Rush to sell water before treaty issues settled

The Greens say there should be no contracting out of water services until Maori rights to own and manage water have been resolved.

Local Government Minister Rodney Hide has introduced legislation to allow councils to contract out water services for up to 35 years.

Greens leader Meteria Turei says as well as transforming water services from public good to a source of private profit, the bill ignores Maori and treaty interests.

“Issues around who owns water or who has the right to manage water from a tikanga Maori point of view has not been settled yet so any attempt to start the process of charging for water needs to be preceded by a proper sorting out of the Maori interest in water,” Ms Turei says.

PHONE GAMES HELP MAORI TEENS TACKLE DEPRESSION

Auckland University psychiatrists are working with Maori computer game developers and kaumatua to develop high tech games which can help adolescents overcome depression.

Professor Sally Merry says one in five Maori women will have suffered a bout of depression by the time they are 18, and psychiatrists need to find culturally appropriate interventions.

She says game developer Maru Nihoniho worked with doctoral student Matt Stewart and kaumatua Rawiri Wharemate on Internet and cell phone games which make use of Maori mythology.

“There's a particular need for Maori adolescents because they are at particular risk for depression, but also we have protocols to actually work in partnership with Maori and I have been fortunate to have a kaumatua we have worked with for years to try to ensure anything we do is appropriate for Maori,” Professor Merry says.

The team has been fired up by the enthusiastic response the games got from this week's congress of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists congress in Auckland.

LAND TRUST LOOKS AT GETTING PROPERTIES THAT PAY WAY

A successful central North Island Maori land trust is on the hunt for poorly performing farms it can turn around.

Chairperson Andrew Kusabs says Rangatira 8-A 17 used profits from subdividing what used to be a sawmill's rubbish dump to buy the 220 hectare dairy farm at Reporoa, which is a finalist in this year's Ahuwhenua awards for Maori farming excellence.

He says the trust, which represents 1500 owners from the Rauhotu hapu of Ngati Tuwharetoa, still owns 15 hectares of land around Taupo.

Some of that land could be swapped for farm land once market conditions improve.

“It's possible we could subdivide that and do the same thing we’ve done in this case, purchasing a farm or other properties. I don’t care what we buy as long as it’s self-sustaining,” Mr Kusabs says.

An Ahuwhenua open day will be held on Rangatira 8-A 17's Reporoa property tomorrow.

TAINUI EXPRESS HEADS FOR WELLINGTON

It's all aboard the Tainui Express, as members of the tribe head to Wellington to witness the third reading of a bill giving the iwi a say in the management of the Waikato River.

Spokesperson Moko Tini-Templeton says three buses of kaumatua are traveling down overnight, and dozens more people are traveling by car.

They'll be welcomed by Taranaki Whanui on to Pipitea Marae at 11 before heading over to Parliament.

The Waikato-Tanui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill is due to be passed about 3.30pm

THREE STRIKES BILL OUTWEIGHS THE POSITIVES

The Greens say the three strikes bill which passed its second reading yesterday shows the government is out of touch with Maori.

Leader Meteria Turei says the criminal justice system is already weighted against Maori in arrests and sentencing, and the bill is likely to subject many Maori to extremely long sentences.

She says that will harm Maori whanau and communities.

“This is a government that on one hand is going out and doing their best to schmooze Maori in all sorts of areas and then at the same time where it counts, where the policies directly affect us, they’re quite happy to have corrections policy that is more likely to put us in jail for longer,” Ms Turei says.

She says Corrections and Police Minister Judith Collins has taken a narrow and conservative approach and refused to engage in real dialogue on Maori issues.

GREAT BARRIER IWI NOMINATES TOKI FOR UN ROLE

A woman from one of New Zealand's most remote communities will represent indigenous people will represent the indigenous peoples of the Pacific on the United Nations permanent forum on indigenous issues.

Valmaine Toki is from the Ngati Rehua hapu of Ngati Wai, based on Aotea-Great Barrier Island.

The Auckland University law lecturer says she's had a keen interest in global and indigenous issues, so she saw the opportunity of a three-year term on the 16-member council as a great way to encourage Maori participation in the forum.

She spotted the notice of the election while scanning the UN site for information for a research site, and brought it to the attention of her iwi trust board which nominated her.

Valmaine Toki says her nomination was in before New Zealand finally affirmed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, but the timing could have helped her case.

