Hapu claim struggling for hearing

The chair of Nelson's Te Kahui Ngahuru Trust, James Wheeler, hopes tough talking by the United Nations will help towards direct negotiation of its claims.

As part of its four-yearly review of New Zealand’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee urged the government to talk to the trust, rather than wrap it in with a comprehensive top of the South Island settlement.

Mr Wheeler says while the trust is part of the Tainui Taranaki ki te Tonga group, its WAI 56 claims belong to specific families within the hapu.

“We know where every piece of land is. We know what was taken. We know what the mismanagement that happened with the Public Trustee over the decades. We know where the Public Trust took loads of our land and we’re sick of it. We’ve had enough. We should be able to sit down with the government and negotiate our claims, our distinct hapu claims,” Mr Wheeler says.

There are many precedents for the government negotiating direct with hapu, outside the current policy of dealing with what it calls large natural groupings.

CANTERBURY SUBSTANCE ABUSE ADMISSIONS ABOVE NATIONAL

Canterbury District Health Board wants to know why Maori are being admitted its hospitals for drug and alcohol related problems at twice the national average.

The board's first overview of Maori health found there were 108 Maori admissions per 100 thousand for substance problems compared with 45 per 100 thousand nationally.

Hector Matthews, the board's executive director of Maori and Pacific health, says while the total number of people presenting is relatively low, it can affect future provision of services.

“What we will need to do is monitor our admissions and presentations around these instances and if the rate continues to climb we will notice the pressure on our mental health services and particularly on our kaupapa Maori providers out in the community,” Mr Matthews says.

The rate of admission for problems related to opiates such as heroin and morphine was particularly high with a regional rate of 31 Maori per 100,000 being more than ten times the national rate.

SCHOOL OF GOLDIE COMMANDS AUCTION DOLLARS

The auctioneer who sold a painting by a pupil of Charles Goldie for a record $12,000 says the politically incorrect subject matter of a Maori woman smoking a pipe may have added to its sales appeal.

Kapai Te Toriri - Tobacco is Good by Vera Cummings fetched five times its expected price.

Richard Thomson, the director of the International Art Centre, says with original Goldie's doubling in the past five years, collectors are jumping on what they see as the next best thing.

“We sold a Goldie in March 2008 for $454,000 and it had a valuation of $200,000. The prices of Goldies have really shot up so it would be a natural progression for an artist like Vera Cummings to also go up in value,” Mr Thomson says.

RUGBY APOLOGY NEEDED FOR APARTHEID YEARS

Rugby legend Jim Maniapoto is joining the call for the Rugby Union to apologise for the way it kow-towed to South African calls to exclude Maori players from tours to the republic during the apartheid era.

The Ngati Tuwharetoa player was a schoolboy star for St Stephen's in the 1960s and part of a Ranfurly Shield dominating Auckland team.

The mobile lock, along with his brother Manu, was selected for the Maori team, but never made the All Blacks.

Mr Maniapoto says the fact an apology is still needed is a sign Maori rugby might be better off moving out from under the NZRFU umbrella.

“Since Super 12 and a few other things have happened, Maori rugby has been shoved in the background. I’ve always thought we need to go out and do our own thing,” Mr Maniapoto says.

He says there's merit in Bill Bush's idea of taking a Maori team on a South American tour.

MORE MAORI CREMATED AS TRADITIONS SLIP AWAY

Rotorua district councillor Maureen Waaka is lamenting the increasing number of Maori who choose to be cremated.

The trend was noted by Rotorua's reserves manager, who attributed it to the increasing number of Maori not identifying with their culture.

Mrs Waaka says cremation is not the Maori way, but it is becoming popular among younger people because of its perceived convenince.

“It’s a breakaway from how we think traditionally as Maori. It’s returning to the land and burial and urupa and the old way of putting them in the caves was all part of that. There is no treatment of the body to the extent they were burnt or anything like that,” she says.

