Tainui signs up cinema chain for Base

Tainui's chairperson is concerned ongoing resistance from Hamilton City Council could hamper the development of a cinema complex on The Base at Te Rapa.

The tribe has signed a deal with Hoyts to build the country's first purpose-built, fully digitalised movie venue with more than 1300 seats, six digital screens, and an auditorium for shows, conferences, and other functions.

Tukoroirangi Morgan says while the council lost the court battle over a variation to its district plan which would have stymied any large developments at The Base, there is still a pattern of obstruction.

“We're two weeks away from opening stage one of the mall and we’re still having to dilly dally with the council over major consent applications and it doesn’t help nor does it provoke some degree of confidence and certainty when issues like traffic volumes are still unresolved and have been in the resource framework for more than a year,” Mr Morgan says.

UXORIOUS SHARPLES DEFENDS PERK

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples is defending the right of MPs to take their spouses on official travel.

A new review of politicians' expenses led by by former Speaker Sir Doug Kidd says MPs should be stripped of their right to discounted international travel for their holidays, but recommended a 10 per cent salary hike to make up for losing the perk.

Dr Sharples says he'd be alarmed if the perk-busting extended to domestic travel.

“Cos there's a lot of broken marriages in Parliament and I like to keep my wife close to me as much as I can. We talk about marriage and stuff and being together and each other’s strengths. That’s one of the good riles of Parliament, allowing us to have our wives nearby,” says Dr Sharples.

LINDAUR PAINTINGS GO ONLINE

Auckland City Art Gallery has created an online collection of 68 portraits of Maori done in the late nineteenth and early 20th century by Austrian-born artist Gottfried Lindauer.

More than 70 descendants of the portrait subjects, as well as descendants of the painter and his business partner Henry Partridge, were at Awataha Marae in Northcote today to launch the lindauer online dot co dot nz site.

George Parakowhai, a descendant of Pera Tutoko of Nga Potiki, Te Aitanga a Mahaki and Ngai Tuhoe, says having the collection on line will allow young generations to get a visual fix on their whakapapa and tribal histories.

As well as the portraits, the site includes the visitors book kept by Partridge when he exhibited the paintings between 1901 and 1918, and it will allow today's visitors to share stories of their ancestors.

OIL PROTEST EXPOSES FORESHORE CONSULTATION

Labour's Maori affairs spokesperson says the treatment of East Coast iwi over the issue oil exploration has exposed the government's Foreshore and Seabed Act reform as a sham.

Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee this week clashed with Ngati Porou over whether the government had made a proper effort to consult before an exploration licence was issued to Brazilian firm Petrobras.

Parekura Horomia says coming so soon after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the iwi could expect more.

“A ture, the forshore and seabed bille they said they were prepare to enact, and in thew throes of finalizing that they use other legislation just to gazump the local iwi and it really begs the question of fairness,” Mr Horomia.

PIKOPIKO BREAD FOR MATARIKI FEAST

Auckland War Memorial Museum is celebrating matariki tomorrow with a taste of traditional Maori kai.

As part of its kai to Pie exhibition, chef Charles Royal from Te Arawa will talk about foraging for food in the forest and how to prepare what he finds.

It's a far cry from what he used to cook up in the army ... although the special forces might approve.

“I’m doing a demonstration on how to make a pikopiko bread, which is a basic damper bread, pikopiko pesto which I will be demonstrating, horopito hummus and piripiri, and I will finish off with a kawakawa shortbread cookie and kawakawa tea as a traditional tea, tonic, medicine,” Mr Royal says.

PLAYWRIGHT LOOKING TO HALF DAY OF HELL

Kath Akuhata Brown admits to being nervous as she waits to hear the parameters for tonight's 24-hour Theatre Challenge.

As part of the Maori playwright's festival in Auckland, five playwrights have 12 hours to write a 15 minute play, which will be directed and rehearsed over the next 12 hours and staged at the Hawkins Theatre in Papakura tomorrow night.

The Ngati Porou Playwright, actor and kaikaranga says she may have underestimated what was involved when she agreed to take part.

Kath Akuhata-Brown will be wielding her pen against Michael Rewiri-Thorsen, Chris Malloy, Challen Wilson and Ariki Spooner.

Whale link to ancestors needs protection

Ikaroa - Rawhiti MP Parekura Horomia says his ancestors came here on a whale, and he is going to protect the mighty mammals.

Labour's Maori affairs spokesperson says the Maori fisheries trust Te Ohu Kaimoana is doing Maori a disservice through its support of commercial whaling.

He says while many Maori would support the right of indigenous groups in Alaska, Greenland and even Japan to take whales for customary purposes, statements coming from Te Ohu Kaimoana leaders who attended last week's annual International Whaling Commission hui in Morocco indicate clear support for Japan's commercial harvest.

“I've seen weka disappear in my day. That used to be a real delicacy for us where there were thousands and thousands of them. Because of a whole host of reasons, people slaughtering them, they’re gone. I never saw the moa disappear, but our tupuna, my tupuna came here on a whale so it’s important we protect them,” Mr Horomia says.

ALCOHOL PROBLEMS IGNORED BY MAORI LEADERS FOR TOO LONG

The country’s newest dame says Maori leaders have ignored the problems alcohol is doing to Maori families for too long.

Dame June Jackson has joined group of high profile New Zealanders led by former governor general Sir Paul Reeves to back an overhaul of liquor licensing laws.

She says alcohol abuse is a scourge on the Maori world.

