action it has developed with the Family Violence Taskforce.

Member Di Grenell says if violence and other dangerous behaviour is addressed, the whole community benefits.

“Our aspirational goal is about more than violence being missing. It’s about whanau ora for all whanau. For that to happen there’s got to be strength and safety and integrity and identity prosperity for our whanau so we see this work as very much contributing to the overall goal of whanau ora,” Ms Grenell says.

Maori leadership needs to be drawn into anti-violence programmes so they can give clear direction.


BROADCASTERS REO UP TO SCRATCH

An expert on the Maori language is defending the reo spoken by a younger generation of Maori broadcasters.

Te Wharehuia Milroy was awarded the Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi award at the weekend for his contribution to the revitalisation of te reo Maori.

He says the elders who criticise the language spoken by broadcasters such as TVNZ's Scotty Morrisson and Maori Television's Julian Wilcox learned their language in a different era.

He says the university-trained speakers are part of an effort to broaden the language.

“They're resurrecting or reviving some words that have gone out of use and I know that a lot of our elders do not know these words because the language period they grow up in was very much conversational,” Professor Milroy says.

The broadcasters are catering for a younger generation of Maori speakers.

MINORITY REPORT USED AS BARGAINING CHIP

The Maori Party's minority report on the emissions trading scheme has been tabled in Parliament after its representative on the climate change select committee dropped her attempt to withdraw it.

Rahui Katene says the party favours a carbon tax over emissions trading, which it sees as benefiting polluters.

But she says when in became clear National was determined to push through an ETS, the Maori Party looked for ways to strengthen it.

“We saw that there was an opportunity there to strengthen the ETS and we wanted to d that without prejudice. We thought by withdrawing our report we would be able to do that. It became obvious that that wasn’t the way to do it but we are still able to continue the discussions,” Ms Katene says.

She says there was no deal with National.


TUHOE ELDERS STEP IN TO RESOLVE TRIBAL RIFT

Tuhoe elders have stepped in to resolve fighting within the eastern Bay of Plenty iwi.

A collective of hapu, Te Umutaoroa, has been challenging Te Kotahi a Tuhoe's authority to negotiate treaty settlements and manage any assets returned to the tribe.

The Maori Party has also got involved, with Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell accused of siding with Te Umataroa.

Te Kotahi a Tuhoe chairperson Tamati Kruger says at a hui at Ruatoki last week, frustrated elders called time out.

He says the meeting also resolved differences between Te Kotahi and the Maori Party.

EXPRESSWAY WILL SPLIT MARAE FROM URUPA

A Waikanae hapu is distressed at plans to build a four-lane expressway between its marae and its urupa.

Spokesperson Ra Higgott says whanau have been carrying coffins from Whakarongotai Marae to Ruakohatu Urupa for over a hundred years, and since the 1950s have had an official right of way across state highway one.

He says the new road proposed by Transport Minister Steven Joyce can't be crossed on foot, and presented real problems on how tupapaku can be transported in future.

“The proposed underpass is some distance away and it will be so difficult to use a hearse of for people to hop in their cars and follow,” Mr Higgott says.

Residents have only six weeks to make submissions on the expressway route.

Dirty water avoidable threat

Labour's water quality spokesperson says some rural marae could become unusable unless the government unlocks an $88 million fund to upgrade small water schemes.

The Drinking Water Assistance Programme set up by Labour is under review, with Health Minister Tony Ryall saying he wants to evaluate how it aligns with government policies and whether it provides value for money.

Brendon Burns says the programme was a response to World Health Organisation concerns about water quality after a lethal outbreak of water-borne disease in Canada.

But he says it has been under threat since Local Government Minister Rodney Hide told a local government conference in March that the water standards were ridiculous.

“At some point Mr Hide and Mr Ryle are going to have to deal with the consequences of a serious outbreak of water borne illness, perhaps involving fatalities, and I think they will come to realise how important it is that we as a nation do not neglect these things, actually acknowledge want to be a first world nation, and the best measure of that is having safe drinking water,” Mr Burns says.

Some 71 projects are on hold, including many marae and small Maori rural communities.

MUTTONBIRD SEASON HIT BY CLIMACTIC CONDITIONS

Murihiku iwi want to know why numbers of shellfish and birdlife at the bottom of the South Island are declining.