Mrs Waaka says traditionalists are staying loyal to burial in family urupa.

DARGAVILLE IN THE BAG FOR FIRST SHOOTING

Dargaville is gearing up for excitement with the crew of "It's in the Bag" hitting the Northern Wairoa War Memorial Town Hall tonight.

Co host Stacey Morrison expects the audience to get into the mood ... shouting out encouragement and advice on whether to take the money or the bag.

She says Maori Television's bilingual twist on the Kiwi classic doesn't phase the contestants, and many people are able to say more in te reo than presenters expected.

It's in the Bag will also visit Kawakawa, Whangaroa, Kaikohe, Opotiki, Kawerau, Murupara, Rotorua, Otorohanga, Te Awamutu, Raglan and Huntly before filming the final live at Maori Television's Newmarket studio later in the year.

Rugby Union stance gets prop Bush wild

Former All Black prop and Maori All Black captain Bill Bush says it may be time for Maori rugby to sever its ties with the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and go it alone.

Mr Bush says the union's refusal to respond to a call to apologise for excluding Maori from touring teams to South Africa for half a century is part of a pattern of prejudice against Maori.

He says it still comes up in team selections.

“Every time a player gets dropped out of the All Blacks, it has to be a Maori. Three were dropped out when we went to the World Cup in 2007, Piri Weepu, Rico Gear and (Troy) Flavell. Now we’ve got young Isaac Ross being dumped for no reason at all. It just annoys me and they favour the Samoans and Tongans more so than us,” Mr Bush says.

He says it now appears the NZRFU isn't going to organise a game for the Maori All Blacks next year, which would have been a consolation for Maori players who miss out on the World Cup squad.

GARDENING SKILLS SHARED WITH SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROJECT

A push by Maori men on the East Coast to improve their horticultural and hunting skills is providing a bonus for tamariki at Tikitiki's Rahui Marae.

Rob Thompson says a new mana tane roopu is allowing men in the region to share their skills, and they've gone on to establish community gardens in Rangitukia, Tikitiki and Te Puia Springs.

He says as part of a school holiday programme, today the roopu shared their knowledge of mahinga kai with tamariki.

Today the tamariki learn the basics of fishing and respect for Tangaroa, and on Thursday they'll be taken into the ngahere to learn bushcraft.

FOUR WAY BATTLE FOR REMAINING SHEARING SPOT

In a late season burst, Hawkes Bay Maori shearer Jonny Kirkpatrick took the open class honours at the Auckland Easter Show.

Commentator Koro Mullins says the win sets up a four-way battle at this weekend's New Zealand Shears in Te Kuiti for a spot in the New Zealand World Cup team between Kirkpatrick, shearing icon David Fagan, Paul Avery and Dion King.

Kirkpatrick's Auckland win was his first since early February, but the King Country event has been good to him, as he won the previous two years.

Another Maori shearer, Cam Ferguson, already has his ticket to the World Cup in Wales booked because of his Golden Shears win.

M-FACTOR GIVES KAITAIA BEAUTY MISS WORLD NZ CROWN

Former Miss New Zealand Maureen Waaka is thrilled at Cody Yerkovich's Miss World New Zealand title win at the weekend.

The former Maureen Kingi last year called for beauty contest judges to look beyond skinny blondes when choosing contestants to represent Aotearoa on the international stage.

She says the Kaitaia 18-year-old of Maori and Croatian descent has that special M-factor.

“The way that Cody presents herself is typically the refinement and elegance of M women and even in the performances and kapa haka, our woman, no matter what their build they were always dainty always elegant in their style and they brought a lot of refinement in their personages and that’s what I’ve been looking for in the beauty pageants,” Mrs Waaka says.

As a judge it was great to see Cody was not the only Maori among the 14 finalists.

TOHU LOOKING AT EXCEPTIONAL YEAR

It's looking like a good harvest for Maori-owned wine company Tohu Wines.

