Foreshore Act replacement being pushed through
Maori lawyer Moana Jackson says the Marine and Coastal Area - Takutai Moana - Bill isn't the replacement for Labour's Foreshore and Seabed Act that the Maori Party promised.
The committee stage of the bill started yesterday, and it could be law before a protest hikoi arrives in Wellington next week.
Mr Jackson says it's straight out confiscation.
“It still takes the foreshore off our people and places it under a new space called the common space and that’s really no different from taking it off our people and vesting it in Crown title,” Mr Jackson says.
He says the bill means Maori who win customary title can't stop public access, but Pakeha who own parts of the foreshore can.
MORE DETAILED NEEDED ON TOBACCO DEADLINE
The director of Maori smokefree group Te reo Marama says extending the target for a smokefree New Zealand from 2020 to 2025 will cost 70 thousand lives.
Shane Kawenata Bradbrook says it's good the government has accepted some of the recommendations of the Maori Affairs Select Committe inquiry into the tobacco industry.
But he has reservations about the timeline and the lack of information about what resources will be made available to wean smokers off what is a highly addictive substance.
“It typically is saying they will be looking for efficiencies which for me is a weasel word for ‘you will do this on the current budget.’ That has to be a concern for Maori when they are saying ‘you are the primary target population because of the impact it is having’ yet there doesn’t appear to be any money attached to it,” Mr Bradbrook says
About 42 percent of adult Maori still smoke.
CHRISTCHURCH CHAOS POSTPONES CENSUS
A Maori liaison officer for the Census says the decision to postpone was inevitable.
The five yearly count of New Zealand residents was due to be done last week.
But Richard Orzeki of Ngati Raukawa says given the consequences of the Canterbury earthquake, the census would not have painted an accurate picture.
“The biggest issue around the census was that it was trying to record what we call normal New Zealand and to try to run the census now you wouldn’t be getting a normal New Zealand picture because obviously people have moved out of Christchurch to other parts of the country,” he says.
Mr Orzecki says it may be a year or two before the country is back to a normal way of living.
MINING PRIVILEGE UNAFFECTED BY CUSTOMARY RIGHTS
As the Marine and Coastal Area Takutau Moana Bill is being rushed through Parliament, a mining company says its prospect off the Taranaki coast could yield more than 100 million tonnes of ironsand.
Trans-Tasman Resources executive chair Bill Bisset says the company could be mining up to a billion dollars a year worth of the mineral within three years.
The area is subject to Waitangi Tribunal claims for oil and gas, but Tom Bennion, the editor of the Maori Law review, says even if local hapu win customary rights claims under the new law, they won't be able to share in the mining company's bonanza.
“If you get one of these customary titles, a decision that pretty much says you own this area at 1840 and ever since because of your extensive use of it, they you do get mineral rights with that but, there’s a catch, section 83 of the bill says if anyone has got an existing privilege, they continue to exercise that despite your new-found right of minerals,” Mr Bennion says.
FARMERS UNDERMINE MAUNGATAUTARI MAUNGA CONSERVATION
The mana whenua for the Maungatautari ecological reserve say they are happy to share management.
A small group of farmers who own less than 5 percent of the fenced land in the 2500 hectare South Waikato reserve have blocked access to pest eradication worker and cut cables to surveillance equipment.
Willie Te Aho from Ngati Koroki Kahukura says the farmers' claims that Maori have too much control of the mountain are baseless.
“This is our maunga. This is a maunga that was stolen from us through the Native Land Court processes and subsequent law and so we are saying despite that, we are happy for this to be a part of the community, we are happy for the reserve status to continue, we are happy for public access to continue and we are happy to have a shared approach to this maunga,” Mr Te Aho says.
Ngati Koroki Kahukuura is negotiating with the Crown over the return of the 2400 hectares of Maungatautari that it owns.
THOUSANDS EXPECTED FOR POLYFEST
The annual Auckland secondary schools cultural festival starts today, with organisers expecting a massive crowd of competitors and supporters at the Manukau Sports Bowl.
Spokesperson Dean Wilson says it was tough to secure sponsorship in a difficult economic climate, but all is now readiness.
Host this year is Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate, which kicked off Polyfest in 1976 with four schools attending.
