Whanau Ora sale bungled - Peters

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the Maori Party has mishandled the development of its whanau ora policy, and it's now unlikely to win the support it needs from either Maori or government.

Associate social development minister Tariana Turia last week received a report from the Whanau Ora Taskforce led by Sir Mason Durie on streamlining delivery of services to struggling Maori families.

But she won't make the report public until Cabinet has considered its recommendations, and Prime Minister John Key is now saying whanau ora must be for all families.

Mr Peters says when he wanted to make major changes in the Maori affairs portfolio in the early 1990s, he didn't give his Cabinet colleagues a chance to rewrite his Ka Awatea policy.

“I went to the Maori people and said here are the details, tell me what you think, it’s been written in consultation widely with you, if you are in and signed up let’s go, if not, let’s not waste anyone else’s time. Then I went to Cabinet. But now, with Whanau Ora, no one in Maoridom knows what's going on,” Mr Peters says.

He says there are arguments for creating Maori-specific service delivery systems, but not for Mr Key's one size fits all approach.

WHANAU ORA CONFUSION COULD STRANGLE POLICY AT BIRTH

Meanwhile, Greens co-leader Metiria Turei says the confusion around whanau ora doesn't bode well for what could be a very good programme.

She says the Greens will support programmes by Maori for Maori and anything that reduces inequality and poverty.

But all it's hearing is confusion about how the policy will be funded or delivered.

“This could mean existing services not getting access to funding, those with a track record losing access to their funding, that their won’t be any new money put into it,” Ms Turei says.

There are concerns that public money for whanau ora could go to private for profit service providers rather than the community sector that has a history of supporting whanua.

ATAMIRA SHOWCASES YOUNGER DANCERS

Maori Dance company Atamira is kicking off the year with a showcase of works by its younger dancers and choreographers.

The performance is on the first weekend of March at the Corban Estate in Henderson.

Executive director Moss Patterson says Hou will introduce dance audiences to newcomers like Gaby Thomas and Nancy Wijohn, who use contemporary dance to explore their whakapapa and identity in urban Auckland.

“So really exciting ideas about hw modern dance, contemporary dance and theatre can be used to tell stories of the past and really that’s what Atamira Dance Company is about. It’s about drawing the stories of our tupuna, letting them come through our bodies, letting our bodies be the conduit for those stories and putting them out on to the stage,” Mr Patterson says.

New funding from Creative New Zealand means Atamira can run a full programme of performances this year.

WHANAU ORA A HIGHER TRUST MODEL

The Prime Minister says the Whanau Ora programme is about trusting Maori and other families to take greater care of themselves.

Details of the new service delivery model are yet to emerge, but John Key last week told Parliament the Maori Party initiative will apply to all New Zealanders in need.

He says much of the $20 million spent every day on social welfare is ineffective because government departments don't co-ordinate their activities.

Mr Key says Whanau Ora will move money into the community where families will be expected to take greater responsibility for themselves.

“They have to have their own plan. They have to be ambitious themselves. They have to take some responsibility for themselves and it’s a higher trust model from the state,” Mr Key says.

In some cases that could mean reconnecting Maori families with their iwi.

MAORI PARTY ENDORSES ACT REWRITE OF EDUCATION CHOICE

The Maori Party says it wants to see choice in education for Maori parents and children.

Education spokesperson Te Ururoa Flavell was part of an Inter-Party Working Group that recommended the top five percent and bottom 20 percent of pupils should be able to switch schools.

He says the group, which was set up as part of ACT's confidence and supply agreement with the National Party, visited a wide range of schools, kura and teacher training colleges in compiling its report for Education Minister Anne Tolley.

“The whole kaupapa was about choice. Some people might equate that with vouchers. I didn’t necessarily by itself but the whole notion about choice is something that I believe needs to be given some consideration in particular around the under-achievement of a certain percentage of our children in the education system so we need to look at all options,” Mr Flavell says.

It's not acceptable that Maori students are more likely than non-Maori to leave school without qualifications.

TAI MAORI WELCOMES DEMISE OF RIVAL TE WAKA TOI

Arts body Toi Maori is looking forward to a smoother funding relationship with the restructuring of Creative New Zealand.

Arts and Heritage Minister Chris Finlayson intends to scrap the separate Maori funding board, Te Waka Toi, and instead have four people with knowledge of Maori arts on a new 13-member arts council.

Garry Nicholas, the chief executive of Toi Maori, says the artists' organisation often found itself competing with Te Waka Toi.

“The Maori staff are still in place which is one of the concerns we had with the proposed changes and we would hope that strengthens so the officers do work directly with organisations like Tai Maori and we can assist them much mire cleanly than the previous structure offered us,” Mr Nicholas says.

The new arts council needs to align its funding more with where artists see their arts going.

