Waatea News Update

News from Waatea 603 AM, Urban Maori radio, first with Maori news

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Friday, March 19, 2010

Language agency streamlining on agenda

Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples is sympathetic to calls to streamline efforts to strengthen te reo Maori.

Maori language commissioner Erima Henare has recommended merging Te Taura Whiri with the Maori broadcast funding agency. Te Mangai Paho, with any savings used for community-level projects.

Dr Sharples says resources were being wasted through duplication of language promotion.

“So we need to co-ordinate the effort whether it’s Taura Whiri, whether it’s kura kaupapa, whether it’s mainstream, we need to coordinate that so we get a good effort, because we’re not out of the woods yet in saving Maori language,” Dr Sharples says.

Improvements could come from organisations working together rather than by full mergers.

PEER BEHAVIOUR MAKES QUITTING TOUGH

The head of anti-smoking group QUIT says Maori face particular difficulties in over-coming the addiction.

Paula Snowdon from Te Rarawa says the first step is getting nicotine out of the system, with people who use nicotine patches twice as successful at giving up.
They then need to develop new strategies to deal with smoking behaviour.

“The thing with smoking is the challenge to quit. The only difference between Maori and non-Maori is more Maori smoke so when you try to quit you are in an environment when re more of your family and friends and work colleagues are smoking around you, it makes it so much harder to stay quit,” Ms Snowden says.

Smokers have to want to quit before cessation efforts will be successful.

MAORI COSMOLOGY INCLUDED IN OBSERVATORY REFIT

Wellington's Carter Observatory plans to use state of the art digital technology to tell the Maori creation story alongside the Big Bang theory.

The observatory in Kelburn re-opening at the end of the month after a two year, $2 million refit.

Spokesperson Dawn Muir says the Wellington 10ths Trust was involved throughout the project.

“We are looking at Maori navigation and cosmology as it relates to our southern skies so it’s a very important story and we are encouraging the use of Carter Observatory for Maori in our community for things like navigation training,” Ms Muir says

Visitors will able to use the observatory to track the stars in the way Maori did when they came to Aotearoa.

MINISTER WANTS MAORI TEAM IN RUGBY WORLD CUP

Maori affairs minister Pita Sharples is standing by his view a Maori team should take part in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Rugby Union officials were upset when Dr Sharples made the suggestion yesterday while hosting a lunch at parliament to celebrate 100 years of Maori rugby.

He says Maori are a nation within the New Zealand nation, in the same way Scotland, Wales and England all come within the nation of Great Britain, which tours as the Lions.

“Most of the Maori in that room definitely agreed that it’s time that we did lash out a bit and have more games and possibly in the World Cup as well,” Dr Sharples says.

He says the NZRFU is treating the Maori team as second rate citizens who are less important than Super 14, NPC or even under 19 teams.

TE ATIAWA WANTS WAIWHETU STREAM CLEANED UP

Hutt Valley Maori are incensed the Greater Wellington Regional Council won't stop overflows of untreated sewage into the Waiwhetu Stream.

Te Rira Puketapu from Te Atiawa says decades of factory waste have already made Waiwhetu one of the most polluted waterways in the country.

He says the new 15 year consent granted to Lower Hutt City Council will mean on average six overflows a year in heavy rain.

He says the alternative requires the council to replace decaying clay pipes put in when the goverment built about 8000 State houses in the valley during the 1930's and 40's.

“As kaitiaki we have a heavy responsibility and if nobody else is going to worry about it, someone has to speak it, not just for Maori but for everyone. This is the 21st century and we’ve got to catch up,” Mr Puketapu says.

As an alternative the overflows could be discharged into the Hutt River during storms where they would be absorbed by the greater river flow.

MARAE REMEMBERS HARBOUR HEROISM

A feat of bravery 66 years ago will be aknowledged tomorrow at a marae on the shores of the Kaipara harbour.

In 1944, Wana Ruarangi Paikea rescued eight children when a punt capsized off Otamatea marae.

His 7 year old sister drowned in the accident, and her body was never found.

Broadcaster Jim Perry says survivors of the punt are now dead, but Mr Paikea is still alive at 84, and the marae believes it's time his feat is more widely recognised.

A kohatu , or memorial stone will be unveiled at the marae tomorrow aknowledging the lives saved and lost in 1944.

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Finalists found for Ahuwhenua trophy

Three dairy farms have been named as finalists for this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy for Maori Excellence in Farming.

They are Hanerau Farms Trust near Dargaville, which is owned by Te Uri o Hau and run by 2009 Northland Sharemilkers of the Year Dean and Tania Mischeski ... Waipapa 9 Trust, west of Taupo ... and Rangatira 8A 17 Trust near Reporoa.

Organising committee chair Kingi Smiler says a new set of judges will go in to review the farms.

“So there'll be a whole set of questions and analysis of their business and the next day they operate a field day where it’s open to the public and again that’s part of the judging round and they demonstrate the strengths of their business and how hey operate and give other dairy farmers and particularly Maori dairy farmers the opportunity to ask questions and see what systems they have,” Mr Smiler says.

The supreme Ahuwhenua Trophy winner will be announced on May 28.

CANTERBURY HEALTH REPORT SHOWS UNMET NEED

A snapshot of health in Canterbury shows Maori enjoy better health than other Maori around the country, but still lag non-Maori.

The Hauora Waitaha report identified unmet need in areas like heart disease and cancer, where diagnosis rates are lower but death rates are higher than for non-Maori.