“We're up against it. We have Maori wardens who go round our hotel who do great work but it’s enough. I think there should be more mobilising of our people speaking against it, and doing things that could stop our people gravitating towards this rotten stuff,” Dame June says.

BIKE PLAN TARGETS HIGH MAORI ROLL SCHOOLS

Maori are being encouraged to get on their bikes.

Paul McCardle from Bike on New Zealand says after returning from living in the Netherlands, he and wife Meg Frater were struck by the lack of cycling in this country.

They're wheeling out a scheme to Hawkes Bay Schools with high Maori rolls, St Mary's in Hastings, Maraenui in Napier and Peterhead in Flaxmere, to build cycle tracks and provide bikes as part of the physical education programme.

He says the programme is building confidence and self esteem among pupils.

Once the schools’ programme is running smoothly the scheme could be extended to other schools and to marae.

CAMPAIGN FOR ABS SLOT FOR VIRTUOSO WINGER HOSEA GEAR

Labour's Maori affairs spokesperson has joined the campaign for Hosea Gear to make the All Black squad for the tri nations tests beginning on July 10.

Parekura Horomia attended a rally for his Ngati Porou tribesman in Gisborne last night.

He says it beggar's belief that the winger won't be adding to his two All Black test caps after his hat trick of virtuoso tries in last week's New Zealand Maori defeat of England.

“I know people might think it’s only a small thing but you really have to start asking the question abut our national selectors in relation to Maori participation when they turn a blind eye like that,” Mr Horomia says.

WAHINE PICKED FOR TRIBAL JOURNEYS

Toi Maori has chosen three young wahine kai hoe and one male paddler to represent Aotearoa in this year's Tribal Canoe Journeys in the Pacific northwest of the United States.

21-year-old Waimirirangi Conrad of Te Aupouri, Ngati Kuri and Te Rarawa says she and Francis Mamaku will join the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde from Portland, Oregon, while Bronwyn Hetaraka and Karen Kite will paddle with the Suquamish Tribe from Seattle.

Ms Conrad says they will join thousands of people from 60 American and Canadian nations on the 10-day hikoi.

“I got chosen because their women play a big role in their tradition and in their waka kaupapa so they wanted another women to go over just to relate to their women, to have a different view rather than tane always going,” Ms Conrad says.

She says the Tribal Journeys project shows young people there are alternatives to computer games or gangs.

WEAVING EXPERT MICK PENDERGRAST DIES

One of the foremost experts on Maori weaving, Mick Pendergrast, has died on the eve of his 78th birthday.

His book Maori basketry for Beginners, now known as Te Mahi Kete, was first published in 1975 and has never been out of print, and he published numerous other books on Maori and Pacific fibre arts.

He started his career as a teacher, but after a spell during the 1960s working for Volunteer Services Abroad in the Solomon Islands, he became an ethnology assistant at the Auckland museum.

His nephew Andrew Pendergrast says his uncle's interest in fibre started in the 1950s when he was working in Torere in the eastern Bay of Plenty.

“He enjoyed talking to the kuia and inevitably they would be weaving a kete and he just looked and learned and listened and once he developed an interest he learned to make kete himself and started recording different patterns and getting name for patterns so from day one he really looked at it from an academic perspective,” Andrew Pendergrast says.

Mick Pendergrast's funeral service is at the Manukau Memorial Gardens in south Auckland tomorrow.

More wealth from watching than eating whales

A former New Zealand delegate to the International Whaling Commission says Te Ohu Kaimoana is undermining Maori economic and political interests through its advocacy of commercial whaling.

A delegation from the Maori fisheries trust is heading back from the IWC meeting in Morocco, with chief executive Peter Douglas describing a call for immediate cessation of whaling by Japan and other countries as unreasonable and unacceptable.

Sandra Lee from Ngai Tahu, who attended commission meetings in her capacity as conservation minister in the Labour-Alliance government, say the era of whaling should be well and truly over.

“New Zealand amongst others including the British government have established both at the scientific committee and at the IWC itself for many years now that there’s much more money in watching them than eating them. Kaikoura is one example but there are others all round the world now including our cousins in Tonga in Vava’u, much more profitable to watch them than eat them,” she says.

Mrs Lee says Te Ohu Kaimoana has no mandate from Maori to support Japan's whaling.

COOLING DOWN PERIOD FOR DOMESTIC ATTACKS

A Whangarei Maori women's refuge is welcoming today's law change which allows police to impose a five day cooling down period on the perpetrators of domestic violence.

Sandra Laurence, the manager of Te Puna o te Aroha, says the new power needs to be backed up by counseling programmes and referrals.

She says men barred from their homes need to be made to face up to what they have done.

“Male against female violence doesn’t just affect women. It affects the children and affects the rest of the whanau, which includes the perpetrator and for me it’s that them men are still stewing and looking at shifting blame somewhere else and minimizing what happened,” Ms Laurence says,

The change will mean more work for women's refuges, but no additonal funding has been provided.

MORE AHI KAA OIL FIRES PLANNED FOR EAST COAST

The organiser of last weekend's protest against oil exploration off the East Cape is planning futher demonstrations of ahi kaa or fires of occupation.

Hicks Bay resident Ani Pahuru-Huriwai from Hicks Bay says Sunday's bonfires on the beaches around the East Coast fired people's imaginations.

They're now planning night fires in October to shine a light on public opposition to the licence granted to Brazilian company Petrobras.

BROADCAST CLAIMANTS TAKE BREATHER FOR 4G NEGOTIATIONS

Maori broadcasting claimants have completed a two-day hui updating iwi on progress with securing fourth generation spectrum.

