MP talk duo adds mana to mediation

The Mana Party has called on former MPs Willie Jackson and John Tamihere to engineer a truce with the Maori Party.

Mr Jackson the Maori Party leaders are understandably angry about some of Mana leader Hone Harawira's comments after his win in Saturday's te Tai Tokerau by election.

But he says they need to get over it.

“The last thing I want to see is the Maori Party out of the game and I don’t want to see the Mana Party out of the game to be replaced by Labour Party people, a Labour Party that sold out Maori big time just six or seven years ago,” Mr Jackson says.

He says the proposal is that the two parties not stand candidates against each other in the November general election.

PAPAKURA MARAE CONSIDERS DIALYSIS UNIT

With the World Health organisation ranking New Zealand as one of the worst countries for diabetes, a south Auckland marae is looking at installing its own dialysis machine.

Chief executive Tony Kake says a dialysis unit is part of Papakura Marae's 10-year plan.

He says the area has a high rate of kidney disease, and people travel considerable distances for treatment, so community dialysis could bridge the gap between hospital and home dialysis.

Papakura marae is part of Kotahitanga, a Manukau regional collective that delivers Whanau Ora services.

ABORIGINAL DELEGATION STUDIES ROTORUA TOURISM

Rotorua Maori tourism operators are sharing tricks of the trade with an Indigenous Tourism Development Mission from Queensland.

Deputy mayor Trevor Maxwell says a genuine indigenous tourism experience is becoming a must-do for tourists on both sides of the Tasman, and Rotorua has been offering it for more than a century.

He says it was an honour to welcome the 20 Aboriginal leaders.

Trevor Maxwell says an increasing number of young Maori are gaining tourism industry experience in Australia which they are bringing back home.

TUHOE TO ENTER ‘RELATIONSHIP’ WITH CROWN

Tuhoe's chief negotiator says a relationship agreement that the tribe will sign with the Crown on Saturday should help get treaty settlement negotiations back on course.

Talks with the Bay of Plenty iwi broke down when Prime Minister John Key vetoed the return of Te Urewera National Park land which had been confiscated.

Tamati Kruger says the agreement is being treated as a separate issue.

“Even if we were not in negotiations, we would want a political compact with the Crown because we haven’t got one. Do we think we need one>? Well, so far not having one for the past 140 years has resulted in zip positive relationship with the Crown,” he says.

Mr Kruger says Tuhoe has told the Governemnt it wants to settle its claims next year ... but there can be no deal without Te Urewera land.

PETERS DOWN ON MOLLYCODDLING MAORI VOTERS

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says education about the importance of voting needs to come before mobile polling booths.

Labour MP Shane Jones raised the idea of taking booths to isolated rural Maori communities, sports events and hui in the wake of Saturday's low by-election turn-out in Te tai Tokerau.

Mr Peters says Maori need a history lesson.

“What really doing is mollycoddling people about something in the Maori world that many of their ancestors gave their life for, were prepared to die for, so it needs not greater ease to vote but reeducation on the importance of voting I think,” Mr Peters says.

He says the 59 percent of eligible voters who didn't bother to find a polling booth on Saturday can't complain about the result, which was the re-election of Hone Harawira.

PRISON SMOKING BAN COULD IMPORVE WHANAU HEALTH

An anti-smoking campaigner says the ban on smoking in prison that comes into force on Friday could help their wider whanau.

Grace Wong from Smokefree Nurses Aotearoa says her team has been helping prisoners with nicotine replacement therapy and support.

She says Maori women, who make up the bulk of the female prison population, may be able to promote a smokefree environment in their home once they are released.

Ms Wong says inmates who undergo nicotine replacement therapy have a higher chance of staying smokefree once they're released than those who try to quit cold turkey.