Gold card great for Maori says Peters

Winston Peters says the Maori Party should be speaking up for his Gold Card for superannuitants ... before it comes under threat from any future government.

The New Zealand First leader says Maori are among those who have benefited most from the scheme, introduced when he was in coalition with Labour.

He believes it's not getting Maori Party support because it wasn't their idea.

“And I think the Maori Party and others should be far more generous about that. Rather than saying Winston Peters, we won’t say a thing about it. The thing is, for tens and tens of thousands of elderly people, it has opened up their lives,” Mr Peters says.

INTERMEDIATE KIDS URGED TO FORSAKE TOBACCO

A Taranaki health educator says it's never too early to encourage Maori to be smokefree.

Jason Mathews of Te Atiawa says an Action on Smoking and Health survey showing a 29 percent drop in the number of Taranaki 14 and 15 year olds lighting up on a daily basis is a tribute to the work of the district health board and hauora groups.

As well as promoting cessation services, they targeted places with high numbers of Maori, such as sporting events, and also created a leadership programme for intermediate schools.

“That's like building the culture of resisting the uptake of smoking and building the smokefree culture with that year six and seven age group so that’s a time they start to experiment,” Mr Matthews says.

He says the DHB's anti-smoking programmes focus on schools with high Maori rolls, especially in South Taranaki.

OPERATION 8 AUCTION GOES ONLINE

Organisers of an art auction to raise money for the defence of people charged in connection with the July 2008 anti-terrorism raids plan to do it all over again ... on a global scale.

More than $6000 was raised at the auction in Wellington on the weekend, which included a screening of the Operation 8 documentary.

Ben Knight says software developed on the eve of the auction allowed people to bid over the Internet against those on the floor.

The idea will be extended for another auction within the next couple of months, with artists around the world contributing works to be auctioned online for the October 15 solidarity fund.

Mr Knight says while many of the works sold for bargain prices at the weekend, the auction had allowed people to raise more questions about the trials of the 18 defendants, which have been put off until next year.

RANGATAHI LIST PLACE WERO TO NEW MANA PARTY

A rangatahi organiser for the Mana Party says young Maori want Hone Harawira's new movement to reflect their voice.

Wiremu Flavell of Nga Puhi and Ngati Maniapoto says the Maori Party stopped listening to rangatahi years ago, and its selection of Solomon Tipene to contest the Te Tai Tokerau by-election shows how out of touch it is with a predominantly youthful electorate.

He says while Maori tend to rely on kaumatua because of their knowledge and experience, that doesn't mean the young can be ignored.

“We want to see a rangatahi Maori candidate placed in the top five for the Mana Party at the end of the year elections. The solutions to the issues that we have can only come from rangatahi themselves. In the past, we see rangatahi issues, we have older people making decisions for us,” Mr Flavell says,

If Mana doesn't listen to its growing numbers of rangatahi supporters, they might consider creating their own youth party.

KATIE WOLFE WINS FILMMAKING MANA WAHINE PRIZE

The winner of the first Wairoa Maori Film Festival mana wahine award says it was nerve-wracking to take her latest production back to the marae.

Katie Wolfe won the award for both her acting and for her filmmaking, which includes an adaptation of Witi Ihimaera's coming out novel, Nights in the Garden of Spain.

She says it was good to show Kawa in a marae setting.

“The subject of homosexuality in te ao Maori is sensitive so I get quite nervous actually but it was great. In the Wairoa Maori festival all the films just sit there, they’re all played in wharenui and the work is all in context. It’s quite relaxing in that sense,” Ms Wolfe says.

She will be taking Kawa to the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco later this month and the Outfest in Los Angeles in july.

O’KEEFE HONOURED FOR URGE TO HELP

Hawkes Bay Maori leader Henare O'Keefe ... QSM ... says he is simply intoxicated with helping people.

The Flaxmere identity was given the Queen's Service Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

He says over the years he has nominated many people for honours, but never expected to be recognised himself.

“I'm quite addicted to helping people. It’s just a great buzz. I’m pohara in the material sense but I can go anywhere in the country and have a pillow to caress my head. That is so precious to me and I want to look after that,” Mr O'Keefe says.

One of the places he is showered with offers of hospitality is Christchurch where he took his tunu tunu BBQ after the February earthquake.