Compiler Matthew Reid says the report will give the District Health Board a better idea of how to plan for the needs of the 7.2 percent of Cantabrians who identify as Maori.

Dr Reid says the report doesn't try to delve into the specific reasons for health differences.

IMPEDIMENTS VISIBLE IN DEVOLUTION PLAN

Former Maori affairs minister Parekura Horomia says devolving resources for Maori language promotion to community and iwi groups is a good idea, but some capacity building could be required.

The Maori language comissioner, Erima Henare, has recommended Te Taura Whiti be merged with broadcast funding agency Te Mangai Paho to save administration costs, and spending on te reo by other government agencies also be scrutinised to avoid duplication and waste.

Mr Horomia says there are risks in devolution.

“How you go to the iwi, how you make sure there is a fair whack at it and they run it and I’m sure some are more capable than others. Some are so strong and forward they could do it tomorrow, but a whole lot aren't,” Mr Horomia says.

He says a devolution strategy needs to acknowledge that some agencies of departments have unique roles in preservation and promotion of the Maori language.

PARIHAKA PART OF TARANAKI SETTLEMENT TALKS

A Taranaki claim negotiator says the iwi won't be constrained by earlier settlements within Taranaki Whanui.

Taranaki, whose territory covers most of the coast from Opunake to New Plymouth, and its northern neighbour Te Atiawa this week signed agreements to negotiate settlements, making them the last two iwi in the region to enter the process.

Mahara Okeroa says while many of its issues relate to the land confiscations that affected the whole region after the wars of the 1860s, it has a specific duty to win redress for the sacking of Parihaka in 1881.

“The impact has been right through Taranaki, mai runga, mai raro. The distinction in this case if Parihaka sits squarely in the middle of the rohe, so that adds another dimension. We are going to pursue this as a specific iwi clai, not necessarily related to what has happened in Taranaki prior to this claim, we’re looking at it as a clean table so to speak,” Mr Okeroa says.

Taranaki also intends to contest the Crown's ownership of oil and gas, despite the Prime minister's contention the issue off the table.

PAST PLAYERS SOUGHT FOR MAORI RUGBY CELEBRATION

Anyone who has pulled on boots for the Maori All Blacks is being sought by the NZRU.

The union has just announced a three match centenary series in June... with games against England and Ireland and an as yet unnamed team.

Wayne Peters, the chair of the New Zealand Maori Rugby Board, says as well as the games there will be special functions to commemorate one hundred years of Maori rugby.... and the union is keen to hear from as many former players as possible.

“The invitations are not only to players who are present but families of players who have passed on so we will endeavor to make this as inclusive as possible, recognizing the contributions that a lot of people have made to Maori rugby over a long period of time,” Mr Peters says.

Kaitakaro o mua or their whanau can email maoricentenary@nzrugby.co.nz or contact NZRU offices on 04 499 4995.

WHALE OF A BOOK TO BE WRITTEN

Writer Brad Haami plans to use the first ever Maori residency at the Michael King writer's centre in Devonport to explore the special place whales have in Maori culture.

Mr Haami is working on the book with his aunt Ramari Stewart.

He says his interest in the giant mammals was sparked growing up in Whakatane.

“Since then I have been interested in trying to find out how did Maori people classify whales, how did they understand them, how did they portray them in narrative. I’ve always been interested in that so I’ve been collecting stuff for a number of years and decided to put it together in a manuscript,” Mr Haami says.

He never met Michael King, but is honoured to to work at the centre set up in memory of the late writer and historian.

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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Oil and gas on Taranaki agenda

One of the leaders of the Taranaki iwi claim negotiating team says the province's oil and gas resources are definitely on the table, despite Prime Minister John Key ruling out such discussions.

Taranaki iwi signed terms of negotiation with the Crown at Puniho Marae southwest of New Plymouth yesterday.

Mahara Okeroa, a former Labour MP, says starting talks well after most other iwi in the rohe have settled gives Taranaki a chance to pick up outstanding issues, like Crown ownership of minerals.

“It's on the table. Issues around the natural resource and mineral wealth, Ngai Tahu set the precedent in terms of mineral wealth with respect to their greenstone. Greenstone is a mineral. So the parameters of the claim for Taranaki are not set in concrete yet. Let’s not constrain opurselves to utternces made politically or otherwise,” Mr Okeroa says.

He says the specific issues around the 1881 invasion of Parihaka also come under the Taranaki iwi settlement.

LANGUAGE AGENCY CONSOLIDATION AND DEVOLUTION IN ZEITGEIST

The Maori Language Commissioner says a recommendation that funding be shifted from state agencies into the local community is in line with government thinking.

Erima Henare yesterday told the Maori affairs select committee that administration costs could be saved by merging Te Taura Whiri i Te Reo Maori with Maori broadcast funding agency Te Mangai Paho.

He says there could also be rationalisation of what is spent on the language by other government agencies like the Tertiary Education Commission, the ministries of Education and Culture, and New Zealand on Air.

“If you are looking at economies of scale and value for money, you are probably running lots of administration and boards and things like that when perhaps the savings generated perhaps be put out among broadcasting or put out among Maori language groups,” Mr Henare says.

Language groups such as Te Atarangi, Kohanga Reo, kura, wananga and iwi need to jointly work out how to manage the money at community level.

COACHING TEAM RIGHT FOR CRITICAL YEAR

One of the toughest men to have ever pulled on a rugby jersey believes the new coaching staff for the Maori All Blacks is the right combination for a critical year.

