Nanny Pita takes smoking credit

Those Maori who’ve managed to give up smoking since last week’s tax hike may want to give thanks to the nanny state.

The term was widely used by National before the last election to attack Labour government policies.

But Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples says the Maori Party isn’t afraid to intervene to improve people’s lives, and smoking is an area that affects a disproportionate number of Maori.

“There is always that nanny state sort of idea behind something when you push it but I want people to know the Maori Party has always been very strong about that. We haven’t all been smokers in the past. I know I have. I’m not sure about the others. So we’ve taken that stand now, this is our fourth, fifth year, we’re carrying on with that stand,” he says.

Dr Sharples accepts there is a risk some addicts may spend money on tobacco rather than making sure their children are fed properly.

KAUMATUA DRAWN INTO HEALTH AND WELFARE SERVICE

A new marae-based health service in south Auckland aims to use the marae’s kaumatua and kuia to help families in difficulty.

Manurewa Marae last week opened its new whare oranga or clinic in a joint venture with Counties Manukau Health.

Marae deputy chair Alec Tairua says it’s part of a wider service, Te Rau Korowai, which will use the practical experience of older residents.

“We have kuia, kaumatua that can go to homes and help these whanau that are struggling not only in health but finance wise, abuse, all those sort of things,” Mr Tairua says.

WEALTH OF GAMES STILL TO BE FOUND

A teacher who is reviving old Maori games says there is a wealth of pastimes to be rediscovered.

Harko Brown says space restrictions meant his first book, Nga Taonga Taakaro, contained only 20 activities, including the ball game ki a rahi.

He’s working on a comprehensive follow-up, drawing on 30 years of interviews with his own relatives and with kaumatua from around the country.

“A lot more information can be put in, whakapapa related to the game. I think a lot of people looking for the sources, and building that themselves by being able to whakapapa to the areas that release the knowledge and information,” Mr Brown says.

His interest in old games was sparked as a child talking to his six uncles who had served in the Maori Battalion.

MAORI A HURDLE TO OPENING MINING FLOODGATES

Greens’ leader Meteria Turei says the government’s decision to extend submissions on mining conservation land is a victory for Maori.

Ms Turei says the obligation to consult with Maori on aspects of resource management has been written into law … and it looks like the government initially overlooked that obligation.

She says that’s why it’s important iwi and individual Maori make their views known by the end of May.

“They know that they haven’t talked with Maori enough. Government hasn’t properly consulted with any iwi about what their real plans are and that has shut Maori out of the decision-making process of being aware of what the Government’s genuine plan is, so that process is going on now because the Government realises they have made a really big mistake,” Ms Turei says.

She was heartened to see so many Maori including representatives of Coromandel iwi taking part in Saturday’s anti-mining march down Auckland’s Queen St.

TOBACCO INDUSTRY CURSED FOR CUSTOMER DISDAIN

A leading tohunga has taken the anti-smoking campaign to a new level by putting a curse on tobacco manufacturers.

Amster Reedy from Ngati Porou has served as a cultural advisor to many groups, including the New Zealand team to the Beijing Olympics.

He unleashed the makutu in response to industry submissions to the Maori Affairs select committee inquiry into tobacco.

Mr Reedy says industry representatives seemed to be saying they reserve the right to sell their drug to the poor, black and the stupid.

“To me that was a slight to Maori. There’s nothing worse than not seeing how we could reply and the traditional Maori response would be the one I adopted which was to look up an old chant and send it on its way,” Mr Reedy says.

He says the makutu is a potent tool for change from traditional Maori culture which should not be ignored.

HARP WITH KOAUA IN MEMORY OF ARAWA HISTORIAN

A taonga puoro player is keen to take a composition written for the late historian Don Stafford out on the international festival circuit.

Horomono Horo played Legends of Rotorua by English composer Paul Lewis at two concerts with the Rotorua Chamber Ensemble at the city's Museum of Art and History.

It draws on the story collected by Mr Stafford of Te Arawa ancestor Ihenga and the patupaiarehe fairy people of Ngongotaha.

Mr Horo says it was a great to play traditional Maori instruments alongside the ensemble's harp, violin and cello.

“It's been a wonderful journey collaborating taonga puoro with the different genres, not only from New Zealand or from the different point of view but also from the western world and contemporary music’s,” Mr Horo says.

He will also perform at the New Zealand Pavilion during the Shanghai World Expo.