Food or pre-school choice for parents

Labour’s associate education spokesperson says early childhood education is becoming an issue of real concern in the Te Tai Tokerau by-election.

Kelvin Davis, who is seeking to wrest the seat from Hone Harawira, says Education Minister Anne Tolley’s tinkering is raising the costs to whanau.

He says that’s on top of other policies which are hitting lower income Maori households.

“Parents are having to make the choice between actually having to put food on their kids table and sending them off to early childhood education and they are compromising the future well being of Maoridom by their short sighted and short term cuts,” Mr Davis says.

He says Maori in the north fear for their jobs under current conditions.

CO-GOVERNANCE RECOMMENDED FOR ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

The Environmental Defence Society says a co-governance model would have offered more environmental protection than the new Environmental Protection Agency.

Chairperson Gary Taylor says having just two people with Maori backgrounds on the board, former Ngai Tahu chief executive Anake Goodall and Taria Tahana from Ngati Pikiao, isn’t adequate Maori representation.

“Rather than having one or two Maori, I’d prefer to see these sorts of bards established on a co-governance model with equal Maori representation, but that hasn’t happened,” Mr Taylor says.

ANTHOLOGY OFFERS POETS CHANCE TO PUBLISH

An anthology of Polynesian poetry has made the finals of the New Zealand Book Awards.

Co-editor Reina Whaitiri says Mauriola: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English features established poets like Hone Tuwhare, Albert Wendt, Roma Potiki and Tracey Tawhiao.

It also allows people to pick up on emerging voices.

“Anthologies such as this give our poets the opportunity to be published. They may not have enough work of their own to publish a whole collection, but they can get into an anthology like this. If they only have one or two poems they think are good enough to publish, they can offer them,” she says.

Reina Whaitiri and co-editor Robert Sullivan are working on another anthology of just Maori poets.

MAORI UNDER-REPRESENTED IN EPA

Greens co-leader Meteria Turei says Maori are under-represented on the new Environmental Protection Agency.

She says the agency’s eight-member board headed by former Wellington mayor Kerry Prendergast has a clear pro-development bias.

The board includes consultant Taria Tahana from Ngati Pikiao and Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu chief executive Anake Goodall.

“There’s only two Maori on the Environmental Protection Agency. I don’t think that’s enough. I don’t think that’s a properly representative board. Therefore Maori issues will be too easily sidelined by the board and I think it will be difficult for Maori to be decision-makers in this process,” Ms Turei says.

Priorities for the Maori would be for the EPA to step up monitoring of the marine environment and land-based mining.

BUDGET CUTS PUT MAORI HEALTH AT RISK

An economist for the Council of Trade Union is warning cuts to Maori health spending in the Budget will soon show up in worsening health statistics.

Bill Rosenberg says the health vote didn’t include the extra $127 million needed to keep up with rising costs and population increase.

“Maori will be affected because in every area Maori do rely on the district health boards to provide services and it’s the people on lowest incomes who are most reliant on public health services for their healthcare. If the cuts are coming from that, it is most likely to be the people on lowest incomes who will be affected,” Mr Rosenberg says.

TRADITIONAL FOODS FOR MATARIKI BOIL UP

It may be the Maori new year, but Rewi Spraggon is celebrating Matariki by cooking up some old food.

The chef and artist will be at Auckland War Memorial Museum tonight and tomorrow night demonstrating ways of preparing and preserving traditional Maori kai.

He says the foods and the stories around them offer a glimpse into the lifestyles of those who have gone before.

“Pirihawhea which is preserving fish and preserving toroi, puha and mussels and delicascies that our tupuna ate, ti kouka, all that sort of stuff, mamaku, and a lot of food our people aren’t eating these days,” Mr Spraggon says.

Maori Party cries foul over sisterly support

Maori Party vice-president Ken Mair is crying foul over the Mana Party's tactics in the Te Tai Tokerau by-election.

He says a campaign stop in Kaitaia this week was disrupted by a group led by Hinewhare Harawira, the sister of Mana's Hone Harawira, who swore at and abused Maori Party candidate Solomon Tipene.

"If we really truly believe in our kauapa, if we really believe in the concept, the integrity of the word mana, then we need to stand up and make it loud and clear to people that go against our kaupapa, abuse our kaupapa, you mustn’t and we won’t allow you to get away with it,” Mr Mair says.