Head coach Jamie Joseph and assistant Daryl Gibson will prepare the team for a three match series to mark the centenary of Maori rugby.

Games have been confirmed against Ireland in Rotorua on June 18 and England in Napier the following week, with the opponent for an initial game at Whangarei still to be confirmed.

Former Canterbury and All Black prop Bill Bush says the schedule is a worthy challenge for coaches and players.

Although the New Zealand Natives toured in 1888 the first offical New Zealand Maori team took the field in Rotorua in 1910.

HARAWIRA ABSENCE FROM SELECT COMMITTEE NOTED

The Labour Party is questioning how the Maori Party can advocate for Maori representation on the Auckland super city if its MPs don't turn up to the select committee.

Party co-leader Pita Sharples has told Maori that Taitokerau MP Hone Harawira is leading the charge to get Maori seats added to the super city council.

But Manurewa MP George Hawkins says Mr Harawira skipped the public hearings held by the select committee into the third Super City Bill, which spelled out how the council's committees, community boards and council controlled organisations would be structured.

“We had people who came to talk about Maori representation. It didn’t get picked up by him. Other members of the select committee would have but his absence of more than two weeks of hearings showed the amount of interest. While there was the odd joke he was probably visiting Paris or somewhere else, the fact is he wasn't there,” he says.

Mr Hawkins says if Mr Harawira's absence was known to party leaders, any of the party's other MPs could have filled in.

FORMER CEO SPEAKS OUT AGAINST TAURA WHIRI MERGER

Former Maori language commission chief executive Haami Piripi says merging Te Taura Whiri with Maori broadcast funding agency Te Mangai Paho would betray the intent of the Maori Language Act making te reo an official language.

Language commissioner Erima Henare is proposing the merger as a way to shift funding from administration to promotion of the language at community level.
Mr Piripi says a merger would weaken the commission's wider advocacy role.

“There is definitely a role for Te Taura Whiri in the public sector in central Wellington to make sure ministries and departments continue to utilise the language as an effective planning and operational tool within their business,” Mr Piripi says.

TOP LEVEL TESTS FOR MAORI CENTENARY TOUR

A century of Maori rugby will be recognised with top level tests against England and Ireland this winter.

Wayne Peters, the chair of the New Zealand Maori Rugby Board, says games are scheduled for Whangarei, Rotorua and Napier in June.

Although a New Zealand Natives team toured the United Kingdom in 1888, the first official New Zealand Maori team took the field in Rotorua in 1910.

Mr Peters says England is making a special side trip on its way home from a series against Australia.

“They are only playing one game in New Zealand. That signified the importance the English Union places on this game. Ireland has never played New Zealand Maori before. Both unions recognize the importance of the programme not only to New Zealand and the NZFRU bit the contribution of Maori to world rugby,” Mr Peters says.

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union is trying to track down former Maori players to take part in the festivities.

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Maori school success project extended

A project looking at successful Maori secondary students could lead to changes in what schools do.

Lead researcher Melinda Webber from Auckland University's education faculty says a pilot of Te Ara a Ihenga in Rotorua schools has identified five things that contribute to success.

These include good role models and relationships, valuing education, having a supportive environment, self motivation, and strong links with te ao Maori.

Ms Webber says a larger study will be done this year at all eight secondary schools and wharekura in the Rotorua area, with the results shared with the community.

“We need to take it back to our school communities first of all and then try to disseminate it into our wider community. Our hapu are very interested in being involved. We have a lot of marae committees we can go to in terms of let us run something or strategies that might help their whanau,” Ms Webber says.

Te Ara a Ihenga is supported by the Ngati Whakaue Education Endowment Trust Board.

DYING STUDY GETS HEALTH GRANT

A Waikato University researcher has won $340,000 from the Health Research Council to talk to Maori about death and dying.

Tess Moeke-Maxwell intends to work alongside professors Linda Nikora and Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, who were last year awarded $1.2 million by the Marsden Fund and the Nga Pae o te Maramatanga to look into past and present tangihanga practices.

Dr Maxwell says there are a lot of assumptions about what dying is like for Maori, but little hard data.

“We're just interested in sitting and talking with whanau, people who are dying in their whanau. We’re interested in stories about their life and what is happening for them recently and how has life changed and what is happening for them and what are their hopes and dreams for the future so we can get a kind of a good picture of what’s going on for whanau,” Dr Moeke-Maxwell says.

RATION PACKS GROWING PART OF MAORI BUSINESS

The chief executive of the army's ration pack supplier says his company knows how to stay one step ahead.

Aotearoa Fisheries subsidiary Prepared Foods supplies operational ration packs to the New Zealand army as well as defence forces in Australia and the UK.

The Palmerston North company recently entered a joint venture with Wellington firm Multipack, which supplies matches, salt, sugar and coffee for the packs.

Dean Moana says much of the success comes down to the experience of its research team and production staff, many of whom are Maori.

The bulk of Prepared Foods business is processing paua, but the ration business is growing.

LANGUAGE BOSS URGES CONSOLIDATION, DEVOLUTION

The Maori language commission has told Parliament's Maori affairs select committee that resources for promoting te reo Maori need to be shifted away from Wellington-based government departments into the community.

Te Taura Whiri chairperson Erima Henare says the Commission and Maori broadcast funding agency Te Mangai Paho should merge to save administration costs.

“The language belongs to these language communities that are whanau, hapu and iwi driven to some extent, and possibly these monies are best spent out in those areas to assist iwi who are already doing that anyway,” Mr Henare says.