James Wheeler, a board member of 50 percent shareholder Wakatu Incorporation, says the company expects to produce up to 90 thousand cases of wine this year to meet solid customer demand in New Zealand and overseas.

He says picking started this week of 700 tonnes of sauvignon blanc grapes from its Waihopai vineyard.

“It's looking very good. I was on the vineyard the other day and we’ve got very little botrytis, in fact I couldn’t see and the bunches are good so I think we’re going to have an exceptional year,” Mr Wheeler says.

TRIBAL STORIES AS GOOD AS COULE BE ASKED

Ngati Rangiwewehi elder Trevor Maxwell says Te Arawa values Don Stafford's recording of its stories.

The historian, who died on Monday in Rotorua, is to be honoured by lying in state in the house Tamatekaua before his funeral at St Faith's Church on Friday.

Mr Maxwell says Mr Stafford became a walking encyclopedia on tribal history, drawing on stories told to him as a young man in his father's Rotorua shop for his 23 books.

He says no tribal history can be definitive, and Te Arawa has to take responsibility for its own record.

“He really only printed what he was told and perhaps some might have bent the story a little but he wrote it down and if he didn’t, who would we be listening to in the present day. He’s been our district’s official historian and a man who bridged Maori and European worlds,” Mr Maxwell says.

Historian Don Stafford honoured in death by iwi

Rotorua civic leader Trevor Maxwell from Ngati Rangiwewehi says the people of Te Arawa owe a huge debt of gratitude to historian Don Stafford, who died yesterady in Rotorua.

Mr Maxwell says many older whanau remember how as a young man Mr Stafford would spend countless hours with the old Maori men of the day, learning te reo and picking up on old tribal stories and history.

His interest resulted in 23 books, almost entirely on Te Arawa history.

“Over the years he’s been for us like a walking encyclopaedia. He just had a passion for the Te Arawa stories. He might have been born a Pakeha but he truly was one of our Te Arawa sons,” Mr Maxwell says.

Te Arawa requested Mr Stafford lie for 2 nights at Te Papai I Ouru at Ohinemtu. His service will be on Friday at neighbouring St Faith's church where he was a parishioner for many years.

INFLEXIBLE THREE STRIKES BILL MAKING BAD LAW

Labour leader Phil Goff says the Government's three strikes bill will make bad law.

An analysis of the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill by Auckland university law lecturer Richard Ekins found it will discriminate against Maori because of the type of crimes covered.

Mr Goff says there is enough scope in current law for judges to punish serious offending and the parole board to treat prisoners appropriately.

He says the bill, which was put up by the ACT Party and extensively embellished by National, is all about political rhetoric.

“Not much impact but where it does have impact, perhaps undesirable removal of flexibility I think adds up to bad law. The truth is the law does provide right now for the worst of those offenders who constitute a risk to the public to be kept locked away and that’s the way it should be,” Mr Goff says.

He says at the same time it's creating more Maori prisoners, the Government is doing away with effective Maori focused rehabilitation programmes like Te Hurihanga in Hamilton.

DREAM TEAM RINGS TROUBLED SLEEP FOR TARANAKI SURFERS

Maori surfers in Taranaki fear a surfing dream-team will expose their prime spots to world view.

The 17-strong international team is in the area as part of the 2010 TSB Bank women's surf festival which starting in New Plymouth on Saturday.

Wharehoka Wano from Ngati Te Whiti says the hapu has lent its support to the event, but some of the surfers are concerned it may inspire other surfers from around the world to seek out the west coast breaks like Stent Rd and Rocky Points on Paora Rd.

Mr Wano says the surfing community mixes well with Maori in the region and it is important the relationship is maintained.

FOOD FOR ALL AT FIRST EAST COAST KAI FEST

Organisers of the first East Coast traditional kai festival are thrilled by response to Saturday's event at Ruatoria.

