Quick action needed on mobile charges

2Degrees is calling for quick action on a Commerce Commission recomendation which could slash its cost of doing business.

The mobile phone company uses frequencies made available to Maori as part of a treaty settlement, and Maori shareholders own just under 12 percent of the company.

Chief operating officer Bill McCabe says the Minister of Telecommunications, Stephen Joyce, needs to act fast on the recommendation that the amount charged to terminate a mobile call on another network be regulated.

“Every time a customer of ours calls a Telecom of a Vodafone customer, Vodafone or Telecom clip the ticket, and the Commerce Commission is saying ‘well you can clip the ticket but at the moment it’s way too much, it’s an excessive amount, and those rates have got to come down,’” Mr McCabe says.

As long as the process for determining the cost of calls is not delayed by court action, customers could benefit from lower rates across the board by early next year.

DAIRY COWS DAMAGE TARANAKI PA SITE

A South Taranaki iwi is fuming at the damage done to a waahi tapu site on land owned by troubled corporate farmer Crafar Farms.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer from Ngati Ruanui Group Management says overstocking of dairy cows on Hillside farm at Ohangai led to what could be permanent damage to Te Ruaki Pa during recent wet weather.

Crafar was put into receivership last October with more than $200 million in debt and multiple prosecutions for illegal waste discharges from its 16 farms.

She says the iwi is talking to local government about how the mana of such sites can be protected.

“We're not just talking about rectifying it now but we’ve put this waahi tapu, our pa site on the attention list so it never ever happens again. Deliberate damage by over-stocking paddocks in wet weather is (negligent),” Mrs Ngarewa-Packer says.

Ngati Ruanui is trying to contact the Crafar Farms receiver, KordaMentha about the damage.

SOCCER DRAW INSPIRED YOUNG MAORI

A Maori sports broadcaster says tamariki will be lining up to play soccer after the All Whites' success at the 2010 football World Cup.

Te Kauhoe Wano says the performance of Maori players Leo Bertos, Jeremy Christie, Rory Fallon and especially goal scorer Winston Reid in yesterday's 1-1 draw with Slovakia will inspire young Maori boys and girls.

It's even getting to the traditionalists at Maori Television, where soccer was the only topic of conversation among the sports team.


A Maori studying in Australia has been picked as one of that country's top 100 brightest young minds.

Areti Metuamate of Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Kauwhatu and Waikato-Tainui is on Freyberg Scholarship to the National University in Canberra, studying for a masters degree in international politics, defence and strategic studies.

The former Hato Paora head boy and executive member of the Catholic Runanga says his selection over thousands of Australians shows Maori can do anything with focus and hard work.

“For so long we have been back seat, second class citizens. For so long we’ve been seen as ‘oh no, you’re not really an achiever, the Pakeha will become the doctor and so forth.’ That is complete rubbish and we have to change the thinking in that regard. We can do it not only in our own country but on the global stage. We’re competitors everywhere,” Mr Metuamate says.

The 25-year-old will attend next month's Brightest Young Minds summit in Sydney to discuss current issues with leading business and community leaders including Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

MAHUTA A ROLE MODEL FOR YOUNG WAHINE MAORI

Green's co-leader Meteria Turei has praised the promotion of fellow Maori MP Nanaia Mahuta to Labour's front bench as a result of the reshuffle brought on by the ministerial expenses controversy.

She says the Hauraki-Waikato MP is showing the way for others.

“She's got huge years of experience. She’s a young woman, a young mother. She’s an excellent role model for other young Maori women who’re starting families and things that you can be involved in politics and have longevity in politics. I think it’s long overdue that she’s been promoted like this,” Ms Turei says.

She was also impressed with the dignified way list MP Shane Jones took his demotion in the Labour ranks.

FEAST OF A LIFETIME BECOMES FEAST FOR THE EYES

It was the feast of a lifetime, and it's being recalled several lifetimes later.

The time was 1844, when Tainui and Ngati Whatua chiefs invited Auckland's 6000 Pakeha residents to feast on the slopes of Remuera, now known as Mt Hobson, to thank them for past hospitality and as a show of power.