Turia defends whanau ora from Peters’ race attack

Tariana Turia is accusing New Zealand First leader Winston Peters of playing the race card with his weekend attack on her whanau ora policy.

At a public meeting in Tauranga, Mr Peters said using Maori providers to deliver social services was separatist and opened the door to back-handers and nepotism.

Mrs Turia, the associate minister of social development, says as a former minister Mr Peters knows Maori health providers have received government funding since 1993 ... and whanau ora merely streamlines the process.

“For Winston to turn around and make out that what’s going on is somehow denial of everybody else, he misses completely the point and whanau ora will provide a new way forward, and if Winston gets back into Parliament, he better get used to it,” Mrs Turia says.

She says most New Zealanders want better results from the billions in health and social spending, and whanau ora can provide those results.

MINERALS SOUGHT WITH HAURAKI SETTLEMENT

Hauraki iwi says their treaty settlement must include not only conservation land on the Coromandel peninsula but all the minerals underneath that land.

Paul Majurey from the Marutauhu confederation says the government's plans to open up parts of the peninsula to mining can't be divorced from the settlement negotiations.

He says recent Crown agreements in principle with other iwi have shown conservation land is not off the table as far as settlements are concerned.

“Our people have called for the land to come back, so if the land comes back then all those resources that go with it are what is being sought as well,” Mr Majurey says.

He is looking forward to talking with the government on this subject.

POOR PREPARATION LETS DOWN MAORI TERTIARY STUDENTS

The latest findings from Auckland University's long running Starpath research project shows most Maori students from low decile schools aren't properly prepared for university.

Director Liz McKinley says as a result their chances of success are lower than non-Maori.

She says many stumble with external exams, because at high school they tended to choose internal assessment.

“Many students who did not have the experience of have a lot of experience in sitting external exams at school suddenly found the external exams they were made to sit at university quite difficult to manage, almost as if they weren’t practised or skilled enough in approaching examination type conditions,” Dr McKinley says.

Maori students need good advice from early on about which subjects will better prepare them for university.

FISHFISH BETTER THAN SHELLFISH FOR AQUACULTURE COMPO

Salmon rather than shellfish are likely to be the focus of future Maori investment in aquaculture.

Parliament last week passed the Maori Commercial Aquaculture settlement, under which South Island and Hauraki iwi share $97 million.

Richard Bradley from Marlborough based Rangitane says the negotiation process involved a thorough analysis of the state of the industry, and it's clear from the price difference in water space that the future is in finfish rather than mussels.

“NIWA's been doing a lot of research around finfish and of course a lot of people are telling us it’s too early yet. When I hear that I know they’re in there and don’t necessarily want us there. The key part now is Maori are cashed up and want to invest in the top part of aquaculture, not just in contract gangs to open shellfish,” Mr Bradley says.

Aquaculture was on the agenda at today's Treaty Tribes Coalition Maori Fisheries Conference in Napier, along with a presentation on whaling by Dan Goodman from the Cetacian Research Institute in Tokyo.

ELIMINATION OF CARIES AIM OF DENTAL STUDY

The lead researcher for a 5-year study on how caries in early childhood affect long term Maori health patterns says his aim is to eliminate dental decay.

John Broughton from the Ngai Tahu Maori Health Unit at Otago University will work with Te Raukura Hauora O Tainui to track pregnant women and their offspring and monitor their dental health.

He says the $2 million project, funded through the International Collaborative Indigenous Health Research Partnership, should make a difference.

“The thing about oral disease, it’s all preventable, and there’s no reason with young children, why as they grow and develop and maybe get secondary teeth, they can go right through life without getting a filling in their mouth, and that’s the aim,” Dr Broughton says.

KAPA HAKA NEEDING EXPERIENCE TO CREATE NEW TEAMS

The head of the Wellington Maori Cultural Society says kapa haka from the region are disadvantaged by entry rules for the national Te Matatini competition.

Hema Temara says Pukeahu, which placed third at the Whanganui a Tara regionals on Saturday, was of national standard.

But because only seven teams competed, only winners Tu Te Maungaroa and runners up Nga Taonga Mai Tawhiti are off to Gisborne.

Mrs Temara says more rangatahi want to join roopu than there are places, and the region needs experienced tutors of the calibre of Auckland's Bub Wehi and Pita Sharples to form new groups.

