Ngapuhi manages profit as treaty work ramps up

Funding the claim settlement process has been the major expense for the Ngapuhi Runanga over the past year, but the northern iwi still managed to squeeze out a $460,000 profit for the year.

Despite representing the tribe with the largest membership, the runanga only has $37 million in assets, mostly its share of the Maori fisheries settlement.

That brought in half the $6 million in revenue, with another $1.8 million coming from contracts done by Ngapuhi iwi Social Services.

The runanga spent $817,000 funding the Ngapuhi settlement process, more than three times the $260,000 paid over by the Crown for the task, just under $340,000 on communication, up from $44,000 the year before, and $55,000 on branding.

Directors and trustees fees were up $20,000 to $228,000.

In a tribe known for the whakatauki Ngapuhi ko hau rau, Ngapuhi of a hundred holes, the runanga is positioning itself to take the lead in negotiating a comprehensive settlement with the Crown for historical treaty breaches.

However, its largest hapu, Ngati Hine, is threatening to split away, and the $85,000 the runannga paid out in scholarships and the $60,000 in grants its 10 takiwa or districts won't stop continuing questions about its value.

NGATI POROU STILL AWAITING ARGUMENTS ON OFFSHORE DRILLING

The chair of Ngati Porou says his tribe deserves an accounting from the Government on its plans to open up its rohe for mineral exploitation before it talks mining with other iwi.

Apirana Mahuika declined to attend Monday's meeting between the Iwi Leaders Group, Prime Minister John Key and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee because he wants to discuss specific actions which have already occurred, such as the awarding of a licence to Brazilian company Petrobras to prospect in the Raukumara Basin.

He says the Government is ignoring the concerns of iwi on the East Coast.

“It's about our lands and our foreshore and seabed that could be disrupted. We are fishing people. We have fishing companies. We have a lot of our people working for our fishing companies. If there is some accident, there goes the fishing for our people, forever and a day,” Mr Mahuika says.

KIWI TURNS DIGITAL MAGIC ON GEDDES BABY PHOTOS

Maori-owned digital production house Kiwa Media is toasting the success of a new iPad and mobile phone application it built to complement baby photo magnate Anne Geddes's latest book.

Kiwa president Rhonda Kite from Te Aupouri says her team used video hook-ups to stay in contact with Anne Geddes' California-based staff who were overseeing the production of the collection of 100 photographs, Beginnings.

She says both book and application have proved popular since the October 10 launch on the iTunes store, with 23,000downl;oads in the first week.

Rhonda Kite will speak on Maori cultural heritage in the digital world at Te Whare Wanaga O Awanuiarangi's' E Taurewa Arotahi symposium in Wellington later this month.

PRIVATE PRISONS OUT OF LINE FOR LABOUR

Labour Party leader Phil Goff says turning development of a new prison in South Auckland to the private sector will be a huge mistake.

Tenders have been called for the 1000-bed men's prison at Wiri to be built and run by public private partnerships.

Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples has welcomed the inclusion of Maori groups in some of the consortia who have indicated they will bid for the work.

But Mr Goff says the problem is the number of Maori inside the cells, not the ones with the keys.

“Loss of liberty is a state function and we’ve seen too much in the past the private sector has mismanaged it, that’s worldwide, so Labour’s in favour of a public system but we are in favour of a very clear Maori input so we can get good results out of the prison system,” Mr Goff says.

SHARPLES KEEN THAT KINGS COLLEGE SET THE TONE

The Minister of Maori Affairs is encouraging other schools to follow the lead of Auckland's Kings College in making te reo Maori a compulsory subject for its year nine students.

Pita Sharples says the elite school has come a long way in terms of the way it treats New Zealand history and its understanding of the bicultural partnership.
He says when mainstream schools show they value the Maori language, it encourages Maori speakers and learners to use te reo as apart of everyday life.

“The point is we have to create the atmosphere whereby it is the thing to do, it is a good thing to do and it is good for all of us in New Zealand and I think that the example that Kings College shows is amazing and appropriate," Dr Sharples says.

WAIPAREIRA WHAEA ADA LAU’ESE DIES

Te Whanau O Waipareira is mourning the loss of a kuia who has been at the heart of the West Auckland trust's kaupapa since its beginnings in the 1970s.

Kaumatua Dennis Hansen says Ada Lau'ese from Tokomaru Bay was an inspiration during her years of service.

He says she was quick to remind fellow trustees of their responsibilities to the vulnerable and those on the edge of society, and she supported hundreds of rangatahi Maori and Pasifika who found themselves before the courts.

Ada Lau'ese is lying at Hoani Waititi Marae in Glen Eden