The menu was fish and chips ... more than 9000 sharks and 11,000 baskets of potatoes were consumed over four days.

Exhibition developer Janine Love has used a watercolour by Joseph Merret recreated the amazing event for Auckland museum's Kai to Pie show.

“From that watercolour lithographs were made which we’ve reinterpreted digitally so it becomes a lithograph that on a touch screen, it’s actually a computer console, you can actually fly into the space and explore the lithograph,” she says.

Kai to Pie also features the 1854 Albert Barrack ball and banquet at which Aucklanders celebrated Queen Victoria’s birthday and the first sitting of the New Zealand parliament by dining in knee deep mud on tinned food imported from around the world.

PM’s comments upset mobile phone insurgent

Mobile phone operator Two Degrees is taking the Prime Minister to task for his suggestion New Zealand may not be big enough for three mobile networks.

John Key made his comments in a discussion with Radio Waatea host Dale Husband on why Maori seemed reluctant to invest further in the company, which uses frequences gained through Treaty claims.

Two Degrees chief executive Eric Hertz says many countries of comparable size or smaller have multiple networks, including Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland and Iceland.

He says Mr Key needs to create the conditions for fair competition.

“I would like to see the government drive down those wholesale costs tat each carrier pays each other so that 2Degrees customers aren’t subsidizing Telecom New Zealand by the high cost to call those customers and I think that’s really the key thing that will level the playing field and make it much more easy to be successful over the long term, to drive those wholesale prices, those mobile termination rates down more quickly,” Mr Hertz says.

He says a Commerce Commission recommendation that Telecom and Vodafone be allowed to gradually lower wholesale prices won't benefit New Zealand consumers fast enough, and the Government needs to regulate.

COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTS MAORI DAIRY PRESENCE

The chief judge of this year's Ahuwhenua awards for Maori dairy farming excellence says unemployed rangitahi should look towards the industry.

Opotiki dairy farmer Doug Leeder says Maori are already major players in dairying, and more opportunities will be created if plans come off for a Maori-owned processing plant.

He says when one in three young Maori is jobless, the sector needs to be seen as a source of job creation.

“The days of agriculture or the dairy industry being seen as the poor cousin to other types of employment is long gone. It’s now a skilled industry and I think the future is looking good both in terms of employment for Maori and the success of Maori enterprises,” Mr Leeder says.

He employs a number of young Maori on his Opotiki farm.

TA MOKO ARTISTS WORKING LIVE IN EXHIBITION

An East Coast ta moko expert says the wider public is keen to learn more about the ancient Maori art form.

Mark Kopua and his colleague Turumakina Duley have spent the past week tattooing people in the Face Value Exhibition at Waikato Museum.

The photo and video exhibition, curated by Serena Stevenson, explores the relationship between ta moko artists and their subjects.

He says there is a lot iof interest from Maori and non-Maori, who get a surprise when they see some of the artists featured in the exhibition are in there working.

Face Value is at Waikato Museum and Art gallery until the end of March.

REGULATION NEEDED FOR FAIR COMPETITION

The chief executive of 2 Degrees says the Government needs to regulate the mobile phone market to give his company a fair chance to compete.

Prime Minister John Key said yesterday New Zealand may be too small for the third network being created around frequencies which were allocated to Maori as a result of treaty claims.

But Eric Hertz says many comparable countries are running three or four networks.

He says if Mr Key wants real competition, his government needs to reject a Commerce Commission recommendation that Telecom and Vodafone continue to set the wholesale price for switching calls between networks.

“The role of the government and the regulator in this situation is to make sure that the playing field is leveled so you can stimulate more competition because it is competition that brings out innovation and brings prices down. What the commerce Commission has recommended will not bring the benefits to New Zealand consumers fast enough,” Mr Hertz says.

He says apart from wholesale pricing, most of the conditions for true competition are now in place.

GLAMOUR NEEDS TO BE TAKEN OFF GAMBLING

A Maori lawyer says Maori should think about ways to get rid of gambling machines from their communities.