Style clash means Vitali not so vital

The chair of Auckland Museum's taumata says chief executive Vanda Vitali had outlasted her usefulness to the institution.

Dr Vitali has resigned after a break down in relations with the museum's governing board.

Martin Mariassouce says the taumata, which advises on how taonga Maori should be stored and presented, found the Canadian to be a forthright advocate for her opinion.

He says Dr Vitali was brought in three years ago against a background of the museum's funders wanting to cut spending in the wake of a successful rebuilding programme.

“There needed to be a shift and I guess at that time Vanda was probably the right person to create those shifts. There was a style that was useful for probably a good six months but I don’t think the style changed so personal reflection, I think there was a style clash between the trust board and its chief executive and therein lies the tension,” Mr Mariassouce says.

He hopes the museum's future leader will have an Aotearoa flavour with Maori aspirations, but the choice could be complicated by changes in the museum's governance brought about by the shift to a super city.

MAORI PARTY GOES JONES OVER RACE SPEECH SLAGGING

Maori Party MP Rahui Katene is demanding Labour's Shane Jones resign for his criticism of Pita Sharples race relations day speech yesterday.

Mr Jones attacked the Maori Party co-leader's suggestion one man one vote was not the best model of democracy for the Auckland super city.

Mrs Katene says as a list MP Mr Jones is the beneficiary of a two vote system.

“If Shane doesn’t like the idea of one person two votes then he should resign. It’s being hypocritical if he doesn't,” she says.

But Shane Jones says he has no intention of resigning.

He says Dr Sharples weakened the case for Maori representation on the super city by pushing for a tribally-based mana whenua model, rather than using the Maori roll ... and he's now whining because he got rolled by ACT's Rodney Hide.

“The democratic system cannot and will not absorb special places in the voting system for people on the basis of the tribe they belong to. All Maori ought to be entitled to be on the Maori seats and vote. And that was the case in the super city model we proposed – two seats based on the Maori roll so you had a very inclusive approach. I don’t like this business that the mana whenua have a special seat,” Mr Jones says.

He says Rahui Katene is making giant leaps of logic backwards.

POWER TRIP AT UN CREATES DIVERSION FROM QUESTION

A lawyer acting for Ruatoki residents says Justice Minister Simon Power used misdirection to avoid proper scrutiny of police actions in the Operation Eight terror raid on Ruatoki in 2007.

Mr Power told the United Nations Human Rights Committee review of New Zealand that the charges involved intent to commit violent actions toward creating a sense of terror among the citizens of New Zealand.

Eighteen people face a variety of weapons charges, but Peter Williams QC says the solicitor general ruled out charges under the Suppression of Terrorism Act because of lack of evidence.

He says the complaint to the UN committee was not about those arrested but about Tuhoe people caught up in the raid.

“The real grievances that I am talking about are the peaceful law abiding people when there was a large contingent of heavily armed police that went through their town, searched premises and unlawfully detained people while those searches were being carried out,” Mr Williams says.

He fears Simon Power will use hysteria over the terror raids to legalise the illegal methods the police used in Operation Eight.

COROMANDEL MINING COULD CONFLICT WITH SETTLEMENT

Government plans to open conservation land in the Coromandel to mining could conflict with treaty claims.

Leanne Ngamane, the Hauraki Trust Board's resource manager, says more than 70 percent of the land the iwi is claiming is owned by the Department of Conservation.

“It is ironic that those stewardship by lands that perhaps may be targeted by the government in relation to mining may also be the same lands that may actually be when we come out of negotiations be available for treaty settlements,” Mrs Ngamane says.

While Maori in the area have been opposed to gold mining in the past, some whanau do have mining interests so the board will be have to weigh any proposals carefully.

MAORI BOYS SUBJECT OF RESOURCE TEACHERS’ HUI

Resource teachers are meeting in Wainuiomata this week to look at ways to lift the achievement of Maori boys at both kura and mainstream schools.

Organiser Jakie West says the Resource Teachers Learning & Behaviour's Maori caucus Tama Tu Tama Ora hui will give the teachers a chance to share what works in their regions, and take on board the latest research.

She says teachers are tired of the negative statistics.

“Tama tu tama ora means boys standing strong, living well. That’s what we’re doing. We’re calling. He karanga tenei. This is a call not only for RTLB Maori but for Maori education professionals who want to do something about it,” Ms West says.