Jim Nichols from the Maori Council says since being given a mandate at a previous hui in February, negotiators have worked with Crown officials on the case for Maori to share the frequencies that will be freed up by the shift from analogue to digital television.

He says the negotiators reiterated many of the arguments that allowed development of Maori radio and television and Maori participation in the mobile phone market through Two Degrees.

“What we are saying to the Crown is there are models that have been negotiated in the past that have been seen to be fair and equitable and we have been negotiating on the basis of existing models that have worked for the Crown and Maori in the past,” Mr Nichols says.

A paper is due to go to Cabinet over the next month.

HARAWIRA OPTIMISTIC NEW ZEALAND WILL GO SMOKE FREE

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira believes New Zealand is on the brink of becoming the first country in the world to go smoke free.

He says the Maori affairs select committee investigation of the tobacco industry, which has just wrapped up public hearings, exceeded his wildest expectations.

He says the level of political, media and public support for the kaupapa is overwhelming, and the committee will now prepare its report to parliament.

“I think it's going to be an historic report and if we do this right New Zealand will be a world leader in making this nation smoke free,” Mr Harawira says.

He says the Maori affairs select committee is potentially one of the most powerful in the parliamnentary system, and it was the right body to make the tobacco industry account for its actions.

BOOKS REVEAL WHANGANUI SCHOLARSHIP

Whanganui iwi opened its treasure trove today with the release of the latest version of its education strategy and the launch of three books of its language and culture.

Che Wilson from Ngati Rangi says the education plan, Nga kai o Te Puku Tupuna, goes until 2025, and builds on the work done over the past two decades.

The books include his own collection of tribal words and phrases, Kiwaha o Whanganui, Gerrard Albert's annotated version of the writings of 19th century elder Kerehoma Tuuwhaawhaki, and He Kohinga Korero by the late John Rangitihi Tahuparare, who was a river tohunga as well as parliament's first official kaumatua.

“Whanganui is quite well known as the proverb states, Whanganui kaipunu, a tribe that usually keeps our own korero to ourselves, but with the dreams of the past 20 years and even going back to 1981 with the likes of Sir Archie Taiaroa and the radical ones who held the first rangatahi hui to encourage our whare wananga to be open to more than just a select few in our tribe,” Mr Wilson says.

Save the whales, then eat them

Te Ohu Kaimoana says its support for Japanese commercial whaling is driven by a respect for tradition.

At last week's international Whaling Commission in Morocco, the Maori fisheries trust backed a compromise promoted by New Zealand commissioner Sir Geoffrey Palmer to allow Japan to take a commercial catch from its home waters in exchange for cutting back its scientific whaling programme in the Southern Ocean.

The meeting failed to agree.

Trust chief executive Peter Douglas says a solution will involve a combination of conservation, custom and commerce.

“If we want to take whales, then first of all we have to save the whales. And when we save the whales, we have to be prepared that one day we may have to take some or lose some of them to people who have some other idea about how they may be used. We are in the business of saving whales. We also as an objective want to see people who have those sorts of traditions, being able to dignify and maintain those traditions for themselves,” Mr Douglas says.

Greens co-leader Metiria Turei says Te Ohu Kaimoana's stance is naive and undermines New Zealand's historic position.

FOMA READY TO REWRITE TEKAU PLUS SCHEME

The Federation of Maori Authorities says it's keen to salvage what it can from the Te Puni Kokiri-funded Tekau Plus scheme to promote Maori exports.

A review by State Services Commission deputy commissioner Tony Hartevelt and businessman Whaimutu Dewes recommended a shake up in the governance and management of the $3 million scheme, which was a joint project between FOMA, the Maori Trustee and Maori business development agency Poutama Trust.

Federation chair Traci Houpapa says Tekau Plus was entered into by FoMA's previous management team, and the new team has already taken steps to address the matters raised in the report.

“There is always room for improvement. The review report suggests ways we might do that and we’re looking forward to working with Te Puni Kokiri to address those areas and to see the contracts are delivered in a more robust and successful manner,” Ms Houpapa says.

NGAPUHI KAUMATUA TIKI TOUR TO TAMAKI

Ngapuhi is planning a reinvasion of Tamaki Makaurau.

The Ngapuhi Runanga runs an annual historical hikoi for kaumatua to places of significance to the northern iwi, and next week it's Auckland's turn.

Chief executive Teresa Tepania-Ashton says while the isthmus was divided between iwi with Ngati Whatua, Tainui and Hauraki connections at the time of European settlement, Ngapuhi also has ties it wants to acknowledge.

As well as visiting sites which the iwi has a link to, the group will view taonga held in storage at Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Teresa Tepania-Ashton says the hikoi is a way to thank the kaumatua for their support and especially for the work they have put into preparing Ngapuhi's historic treaty claims.

NO MANDATE FOR WHALE BASHING

A former conservation minister says Te Ohu Kaimoana has no mandate from Maori to act as an apologist for Japanese whalers.

Sandra Lee from Poutini Ngai Tahu says the Maori fisheries trust's delegation to the International Whaling Commission again tried to confuse indigenous whaling, which New Zealand has always supported, with Japanese commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean.

She says the trust should front up to beneficiaries and justify its covert agenda.

“The covert agenda for the so called pro-whaling scientific lobby in the case of Te Ohu Kaimoana and the Japanese is in my opinion more about resisting the proposition of sustainable protection and management of all of the species in the commons of the Pacific Ocean and the Southern Ocean sanctuary so it’s not just about whales, it’s also about tuna,” Ms Lee says.