Michael Skerrett, the upoko to the Waihopai Runaka, says mollyhawks are so hungry they are eating out of fishermen's hands.

He says this year's muttonbird season has been the worst in memory, which the iwi is attributing to colder water temperatures and rough weather rather than harvesting pressure.

“What we do on the island does nothing. The threats are the other things we can’t control, climatic things. Water temperature probably had something to do with it this year and probably feed was driven too deep for the birds to get at,” Mr Skerrett says,

There is also concern over the effect of beach traffic on toheroa numbers, which the runanga is researching with a grant from Environment Southland.

BLOODLINES BROUGHT TOGETHER FOR TAMAKI PEACE
The tribes of Auckland have lost one of their matriarchs.

Hariata Ewe, from Te Kawerau a Maki, died of a heart attack earlier this month aged 90.

She was a foundation member of the Maori Women’s Welfare League, a close associate of Princess te Puea, and a former beauty queen who won the Miss Auckland title in 1938.

Her nephew Rewi Spraggon says his aunt's grandfather was the leading chief of the Te Wai o Hua and her grandmother was of Te Kawerau and Ngati Whatua lineage.

“Her grandparents were married off together to cement the peace within the tribes of Tamaki Makaurau – Ngati Whatua, Waiohua, Kawerau a Maki, Te Akitai and a few others so as far as the senior lineage, she was definitely from those bloodlines,” Mr Spraggon says.

Hariata Ewe has been buried at Te Pukaki tapu o Poutukeka urupa in Mangere.

NGATI APA HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT PRISON LANDLORD

An iwi being offered a prison as part of its treaty settlement is getting cold feet about the deal.

Ngati Apa has a chance to buy a the land under Kaitoke prison in Whanganui.

Adrian Rurawhe says that would give it rental income from the Department of Corrections.

But the punitive nature of corrections policy could be a deal breaker.

“One of the fears of our people is around the operation of those prisons. We have to accept that mainstream New Zealand are hell bent on having a punitive system for corrections whereas we would have a more restorative process,” Mr Rurawhe says.

He wants a national debate on prison management so Maori concerns about rehabilitation can be addressed.

If Ngati Apa take up the purchase option they must offer neighboring Whanganui iwi, who have a completing claim for the land, a 50 per cent share.

MAORI PRISON READY FOR LIFT OFF

Meanwhile, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples is getting ready to try a new kind of prison.

Dr Sharples says corrections' policy is one area his party has major differences with National, which is pushing for increasingly punitive approaches.

He says the Maori focus units he helped design 15 years ago have reduced reoffending, and it's now time to take the concept further with a separate unit outside a mainstream prison.

“I believe I've got the go ahead from the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Justice. It’s my job now to put through the hows, wheres, whens. I’m going to meet with iwi to see where we will put it and how they will be working with it and so on so there’s quite a lot to do putting it together before that but I feel so strongly about this that this could be a major bottom line for me,” Dr Sharples says.

His prison should be well under way before the next election.

TASKFORCE OFFERS NEW WAYS TO ACT ON WHANAU VIOLENCE

The reference group charged with finding better ways for the government to deal with Maori whanau has launched a programme to do just that.

Di Grennell from the Whanau Ora Taskforce says the Maori and Pacific Family Burns water
Labour's water quality spokesperson says some rural marae could become unusable unless the government unlocks an $88 million fund to upgrade small water schemes.

The Drinking Water Assistance Programme set up by Labour is under review, with Health Minister Tony Ryall saying he wants to evaluate how it aligns with government policies and whether it provides value for money.

Brendon Burns says the programme was a response to World Health Organisation concerns about water quality after a lethal outbreak of water-borne disease in Canada.

But he says it has been under threat since Local Government Minister Rodney Hide told a local government conference in March that the water standards were ridiculous.

“At some point Mr Hide and Mr Ryle are going to have to deal with the consequences of a serious outbreak of water borne illness, perhaps involving fatalities, and I think they will come to realise how important it is that we as a nation do not neglect these things, actually acknowledge want to be a first world nation, and the best measure of that is having safe drinking water,” Mr Burns says.

Some 71 projects are on hold, including many marae and small Maori rural communities.