The festival was driven by a new mana tane group which is encouraging the reestablishment of maara kai or vegetable gardens in the region.

Member Rob Thompson says local entertainers donated their time and prices were set low so everyone could go away with fresh and cooked meats, fish and garden fresh veges.

Next year's festival will be at Te Araroa.

MAORI QUALITY OF LIFE SURVEYS LOWER

Maori are almost twice as likely as Pakeha to be dissatisfied with that their quality of life.

A nationwide survey of just over 1000 people by the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development found that 22 percent of Maori rated their quality of life as fair or poor compared to 12 percent of pakeha.

Chief executive Peter Neilson says this is not surprising as the recession has hit Maori disproportionately hard.

He says low incomes, overcrowded housing and other factors could contribute to that dissatisfaction.

There were few Maori in the $200,000 a year income group, who all rated their quality of life as excellent or very good.

KAHUNGUNU TOURISM OFFICE OPENS

The Hawkes Bay Maori Tourism Trust has gone street level, opening an information and booking office on Napier's Marine Parade.

Kaumatua Tom Mulligan says it's a place for visitors to find out the stories and culture of Ngati Kahungunu.

He says it will also be used to promote the area to visitors to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

The centre has room for exhibitions, with the opening show coming from students of Te Wananga o Aotearoa's Toimairangi contemporary Maori Visual Arts programme in Hastings.

Tuhoe pays first fruits to marae

The Tuhoe Establishment Trust will distribute $5 million in interest payments on its share of the Central North Island forestry settlement to its marae and hapu.

Chairperson Tamati Kruger says the trust is still working on a distribution formula, as some of the 50 marae and hapu overlap with other tribal areas.

He says the trust won’t tell the marae how the first fruits of the $67 million settlement should be spent, but it will ask for it to be properly accounted for.

“They’re not asking for our permission so much as we want to agree with them about the parameters of how the money will be used, what would look good and what would not look good if we were to report back to the general Tuhoe population,” Mr Kruger says,

A further $1 million will be shared among tribal executives in the Waimana, Ruatoki, Ruatahuna and Waikaremoana valleys to help cover the consultation costs of developing a new tribal structure.

MAINSTREAM IGNORED IN MAORI PARTY ADVOCACY

Labour associate education spokesperson Kelvin Davis is accusing the Maori Party’s Pita Sharples of selling out Maori children in mainstream schools.

Mr Davis, a former intermediate school principal, says there is nothing in the Government’s policy of testing to national standards that will improve outcomes for Maori boys, which is one of the toughest challenges the education system faces.

He says Dr Sharples, the associate education minister, knows the problem but isn’t prepared to buck his government partners.

“He fought hard for a trial of national standards in kura kaupapa, 95 percent of Maori kids are in mainstream schools. They deserve to have a trial of national standards, not to have national standards trialed on them,” Mr Davis says.

He says there wouldn’t be a teacher in the country who is opposed to high standards or giving parents information on their child’s achievement levels, but passing tests doesn’t make children brainier.

Dr Sharples says he cares for every student, but his ministerial responsibility is for children in kura kapapa immersion education.

NGAI TAHU LORE INCORPROATED IN BOTANIC GARDENS TRAIL

Visitors to Christchurch’s Botanical Gardens are being given a look at how Ngai Tahu used resources from the bush.

Curator John Clemens says Te Wao Nui Tane nature trail, which is open for the next two weeks, will be an eye opener.

It includes five activities, including traps and storage fur tuna or eels and snares for manu or birds, as well as displays on the use of plants like raupo, ferns, harakeke and lancewood.

Dr Clemens says it complements the Mo Taatou Ngai Tahu Whanui exhibition at nearby Canterbury Museum.

Te Wao Nui Tane is at Christchurch Botanical Gardens for the next weeks.

THREE STRIKES LAW HITTING MAORI HARDER

An Auckland university law lecturer says Maori will be disproportionately affected by ACT’s three strikes bill now before Parliament.