He says the incident echoed last month's Maori Party hui at Waitangi, where Hinewhare Harawira and her mother Titewhai abused participants and party leaders.

CAMPAIGN TACTICS COULD BACKFIRE

And Labour candidate Kelvin Davis warns the Harawira tactics could backfire on the Mana Party.

Mr Davis says what Maori in the electorate want to know is what the political parties are doing to ensure there are jobs for themselves and their young people, and how cuts in government services will affect them.

He says candidates should stick to the issues.

“It's pretty disappointing to see Hone’s sister going off against Solomon Tipene as he was campaigning. I think despite the fact we’re in other parties, everybody’s got to treat people with respect and I don’t think it goes down well in Maori electorate when we have the politics of abuse going on, so that’s disappointing to see,” Mr Davis says.

Hone Harawira denies the incident happened.

BRIGHT MATARIKI PROMISING PROSPEROUS YEAR

The first sightings have been made of Matariki, also known at Pleiades, the constellation that marks the Maori new year.

Chef and artist Rewi Spraggon says while it has become an excuse to celebrate Maori arts and culture, Matariki was also the time when Maori of old would remember those who had died through the year and also look forward.

He says his first sighting before sunrise yesterday from the top of the Waitakere ranges in west Auckland was of a bright cluster to the northeast at the tail of the milky way, indicating a prosperous year ahead.

One of the ways he's marking Matariki is to run a food forum at Auckland War Memorial Museum next Tuesday and Wednesday, showing people traditional Maori ways of preparing and preserving kai.

HARAWIRA DENIES KAITAIA SWEARING INCIDENT

Mana leader Hone Harawira is denying his sister swore at Maori Party candidate Solomon Tipene during a campaign stop in Kaitaia.

Maori Party vice-president Ken Mair says the incident made a mockery of Mr Harawira's use of the name Mana.

But Mr Harawira says he has video evidence showing the incident never happened ... and if Mr Mair has a genuine complaint he should take it to the police.

“But seriously Ken Mair, stick to Whanganui, and don’t come in to Tai Tokerau and bullshit your way around. We don’t appreciate that. We’ve got work to be doing. I’d like to get on in a positive way with the Maori Party candidate, whatever his name is, but we don’t need people coming from Whanganui and trying to tell us how we can act in the Tai Tokerau,” Mr Harawira says.

He says Ken Mair can't even speak Maori, let alone understand the meaning of words like mana.

GREENS WANT MORATORIUM ON DRILLING CONSENTS

Greens co-leader Meteria Turei is calling for a moratorium on granting more oil exploration or mining consents until new protections are in place.

The Government has promised a new regulatory regime to be administered by the new Environment Protection Agency.

Ms Turei says Maori have been at the forefront of protests against oil exploration, and they're concerned that even Environment Minister Nick Smith admits current guidelines are unenforceable.

“Having a moratorium for any new permits or any kind of exploration for mining in the marine environment would be very good idea. The delay in implementing the EPA in the new environmental legislation is too long,” Ms Turei says.

She says there is a clear pro-development bias evident in Dr Smith's appointments to the 8-member Environment Protection Agency board.

SINGER’S STORY SPARKS SKERRETT FAMILY QUEST

Christchurch woman Angela Skerrett-Tainui wants to see the life of her great aunt turned into a film.

Evaline Jane Skerrett from Ngai Tahu and Ngati Mamoe became internationally famous in the early decades of the 20th century as an opera singer called Princess Iwa.

Ms Skerrett-Tainui has produced a tribute CD featuring many of the songs in the contralto's repertoire, with narration provided by Tim Shadbolt and Sam Neill, who wanted to celebrate a southern success story.

“I just think this would make a stunning move. It’s got all the ingredients – the adventure, it’s got singing, travel, performance, she was friends with Charlie Chaplin and really ultimately she did so much to promote her Maori culture which she was so proud of,” she says.

She has set up a Princess Iwa Facebook page to find out more information about her tupuna.

Broadband group sets priorities

A member of the new national Maori broadband group Nga Pu Waea says an initial meeting with Telecom and Vodafone has given members a glimpse of the scale of the challenge.