“It's grown into the largest Maori and Pacific Island festival in the world. This year we have 9000 students taking part over four days, 62 schools, and last year crowds were over 90,000,” Mr Wilson says.
The committee stage of the bill started yesterday, and it could be law before a protest hikoi arrives in Wellington next week.
Mr Jackson says it's straight out confiscation.
“It still takes the foreshore off our people and places it under a new space called the common space and that’s really no different from taking it off our people and vesting it in Crown title,” Mr Jackson says.
He says the bill means Maori who win customary title can't stop public access, but Pakeha who own parts of the foreshore can.
MORE DETAILED NEEDED ON TOBACCO DEADLINE
The director of Maori smokefree group Te reo Marama says extending the target for a smokefree New Zealand from 2020 to 2025 will cost 70 thousand lives.
Shane Kawenata Bradbrook says it's good the government has accepted some of the recommendations of the Maori Affairs Select Committe inquiry into the tobacco industry.
But he has reservations about the timeline and the lack of information about what resources will be made available to wean smokers off what is a highly addictive substance.
“It typically is saying they will be looking for efficiencies which for me is a weasel word for ‘you will do this on the current budget.’ That has to be a concern for Maori when they are saying ‘you are the primary target population because of the impact it is having’ yet there doesn’t appear to be any money attached to it,” Mr Bradbrook says
About 42 percent of adult Maori still smoke.
CHRISTCHURCH CHAOS POSTPONES CENSUS
A Maori liaison officer for the Census says the decision to postpone was inevitable.
The five yearly count of New Zealand residents was due to be done last week.
But Richard Orzeki of Ngati Raukawa says given the consequences of the Canterbury earthquake, the census would not have painted an accurate picture.
“The biggest issue around the census was that it was trying to record what we call normal New Zealand and to try to run the census now you wouldn’t be getting a normal New Zealand picture because obviously people have moved out of Christchurch to other parts of the country,” he says.
Mr Orzecki says it may be a year or two before the country is back to a normal way of living.
MINING PRIVILEGE UNAFFECTED BY CUSTOMARY RIGHTS
As the Marine and Coastal Area Takutau Moana Bill is being rushed through Parliament, a mining company says its prospect off the Taranaki coast could yield more than 100 million tonnes of ironsand.
Trans-Tasman Resources executive chair Bill Bisset says the company could be mining up to a billion dollars a year worth of the mineral within three years.
The area is subject to Waitangi Tribunal claims for oil and gas, but Tom Bennion, the editor of the Maori Law review, says even if local hapu win customary rights claims under the new law, they won't be able to share in the mining company's bonanza.
“If you get one of these customary titles, a decision that pretty much says you own this area at 1840 and ever since because of your extensive use of it, they you do get mineral rights with that but, there’s a catch, section 83 of the bill says if anyone has got an existing privilege, they continue to exercise that despite your new-found right of minerals,” Mr Bennion says.
FARMERS UNDERMINE MAUNGATAUTARI MAUNGA CONSERVATION
The mana whenua for the Maungatautari ecological reserve say they are happy to share management.
A small group of farmers who own less than 5 percent of the fenced land in the 2500 hectare South Waikato reserve have blocked access to pest eradication worker and cut cables to surveillance equipment.
Willie Te Aho from Ngati Koroki Kahukura says the farmers' claims that Maori have too much control of the mountain are baseless.
“This is our maunga. This is a maunga that was stolen from us through the Native Land Court processes and subsequent law and so we are saying despite that, we are happy for this to be a part of the community, we are happy for the reserve status to continue, we are happy for public access to continue and we are happy to have a shared approach to this maunga,” Mr Te Aho says.
Ngati Koroki Kahukuura is negotiating with the Crown over the return of the 2400 hectares of Maungatautari that it owns.
THOUSANDS EXPECTED FOR POLYFEST
The annual Auckland secondary schools cultural festival starts today, with organisers expecting a massive crowd of competitors and supporters at the Manukau Sports Bowl.
Spokesperson Dean Wilson says it was tough to secure sponsorship in a difficult economic climate, but all is now readiness.
Host this year is Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate, which kicked off Polyfest in 1976 with four schools attending.
“It's grown into the largest Maori and Pacific Island festival in the world. This year we have 9000 students taking part over four days, 62 schools, and last year crowds were over 90,000,” Mr Wilson says.
posted by Adam | 9:34 am
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