Whanau ora dilution upsetting Maori Party

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples is unhappy the Prime Minister wants to open up the party's flagship Whanau Ora programmes to all.

John Key told Parliament last week his Government will ensure Whanau Ora is available to all New Zealanders who are in need.

Dr Sharples, the Minister of Maori Affairs, says his aim is to shift service delivery from government agencies to the community.

He says it's about tackling specific and long-standing problems which lead to Maori over-representation in negative health, crime and unemployment statistics.

“I am waiting for a courageous government to say ‘gosh these Maori folk are missing out here there and there so we’re putting this programme in and it will be a bit of equity’ to the situation at the end of the day but there is this fear of votes I suppose and the general public seeing it as positive discrimination,” Dr Sharples says.

He says there is nothing privileged about 60 percent of Maori being on low wages or about living in over crowded conditions.

NGATI WHATUA KEEN TO WIN SUPPORT FOR SETTLEMENT

Auckland hapu Ngati Whatua o Orakei will go back to its members over the next few weeks to win support for the amended agreement in principle signed on Maungakiekie-One Tree Hill last Friday.

An earlier agreement was set aside so other Tamaki Makaurau iwi could participate in a collective settlement.

Spokesperson Ngarimu Blair says the Ngati Whatua trust board believes the Crown has made its best offer, and the tribe's 6000 members now need to weigh up the trade offs.

These include shared ownership of at least 11 Auckland volcanic cones, instead of three, and shared ownership of some commercial assets.

“There's a huge economic oportunity in there for us. Previously it was just a right of first refusal over central Auckland. Now that whole geographical area is widened from Miranda to Port Waikato to Muriwai to Long Bay, so for us who have a lot of experience in property acquisition and development, it’s pretty exciting for us,” Mr Blair says.

Ngati Whatua also gets $18 million in redress.

MINERALS FIGHT STILL WAITING UNDERGROUND

Lawyer Moana Jackson says government is picking a major fight with Maori if it opens up conservation land to mining.

Prime Minister John Key signaled the policy in last week's statement to Parliament.

Mr Jackson says the Crown only owns the minerals because it passed a law saying so.

“Maori have always believed if you are tangata whenua your authority extends not just to the top of the whenua but everything under the whenua. It’s not a question of Maori rights being recognised. It’s a question of a title to the resources being something that Maori have always recognized,” Mr Jackson says.

He says it's telling the Government will open up conservation land to mining companies, but exclude it from treaty settlements.

PRESSURE ON TO COMPLETE SETTLEMENTS BY YEAR END

The Treaty Negotiations Minister wants this to be the year of the deed for Auckland iwi.

Chris Finlayson was in Tamaki Makaurau on Friday to sign a framework agreement with 12 iwi and hapu for joint ownership of volcanic cones and other regional assets, and agreements in principal to settle the remaining Ngati Whatua o Orakei and Kawerau a Maki claims.

He says the Crown needs to maintain the momentum built up over the past year by negotiator Michael Dreaver from the Office of Treaty Settlements and facilitator Sir Douglas Graham.

“I'd be very ambitious to complete deeds of settlement here in time for the new city. I mentioned that to some of the OTS staff and got rather glacial looks, but I’m keen to get deeds of settlement signed up as quickly as possible,” Mr Finlayson says.

PONEKE IWI OFFER WORLD CUP MANAAKITANGA

Poneke iwi say their wharewaka or canoe house being built on Wellington's waterfront will be the ideal entertainment centre for the Rugby World Cup.

The $11 million building across the road from the Cake tin stadium will include cafes, exhibition and function areas capable of hosting up to 1200 people.

Sir Ngatata Love, the chair of the Wharewaka o Poneke Charitable Trust, says it will give tangata whenua the opportunity to enjoy and benefit from the cup.

“It's going to be great that we will have our artists there, historical matters will be shown to visitors and also we’re looking for our people to bring in crafts that not only our visitors but Wellington people can see and enjoy,” Sir Ngatata says.

The trust starts an employment training course next month aimed at not just at staffing the wharewaka but at other World Cup related positions.

TAKI RUA SEEKING NEW TALENT FOR SCHOOLS PROGRAMME

Taki Rua is on the hunt for new talent for a season of school performances.

Marketing manager Keryn Jones says the Maori theatre company wants rangatahi over 17 with a commitment to te reo Maori.

The auditions, at the New Zealand Drama School Toi Whakaari in Wellington this Wednesday and Thursday nights and Auckland's Tatai Te Hono Marae on Sunday, are without a dedicated production in mind.

That's because it wants to encourage the actors to workshop and develop pieces to suit Taki Rua's audience.

“We'll get the actors we’ll get the directors together, they’ll have a workshop and work with two to three schools round Wellington. They’ll explore different ideas that are of interest to those schools, that come from a young person’s perspective. We’ve had a lot of great plays and it’s worked for us in the past but there’s always room for improvement,” Ms Jones says.