Antony Royal says the group appointed by Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples wants to make sure as many Maori as possible are connected to the urban ultra fast broadband or the rural broadband, at an affordable price.

“The third area we want to talk about is jobs and training and skills development, and the fourth area is starting to talk about once we get the infrastructure, what are we going to be doing. What are the opportunities that then allow us to use that infrastructure for health or education or any other type of activities,” Mr Royal says.

Nga Pu Waea will meet regularly with the companies rolling out broadband to ensure Maori concerned are heard.

MAORI A PRIORITY IN INEQUITY CAMPAIGN

The Council of Christian Social Services is making Maori a priority in its new Closer Together Whakatata Mai campaign against income inequality.

Executive officer Trevor McGlinchey says inequality is changing the country for the worse, but it's not inevitable.

He says Maori are often the first to feel the effects of wage distortions and closing down of opportunity.

“We're very concerned with the impacts of inequality on Maori and so we had Bishop Muru Walters start our Whatatata Mai project with karakia and we’ve had ongoing engagement with our Christian Maori communities to support this project and help roll it out into their communities,” Mr McGlinchey says.

Whakatata Mai will encoruage people to write or send postcards to MPs and political candidates challenging them to take action on inequality.

EBOOKS COULD GET MAORI TITLES INTO READERS’ HANDS

The convener of judges for the New Zealand Post Book Awards says e-books could be the future of Maori language publishing.

Paul Diamond says he was concerned there were no books published in Maori for adults in either 2009 or 2010.

He's like to see material commissioned by the Education Ministry, such as a translation of the Patricia Grace novel Potiki, made available to a wider audience.

“One argument would be ‘it’s so difficult to get things written.’ If we could say here’s a body of work we can make available for people to read, with all these e-book readers and pads and digital publishing, perhaps there is potential for people to read these things on the bus or trains. We want reading in Maori to become part of our lives,” Mr Diamond says.

He's impressed with how many of the book award finalists incorporate Maori subjects and material in a confident way.

BOOT CAMP BEHAVIOURALISM UNSCIENTIFIC NONSENSE

Rethinking Crime and Punishment director Kim Workman is welcoming a report from the Government's science advisor questioning the effectiveness of wilderness training and boot camps for young offenders.

Mr Workman says many young Maori get pushed into such camps, rather than being offered more culturally responsive programmes.

He says Sir Peter Gluckman's report should allow policy makers to look at the science rather than make decisions based on gut feeling and anecdote.

“People go to the graduation ceremonies and they’re blown away by these kids who really look smart, they’re all shiny and all dressed up and eager to make a difference in their lives and then they’re released back into their communities who are totally dysfunctional and the belief you can change someone’s behaviour in three months when that behaviour has been formed over 16 years is a nonsense,” Mr Workman says.

BURMAN WHO CHANGED GANGS MOURNED

Maori have been given a chance to farewell a former Burmese judge who dedicated much of his life to helping gang members reintegrate into society.

Bill Maung died this week in his late 90s.

Gang liaison worker Denis O'Reilly says Mr Maung held that the world's problems could be solved by education ... but quit the teaching job he got when he migrated to New Zealand because he said he wanted to be an educator.

“He was instrumental in the Black Power’s move against rape. Along with Ray Harris, he started up the Whanganui a Tara Maori Committee utilising systems and structures that were available. He mixed it with people like Muldoon and co. So at one end he was a high level thinker and operator and at the other end he would work with people right on the ground,” Mr O'Reilly says.

Bill Maung will be taken on to Pipitea Marae tomorrow morming before returning to his home in Stokes Valley for a private service.

WAIROA FILM FESTIVAL SPARKING LOCAL FILMMAKING

It's Queen's Birthday Weekend, so the annual Wairoa Maori Film Festival is in full swing.

Organiser Leo Koziol says three quarters of the films being shown on marae in Wairoa and Nuhaka are made by Maori, and more than 40 filmmakers have come together to share ideas and pass on tips to aspiring writers and directors.

He says he's thrilled the festival is encouraging people from the region to try their hand, such as Kararaina Rangihau whose short film on Tuhoe composer Mihi-ki-te-kapua is a festival highlight.

“We really want to build on that example and make more local stories on screen here in Nuhaka and here in Wairoa,” Mr Koziol says.