Moana Jackson addressed an international problem gambling conference in Auckland yesterday on the indigenous responses to gambling.

He says gambling has long been a part of Maori life, but were often community activities housie or poker schools where the benefits flowed back to the marae or hapu.

That's change with modern state-sanctioned initiatives like Lotto and poker machines.

“When it became industrialised it got marketed and sold as this glamorous activity and when you do that the costs then get swept under like for years smoking was a glamour acticity, it was cool to smoke It took a long time to break that down but I think the same process is happening with gambling and that needs to be broken down as well,” Mr Jackson says.

He says pokies are disproportionately in poor and Maori areas, but the profits are taken out of those areas.

MAORI DOCUMENTARY FEATURES IN EDGE FESTIVAL

The director of the Documentary Edge Festival says viewers might be challenged by a documentary which is almost completely in Maori.

He Wawata Whaea - The Dream of an Elder profiles educator and Ngati Kuri kuia Meremere Penfold.

Dan Shanan says it was chosen for the New Zealand Competition section not only for its subject but because director Shirley Horrocks wanted the entire documentary to be in Maori.

The Documentary Edge Festival starts in Auckland tomorrow.

PM queries Maori phone investment

Prime Minister John Key says he can understand why Maori groups were reluctant to invest more money in new mobile phone company 2Degrees.

A capital raising last year by Te Huarahi Tika Maori spectrum trust failed to find new investors, resulting in a dilution of the Maori stake in the company, which uses frequences gained through Treaty claims.

Mr Key says Telecom's problems with its new XT network highlights the risk of investing in telecommunications.

“I guess the challenge is, and maybe that’s why the iwi leaders and those with a bit of cash were reluctant, is that new telecom networks are very capital intensive and what you’ve seen in the case of XT is Telecom’s thrown a lot of money at this things and yet it’s still not working. That’s your big risk, isn’t it?

“I think the challenge always was can New Zealand support three mobile networks. Now, the answer is we don’t know. Other countries have three, they have a bigger population than us but other countries do have three and support three so I expect that’s what we’ll find out in the next few years,” Mr Key says.

He says 2Degrees appears to be doing well with international investors who have deep pockets and know what they are doing.

The Government is currently considering its response to a Commerce Commission report that highlighted major barriers to new entrants in the mobile phone market.

PAY RATES NOT CAUSE OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

Greens co-leader Meteria Turei says the huge rise in young Maori without jobs is caused by the recession rather than lack of youth rates.

A private bill in the name of ACT's Sir Roger Douglas to bring back youth rates was drawn from the ballot yesterday.

Ms Turei says getting rid of youth rates was a big win for the Green Party, and it will fight their reintroduction.

“If we want our rangatahi to be proud about their work, to feel that they are contributors to their society, to act responsibly and as adults, then we have to treat them that way, and one of the ways it to pay them the minimum adult wage,” she says.

Ms Turei says many young Maori are doing adult jobs and accepting adult responsibilities.

ENGLISH PICKING UP WORDS FROM MAORI

An expert in New Zealand English says the language is picking up more reo Maori.

Jeanette King, the head of linguistics at Canterbury University, says Pakeha are using Maori words more often because of what they learn from school and the wider society.

She says that means specific words are crossing over like hui, kaupapa and tangi.

Professor King says most of the country's print media no longer put English meanings in brackets next to common Maori words, which shows most New Zealanders know what those words mean.

JUDGE LOOKS TO INTERNATIONAL EXAMPLES

The new deputy chief judge of the Maori Land Court says New Zealand can learn from international experience to find local solutions for Maori problems.

Judge Caren Fox from Ngati Porou and Rongowhakaata has studied international law as it relates to indigenous peoples, and has worked with Native American and Pacific groups.

She says lessons can be learned in areas such as natural resource management and economic development, without forgetting what is unique to Maori.

“It's important that we recognise however solutions to the issues that impact on Maoridom are to be found ultimately here and only here,” Judge Fox says.