Te Ohu Kaimoana should lead by example and be the kaitiaki for endangered marine mammals.

SMOKING BAN FORM OF PUNISHMENT

The Green Party isn't buying the government's line that a ban on smoking in prisons is for health and safety.

Co-leader Metiria Turei says the poor record of the Corrections Service in offering treatment for drug or alcohol addiction doesn't inspire confidence it will have proper smoke cessation programmes when the ban takes effect in July 2011.

She says it's Maori who will again be hit.

“This is about punishing prisoners and given that so many of our people are in prison, it’s got to affect our people significantly. Smokefree is all good but these people don’t have much in the way of things that are remotely enjoyable and can’t just pop outside for a smoke when they want one,” Ms Turei says.

She says the government is risking a flare-up of violence in prisons if prisoners can't light up.

QUICK ACTION STEMS FIRE IN DORM

The quick actions of Hato Paora pupil Braydon Haimona-Young have won him a safety award from the Manawatu Fire Service.

When an electrical fire broke out in a dormitory at the Maori boarding school last month, the year 11 student got out of bed to investigate.

Principal Debra Marshal-Lobb says he averted what could have been a major disaster by spotting the explosion in a water cylinder and evacuating the dorm.

The school has signed up to pilot a new scheme of Kaitiaki Kaiarahi or fire marshalls the Fire Service wants to establish at schools and marae around the country.

Te Ohu Kaimoana naïve on whaling stance

Green co-leader Metiria Turei says Te Ohu Kaimoana's support for Japanese whaling is based on myths and compromises New Zealand's anti-whaling position.

After attending last week's International Whaling Commission meeting in Morocco, the Maori fisheries trust's chief executive Peter Douglas spoke in favour of Japan being allowed to meet a traditional demand for whale meat.

But Ms Turia says Japanese whaling isn't the customary activity by local communities that Te Ohu Kaimoana claims, but a commercial operation.

“Supporting the Japanese government on commercial whaling is the wrong road to take. I think it makes them look naïve in an international context and it’s disappointing for Maori to have a Maori organisation represent us in that way,” Ms Turei says.

She says by supporting Japanese commercial whaling, Te Ohu Kaimoana is undermining its own argument for Maori customary rights to whales.

NGATI WHATUA TALKS UP LAND VALUE FOR CENTRE

Ngati Whatua's chief executive Tiwana Tibble says the tribe's harbourside land is the best site for a proposed national convention centre.

The Ministry of Economic Development is weighing up responses to its call for expressions of interest in building a $300 million convention centre.
Several proposals have come from Auckland, including beefing up the Aotea Centre, Sky City or the ASB centre in Greenlane.

Mr Tibble says the best site is the 3 hectares next to the Vector Arena which Ngati Whatua leased to Auckland City Council several years ago.
He says the land is undeveloped, but a 15 year rent holiday ends soon.

“From August of next year they will start to pay a lot of rent. Now we think as ratepayers ourselves, does that make a lot of sense to be paying a lot of rent if you are doing nothing with it? We don’t see lazy assets as being in the best interests of the city council,” Mr Tibble says.

He says rivals Sky City and the Aotea Centre are trying to undermine Ngati Whatua's proposal by playing up a false assumption that a convention centre should be only a 10 minute walk from hotels.
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POWER BILLS DELAYED NOTICE OF EMISSIONS TRADING

A south Auckland budget advisor predicts Maori families will be hit hardest by tomorrow's energy price rises.

Electricty and fuel costs are set to go up to cover the impact of the introduction of the Emissions Trading Scheme, which puts a cost of greenhouse gas emissions.

Ripeka Taipari of Whare Mauriora Budgeting Service in Otahuhu says many Maori families barely get enough to live on now, and they could face some unpleasant shocks in the months ahead when they get their power bills.

“Our whanau won’t be able to afford power any more so there will be a lack of warmth in their home for their tamariki. In talking to my customers yesterday and today, none of them know what this means and none of them really know what the impact is going to be on their whanau. They will only see when the bills start coming in that they have to pay extra money,” Mrs Taipari says.

SMOKINGBAN FOR EXTRA PUNISHMENT

A Maori academic says a ban on smoking in prisons could be acceptable for health reasons, but it should not be imposed as a way for the government to look tough.

Corrections Minister, Judith Collins, has confirmed smokes are out from July next year, both to make jail safer and healthier for staff and inmates and to reduce the government's liability to claims over the harm caused by secondhand smoke.

Rawiri Taonui, the head of Maori and ethnic studies at Canterbury University, says on its face the move is progressive, but there is room for doubt.

“What you find in the United States is that prisons that have the no smoking regime tend to be the ones that also execute prisoners. It tends to be a way of punishing people rather than helping them,” he says.

HAPU NEEDED WARNING OF OIL EXPLORATION PLAN

The leader of protests against oil exploration in the Raukumara basin says Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee failed the test of consultation.

Mr Brownlee yesterday released a chronology showing the attempts made by officials in 2008 and earlier this year to talk with Maori groups in Tairawhiti about the proposal to issue a licence to Brazilian oil giant Petrobras.

Ani Pahuru - Huriwai, who organised the lighting of ahi kaa fires on beaches around the East Cape last weekend, says a quick call to the Ngati Porou runanga isn't good enough.

“It's the hapu that is really concerned but also the general public of New Zealand is concerned and nobody n the general public or Maori were informed of what was happening,” Mrs Pahuru-Huriwai says.

AMBITIOUS FISH FARMING PLANS NEED LONG TERM VIEW

The chair of Aquaculture New Zealand says ambitious plans by Maori groups for offshore marine farms can work, given time and expertise.