Tomorrow night's awards ceremony will include a new Mana Wahine award to acknowledge the contributions of Maori women in film and television.

Funding cuts halt anti-smoking progress

The anti-smoking group Te Reo Marama is questioning government cuts in funding for programmes which are helping Maori quit the habit.

Director Shane Bradbrook says smoking among Maori girls dropped from 36 percent in 1999 to 23 percent now.

But a new survey by ASH has found progress has stalled, and one in five 15-year-old Maori girls smoke every day.

He says it's not time to take the foot off the accelerator ... but that's what a $12 million cut in government funding has meant.

“We’ve had a Maori affairs select committee inquiry into the tobacco industry, and quite clearly the recommendation said we need to do a lot more in terms of supporting the ability for Maori to quit and yet we’ve seem Maori funding being lost consistently through the Ministry of Health, so their policy needs to be called into question,” Mr Bradbrook says.

MORE MONEY FOR COMPUTERS IN HOMES

The Maori Party has made the digital divide a feature of its Te Tai Tokerau by-election campaign.

Launching the extension of the Computers In Homes programme to Te Kura Kaupapa o Taumarere in Moerewa, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Tariana Turia said another $3.3 million over three years is going for community-based initiatives to increase digital literacy among lower income whanau.

Di Das from Computers In Homes says the additional funding on top of the $8 million in last year's Budget means more families can get connected.

“We work through low decile schools and the schools choose the families on the basis of greatest need. Certainly in the rural areas around East Coast, Far North, King Country, places like that, there is a very high proportion of Maori families. We work with kura and Maori immersion schools quite a lot,” Ms Das says once parents learn to overcome their fear of technology, they are able to support their children with schoolwork.

MAORI CONTENT IN BOOK AWARD FINALISTS

The convenor of judges for this year’s New Zealand Post Book Awards says he's pleased at the easy integration of Maori content throughout the list of finalists.

Paul Diamond says as well as overtly Maori material like Damian Skinner's study of kowhaiwhai artist John Hovell and the book on Pounamu co-written by Ngai Tahu elder Maika Mason, books like Chris Bourke's history of New Zealand popular music, Blue Smoke, tapped into Maori stories.

“Chris went to a lot of trouble to do oral history interviews with Maori, because Maori are a big part of that story. Ian Mune’s autobiography has got stuff about working with Billy T James. The No Fretful Sleeper, a biography of Bill Pearson by Paul Miller has got the amazing story about how with academic English lecturer helped finance Peter Sharples’ education at Auckland University,” Mr Diamond says.

Online and postal voting for the People’s Choice Awards has opened, with the winners to be announced on July 27.

THREE STRIKES POLICY NAMED AND SHAMED

Rethinking Crime and Punishment says rival lobby the Sensible Sentencing Trust is offering failed monocultural solutions.

Director Kim Workman says the trust's three strikes policy is packed with bad and unworkable ideas, like naming and shaming young offenders.

He says Maori and Pacific communities have ways of using shame to show offenders how their actions harm the mana of the family, and then reintegrate them into the community.

“It's not about putting people out there and humiliating them. It’s about saying to them we care about you, you’re part of who we are but by your action you are letting us down and you are letting us down in the eyes of the community. That sort of thing doesn’t occur to Sensible Sentencing because it is totally monocultural in its approach,” Mr Workman says.

He says there is also no evidence that the boot camps championed by the Sensible Sentencing trust are effective for any offenders, let alone Maori.

ENVIRONMENT LAW CHANGE OFFERS OFFSHORE HOPE

The group leading protests against oil prospecting off East Cape is welcoming proposed new environment protection laws.

Ani Pahuru - Huriwai from Ahi Ka Action says Environment Minister Nick Smith's plan to give the new Environmental Protection Agency monitoring and enforcement powers out to the edge of the 200-mile exclusive economic zone is positive.

She says the test will be how strong the law is and how committed the government is to make it work, once the election is over.

She says no further exploration licenses should be issued until the new protection regime is in place.

BAYE RIDDELL GIVEN CRAFT FELLOWSHIP

Ceramic artist Bay Riddell from Ngati Porou has been awarded a $65,000 Creative New Zealand Craft Fellowship to research new firing techniques.