MAORI LEFT OUT OF THREE STRIKES SUBMISSION PROCESS

A Maori prison reformer says Maori are being excluded from the debate around ACT's three strikes sentencing law, despite the effect it will have on Maori prisoners.

Kim Workman from Rethinking Crime and Punishment says the Government is limiting submissions on the Sentencing and Parole Bill to people who spoke up when it was first introduced.

That excludes most Maori organisations.

“They were all agin it but when you ask them ‘Why didn’t you make a submission?’ the response was ‘because we never thought the National Government would take this bill seriously.’ They honestly believed it was such an outrageous piece of legislation it was simply not possible for the National Government to support it to the extent they have,” Mr Workman says.

He says the government is ignoring advice from the Ministry of Justice about the effect of the bill on Maori and the chance people could be locked up for up to 10 times longer than they would be under current legislation.

FAMILY TALES CAST NEW LIGHT ON PARIHAKA STORY

The author of a new book about Parihaka says it reveals a previously untold story about Maori urbanisation.

The Parihaka Album, Lest We Forget by LaTrobe University journalism lecturer Rachael Buchanan is being launched about now at the Wellington Railway station.

It draws on stories from her own whanau, many of whom ended up in Wellington after their ancestral lands in Taranaki were confiscated.

That challenges the widely accepted narrative that urbanisation was mainly a 1950s and 60s phenomenon.

“Maori also were urban people and they stayed in cities and tried as best they could to preserve what was left but it was pretty difficult for like my grandmother and great grandmother when there weren’t any marae left for them to connect with and I think there was probably a bit of a feeling of shame or they were whakamaa about going back to Taranaki,” Ms Buchanan says.

Parihaka Album is published by Huia

Tamaki iwi sign framework for volcanic ownership

It was smiles all round at Old Government House in the grounds of Auckland University today as representatives of 12 iwi and hapu with interests in Tamaki Makaurau put their tohu on a framework agreement to share ownership of the city's volcanic cones.

Ngati Whatua o Orakei chair Grant Hawke says his hapu made significant concessions to allow the agreement to go ahead, including giving up exclusive ownership of three of the maunga.

He says Ngati Whatua is happy to share assets with the iwi who married in to it over the centuries, but it's not dropping its claim to the preeminent position.

“The conquest in 1740 by Tupiriri and others was conclusive. Utu was a way of life in those times, We gained the mana whenua, we gained the mountains of Kiwi Tamaki but now we are having to re-share those with our whanaunga but for the benefit of the future, this can lead to something good.
Mr Hawke says.

As well as the framework agreement, Ngati Whatua signed a agreements in principle to settle its outstanding claims at Hikurangi, Tupiriri's pa on the flanks of Maungakiekie-One Tree hill.

MINISTER PRAISES GENEROSITY OF NGATI WHATUA

Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson says Ngati Whatua has shown extraordinary generosity in setting aside its earlier agreement in principle to allow other mana whenua iwi to join a comprehensive settlement process.

The rethink came in response to a scathing Waitangi Tribunal report into how the Office of Treaty Settlements excluded other iwi from negotiations.

Mr Finlayson says it's been a long hard road to today's signings.

“I think a lot of people were feeling pretty bruised after the 2007 Waitangi Tribunal report but Ngati Whatua have put that behind them, they’ve made some very generous concessions and as a result have helped kick start the comprehensive settlements,” Mr Finlayson says.

He hopes to bring the settlements to final deed stage this year.

TWO DEGREES GETS TO 206,000 ACTIVE USED IN SIX MONTHS

Maori money managers may have some regrets today after mobile phone operator Two Degrees reported it has gained more than 206,000 active users in its first six months, including 50,000 who brought their numbers over from other networks

The Maori stake in Two Degrees dropped below 20 percent after spectrum company Hautaki failed to bring in new investors, despite a comprehensive marketing effort among iwi and land trusts.

Two Degrees chief executive Eric Hertz says there will be other opportunities for Maori to invest.