Peter Vitasovich says his own Greenshell New Zealand mussel farms around the Coromandel Peninsula took a decade to start making profits.

The same patience will be needed by groups like the Whakatohea Maori Trust Board, which is developing a space 8 nautical miles off Opotiki in the eastern Bay of Plenty.

“It will take time but the key is they have got the water space and that gives them the ability to start planning for the future. They have some good people looking at different species, different ways of farming. It will require a high level of investment but if they get it right it will be well worth it,” Mr Vitasovich says.

He is picking the aquaculture sector to be a billion dollar a year industry by 2025.

Inquiry brings tobacco harm to fore

The Maori Affairs select committee wraps up its hearings into the tobacco industry in Wellington today.

Submissions have come from health workers, tamariki who lost parents, and even a kaumatua who brought in the heart he had removed because of damage caused by his addiction.

Auahi kore campaigner Shane Bradbrook from anti smoking group Te Ao Marama says the nine-month inquiry has drawn unprecedented attention to the issue.

“We've seen major Maori leadership on an issue which Maori had to do something about because one in fur smoke. The recommendation from probably 97 percent of submitters who spoke, including iwi, was rid of it,” Mr Bradbrook says.

CLUSTER HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN AHIPARA PLANNED

Far north iwi Te Rarawa has won consent to build an ambitious cluster housing development at Ahipara.

Chairperson Haami Piripi says the iwi wants to create an environment suitable for whanau who want to live in a communal setting and share child raising responsibilities.

He says the project, which is part-funded by Housing New Zealand's housing innovation scheme, is being built on general land so the iwi can identify any obstacles before it builds similar pa kainga on multiply-owned Maori land.

“We've identified the site. We’re in the process of obtaining it. We’ve got the resource consent even though there were numerous objections by local non-Maori residents. Housing Corporation will make their contribution, we’ve made our contribution, and we wiulls tart building at the beginning of summer,” Mr Piripi says.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR MAORI IN CRI RESEARCH

The new chair of Plant and Food Research wants to see Maori enterprises make more use of government-backed research.

Michael Ahie from Ngati Ruanui and Nga Rauru is the first Maori to head a Crown research institute.

He says with 360 scientists doing research in horticulture, arable crops and seafood, there should be plenty of opportunities for the $18 billion Maori primary sector to tap into.

“It's very important for New Zealand that we invest in high quality research for all New Zealand and the Maori sector with the investment and assets we’ve got, being able to leverage that, it’s a powerful contribution I’m very excited about,” Mr Ahie says.

He previously held executive roles with the Dairy Board and PGG Wrightson.

REEVES URGING LOWER TOLERANCE FOR BOOZE

Te Atiawa elder Sir Paul Reeves is leading a group of distinguished New Zealanders calling for a review of the liquor laws.

The former governor general says the Law Commission's report on the issue offers a once in a lifetime chance to dial back the major liberalisation of the 1980s and 90s.

He says excess consumption of alcohol, especially by young people, runs counter to Maori efforts to foster social and economic development.

“We're on the road and beginning to move towards our goals and achieve things and we don’t want to be let down by people who under the influence of alcohol do things which not simply they regret but which we all regret so we re wanting to somehow harness the potential within our people and unfortunately and unfortunately undue consumption of alcohol has let us down,” Sir Paul says.

HIGHER RATE OF TESTICLE CANCER IN MAORI MEN

A new study has found Maori men more likely to get testicular cancer than Pakeha.

Lead researcher Dr Diana Sarfati from Otago University's Wellington school of medicine says nationally the disease hits about 165 men a year compared, to 2500 cases of prostate cancer.

She says the New Zealand findings run counter to overseas studies, and more research is needed to explain the difference.

“Maori men have about 50 percent more testicular cancer than European men in New Zealand. This was surprising because in pretty much every other developed country, it’s wealthy white men that tend to have the highest rtes of testicular cancer,” Dr Sarfarti says.

The disease tends to strike young men, but 95 percent of cases are cured.

MAF REVIEWING KAHAWAI CATCHABILITY AND CARVE UP

Fans of the feisty kahawai have a chance to have their say on how the species should be managed.

The Ministry of Fisheries has released a discussion paper setting out options ranging from raising the commercial quota, which currently stands at about 40 percent of the total allowable catch, or leaving more for recreational and customary fishers.

Leigh Mitchell, the ministry's inshore fisheries manager, says the fishery is in good heart.

“The Kahawai One fishery, the largest fishery we have, is considered to be healthy. Out science tells us it’s above the target level in terms of stock size. So the options we’re talking about aren’t because of the sustainability issue. The questions are, do we want to maximise yield from this fishery or do we want to increase non-commercial catchability,” Ms Mitchell says.

Given the importance of kahawai to Maori, she expects a lot will have their say during the six-week consultation process.

Te Rarawa housing project cleared

Te Runanga o Te Rawara has got the green light to develop a communal pa kainga in Ahipara at the southern end of Ninety Mile beach.

Chairperson Haami Piripi says the runanga has resource consent to build a cluster of homes with shared spaces.

He says the project, a joint venture with Housing New Zealand's housing innovations scheme, tackle problems experienced by single parent families.

“We're hoping the project will lead to more pa kainga, preferably built on Maori land among Maori families. It’s a much easier way of living together. All it requires if for people to commit themselves to each other as a whanau and to each other’s children. The main kaupapa of this kainga is child safety, creating a sanctuary where children can reach their potential,” Mr Piripi says.