Mr Riddell, who was one of the founders of Maori clay artists' group Nga Kaihanga Uku, says as an educator he was concerned that many young artists don't have the money for expensive kilns.

He says many low-fire processes are only suitable for smaller work, and he wants to scale up.

“They are often defined as quite primitive findings, indigenous-type firings, but they actually take a lot of skill to master, more so than pressing buttons on a high tech kiln, and I want to explore, in the raku process, firing of larger pieces,” Mr Riddell says.

He sees the award as a win for all Maori ceramic artists.

Jobs starting for Christchurch rebuild

A Maori woman living in the hard-hit Christchurch suburb of Aranaui says residents are welcoming the jobs that are starting to come through.

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says while the number of Cantabrians on the unemployment benefit swelled by 750 after February's earthquake, last week 255 came off the dole queue.

Te Rina Anderson says most of her friends and whanau now have work, much of it to with rebuilding the city.

“There's building, concrete laying. There’s a lot of spots opened up fro painters and anything to do with house renovations,” she says.

She's still looking for a job that offers more than the minimum wage.

CALL FOR QUALIFIED TEACHERS WELCOMED

The union which looks after Early Childhood Teachers is welcoming the recommendations of a taskforce which have got to Education Minister Anne Tolley.

However, NZEI spokesperson Hayley Whittaker says the minister is unlikely to appreciate the call for all staff in early childhood centres to qualified.

She says that was a policy of the previous Labour Government which was axed by National, with the justification that some resources would be redirected to increase participation by Maori and Pasifika children.

She says centres are now passing on the budget cut to whanau.

MANGERE BAND TAKES MUSIC TO THE MOTU

A South Auckland music group wants to encourage to rangatahi around the country to follow their passion for music.

The Hypnotics is visiting schools and alternative education institutions to engage with students who are thinking about a future career in the arts.

Tour manager Noma Sio says the self-funded kaupapa is getting a lot of support from iwi stations and organisations around the country.
The Hypnotics tour starts next week in Palmerston North.

WARNING ON STATE OF KOHANGA REO

A ministerial taskforce on Early Childhood Education has sounded a warning about the state of kohanga reo.

Taskforce chair Michael Mintrom, an associate professor of political studies at Auckland University, says the government needs to spend more on Maori because Maori children are missing out.

But he says there appears to be something wrong with the way many Maori immersion pre-schools are operating.

“The education review office does supplementary reviews on services that are not perceived to be performing at appropriate levels of quality and looking at the statistics over time, kohanga reo show up much higher as a percentage of groups getting supplementary reviews than any other ETS service out there,” Dr Mintrom says.

He says Maori communities should be encouraged to come up with their own ways of providing early childhood education ... which could include alternatives to kohanga.

NINETY MILE BEACH CLAIM OUT OF ORDER

The chair of Te Hiku Forum, Haami Piripi, says the other four iwi in the far north don't appreciate Ngati Kahu trying to muscle in on Te Oneroa a Tohe, Ninety Mile Beach.

The government has rejected a proposed settlement submitted by Te Runanga o Ngati Kahu negotiator Margaret Mutu which included parts of the beach and the Aupouri forest, but it is continuing to work towards a settlement with the other iwi.

Mr Piripi says Ngati Kahu was traditionally understood to occupy the eastern side of the region.

“There are so many layers of occupation anyone can claim anywhere really. It comes down to individual choices of which iwi you give prominence in your identity. So there is no doubt people of Ngati Kahu descent have ancestry and a relationship with Te Oneroa a Tohe but from the perspective of my iwi in Te Rarawa, we wouldn’t see that translating into a mana whenua interest,” he says.

Mr Piripi says Ngati Kahu has so far not shared its revised claim with Te Hiku Forum, which it quit earlier this year.

WHAIKORERO COLLECTION WINS BEST FIRST BOOK AWARD

The winner of the best first book award for non-fiction in the NZ Book Awards says the honour belongs to all those represented in the work.

Poia Rewi says when he first started collecting recordings of speakers on marae, he was not thinking of writing a book.

He says he's humbled by the acclaim for Whaikorero: the World of Maori Oratory

Dr Rewi says that a book on Maori oratory can win such an award shows traditional Maori culture is appreciated by more than just Maori.