Through its schools programme Taki Rua has inspired many young Maori to take up acting, including Shortland Street's Kingi, or Te Kohi Tuhaka.

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.

Foreshore Act replacement takes shape

Iwi leaders are happy with progress made on replacing the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

The Iwi Leaders Forum met at Waitangi with Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson to discuss how work being done by Crown officials and forum advisers would translate into action.

Ngapuhi chair Sonny Tau says Mr Finlayson assured them the act would be repealed as soon as an alternative was ready, and the Crown would no longer insist it owned foreshore land until proven otherwise.

"Section 13 will be removed, that’s the ownership by the Crown, and the new Foreshore and Seabed legislation will contain a clause that gives the mana of the iwi status and that in terms of its management the Crown is happy to share that management,” Mr Tau says.

Maori will be able to go back to court to pursue their foreshore claims.

MOANA JACKSON PICKED TO HEAD IWI CONSTITUTION WORK

Meanwhile The Iwi Leaders Forum has established a working group to look at constitutional change, ahead of an official exercise run by the Government.

The Maori Party was promised a constitutional review as part of its support agreement with National.

But working group head Moana Jackson from Ngati Kahungunu says any terms of reference for such a review would be limited by the Crown’s views of its own power.

He says for Maori, everything starts from the Maori version of the Treaty of Waitangi.

“The view that I take is whatever constitution is established in this country is subject to Te Tiriti rather than Te Tiriti being subject to any constitution, which is what the Crown has tried to do for 160 years, so a Maori constitutional review would start from a different place,” Mr Jackson says.

The working group will talk with Maori around the country and draw together some of the work done by earlier generations.

NGATI AWA KEEN ON IWI INPUT TO LONG TERM PLAN

Ngati Awa has launched a campaign for iwi members to have a say in the future direction for the Bay of Plenty iwi.

Spokesman William Stewart says Ko Ngati Awa Te Toki was officially launched on Saturday, Waitangi day, and aims to make contact with tribal members worldwide using social networking web sites to create a collective vision for 2050.

He says the month long campaign is important to ensure a unified approach to tribal development over the next 40 years.

FORESHORE AND SEABED ROWN BASED ON FALSITIES

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says debate over the Foreshore and Seabed Act has descended into farce.

The Ngati Wai kaumatua was on the paepae on Friday when the Government was welcomed to Te Tii Marae.

During the welcome, Taitokerau MP Hone Harawira described the Foreshore and Seabed Act as a gigantic land grab that needed to be reversed, and Prime Minister John Key warned the Act could be left in place if Maori were unwilling to compromise.

Mr Peters says the exchange on the marae was a reminder of the danger of making promises that can’t be kept.

“The reality is if no land was taken after Foreshore and Seabed Act passed, if not one inch of land was taken from anyone or passed from anyone’s hands into anyone else’s hands, what on earth is Hone and the Maori Party talking about? It’s a great lie, a great fiction, which Mr Key thought he could accommodate. Now he’s finding what a farce this is,” Mr Peters says.

He says whatever the Government comes up with to replace the Foreshore and Seabed Act, the Maori Party and its supporters are likely to be disappointed because they have such unrealistic expectations.

WARNING GIVEN ON TONGAN HIKOI REPEAT

Meanwhile a Maniapoto man who encouraged hundreds of Pacific Islanders to go to Waitangi in the hope of getting residency has been warned against a repeat performance.

Gerard Otimi was at the head of a group of about 100 Tongans and Samoans who went on to Te Tii Marae on Friday, telling them just before going on that if questioned by media, they were to say they were there to celebrate the treaty.

When the Labour Party was welcomed later in the day, Waitangi kaimatua Kingi Taurua said his explanations of marae protocol seemed to have been misinterpreted as a promise to adopt people into the tribe so they could stay in New Zealand.

But Northland-based list MP Shane Jones said the misinterpretation seemed deliberate.

“Tongans, greetings. To all the Maoris bringing the Tongans here, our eyes are on you. Do not use the name of Ngapuhi, do not use this marae, and never use the Treaty of Waitangi to either mislead or bring expectations among our Pacific brethren that you will not be able to deliver. That is not the kaupapa of this day,” Mr Jones says.

KAINGA WHENUA COULD LEAD TO RURAL MARAE REPOPULATION

A co-ordinator of Maori economic development projects in many parts of the country Willie Te Aho says the government's latest housing initiative will let many Maori return their rural marae.

Mr Te Aho says the initiative under which the government will guarantee Kiwibank loans for Maori to build on multiple owned land is most welcome.

“A lot of our Maori people who drifted into urban areas are now looking at how to get back to their bases, the baby boomers and that, so this creates an opportunity for them,” Mr Te Aho says.

It will not only allow more Maori to build on land around marae but on any multiple owned land.