MUTTONBIRD SEASON HIT BY CLIMACTIC CONDITIONS

Murihiku iwi want to know why numbers of shellfish and birdlife at the bottom of the South Island are declining.

Michael Skerrett, the upoko to the Waihopai Runaka, says mollyhawks are so hungry they are eating out of fishermen's hands.

He says this year's muttonbird season has been the worst in memory, which the iwi is attributing to colder water temperatures and rough weather rather than harvesting pressure.

“What we do on the island does nothing. The threats are the other things we can’t control, climatic things. Water temperature probably had something to do with it this year and probably feed was driven too deep for the birds to get at,” Mr Skerrett says,

There is also concern over the effect of beach traffic on toheroa numbers, which the runanga is researching with a grant from Environment Southland.

BLOODLINES BROUGHT TOGETHER FOR TAMAKI PEACE
The tribes of Auckland have lost one of their matriarchs.

Hariata Ewe, from Te Kawerau a Maki, died of a heart attack earlier this month aged 90.

She was a foundation member of the Maori Women’s Welfare League, a close associate of Princess te Puea, and a former beauty queen who won the Miss Auckland title in 1938.

Her nephew Rewi Spraggon says his aunt's grandfather was the leading chief of the Te Wai o Hua and her grandmother was of Te Kawerau and Ngati Whatua lineage.

“Her grandparents were married off together to cement the peace within the tribes of Tamaki Makaurau – Ngati Whatua, Waiohua, Kawerau a Maki, Te Akitai and a few others so as far as the senior lineage, she was definitely from those bloodlines,” Mr Spraggon says.

Hariata Ewe has been buried at Te Pukaki tapu o Poutukeka urupa in Mangere.

NGATI APA HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT PRISON LANDLORD

An iwi being offered a prison as part of its treaty settlement is getting cold feet about the deal.

Ngati Apa has a chance to buy a the land under Kaitoke prison in Whanganui.

Adrian Rurawhe says that would give it rental income from the Department of Corrections.

But the punitive nature of corrections policy could be a deal breaker.

“One of the fears of our people is around the operation of those prisons. We have to accept that mainstream New Zealand are hell bent on having a punitive system for corrections whereas we would have a more restorative process,” Mr Rurawhe says.

He wants a national debate on prison management so Maori concerns about rehabilitation can be addressed.

If Ngati Apa take up the purchase option they must offer neighboring Whanganui iwi, who have a completing claim for the land, a 50 per cent share.

MAORI PRISON READY FOR LIFT OFF

Meanwhile, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples is getting ready to try a new kind of prison.

Dr Sharples says corrections' policy is one area his party has major differences with National, which is pushing for increasingly punitive approaches.

He says the Maori focus units he helped design 15 years ago have reduced reoffending, and it's now time to take the concept further with a separate unit outside a mainstream prison.

“I believe I've got the go ahead from the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Justice. It’s my job now to put through the hows, wheres, whens. I’m going to meet with iwi to see where we will put it and how they will be working with it and so on so there’s quite a lot to do putting it together before that but I feel so strongly about this that this could be a major bottom line for me,” Dr Sharples says.

His prison should be well under way before the next election.

TASKFORCE OFFERS NEW WAYS TO ACT ON WHANAU VIOLENCE

The reference group charged with finding better ways for the government to deal with Maori whanau has launched a programme to do just that.

Di Grennell from the Whanau Ora Taskforce says the Maori and Pacific Family Violence Programme of Action has been developed in collaboration with the Family Violence Taskforce.

She says Maori need to take the lead in addressing violence within whanau, and that means first having a voice at the table where decisions are made.

“The document makes visible what those of us who are Maori working in the field know now is that there is significant Maori expertise, innovation and commitment in the field now and we need to find some ways of capturing that and bringing it together to advance the interests of our whanau,” Ms Grennell says.
Programme of Action has been developed in collaboration with the Family Violence Taskforce.

She says Maori need to take the lead in addressing violence within whanau, and that means first having a voice at the table where decisions are made.

“The document makes visible what those of us who are Maori working in the field know now is that there is significant Maori expertise, innovation and commitment in the field now and we need to find some ways of capturing that and bringing it together to advance the interests of our whanau,” Ms Grennell says.