Mana Party misses election funding

Leader Hone Harawira says the Mana Party will be formally appealing the electoral commission's decision not to allocate them any money or time for political broadcasts for the November general election because the party wasn't formed in time.

Mr Harawira says however he doesn't expect the appeal to be successful.

“If we can’t get that money from an appeal, we’ll just have to rely on the support we have always had from people for a party that stands for the rights of those who have nothing anyway,” Mr Harawira says.

BROADCAST TIME CUT FOR MAORI PARTY

The Maori Party is looking at what it can do about what it sees as a scandalous cut in the time and money it has been allocated for its political broadcasts in this year's general election.

President Pem Bird says he's shocked that the Electoral Commission has slashed the amount the party got in 2008 by $90,000 from $248,889 to $160,00 and from 11 to 9 minutes.

“This is the tangata whenua voice, that’s our core constituency, and if you look in the Treaty of Waitangi framework I think we’ve for a fair enough case,” he says.

Mr Bird says it is scandalous to compare the Maori Party which targets seven diverse and spread out electorates with ACT and will be looking at all avenues of redress.

TASKFORCE CALLS FOR POLICY REVERSE

The head of the taskforce on Early Childhood Education which today reported to Education Minister Anne Tolley says its recommendations are good news for Maori.

Taskforce chairman Michael Mintrom says they told the minister that investment in early childhood education is of great value and funding must be directed at Maori communities which are missing out.

He says the communities themselves should then be given the ability to decide how they spend the money.

“Now we are not suggesting that this means doing more of what currently is being done in other parts of the sector. It actually means getting in there and working closely with Maori communities and asking them, what are their needs,” Dr Mintrom says

He says kohanga reo isn't working effectively and it needs far great scrutiny with alternatives for Maori be quite appropriate.

GORDON KEPT PAOA ON STRAIGHT AND NARROW

Ngati Paoa has come together to farewell the woman who put the iwi back on the map.

The funeral from Hariata Gordon was held today at Waiti Marae north of Morrinsville.

George Kahi, the chair of the Ngati Paoa Trust Board, says Mrs Gordon's occupation of a Maori Affairs-run farm on Waiheke in 1984 won the iwi back not only land but recognition.

He says she encouraged the people to learn about their identity and history in the greater Auckland, and to stand up for the tribe's interests to local and central government.

“And if we wanted to maintain that particular stance and that quality, we just needed to do what she did which was maintain the blueprint of Ngati Paoa. If you tended to wander either side of it you end up talking about yourself and not the tribe so her message, she was replicating previous conversations of other ancestors and she kept it straight and narrow,” Mr Kahi says.

TRADITIONAL TIPS FOR INDULGENT MAORI PARENTING

Child welfare advocacy group Te Kahui Mana Ririki hopes its revival of traditional Maori ways of parenting will bring down rates of child abuse.

Director Anton Blank says the trust and Plunket are about to launch a pilot programme in Hamilton, based on research that will be published by the Children's Commission tomorrow.

He says whanau will be shown how to appreciate and react to their children in a non-violent way.

“What we've found was that parenting was quite indulgent and kind and that hitting and insulting children was banned so we’ve taken that knowledge and we’ve adapted it to contemporary settings so we’re connecting whanau back to traditional values but we are making it very relevant for today,” Mr Blank says.

Simple techniques include ignoring behaviour that isn't hurting anyone and distracting children when they're upset to encourage positive behaviour.

COMPANY APOLOGISES FOR HEITIKI FORMULA

The company that used Maori imagery to sell infant formula into China has apologised for what it calls cultural misunderstanding.

Associate health Minister Tariana Turia called for an investigation into the Kia New Zealand International's Heitiki brand, because she said it could be seen as encouraging Maori women to substitute breast milk with infant formula.

Kia advisor John McCaulay says the company will repackage the Heitiki formula, which was all bound for export, so there is no reference to Maori concepts.

“They were looking to take the positive aspects of Maori culture and use it on their product, it really is just a cultural misunderstanding and the issue is they were trying to highlight the positive aspects of Maori,” he says.

Mr McCaulay says the product meets all New Zealand export regulations and is manufactured by a subsidiary of New Zealand listed company New Image.

