Key smile hiding extremist agenda says Green

Green co-leader Metiria Turei says the smiling face of Prime Minister John Key is being used to push through an extremist right wing agenda which is hurting Maori.

Ms Turei says ACT rather than National seems to be setting the Government's agenda.

She says backing for ACT's three strikes bill as a response to crime is just the latest example.

“Government is under no obligation to support that legislation but they are going to anyway. ACTR is completely dismantling Auckland city councils and shut Maori out of that process. ACT will probably get a fair amount of its extremist economic policy through because National’s philosophy is geared to that way,” Ms Turei says.

She says it's clear ACT has far much more influence in government than the Maori Party.

MARK CLAIMS CREDIT FOR TOUGH PENAL POLICY

Meanwhile, a former New Zealand First MP says ACT's three-strikes policy will be good for Maori.

Ron Mark says his party originally came up with the tougher sentencing policy for violent offenders, which will be included in the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill.

He says low income Maori are the most likely to be affected by violent crime, especially those who have extended whanau with gang links.

“Many of us who are Maori sit in absolute despair watching more and more of our whanaunga slipping down into that trap, that way of life,” Mr Mark says.

AVATAR LANGUAGE INSPIRED BY MAORI TONGUE

An expert on Maori language is praising Hollywood's use of a fictional language based on Maori.

Film director James Cameron has revealed the language spoken by the blue aliens in his hit Avatar is based on the reo he heard during visits to New Zealand.

Hana O'Regan, the dean of Christchurch polytech's Maori faculty Hana O'Regan, says she found the movie had not only Maori but also echoes of Maori tikanga.

THEOCRACY VERSUS MERITOCRACY IN RATANA CLASH

A Ratana spokesperson is pitching the movement's current tensions with the Labour Party as a clash between theocracy and meritocracy.

Andre Mason, the son of tumuaki or church head Haare Meihana, is leading a push for Labour to give high list placings to four Ratana-endorsed candidates.

Under the Electoral Act Party lists must be determined by a democratic process.

Mr Mason says the Tumuaki is particularly upset at Labour's treatment of his other son, Errol Mason, who has twice failed to unseat the Maori Party's Tariana Turia in Te tai Hauauru.

“The Tumuaki was wanting them... He didn’t want to tell them what to do but at least think abut that, that they would put his son high on the list, to have him in there so he could see and learn what is happening today with our people,” Mr Mason says.

He rejected criticism from Labour MP Shane Jones that Ratana spokespeople are confusing their religious and political roles, because he says the movement has always had that dual character.

RENEWAL NEEDED IN RATANA-LABOUR RELATIONSHIP

Shane Jones agrees Labour's relationship with Ratana needs to change.

The Northland-based list MP says Labour is respectful of the relationship formed in the 1930s with church founder Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana.

But he says both Maori and Labour have changed, and such pacts need to be interpreted in the context of each generation.

“When you look at a relationship, you are always searching for ways how can it be bolstered, how can it enjoy meaning in the lives of people in the political world who may only be voting in a few years time for the first time or who may have issues that are vastly different than the ways Maori communities functioned in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s,” Mr Jones says.

He says Labour won't be dictated to by church members running political agendas.

TAIKA WAITITI AGAIN SHINES AT SUNDANCE

Taika Waititi's second feature film is attracting sell out audiences at the prestigeous Sundance independent film festival in Utah.

James Thompson, the sales manager for the New Zealand Film Commission, says Boy extends some of the characters and ideas from Waititi's award winning short film Two Cars One Night.

It's set in the 1980s on the East Coast, and Mr Thompson says it's one of the films everyone at the festival is talking about.

“The audience reaction has been fantastic. They’ve absolutely fallen in love with James Rolleston, who plays Boy. It’s been really warmly received and I think everyone here has been really appreciative of a really truly New Zealand film in a really true New Zealand setting,” Mr Thompson says.

The reaction is a tribute not only to Taika Waititi, who wrote, directed and acted in the film, but to the producer who include Cliff Curtis, Ainsley Gardiner, Emanuel Michael and Mereta Mita.