Construction of the pa kainga will start this summer.

LONG TERM FOCUS INSPIRING IN AGRICULTURE

The first Maori to head a Crown Research Institute says New Zealand business as a whole could learn from the long-term focus of Maori organisations.

Michael Ahie from Nga Ruahine and Ngati Ruanui has been made chair of Plant and Food Research.

The former New Zealand Dairy Board and PGG Wrightson executive says Maori trusts and incorporations weathered the global financial crisis by having a long term focus.

“They are by nature very conservative and they look at things with a very long term focus and I think that’s a strong and powerful lesson for New Zealand business as a whole,” Mr Ahie says.

He's keen to see Plant and Food work more closely to increase the value Maori get from their farming and marine assets.

FLEDGLING EXPORTER DEFENDS TEKAU PLUS

A gourmet food business under the wing of the Tekau Plus programme has just signed a deal with Hawaiian distributors.

An independent review has recommended a redesign of the export development scheme set up by Te Puni Kokiri, the Maori Trustee and the Federation of Maori Authorities because of faults in governance and performance.

But Hayden Pohio of Ngati Pikiao says he's putting together a trial shipment of 8000 Manuka Boosta for a Hawaiian company interested in natural authenticly New Zealand products.

He says the whanau-owned business may be one of the commercially unproven "cottage industries" the report criticises Tekau Plus for working with, but it was a great help.

“It’s all new for me to be working in export markets and particularly Paul Morgan has been helpful in giving me tough questions on had I thought about certain regulations and capacities for my factor and it’s been extremely helpful,” Mr Pohio says.

Manuka Boosta is also looking at the Australian market.

FAILED WHALE CONFERENCE FINISHES WITH FAINT HOPE

Te Ohu Kaimoana says New Zealand's compromise position on whaling could still provide a basis for a future deal, even though it failed to win the necessary support at the latest International Whaling Commission meeting in Morocco.

Chief executive Peter Douglas says New Zealand's commissioner, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, took a constructive approach by proposing Japan be allowed to take whales from its own waters in exchange for reducing its scientific whaling programme in the Southern Ocean.

Mr Douglas says that fits with the Maori fisheries trust belief that tradition needs to be respected.

“Tradition is tradition and even Japan has tradition which is many hundreds of years old and I often feel they are painted in a bad light by people who don’t really appreciate what they are trying to do. They are not responsible for the decimation of the species all over the world. They’re not trying to make money out of the process. They are trying to maintain a tradition where they can consume kai they have eaten for many generations in a way they can feel dignified about,” Mr Douglas

TOBACCO INDUSTRY GETS FINAL GRILLING

The head of Maori anti smoking group Te Ao Marama says cigarette manufacturer Phillip Morris can expect a torrid time tomorrows from the Maori Affairs Select Committe inquiry into the tobacco industry.

It's the last day of hearings, and the committee has recalled representatives of the global giant because it was unhappy with its one page submission delivered earlier.

Shane Bradbrook says the committee can now draw on last week's testimony by industry whistleblower Jeffery Wigand that tobacco companies deliberately target youth and indigenous communities.

“Committee members will be pushing hard for more disclosure about what’s actually in their product to hook Maori and non-Maori alike. That’s going to be a really good clash. I think they’re really going to be put on the spot and having roe responses that ‘we are a legal product’ is not going to go down at all tomorrow,” Mr Bradbrook says.

HENARE O’KEEFE NAMED HONORARY LION FOR COMMUNITY WORK

The Lions Club has singled out Flaxmere councillor and community organiser Henare O'Keefe for a special award.

Despite never having joined the service club, he's now an honoured member of the Lloyd Morgan Lions Clubs Charitable Trust.

Mr O'Keefe, who with his wife Pam has fostered more than 200 children and been involved in a wide range of community activities, says the presentation at the Hastings District Council came as a surprise.

His sense of community was honed watching his social worker mother Paki, who worked tirelessly for her community while also raising her 11 children.

Ignorance of history is bliss

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says a reluctance to face up to the past is behind the absence of Maori history from many schools' history classes.

Academics Peter Adds and Richard Manning have called for an inquiry into how schools are teaching, or not teaching, New Zealand and Maori history.

Mrs Turia says ignorance of the past allows people to say they can not be held responsible for what happened, even as they continue to benefit.

“You don't see the Maori families driving round in BMWs and living off the milk and money that is produced there in Taranaki. It is those descendants of those families generally who had that land passed on to them, and that land is raupatu land,” she says.

Mrs Turia says feelings still run high among Maori families whose land was taken almost 150 years ago.

SEALORD INVESTS IN AUTOMATED MUSSEL PROCESSOR

Maori fishing company Sealord has taken a one third share in a new $23 million mussel processing plant in Tauranga.

The state of the art factory features New Zealand-designed automated mussel opening machines and will triple the country's mussel export capacity.

Peter Vitasovich, the chair of Aquaculture New Zealand, says the joint venture with his company ... Greenshell New Zealand ... and listed company Sanfords is an indication of the importance of Maori to the sector.

“Iwi now probably own 40 percent or it might even be higher of the aquaculture industry so it’s only going to grow in the future, particularly with any settlements hat might happen under the Aquaculture Settlement Act, so the involvement of iwi is going to only get stronger in the future,” Mr Vitasovich says.

GOLDS GET URU BROTHERS BLUES

Brothers Storm and Jade Uru have been honoured for combining sporting and academic achievement.