Richard Ekins says Maori are more likely to come before the courts for crimes of violence, which count as strikes, rather than large scale frauds, which don’t, despite being extremely harmful to victims.

He says Maori who commit a relatively minor assault could end up sentenced for extended periods if it counts as a third strike.

He expects Maori MPs to vigorously oppose the bill.

Dr Richard Ekins and Professor Warren Brookbank will speak on the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill at a public meeting in Auckland University business school tomorrow night.

CULLEN APPOINTED TO TUHOE INVESTMENT FUND

The author of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund will now try to put Tuhoe’s future finances on a firm footing.

Former Labour finance and treaty negotiations minister Michael Cullen has been appointed to the investment committee which advises the Tuhoe Establishment Trust where it should put the Bay of Plenty tribe’s Treaty of Waitangi settlement cash.

The Ohope resident joins Supreme Court Judge Sir Noel Anderson, Treasury adviser Murray Nash and Aaron Hing from Perpetual Portfolio Management.

Trust chairperson Tamati Kruger says Tuhoe was looking for plain language advice and recommendations.

“Tuhoe people are finding themselves in a different place, a different environment and having to consider a whole host of things they have not really got the background experience so they have has to learn very quickly about these things so it becomes most important you are able to surround yourself with people you have trust and confidence in,” he says.

The Tuhoe Estabnlishment Trust will distribute $5 million among its 50 affiliated marae and hapu as the first fruits of its $67 million share of the Central North Island forestry settlement.

TE WAIORA WINS HUI ARANGA KAPA HAKA COMPETITION

Maori Catholics had a busy Easter with more than 5000 people turning out to the 58th Hui Aranga at Te Aute College in the Hawkes Bay.

The annual event involves religious debate, sports, kapa haka and choral singing.

Master of ceremonies Soli Hemara from Ngapuhi says the cultural performance were of a particularly high standard, with Feilding’s Te Waiora taking out the overall prize.

Soli Hemara says it’s take the judged six years to come to terms with Te Waiora’s unique style of kapa haka, which includes extremely theatrical elements.

Foreshore ownership formula fiction

A Maori lawyer says the Government's proposal that there be no owner of coastal space is fundamentally dishonest.

Among the options for replacing the Foreshore and Seabed Act is to replace the Crown title to land below the high tide mark with a new concept of public domain or takiwa takiwa iwi whanui.

Annette Sykes from Ngati Pikiao says there are at least 42 laws managing the rights around coastal space which assume de facto ownership by the Crown.

She says the Government's position is immediately undermined by the mining licenses it has issued for coastal areas.

“Now if the Crown is saying they don’t own it and Maori don’t own it, when they discover minerals and there is royalties due, who is going to receive the royalties. If the Crown doesn’t own it, then they shouldn’t get it. If Maori don’t own it, we’re not going to get it, so who is going to get those royalties? Is China going to say ‘We have got a licence so we own it,’” Ms Sykes says.

The Government is holding at least 11 consultation hui on the foreshore and seabed proposal, starting in Marlborough on April 9.

INFORMATION LACKING ON RECREATIONAL FISH TAKE

The head of Te Ohu Kaimoana is calling for better accounting of what is taken by recreational fishers.

Ngahiwi Tomoana says if fisheries are to be managed sustainably, people need to know what is out there.

While customary and commercial fishers must account for what they catch, there is no requirement for recreational fishers to account for what they take ... even though for some species the total would be far more than the other two sectors combined.

“You can't really plan to have a healthy fishery in 10 years time if you don’t know what one sector is catching, and that’s the recreational sector, and there seems to be no political will or courage to find what they're taking,” Mr Tomoana says.

Ngahiwi Tomoana says politicians are afraid to go up against the large and well funded recreational fishing lobby.

APPLICATIONS BUT NO ACTION ON KAINGA WHENUA

The Kainga Whenua housing scheme is off to a slow start.