“The thing about this one is a little different from more traditional investments in that you put a fair amount of capital in before it starts to generate positive cash flow so it you have to be prepared for that in this kind of investment. Over the long term, it does pay off, it’s proven in the track record, so it’s a bit of a different investment,” Mr Hertz says.

He says on current trends Two Degrees should be cash flow positive in 18 months, and its average return per user is already substantially well above Telecom's published figures.

MARUTUAHU PLEASED TO BE IN SETTLEMENT

Auckland iwi have moved into a new phase in relations between themselves and with central and local government.

Representatives today signed a framework agreement that will give 12 iwi and hapu shared ownership of at least 11 volcanoes in the region.

It replaces an earlier agreement that would have give Ngati Whatua o Orakei exclusive ownership of three maunga, as well as a right of first refusal over surplus Crown land on the isthmus.

Paul Majurey from Marutuahu says it's taken a lot of work by a lot of people over the past year.

“The solution was always there. It was articulated and ventilated in the Waitangi Tribunal report of 2007 and very simply that was a shared approach. Not a process where you recognise only one group and first up, best dressed but where you recognise all the interests.

“Credit for this achievement is multifaceted, it is to the leadership of the tangata whenau especially, the compromises by all the iwi and hapu of tamaki because everyone have compromised to recognize the shared interests as well as the Crown and the people it has brought to bear such as Sir Douglas Graham, Michael Dreaver under the auspices of minister Finlayson,” Mr Majurey says

Marutuahu is pleased to have its kaitiaki role in Tamaki Makaurau acknowledged, and to participate in the new political and economic opportunities the deal will enable.

SIR DOUGLAS GRAHAM WISHES SETTLEMENT LUCK

Former treaty negotiations minister Sir Douglas Graham says the settlement should give Aucklanders a more comprehensive view of the history of their city.

Sir Douglas was brought in as a facilitator to get the various iwi and hapu with claims to Tamaki Makaurau working together.

“Well they had to accept there we overlapping interests, Some found that difficult to do but we were going back 500 years, not 150, and if you look at it that way there were overlapping interests and they had to be recognised. They have and this is a very positive way forward so good luck to them all,” Sir Douglas says

He says it was great to see the iwi in the same room for the signing at Old government House at Auckland university.

KARANGA ADDED TO KAPA HAKA JUDGING

Judges at this Sunday's Tainui Regional Kapahaka competitions at Mystery Creek near Hamilton will take a hard look at the quality and pronunciation of language used.

Organiser Paraone Gloyne says reo quality will be a factor in the aggregate scores, and there will be special emphasis on the karanaga or calls of welcome that form part of each team's performance.

“The whaikorero wouldn’t exist on the marae if the karanga wasn’t there first so in line with tikanga Maori we thought it wuld be a good idea to include the kanga in the judging and we look at perpetuating karanga and whaiukorero within the competition,” Mr Gloyne says.

The top three roopu will represent Tainui rohe at next years Te Matatini national championships near Gisborne.

Waitangi occupiers given ultimatum

A group which has been camping out at the lower Waitangi marae for five weeks have been given until Sunday to leave.

It includes members of the Hokianga-based Nga Uri o Tupoto sovereignty group from the Hokianga area which occupied a commercial building in Kaikohe until evicted by police in August.

Leader Tas Davis says the 20-strong group is there by right of the 1835 declaration of independence, and it won't leave until Waitangi Day on February 6.

But marae chair Kingi Taurua says Waitangi's Ngati Rahiri hapu has had enough.

“No tribe or person or subtribe is permitted to go and occupy another subtribe’s land and that is war because if you look at the Treaty of Waitangi, it talks about hapu, subtribes, having their own authority over themselves,” Mr Taurua says.

If the occupiers are not out by Sunday Ngati Rahiri will remove them by force if necessary ... but police won't be called in.

WATER SUMMIT A SUCCESS WITH UNITY KAUPAPA

One of the iwi leaders behind yesterday's national summit on water says it provided a sound basis to push for Maori ownership of water.