Storm Uru's victory with Peter Taylor in last year's world lightweight doubles sculls earned him the New Zealand University Maori Sportsperson of the Year award, as well as a university Blue for at the same time keeping up his grades for a masters degree in international finance.

Medical student Jade Uru, who is also national rowing representative, also picked up a Blue.

The brothers are competing in Europe, so their father Bill Uru collected their tohu at the annual university awards.

He says it's an achievement for any whanau to have a member performing at that level, and it’s even more amazing to have two sons winning golds and Blues.

HISTORY LESSONS WILL BOOST RACE RELATIONS

A Canterbury University academic says an inquiry into the failure of secondary schools to teach Maori history could be an investment in good race relations.

Richard Manning from the School of Maori, Social and Cultural Studies says research both by himself and by the New Zealand History Teachers' Association indicates three out of four schools are avoiding or side-stepping the level one NCEA topic Maori and Pakeha from 1912 to 1980.

He says that's bad for both sides.

“The research of people like Professor Russell Bishop shows that if Maori kids can’t see themselves in the curriculum, it’s a major turn off for them, and I’d add this, that if non-Maori kids learn nothing about Maori, they can well grow up with a whole lot of inherited prejudices that go unchallenged, It’s just going to continue to sour our nation’s race relations,” Dr Manning says.

He says the Minister of Education should hold schools to account for their failure to teach the country's history.

RATIMA REACHES OUT TO PAKEHA VOTERS

A candidate for this year's local body elections in the Hawkes Bay says he's targetting non-Maori because they are more likely to vote.

Des Ratima is contesting the Heretaunga seat on the Hastings District Council.

He has chaired the council's Maori Joint Committee for the past six years, but says the Maori vote won't be enough to get onto the full council.

“I'm certainly working hard with our people to stand up and vote. Working just as hard with non-Maori to go to vote for me because I know they will go to the polls, fill in their application, and our people historically say to me after the vote ‘Gee I forgot all about it,’ and that’s a story I hear time and time again,” Mr Ratima says.

The council needs Maori representatives because of the important work that will comes over the next few years as Kahungunu treaty claims are settled, throwing the spotlight on many council-controlled resources.

MUSICIAN AND CHOIR LEADER TE PUOHO KATENE DIES

Ngati Toa Rangatira and Ngati Tama are mourning Te Puoho Katene, ground-breaking composer and musical director who did much to bring Maori music to a wider audience.

Mr Katene died yesterday aged 83.

His nephew Selwyn Katene says he came from a family of musicians, composers and scholars.

He says his uncle's work in the 1960s with the New Zealand Opera Maori Chorus, and then later with the New Zealand Maori Chorale and other choirs gave people a love of song.

“Maori traditionalists weren’t enamored with his style but it was a style which was quite popular. It was focused on choral music, having people harmonise their voices to produce a lovely sound and that was a skill he had, not only writing the music but orchestrating a collective voice from quite ordinary people,” Mr Katene says.

Te Puoho Katene's tangi is at Takapuwhia Pa in Porirua, where he led many many choirs and designed much of the artwork.

Community Max limits defended

Maori Party leader Tariana Turia is defending the government's decision not to extend Community Max scheme to urban areas.

Social development Minister Paula Bennett has revived the youth job scheme, which was axed in the budget, but only for Northland, the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and East Coast.

Mrs Turia, who is associate minister, says while youth unemployment is running as high as 25 percent in urban areas like South Auckland, between half and two thirds of young Maori in the rural areas where Community Max will continue are without work.

“In the urban settings there are a number of other programmes including Job Opportunities where young people can in fact get work directly with employers and the minister felt that while there is significant unemployment in the cities as well, it is certainly not as high as the areas that have been chosen,” Mrs Turia says.

NGATI WHATUA RENT HOLIDAY DRAWS TO CLOSE

The head of Ngati Whatua's corporate arm says the Auckland iwi is opening to offering its tenants easy payment options once ground rents start being charged.

Under the terms of its deal with the original developer, it's not until August 2011 that Ngati Whatua can collect rent on former railway land near downtown Auckland.

That means owners of the 1800 apartments on the 20 hectares block may have to start paying up to $200 a week on top of rates and body corporate charges.

Tiwana Tibble says that should come as no surprise to owners.

“When people bought the apartments they would have done their own due diligence, their lawyers would have told them that the lease says the ground lease, the head lease to Ngati Whatua, there is no rent until August 2011 and at that time there is a fair process of working out valuations and then they will start to pay rent,” Mr Tibble says.

The rent is based on land value rather than improvements, and it will be reviewed every seven years,

HOLAND-BOUND WAKA NAMED TE HONO O AOTEAROA

The country's newest waka has been launched with three names.

The 14-metre Te Hono o Aotearoa slipped into the waters of Doubtless Bay at Aurere in the far north on Saturday, watched by a group including the chargé d'affaires for the Dutch embassy, Hans Ramaker.

It's headed for the national ethnology Museum at Leiden in Holland, where it will be used as the centrepiece of a display on the links between the Dutch and Maori when it's not being used at events around Europe.

Waka builder Hekenukumai Busby says waka historian Tepene Mamaku from Te Teko chose the name, which means the link to Aotearoa. The name was also called out in Dutch, fulfilling the rite of naming the boat three times.

EAST CAPE PROTEST SOURCE OF FORESHORE PRIDE

Maori party co-leader Tariana Turia says she is proud of the wahine Maori who led yesterday's protests against oil exploration off East Cape.

Fires were lit on the foreshore from Opotiki to Gisborne against the Government's issue of a licence to Brazilian petrochemical giant Petrobras.