The Crown also needs to identify how much it spends supporting the language through other agencies such as the Tertiary Education Commission, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture and Heritage, and New Zealand on Air.

DRINK AND DAK CULTURE CONTRIBUTING TO ROAD DEATH RATE

An East Coast kaumatua blames the area's dope and drink culture for the worst drink-driving rates in New Zealand.

Coast residents are dying in drink-drive crashes at up to seven times the rate of the rest of the country.

Parekura Kupenga says hald of Gisborne's population is Maori, so whanau need to get the anti-drink driving message across to their young people.

He says drugs and alcohol are rife in the community.

“Having been to a few of the whanau parties, I can see that is the case with our young people, a bottle of Steinlager in one hand and dope in the other, and of course there’s perhaps a lot more freedom in the driving in rural areas,” Mr Kupenga says.

Another factor in the high death rate is the area's roads, which are in an appalling condition.

SPORT VEHICLE FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

A south Auckland youth worker says the biggest youth sport conference ever to be held in this country has lessons for community development.

More than 800 delegates from 17 countries are at the Pacific Youth and Sports conference in Manukau discussing how sport can promote good citizenship, health and governance.

Mereana Pere from the Maori Women's Welfare League says while the Oceania Football-sponsored gathering has a strong focus on soccer, there are valuable lessons for those wanting to see more rangatahi involved in sports irrespective of the code.

The best projects developed during the conference which link sports with positive social development will be funded out of FIFA’s ‘Football for Life’ programme.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Clean slate needed for Taranaki talks

Te Atiawa wants its treaty claim talks to start with a clean slate.

The iwi and neighbouring Taranaki signed terms of negotiation with the Crown today, making them the last of the eight Taranaki iwi to enter the settlement process.

At stake is redress for the wars of the 1860s and the subsequent land confiscations, which the Waitangi Tribunal described as a raupatu without ending.

The chair of Te Atiawa Iwi Authority, Wikitoria Keenan, says today's terms replace a 1999 heads of agreement which included a $34 million settlement offer.

“You know the Crown may still want that as a quantum. I don’t know. We think it’s in our interest to start anew with a clean slate, particularly with the cultural redress programme. We hope the quantum will be more than $34 million. We thought that wasn’t a very good deal really,” Ms Keenan says.

Te Atiawa hopes to complete negotiations in 18 months to two years.

THREE STRIKES BILL TOO UNFAIR FOR MAXIM

A right wing think-tank has come out against ACT's three strikes bill because of its likely impact on Maori.

The Maxim Institute is holding public lectures later this month at which Auckland University legal scholars Warren Brookbanks and Richard Ekins will critique the injustice of the bill and discuss ways to improve sentencing.

Alex Penk, the Institute's policy and research manager, says it's bad law to create a system where people who commit the same crime may get grossly disproportionate sentences.

“There is certainly a whole of society interest in having just criminal policy that treats people fairly. We all know that Maori are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system and if we don’t get it right the impact will be greater on them,” Mr Penk says.

KAPA HAKA TAKES OFF ON NORTH SHORE

Several hundred students from the country's biggest secondary school turned out at the ASB Polyfest in Auckland today to support their kapa haka group, which includes mainly non-Maori students.

Festival spokesperson Dean Wilson says splitting the Maori competition into three divisions has encouraged the entry of schools who in the past felt they weren't good enough to cut it with the big guns.

That includes North Shore City's Rangitoto College, which led off performances on the Maori stage this afternoon.

The roopu, which is coached by Hward Morrison Jr, is the subject of a documentary, Kapa Haka Kids, and it’s hopingfor a division three palcing.

This year's Polyfest includes more than 9000 performers from 65 schools.

TE MANGAI PAHO KEEN TO RETAIN TE KARERE ON TV1

Maori broadcast funding agency Te Mangai Paho is sounding the alarm about moving Maori language news off TV One.

Broadcasting Minister Jonathon Coleman has indicated the government was considering splitting Television New Zealand's roles, with TVNZ7 and possibly 6 operating as public service channels, leaving TV1 and TV2 for purely commercial programming.

Te Mangai Paho told Parliament's Maori affairs select committee today that it pays for Te Karere and wants it to stay on TV1.

Chief executive John Bishara says otherwise Te Karere's ratings will suffer.

“Having a space for our Maori language news programme on TV1 helps us achieve our goals to promote te reo Maori me ona tikanga Maori to as many people as we can,” Mr Bishara says

Te Mangai Paho continues to be concerned about the poor time slots Television New Zealand gives to the programmes it funds, which also include Waka Huia and Marae.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES PASS A DISAPPOINTMENT

The cultural advisor to New Zealand's Olympic and Commonwealth Games teams is disappointed the government has decided not to tono for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Prime Minister John Key says New Zealand can't afford the expected $600 million cost of hosting the event.

Amster Reedy from Ngati Porou says Maori athletes thrive on international competition, and not to be able to perform in front of their whanau on their home turf is a chance lost.

He’d like to see waka ama become a Commonwealth Games sport.

MARAE DIY TO GO AHEAD DESPITE PORANGAHAU TANGI

The hapu at Porongahau is pushing ahead with rebuilding its marae this weekend despite the death of one of its young leaders.

Bevan Tipene Matua drowned yesterday while collecting kaimoana for the influx of people expected for the Marae DIY makeover.

He returned to live at the coastal Hawkes Bay village last year after training as a scientist and working in policy development.