Race commissioner steps up council push

Race Relations commisioner Joris de Bres says if local authorities continue to reject his call to establish Maori seats, he will recommend it be done as part of the constitutional reform process.

Mr de Bres says Bay of Plenty Regional Council has demonstrated how Maori wards are an effective way of getting Maori involved in the decisions that affect them.

He's concerned at the offhand way councils like Rotorua and New Plymouth have treated the issue.

“If councils overall reject the option that is available to them, then I think we’ll fed that into the constitutional debate because it may be at that point that we say look, the real flaw in this provision is that Maori as a minority are totally dependent on the goodwill of the majority and shouldn’t councils be obliged to introduce this into their electoral system if Maori want it,” Mr de Bres says.

He hopes other councils which are still debating the issue will respond positively.

MAORI IN THE NORTH BELOW POVERTY LINE

Former Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira says cuts recommended by the government's welfare working group will be disastrous for Maori in the north.

Mr Harawira, who is trying to win back the seat for his new Mana Party, says the Maori Party will struggle to defend the welfare reforms its coalition partner is planning.

He says people in the north are starving now, and further cuts will make it worse.

“There’s 50 percent of children in the north living below the poverty line and probably about 70 percent of Maori children below the poverty line so when the Maori Party says it is going to support benefit cuts in 2011, I’m glad to be free of those guys, I’m glad to be in a position where I can fight against it and do my best to make changes,” Mr Harawira says.

STRONG INTERNATIONAL DEMAND FOR MATARIKI STAMPS

New Zealand Post expects strong demand from collectors around the world for this year's Matariki stamps.

The six stamps on the theme of hei matau or fish hooks were developed in collaboration with Maori designers and artists.

Marketing manager Simon Allison says previous issues marking the Maori new year have been popular overseas, as seen from web orders and the response at stamp expos round the world.

The matariki series is available from today.

UREWERA 15 ON MARGINS LONG ENOUGH

The Council of Trade Unions says it's time for the solicitor general to withdraw charges laid after the so called terror raids in Te Urewera in 2007.

The trial of the 15 defendants was due to start this week, but it has been delayed until early next year because of Supreme Court appeals about some of the evidence.

Maori vice president Syd Keepa says after more than four years, it was unfair to persist.

“These people have been out on the margins waiting for what is going to happen to them. Some of those people can’t get jobs, some of them have to give up their jobs because they don’t know what the hell is going to happen to them and now they have come up with the situation it is going to be another year before those charges can be heard,” he says.

Mr Keepa says the stress of the case continues to affect the Maori community at Ruatoki, which was locked down by armed police during the raids.

WELFARE CUTS SHOW NO PLAN FOR GROWTH

Labour's Te Tai Tokerau by-election candidate, Kelvin Davis, says the government's plan for welfare reform shows it has no plan to create jobs and economic growth.

Prime Minister John Key has asked his ministers to turn the Welfare Working Group's February report into policies that will cut the number of beneficiaries.

Mr Davis says National's punitive approach to welfare is doomed to fail.

“This is classic behaviour from a National Government is to blame and bash the people who are their most desperate and I can’t see anything the government is doing or proposing that is going to help people on low and middle incomes,” he says.

Mr Davis says Government ministers have no understanding of the conditions faced by beneficiaries in Te Tai Tokerau, where Maori unemployment is near record levels.

NGATI PAOA TANIWHA HARIATA GORDON LAID TO REST

Ngati Paoa today lays to rest Hariata Gordon, who reestablished the iwi as a force to be reckoned with in Auckland and Hauraki affairs.

Mrs Gordon led a 1984 protest and subsequent Waitangi Tribunal claim over the leasing of a Maori affairs farm on Waihere Island, which led to a finding that the Crown had breached the treaty by leaving the tribe landless.

Pita Turei from the Ngati Paoa Whanau Trust says she will be missed by many in the tribe.

“She was a kuia. She was a wahine toa. She was a taniwha. She made a lot of people angry along the way but she achieved something in her time. When we think about Bastion Point, we think of the forgotten occupation over there on Waiheke where through the actions of Hariata and others, Ngati Paoa was able to elevate itself from being a landless people on Waiheke,” Mr Turei says.

The funeral for Hariata Gordon is at 11 this morning at Waiti Marae in Tahuna.