Mrs Turia says the people of the Tairawhiti are right to fear a repeat of the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which could destroy their food basket.

“It's a significant issue and I was really proud to see those women who were leasing the movement against what is happening up there lighting the fires of ahi kaa as well as a way of communicating with other iwi the significance of that issue,” Mrs Turia says.
Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee says he won't be swayed by the protest.

MAORI ALL BLACKS LOOKING TO NEXT YEAR’S PROGRAMME

With the three centenary games safely in the bag, the Maori Rugby Board is looking for match-ups for next year.

Chairperson Wayne Peters says it will be a challenge because of the Rugby World Cup.

But he's confident there will be a good programme to be considered by the board next week.

GORDON FUSION SPICE UP TURANGAWAEWAE MATARIKI MENU

There were suprises all round when the second matariki gourmet hangi was opened at Turangawaewae Marae over the weekend.

The event was a fundraiser for the Raukatauri music therapy centre run by singer Hinewehi Mohi, with chef Peter Gordon from Ngati Kahungunu fusing Asian and Maori flavours.

Ms Mohi says even her grandmother approved of the chef's innovative approach to kina, which was flavored with horopito, lime and chili.

Fires on beaches protest oil exploration

Fires were lit on beaches around the East Cape yesterday to protest the government granting Brazilian oil company Petrobras to prospect in the Raukumara Basin.

Protest organiser Ani Pahuru - Huriwai says the fact there were bonfires on almost every beach shows the depth of feeling among Ngati Porou and Te Whanau a Apanui.

She says the fires symbolized the ownership of the area by the hapu, who the government ignored in granting the licence.

“Most of our people here can’t afford to march to Parliament or anything like that but they can afford to come out on the beaches and try and be heard by the rest of the world that we are concerned about our environment and what is happening around us.
Ms Pahuru-Huriwai says.

Coast residents are considering further protests.

WAITANGI TRIBUNAL DETAILS CROWN PLUNDER OF WAIRARAPA

Wairarapa Maori are applauding a Waitangi tribunal report which found serious breaches of the Treaty by the Crown when the area was colonised during the 19th century.

The Tribunal is recommending the bed of Wairaparapa moana and any Crown land close to lakes Wairarapa and Oneke be returned to tangata whenua to compensate for 3 million hectares of land taken by the crown.

Henare Manaena, a spokesperson for the 17 Ngati Kahungunu claimant groups, says it’s what claimants wanted to hear.

“The report is really really good. It is gratifying and sufficient in the evidence we all presented to the tribunal, so a lot of recommendations that have been put forward by the tribunal are heart warming and gratifying,” Henare Manaena says.

The claimants will now seek a mandate to enter negotiations with the Crown on a remedies package.

TITANICS DRAW BROWN AUDIENCE TO THEATRE

The producer of a play about the Maori showband era says it’s revealed an audience in Auckland for Maori theatre.

Tainui Tukiwaho has worked on Raising the Titanics for three years ago with playwright Albert Belz.

He says last week’s sold out premier season at the Tapac theatre at Western Springs was eye-opening.

“Theatre in Auckland is exploding as far as our Maori people are concerned. At Tapac on some nights 80 percent of the house was Maori, which was amazing, it was huge for us to see so many brown faces and really exciting,” Mr Tukiwaho says.

Raising the Titanics has a short season this week at the Maori playwrights festival in Papakura.

BLAIRE ARCHIBALD WINS MIRAMODA FASHION AWARD

This year’s Miromoda Fashion awards for Maori designers has been won by Blaire Archibald from Te Arawa.

The recent AUT University graduate will show his menswear at New Zealand Fashion Week, and he also gets a week at the Sydney Fashion show later in the year.

Event organiser Ata Te Kanawa says he stunned the crowd at Saturday night’s gala event in Wellington with a magnificent array of clothing.

“He presented a collection inspired by his grandfather. It was all in beautiful cotton wool, wonderfully constructed, fully accesorised head to toe, hats, shoes, the whole shooting bag, just stunning, standout,” Ms Te Kanawa says.

Seven designers were chosen to represent Miromoda at the New Zealand Awards in Auckland in September.

ANCIENT GAMES FOR MODERN COUCH POTATOES

Kokiri Marae wants to get rangatahi off the couch.

The marae, from the Wellington harbourside suburb of Seaview, is taking its Rangatahi to Rangatira programme nationwide.

Project manager Theresa Olsen of Ngati Porou says it’s aimed at young people between 13 and 24, and includes a mix of leadership training, sharing information about whakapapa and local marae, and participation in traditional Maori games or taonga taakaro..

“Taonga taakaro is part of who we are as Maori. We were a really active race and we played a whole lot of our own games so there has just been a real resurgence of nga taonga takaaro and we hope that will appeal to those rangatahi who are not doing anything, who are not physically active,” Ms Olsen says.

Rangatahi in the programme can be referred on to other education and training providers.

WHANAUNGATANGA TRAINING OPENES EYES POST-PRISON

A former prison inmate wants to see more Maori-focused courses made available to serving prisoners.

As part of his probation, Gypsy has just finished a week long course at Auckland's Nga Whare Waatea marae on tikanga and the dynamics of whanaungatanga.

He says the discussions on the restoration of mana struck a chord, and was the sort of thing that could reach those still inside.

“I’d really like to see some of these programmes brought to jail so our whanau in there can stay out of jail. I’ve just been released because I thought I knew it all when I went to jail but obviously I didn’t, and when I was in there I saw all my family just sitting around doing nothing in there. It hasn’t worked in the past and it isn’t working now,” he says.