Mr Tipene-Matua was also a Green spokesperson on Maori issues.
His uncle Piri Sciascia says his death is a huge loss to the closely-knit hapu.

Bevan Tipene-Matua is expected to be buried on Friday or Saturday, and the restoration project will be done in his honour.

Te Atiawa and Taranaki sign negotiation terms

The last two Taranaki iwi to complete their settlements, Te Atiawa and Taranaki, will today sign terms to start negotiations ... 14 years after the Waitangi Tribunal reported on their claims.

The signings, at Owae Marae in Waitara and Puniho Marae southwest of New Plymouth, are on the 150th anniversary of the first shots being fired in the Taranaki Wars.

Te Atiawa negotiator Grant Knuckey says Prime Minister John Key and Treaty minister Chris Finlayson will sign the document at Owae under a statue of Sir Maui Pomare, who first put the issue of confiscation on the table in 1923.

And at the front of the meeting house is Wiremu Kingi, whose refusal to allow the sale of the Pekapeka Block at Waitara was used by the Crown as an excuse to attack.

“Not only Wiremu Kingi but the doors to the meeting house will be open and the other tupuna will be able to peer out the door, Titokowaru at the back, one of the main pou of the house, he will be able to see the table as well,” Mr Knuckey says.

Te Atiawa expects negotiations to take up to two years.

HAWKES BAY CELEBRATES MAORI-IRISH LINKS

The relationship between Maori and Irish immigrants will be celebrated today in the Hawkes Bay at the annual hui and hooli.

Organiser Dennis O'Reilly says the event has become a must do for the community, who gather at Waiohiki Community Arts Center to see and hear musicians, dancers and storytellers from both cultures reflect on a shared history.

He says the cross cultural approach to St Patrick's day is going down a treat, to be sure.

“It's good fun. It’s about celebrating our differences as kiwis but our unity as a nation, so we’ve got three flags, the New Zealand flag, the Irish flag and the Maori flag,” Mr O’Reilly says.

This year’s St Patricks Day address will be by radio presenter Noelle McCarthy.

CANADIAN EXPERIENCE TO HELP WORLD CUP BROADCASTS

Maori Television will tap into the experience of Canadian indigenous broadcasters to cover next year's Rugby World Cup.

Presenter Julian Wilcox says at the Second World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network in Taiwan last week, Canada's Aboriginal People's Televison Network reported on its experience covering the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 10 languages.

Maori Television is sending programmer Haunui Royal to Canada to learn what he can from the Aboriginal People's Televison experience.

VOICE FOR TIKANGA IN SCIENCE DROWNED

Green Party Maori spokesperson Bevan Tipene Matua has drowned while collecting kaimoana near his home at Porangahau in the Hawkes Bay.

Party co-leader Metiria Turei says Mr Matua from Ngati Kahungunu and Ngai Tahu was a pou of the party and a strong Maori voice in the conservation movement.

She says his work as a scientist and policy analyst means he was able to make his arguments persuasive.

“He was right on the forefront of working on issues like genetic engineering, those kinds of issues that are really technical and often which the scientific and the Pakeha scientific community dismiss Maori views, dismiss the tikanga and don’t respect the fact that Maori have a strong tikanga analysis that is as strong and as legitimate as any other cultural analysis, like western science,” Ms Turei says.

E te tama purotu o Ngati Kere, moe mai ra.

TARANAKI MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF LAND WARS

It's the 150th anniversary of the start of the Taranaki Wars, and the province is marking the day by making and showing history.

Te Atiawa and Taranaki iwi are signing terms of negotiation to finally settle their claims over the confiscations of the 1860s.

And Puke Ariki Museum in New Plymouth is turning over its galleries to show the effects of war and colonisation on the region.

Chief executive Bill McNaught says the show aims to challenge some of the understandings of the Taranaki War and show it was about more than land.

“Issues around cultural redress and the fact the language was almost wiped out, the general cultural disrespect, all those issues we’ve tried to explore and it’s only when you understand the complexity of that ht you realise why war broke out and why there is still an incredible challenge in resolving of the legacy of last 150 years,” Mr McNaught says.

Taranaki War, Our Legacy ... Our Challenge will be opened this morning by the Prime Minister

AUCKLAND POLYFEST BIGGEST EVER

The world's biggest secondary schools cultural festival gets under way in south Auckland this morning.

ASB Polyfest spokesperson Dean Wilson says over the next four days 208 culture groups from 65 schools will battle it out at the Manukau Sports Bowl.

That's a big jump from the first festival hosted at Hillary College in 1976, when four schools took part.

He says breaking kapa haka into three divisions means all schools will have a chance, and not just the traditional strong ones like Hato Petera, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Hoani Waititi, Kahurangi from Auckland Girls Grammar, and Manurewa's James Cook High.

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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Te Atiawa ready to start talks

Hard-fought unity within Te Atiawa means the Waitara-based iwi will finally start settlement talks, 14 years after the Waitangi Tribunal reported on the Taranaki land confiscations of the 1860s.

Prime minister John Key will join Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson, Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples and local MP Tariana Turia at Owae marae to sign terms of negotiation tomorrow, the 150th anniversary of the start of the First Taranaki War.

Negotiator Grant Knuckey says after years of court cases and mediation, the factions are keen to settle so future generations can benefit.

“We've had issues amongst ourselves, getting in a position to move forward as an iwi, and now it seems we can worl collectively as an iwi and we have done,” Mr Knuckey says.