Mark Solomon from Ngai Tahu says iwi were keen to take a united approach to the Government's New Start to Freshwater initiative, which is looking at issues around water quality, allocation and demand as well as future governance arrangements.

He says like many iwi, Ngai Tahu is concerned at growing pressure on the resource.

“There are areas that are over-allocated for water. One of the major concerns for Ngai Tahu is about at least guaranteeing the in-stream flow ratios or guaranteeing the ecology of the whole catchment and in some areas that’s not happening. In some areas there’s water consent below what’s considered the minimum flow regimes,” Mr Solomon says.

He says there needs to be certainty around water management.

TIME RUNNING OUT TO BUY MOBILE PHONE SHARES

Meanwhile, iwi at yesterdays' national water hui were told time is running out to buy shares in mobile phone company Two Degrees.

Te Huarahi Tika chair Mavis Mullins told the hui the spectrum trust's American and European partners will take up the share if iwi don't, diluting the Maori interest down to 12 and a half percent.

She says Te Huarahi Tika and its commercial arm Hautaki have done the hard yards over the past decade lobbying regulators and laying the ground for investment in a third mobile operator.

“We've found the shareholders, we’ve found the investment, the last couple of years there’s been more than $200 million dollars invested into New Zealand’s infrastructure, we’ve created over 250 new jobs, all in a global recession. This thing is so derisked that it is time, Maori need to step up, we need to maintain that 20 percent because spectrum is the farm of the future for our kids, this is the primary asset for the future,” Mrs Mullins says.

Many Maori organisations feel more comfortable investing in forests or farms than phone companies, but they will never get another chance to buy the shares at such a low price.

NGATI MANAWA SETTLING HISTORIC CLAIMS

A new chapter opens for Bay of Plenty iwi Ngati Manawa as it settles its historical treaty claims.

Chairman Bill Bird says up to 500 people are expected at Murupara for tomorrow's signing, where the Crown will be represented by Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples.

He says the cultural redress package includes sites of significance in and around the Kaingaroa Forest and te Urewera National Park, and comes on top of the commercial redress which was part of the eight-iwi Central North Island forestry settlement.

Mr Bird says Ngati Manawa lost its land through confiscation during the land wars of the 1860s, through later actions by the Native Land Court, and throughout the 20th century through local government takings under the Public Works Act.

“So we've got an opportunity to stop that and all we’re saying is any development in our area, we want to be part of the decision-making, not just lip service, you go to see a kaumatua and say we’ve got that iwi’s approval, those days are gone,” Mr Bird says.

PRESSURE ON FOR WATER OWNERSHIP

Iwi leaders are determined to keep pushing for ownership of water.

A national hui in Wellington yesterday heard from the consultative group which is attempting to include a Maori perspective into the Government's New Start to Freshwater policy process.

Rotorua lawyer Willie Te Aho says while iwi in different parts of the country have different priorities, they are united on asserting their treaty right to the resource.

“There was a perspective from iwi that the water is owned by iwi and you just need to look at the Te Arawa and Taupo Tuwharetoa examples of, if you’ve got the ownership of the bed of a lake and it’s akin to a cup, the water that drops into that cup surely belongs to you, but that is not the current reality,” Mr Te Aho says.

Iwi are interested in the co-management regimes emerging over the Waikato and other rivers through the treaty settlement process.

REALITY SHOW PRODUCER HOPES FORMAT A WINNER

The producer of a six-part Maori-language reality show hopes overseas broadcasters will pick up the format.

Former TV3 producer Bailey Mackey also wrote and financed One Land, which screens on TVNZ this Sunday night.

It takes three families and puts in them in conditions from the 1850s, with a European family, a Maori-speaking family, and a Maori family living in a Pakeha setting.

Mr Mackey says it could have international appeal, even with 20 to 25 percent Te Reo content.

“One of the other interesting aspects would be round the sale of the format which will include the whole language element which I think other countries will look to pick up as well. There are countries where an indigenous language has been overtaken by different forms of colonization,” Mr Mackey says.

The format industry is worth $22 billion worldwide.