Chief advisor Maori, Tamati Olsen, says about 200 applications have been received for Housing New Zealand to guarantee Kiwibank loans build on multiply-owned Maori land, but none have yet been approved.

He says applying for kainga whenua money is arduous, with as many as eleven steps to go through.

“A lot of that is outside our control, the issues round multiply owned Maori land and licence to occupy, working between ourselves, Kiwibank, the Maori Land Court and local government to get all these things, it’s an arduous process,” Mr Olsen says.

Housing New Zealand is also selecting proposals for its Maori Demonstration Partnerships programme, which has a putea of $5.5 million in matching funding to back innovative housing projects put up by iwi of Maori trusts.

HIGH BAR TO PROVE CUSTOMARY TITLE

An expert on Maori law and resource management says the proposed rewrite of the Foreshore and Seabed Act puts an unfair onus on Maori to prove customary rights.

Auckland University law professor Ken Palmer says Maori have to prove they have a continuing interest in specific coastal areas through activities such as collecting shellfish.

He says it should be the Crown's responsibility to show Maori have abandoned their stake.

“The present act is not particularly attractive because it puts a huge challenge on Maori to prove their continuing existence with these particular coastal areas and it’s rather hard to do at the moment with other people using them and there’s a financial challenge of getting expert, getting lawyers, and of course trying to meet the Crown who have got endless funds on their side,” Professor Palmer says.

The Prime Minister's expectation there will be a relatively small number of claims could be way off the mark, as Maori will be keen to asset their ancestral relationships.

ENVIRONMENT CANTERBURY COUP PART OF WIDER ATTACK

Labour list MP Shane Jones says the Government's takeover of Environment Canterbury is part of a deliberate strategy to dismantle regional government in New Zealand.

Parliament under urgency last night passed the law replacing of Canterbury's regional councilors with commissioners.

Mr Jones says environment and local government ministers Nick Smith and Rodney Hide are moving resource management back into central government.
He says the new act gives the minister power to make decisions above the new commissioners.

“Our fear is that these commissioners will be pressured by the minister to reward the users of the water which is predominantly the agricultural community who have not shown a lot of interest in cleaning up their act in terms of cleaning up our streams and rivers,” Mr Jones says.

He says just as Mr Hide has done in the Auckland super city, authority has been taken away from democratically elected local representatives

MEN’S GROUP SPARKS INTEREST IN GARDENING

An East Coast mana tane roopu will be showing off its newly aquired horticultural skills at the region's first traditional Kai Festival at Whakarua park in Ruatoria on Saturday.

Event coordinator Rozanna Milner says the men's group formed through Ngati Porou Hauora encouraged members to share skills including fishing, hunting and eeling.

They also set up community gardens in Ruatoria, Tikitiki, Rangitukia and at Te Puia Hospital.

Rozanna Milner says seed funding for Saturday's festival comes from the sale of excess produce from the gardens, and the men have also formed a collective to supply a stall at the Gisborne farmers market.

Foreshore formula sparks backlash fear

Labour MP Shane Jones says giving hapu veto rights over coastal development will create a backlash.

The proposal is contained in a consultation document on possible changes to the Foreshore and Seabed Act released yesterday.

Mr Jones says after a long and expensive process, the National Government has ended up in the same place as Labour was in 2004 in terms of recognising Maori customary rights.

The main difference is it is reopening the door to litigation, and giving hapu the final say on coastal development if they can establish customary title.

“Without accountability, without professional structures, you can see all sorts of developments held up, and in fact unlikely to go ahead unless there is a transfer of wealth etc. Hapu are taking a very treacherous step if they think the public will tolerate them having veto rights without them showing any obligation to wider community,” Mr Jones says.

He says the National government is lowering the bar for iwi to prove customary rights, but it's also diluting the value of those rights.