FEWER PRISONERS MEAN FEWER TRAUMATISED CHILDREN

A researcher into the effect of imprisonment on inmates' children says prison musters need to come down.

Liz Gordon interviewed 137 prisoners and their families as part of a three year study for Christchurch charity Pillars.

She says the arrest and imprisonment of a parent is traumatic for children and leads to cycles of poor health, under-achievement, poverty and often youth crime.

Dr Gordon says with one in two inmates being Maori, it is creating long term problems for society.

“The solution has to be to start winding back the imprisonment rate and winding back trauma, because last year when we did consultation, ne kaumatua said they are building new prisons for our moko who aren’t even born yet, and he's right,” Dr Gordon says.

The Correction Department's own research shows that Maori are more likely to be arrested than pakeha for similar actions, and more likely to end up behind bars.

MARAE HEALTH CHECKS HELP CHECK OFF CURRICULUM

Otago University medical students were out in force in Otautahi today giving free health checks to Maori.

Suzanne Pitama, the associate dean of the medical school's Christchurch-based Maori and Indigenous Health Institute, says the first Hauora Maori Day at Rehua marae gave the 98 fifth year students hands on experience for the Maori health component of the curriculum.

As well as seeing 250 patients over three hours, the students were exposed to the hui and powhiri process and saw how it could improve their clinic.

BEVAN TIPENE MATUA DIES

The Green Party and Ngati Kahungunu have lost a champion of the Maori perspective in the conservation movement.

Bevan Tipene-Matua drowned today while diving near his home at Porangahau in the Hawkes Bay.

He was the first Maori research fellow at Crop and Food research, with a special interest in intellectual property, plant variety rights and tikanga Maori.

He also worked in policy jobs with the Ministry for Maori Development and the Environmental Risk Management Authority.

Greens co-leader Metiria Turei says his death comes as a shock.

“Bevan really was a pou for the Green Party, an incredible intelligent committed person to Maori and environmental issues, and he joined the Greens to set up what he described as the Brown Greens to support the work I was doing with the Green Party but also to find the best way to talk about Maori and environmental issues together and to bring to the environmental movement the Maori perspective which is often missing,” Ms Turei says.

MEAD DEFENDS NEW ZEALAND’S CONTRIBUTION TO UN

A Maori with extensive experience working inside the United Nations is disputing a claim that fronting up to the UN Human Rights Committee diminishes New Zealand's sovereignty.

AUT University lecturer Paul Moon has attacked Justice Minister Simon Power's trip to New York to explain how this country is meeting its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

But Aroha Mead from Ngati Awa says being prepared to meet the standards you help develop is part of being a responsible member of the international community.

She says Maori value international scrutiny which can remind people back here that New Zealand is not a paradise for all its citizens.

MAORI ALL BLACKS COACHING TEAM SHAPING UP

They may be an untried combination, but new Maori rugby coach Jamie Joseph is full of praise for his assistant.

Former All Black Daryl Gibson has been a player and now assistant coach for the Crusaders, with a spell playing rugby in the United Kingdom in between.

Mr Joseph says he's a true professional who has been coaching one of the best sides in the country.

Jamie Joseph says it's an honour and a huge responsibility to coach the New Zealand Maori side in its centennial year.

The itinerary for the centenary year matches will be announced on Thursday.

UN view of treaty status flawed

A Maori constitutional lawyer says Justice Minister Simon Power must resist calls to incorporate the Treaty of Waitangi into a New Zealand constitution when he speaks today at the UN Human Rights Committee.

Mr Power is presenting New Zealand's Fifth Periodic Report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and it's expected he will be quizzed on the status of the treaty, Maori imprisonment rates and the anti-terror raids in Ruatoki two years ago.

Moana Jackson says the UN committee has been calling for the Treaty to be incorporated into a constitution to protect Maori human rights, but that is no solution.

“You run the risk of the ultimate cooption really that the treaty then becomes subservient legislatively and legally to the Crown so the issue for me is never how can the treaty say fit within a new New Zealand constitution but how can a constitution be based on the treaty,” Mr Jackson says.

PAPAKAINGA MONEY SPARKS INTEREST IN HOUSING CONFERENCE

The house full signs are out for the national Maori housing conference at Te Papaiouru Marae in Rotorua next week.

Organiser Kaye Maree Dunn from Community Housing Aotearoa says it's a chance for Maori architects, engineers and people working in iwi social service agencies to compare notes on what sort of homes Maori want and how they can get them.

She says the economic climate and new government programmes means delegates will come with lots of questions.

“Where is housing for our people right now. Who are some of the greatest movers and shakers for housing on the ground. What are some great examples of papakainga development architecture projects out there that are working and how can we get that information to our whanau,” Ms Dunn says.

A hot topic will be the deal between Housing New Zealand and Kiwibank which is supposed to clear some of the obstacles to building on Maori land.

BATTALION VETERAN AN INNOVTOR IN CULTURE, BUSINESS

Maori Battalion veteran Takamoana Delamere will be remembered not only for his war time service but as an innovator in business and culture.

Mr Delamere died at his Kawerau home on Sunday, a week after returning from the 28 Maori Battalion reunion in Auckland.

His son Larry Delamere says when his father returned from the war he set up a dry cleaning busines in Kawerau with two cousins, which was considered unusual for the times.

He helped establish the first non-tribal marae, Nga Hau e Wha in Kawerau, and a credit union to encourage Maori economic development.

He was also involved in kapa haka and started the Delamere Cup primary school competition, which has helped Te Whanau a Apanui maintain a high standard of kapa haka.