Maori Party changing stance on climate change policy

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples is defending his party’s decision to withdraw its minority report to a select report which was believed to be critical of the Government’s climate change policy.

Dr Sharples says the party favours a carbon tax rather than emissions trading.

He says it is continuing to talk to the government and to iwi, because the way the country responds to climate change will affect how Maori can use their land, including land coming back through treaty settlements.

“It’s a very complex issue and I don’t know whether it was so much a u-turn as to be still considering where we should go in this matter,” Dr Sharples says.

Both emissions trading and a carbon tax would have advantages and disadvantages for Maori, especially those with large forest holdings.

MURIHIKU MAORI NOW ABLE TO BUILD URUPA AT INVERCARGILL

Objectors to the creation of an urupa or cemetery for Invercargill have dropped their challenge, opening the way for Murihiku Maori to have a final resting place.

Neighbours who claimed the Mason Road urupa would devalue property prices abandoned their Environment Court appeal because of concern over legal costs.

Michael Skerrett, the upoko of Waihopai Runaka Holdings, says the urupa was proposed long before the neighbouring houses were built, despite resource consent only being granted last year.

He says the urupa will be screened by three rows of native plants including harakeke, kowhai, and totara, and there will only be two or three burials a fortnight.

Michael Skerrett says the urupa should be ready for use within a year.

MAORI URGED TO MAKE TUESDAY GAMBLING-FREE

Maori earn less but gamble more.

That’s a trend the Problem Gambling Foundation is highlighting in its annual Gamble-Free day tomorrow.

Public health promoter Catherine Reweti says rather than put the money in the pokey, people should take the whanau out for a meal in one of the 200 restaurants across the country giving 10 percent discounts on the day.

She says Maori are very over-represented in problem gambling.

“If you are a problem gambler you are more than twice as likely to gamble than non-Maori. When you do gamble you gamble twice as much money and Maori don’t earn as much as non-Maori and that’s a huge issue too,” Ms Reweti says.

Events are planned around the country offering where information and help with gambling problems.

TAP TURNED OFF RURAL WATER FUNDING

Rural marae expecting to upgrade their water systems could miss out because of a change in government policy.

Labour MP Brendon Burns says replies to parliamentary questions show Health Minister Tony Ryall is deferring applications from 71 small communities who want to bring their drinking water quality up to World Health Organisation minimums.

He says the Government’s intention to put a $1000 a head limit on projects will hit rural marae, which in peak times service far larger numbers than the small pool of residents in their immediate vicinity.

“Water drinking plants, to make them safe, can cost a lot of capital. It’s not an inexpensive business. The outcome of that may be a lot of marae fail to meet the grade for even longer and the longer this goes on the more risks we face as a nation. Campylobacter, giardia, cryptosporidium are nasty illnesses and we have to deal with them,” Mr Burns says.

He says it looks like the Government has its eyes on the $88 million left of the $136 million Labour set aside for the safe drinking water programme.

GOOD NEWS STORIES SOUGHT FROM ASTHMA SUFFERERS

The Asthma Foundation is looking for Maori who have succeeded in their objectives despite asthma and respiratory problems.

Spokesperson Malcolm Aitken says four of the eight categories in this year’s Asthma and Respiratory Achievers Awards are for Maori.

He says the foundation is looking to celebrate people’s achievements rather than always be seen as focusing on negative aspects of the condition.

Nominations close today, and the awards will be presented in November.

TAURANGAMOANA TAMARIKI TAKE TO THE MOANA

Tauranga students have been retracing the watery journeys of their tipuna.

Almost 100 tamariki from Welcome Bay immersion school Te Kura Kokiri have spent much of the past two weeks in waka visiting waahi tapu, ancestral marae and lands along Tauranga Harbour and its rivers.

Tumuaki Mark Nicholas says it was important for the many tamariki who feel disconnected from their culture.

“We say we’re from Taurangamoana but many of our tamariki have never actually been on the moana, not have seen the landmarks the way our tupuna would have seen it so that’s the concept, a sort of revisiting and a chance for us to touch base without our hapu and our marae,” Mr Nicholas says.

While the waka were borrowed from clubs, the students had to make their own hoe or paddles.