MANA TRUMPS TITLE IN FORESHORE DEBATE

Meanwhile, Ngati Porou runanga chair Api Mahuika says recognition of mana is more important than title over the foreshore and seabed.

Options for replacing the Foreshore and Seabed Act released yesterday range from leaving coastal areas in Crown title, assuming it is under Maori title, or giving it a new status of public domain/ takiwa iwi whanui.

Mr Mahuika says Ngati Porou negotiated its own foreshore settlement based on tikanga and mana, rather than getting bogged down in arguments over title.

“The individualization of titles to land has resulted in alienation, confiscation, so what we are saying is the key to mana is it is an inherited right. Through that mana we then have a kaitiaki right which allows us to look after the foreshore, the land etc in our lifetime,” Mr Mahuika says.

He says the repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act will give the East Coast tribe the chance to renegotiate aspects of its settlement, which has been signed off but still not passed into law.

GROUPS KEEN TO JOIN INNOVATIVE HOUSING PILOT

Housing New Zealand has been flooded with interest from Maori groups wanting to undertake innovative housing developments.

Tamati Olsen, the corporation's chief Maori advisor, says 16 runanga have applied for the half dozen or so Maori Demonstration Partnerships.

Typical of the schemes wanting to tap into the $5.5 million putea is a Northland runanga that wants to build ten communal houses.

“The houses have chopped down living spaces so it’s more about sleeping in the houses and small living spaces and one big communal area for the whole of the ten houses,” Mr Olsen says.

Some asset rich, cash poor iwi have missed out because of a requirement partners put up half the cost of the project.

FORESHORE ACT REPLACEMENT FALLS SHORT OF IWI DEMANDS

The iwi leaders group is disappointed at the proposed replacement for the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

The group says the plan released for consultation yesterday may not satisfy the rights, expectations and values of iwi and hapu.

Matiu Rei from Ngati Toa says the offer doesn't acknowledge Maori mana over the takutai moana, and falls far short of the customary authority that was sought.

“The crown was never able to prove they had extinguished the title Maori claim to the foreshore and seabed so we’re not so happy there has been no recognition of our enduring mana over the foreshore and seabed,” Mr Rei says.

It's likely hapu and iwi will end up in court or negotiating with the Crown to have their rights recognised.

ALARMS RINGING ON SCOPE OF CANTERBURY COUNCIL TAKEOVER

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira says principles introduced in a bill for managing Canterbury rivers will effectively replace the Resource Management Act, to the huge detriment of Maori and the nation as a whole.

The Environment Canterbury Bill was introduced yesterday, a day after the Government sacked Environment Canterbury regional council and replaced it with commissioners.

Mr Harawira says the bill was sneaked into parliament during the foreshore and seabed debate as a local measure, but in fact it gives unelected commissioners total administrative power, cutting out the Minister for the Environment and the Environment Court.

“You are taking out of the hands of government agency an asset that has critical value to the whole nation and putting it in the hands of officials who are appointed by a Government hell bent on commercialising assets,” he says.

Mr Harawira says the asset grab won't stop at water but will include other minerals and natural resources.

IT’S IN THE BAG REVIVAL GOOD FOR TOOGOOD

The Toogood whanau from Ngai Tahu will be closely following the revived It's in the Bag as it moves around the country over the next three months

Spokesperson Kit Toogood says the family was happy to pass over the rights when Maori Television wanted to resurrect the quiz show, with up to 40 percent Maori language content.

His father Selwyn Toogood launched the series in the 1950s and continued it on television into the 80s, tempting thousands of contestants with the money or the bag.

“My father was very proud of his Ngai Tahu whakapapa and we thought it was an interesting proposition to take the show back to the smaller centres which is really where it originated, particularly in the radio days,” Mr Toogood says.

His late father would have been thrilled to see how much reo the mainstream audience at the pilot filming understood and how they responded to presenters Pio Terei and Stacey Morrison.

Filming starts in Dargaville on April 7.