Many veterans are expected at Whitianga Marae for Takamoana Delamere's funeral on Wednesday.

JAMIE JOSEPH LOOKS TO HISTORY OF MAORI ALL BLACKS

Jamie Joseph has been named the new coach to guide the Maori All Blacks through their centennial year.

The 44 year old from Ngati Maniapoto and Rangitane takes the reins after successful stints by Donny Stevenson and Matt Te Pou.

The 20-test All Black veteran played for the Maori squad in the early 90's, following in the footsteps of his father Jim Joseph.

He says Maori rugby is a unique mix of sport, culture and history.

“When you play as a Maori player in this team, we’re responsible to the people who have gone before us and making sure we leave a legacy for those that follow us. I know my father played for the Maori All Blacks in the late 60s, early 70s, very proud moment for me to then put the jersey on myself, so I feel pretty responsible and very proud to be able to lead the team as a coach,” Mr Joseph says.

TAURANGA IWI FIGHT SHIP CHANNEL DREDGING

Taurangamoana iwi have united against a plan to dredge 15 million cubic metres from Tauranga harbour.

The three iwi told commissioners considering a Bay of Plenty Harbour Board resource consent application that deepening shipping channels for the next generation of super sized container ships will cause major damage.

Spokesperson Hauata Palmer says pipi and mussel beds are already under pressure.

“When we have visitors to our marae we say we give them the best of our marine larder and that is part of the debate as well, because we can’t perform those traditional things because we don’t have the resources,” Mr Palmer says.

He says past reclamation for the container terminal destroyed a large area of shell-fish beds.

THE PLAYER YOU GET

Hawkes Bay Maori families fighting methamphetamine have won support from an American musician who started his own recovery from addiction in Aotearoa.

Community activist Dennis O'Reilly says the guitarist Joe Walsh hero fronted up to his own demons when he came to this country in 1989 to play with reggae band Herbs.

Now he's bankrolling a monthly event at Otatara.

“Joe Walsh sponsored our Sundays. He sent us over US$5000 because the first Sunday of every month we have this sort of celebration for families who are beating meth, so rather than just going on about all the terrible thing, there’s a chance to have a bit of a pick me up,” Mr O'Reilly says.

And for those in party mode, the third annual St Patrick's Day hui and hoolie, celebrating all things Irish and Maori, is on again tomorrow at the Waiohiki Community Arts Center in the Hawkes Bay.

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Monday, March 15, 2010

Anonymous attacks irk Tainui loyalist

A Tainui documentary maker says the Maori king enjoys overwhelming support within the iwi, despite attacks on him in the media.

Potaka Maipi says representatives from 13 marae at a hui at Te Ohaki Marae near Huntly last week gave unanimous and unreserved support to King Tuheitia.

He says people are upset their local newspaper is using anonymous sources to raise questions about the king's spending.

“No one will put their name to it. It’s their cowardly behaviour that’s causing a lot of havoc whereas 99 percent of the people are happy with the way things are going. It looks like there are only two or three people doing it and there are over 57,000 beneficiaries,” Mr Maipi says.

The turmoil in the tribe follows the sacking of Waikato Raupatu Lands Trust chief executive Hemi Rau, who Mr Maipi told the Employment Court was a source of previous damaging leaks about Tainui's affairs.

MARAE HEARINGS COULD DAMAGE ROLE OF INSTITUTION

The author of a ground-breaking report on Maori justice is challenging the use of marae for youth court sittings.

So far sittings have been held at Te Poho o Rawiri in Gisborne, Manurewa Marae in south South Auckland, and last week Prime Minister John Key launched Hoani Waititi Marae in West Auckland as a court.

Moana Jackson says Maori should beware of taking elements of the Pakeha justice system and transposing them straight into a Maori environment.

“I am just concerned they with no research backing to say that are now selling it as the greatest thing since sliced bread and without considering the broader issues of the place of the marae in our culture, the effect of using the marae in that way might have on our rangatahi and so on,” Mr Jackson.

PUKEARIKI EXHIBITION LOOKS AT TARANAKI WAR LEGACY

It's 150 years since first shots were fired in the Taranaki wars, but Pukeariki Museum in New Plymouth is expecting heated debate about what happened and why.

Its exhibition Our Legacy - Our Challenge which opens this week tries to present both Maori and Pakeha accounts of the war using historic photographs and heritage objects.

Chief executive Bill McNaught says it includes the first display of a rare New Zealand Cross awarded to Frank Mace, an officer of the Taranaki Mounted Volunteers.

Our Legacy - Our Challenge opens on Wednesday and runs until August.

MAORI BATTALION VETERAN MADE LAST TRIP TO SEE MATES

Nothing was going to stop C Company veteran Takamoana Delamore joining his mates at the 28 Maori Battalion reunion 11 days ago.

Mr Delamere from Whanau a Apanui, who joined the battalion in 1939 and fought throughout the war, died yesterday sat his home in Kawerau.

His son, Larry Delamere, says there was a sense of disbelief in the whanau when their father insisted on travelling to Auckland for the reunion despite a recent stroke, but it showed the sense of cameraderie among veterans.

His father spent most of his time at the reunion with the only other surviving 39er, Arthur Midwood.

Takamoana Delamore was taken to Whitianga Marae, with the funeral on Wednesday morning.