Big gaps in cancer death figures

The latest figures on cancer deaths show a significant gap between Maori and non-Maori deaths for some cancers.

In 2006, the latest year for which full figures are available, Maori mortality rate of 217 per 100 thousand of population was 72 percent higher than the non-Maori rate.

John Childs, the national clinical director for the Ministry of Health's cancer programme, says high Maori smoking rates explain why more than twice as many Maori men and three times as many Maori women will die of lung cancer than non-Maori.

He says more research is needed on some cancers to explain the difference, and there are also issues about treatment quality and access which the health systems must address.

“There clearly do appear to be patterns of differential treatment depending on a number of factors, whether you are Maori or non-Maori. There would also appear to be differential according to socioeconomic status and there are also differential according to where people live,” Dr Childs says.

Maori living in rural areas may find is harder to get cancers detected and treated promptly.

PAPAKURA ON PATHWAY TO SUCCESS

Papakura High School is trying to get more of its Maori and Pasifika students to University.

It's taking part in Auckland University's Pathways pilot, which gives students one on one counseling about their options through their secondary school years.

Project manager Di Corban says while NCEA offers students more choice, it can also lead them off the path.

She says the aim is students pick the right subjects by year 11 or 12 to be able to do the university course they are interested in.

kusabs farm
The head of a Taupo Maori land trust wants to see more professional Maori farm managers.

Andrew Kusabs chairs Rangatira 8-A 17, which runs dairy cows on 220 hectares near Reparoa on behalf of 1500 owners from the Rauhoto hapu of Tuwharetoa.

It's a finalist in this year's Ahuwhenua Trophy for Maori faming excellence.

Mr Kusabs says its success is down to keeping distinct lines between management and governance, and seeking out the best managers.

“A lot of Maori farms growing along the same lines as us are using good expertise, and I don’t care who the expertise is, from Maori or Pakeha, as long as we have the best and I am hoping Maori will play a full role in these things from now on, and I’m sure they're there,” he says.

An Ahuwhenua Trophy field day will be held at Rangatira 8-A 17 on Thursday.

MAORI ART ON THE LEVEL AT SYDNEY BIENNALE

An ope of Maori artists is across the Tasman this week installing their works in the 17th Sydney Biennale.

The nine New Zealanders among the 400 artists in the three month event include sculptor Brett Graham from Tainui, painters Shane Cotton from Ngapuhi and Reuben Patterson from Ngati Rangitihi, and photographer Fiona Pardington from Ngai Tahu.

Graham's show at the Museum of Contemporary Art includes almost life scale models of a stealth bomber and a Russian scout car, carved with Maori surface patterns.

He says Biennale curator David Elliot has put indigenous and western art on an equal footing.

“The curator's quite keen to promote indigenous art or art that looks at indigenous issues and put it on a parallel with western art, which is a bit of a change. We’re used to western art pinching ideas from indigenous art sources but at least this is an attempt to address that an in western art there are hierarchies between arts and craft which don’t necessarily exist in te ao Maori,” Graham says.

The Sydney Biennale opens on May 12.

MAORI NURSES GROOMED FOR LEADERSHIP POSITIONS

Auckland District Health Board is leading a new Health Ministry-backed programme to help Maori become leaders in nursing and midwifery.

Taima Campbell, the board's executive director of nursing, says more Maori are needed in clinical leadership roles.

The programme to be launched in Tamaki Makaurau later this week, Nga Manukura o Apopo, will help develop those leadership skills.

“If you have more Maori in leadership positions they are more likely to have some influence about the way that systems work, the way we desing the care we give and supporting the workforce as well, and because we have more Maori in nursing and midwifery positions, that was thought to be a good place to start,” Ms Campbell says.

Other health disciplines will hold similar programmes.

COMPUTER GAMES TACKLE ADOLESCENT DEPRESSION

Maori-designed computer games could help young people fighting clinical depression.

Developer Maru Nihoniho and kaumatua Rawiri Wharumate have been working with Sally Merry from Auckland University to develop high-tech therapies.

At the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists congress in Auckland yesterday, Professor Merry unveiled an online fantasy game, Spark, and a mobile phone game, Memo Positive Space, which features four teenage characters and a dog.

She says by talking to young people the developers found they preferred a Bro’town look to the animation, so one of the Bro’town animators helped create the characters.

Professor Merry says 22 percent of Maori girls are likely to suffer depression in the high risk years between 15 and 18, compared with 15 percent of non-Maori girls.