MOON ATTACKS UN HUMAN RIGHTS REVIEW PROCESS

An Auckland historian says New Zealand shouldn't have to defend its record before the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Justice Minister Simon Power is in New York tomorrow presenting New Zealand's Fifth Periodic Report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Paul Moon from AUT University, who has written two books about the Treaty of Waitangi, says it demeans New Zealand's sovereignty to have to answer questions about adherence to the Treaty of Waitangi and the position of Maori in society.

“Here we have this organisation of unelected officials saying this is what we expect of you and we are going to act as the teacher supervising your work and give you a grade at the end depending on how well you have performed. Well I think we can credit our country with enough intelligence to do that for itself, that we have passed the stage where we need any other entity outside to supervise the way you perform,” Dr Moon says.

But Victoria University academic Aroha Mead from Ngati Awa, who has participated in UN committees, says part of sovereignty is being prepared to meet the standards you help to create, and New Zealand has always been active in developing human rights treaties.

WATERCARE PUKETUTU PURCHASE ALARMS NEIGHBOURS

Residents and hapu round Manikau Harbour fear the lease of Puketutu Island by Watercare Services shows the council-owned company still plans to dump treated sewage on the island.

Watercare has taken a lease conditional on the outcome of its appeal against the Environment Court's denials of its resource consents.

Itania Nikolao says Puketutu will end up a contaminated wasteland leaching leach heavy metals into the Manukau harbour.

“It's also waahi tapu. It’s also a Mangere-Puhinui heritage zone and it’s a bird sanctuary. We think it’s outrageous that this type of project with all these protections could actually go ahead,” Mrs Nikolao says.

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Spectrum key to future development

The chair of Te Putahi Paoho, the electoral college which chooses the board of Maori Television, says new spectrum allocations should create a greater capacity for maintaining te reo Maori.

Maori broadcasting claimants have decided to enter negotiations with the Crown over how Maori should share in the digital dividend, the reallocation of spectrum once the switch is made from analogue to digital television.

Tu Williams says the claimants want to see more channels created for regional Maori broadcasters.

He says previous allocation of radio, television and third generation mobile phone spectrum shows what Maori need to benefit economically and culturally from technology development.

That kind of sets a benchmark for opportunities for our people to engage in training, acquiring the skills, in order to meet the rapidly changing technology in this space,” Mr Williams says.

New ways of delivering content create more opportunities to maintain te reo Maori.

MENTAL HEALTH SECTOR NEEDING MAORI INPUT

The Associate Minister of Health, Tariana Turia, says a hui on Maori mental health has highlighted the need to increase the number of Maori working in the sector.

The hui in Whangarei of the New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses looked at workforce development issues and at various strategies for treating tangata whaiora.

Mrs Turia says there are historic and societal reasons for the disproportionate number of Maori with mental health problems.

“The loss of identity. The loss of land. The loss of the essence of who we are as a people. That in itself creates a situation of unwellness in us,” Mrs Turia says.

One in three Maori will have an episode during their life involving mental unwellness.

TAMATI ELLISON HAS YEN TO TRAVEL

A top Maori rugby player is putting family first and heading for the land of the Rising Sun.

Tamati Ellison, the Hurricanes back and All Black utility, is taking up a contract in Japan at the end of this year’s Super 14, ruling himself out for next year’s World Cup.

Sky commentator Karl Te Nana, who played professional rugby in Japan before returning home three years ago, says the 26-year-old is thinking about the financial security of his young family – and Japan is a good place to bring up children.

EFFECT OF PRISON ON INMATES’ CHILDREN TRACKED

The largest study in New Zealand of the effects on children of having a parent in prison has found swelling prison musters are having a devastating effect across Maoridom.

Liz Gordon from Network Research interviewed 137 prisoners, their families and social agencies for Pillars, a Christchurch charity that provides support and training for prisoners’ families.

She says with Maori making up more than half the prison population, thousands of Maori children are highly traumatised.

“That trauma affects every element of their lives. They get poorer. They get sicker. Their education goes backwards. They get angry. Some of them get physically ill and really that anger is stoked right through childhood to adolescence. They have nowhere to go and they start engaging in youth crime,” Dr Gordon says.

She says the answer lies in less imprisonment, not more as is likely under ACT’s three strikes legislation now before parliament.

NEW WEBSITE TO ENCOURAGE HEALTH CAREERS

A new website is being launched today to show Maori secondary school students and people changing careers how they can enter the health workforce.

It’s part of the Kia Ora Hauora project, which aims to recruit 1000 Maori into health jobs over the next two years.

Project manager Tuhakia Kepa says to meet the demand for Maori across the health sector, it’s critical to get to rangatahi before they make decisions about their course of study.

The website will be at KiaoraHauora.co.nz.

CARMEN GIVEN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

It was tranny legend time on K Road last night as Carmen Rupe from Ngati Haua and Maniapoto was named the first recipient of the Mika Haka Foundation’s Aroha Lifetime Achievement Award.

Carmen has lived in Sydney since 1980, but came across to present a floor show for the Aroha Festival harking back to her heyday at Carmen’s International Coffee Lounge and Carmen’s Balcony.

She says her start in show business came through entertainer Lou Clausen from Lou and Simon, soon after she arrived in Auckland from Taumarunui.

“I was working in the hospital at Greenland and he was calling out for talent quests so I got up and he said ‘What do you do?’ I said ‘I do the hula.’ He said ‘OK, come along,’ so I got my hula gear and went along and started off with them,” Carmen says.

All profits from the Kapai Cabaret were to go to a fund to buy Carmen a new mobility scooter.

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