Poutama Trust celebrates business development

The Poutama Trust celebrates its 21st anniversary today.

The trust was one of the initiatives that came out of the 1984 Hui Taumata, acting as an initial source of advice and support for Maori seeking funding from the Maori Development Corporation.

Once the MDC folded it refocused itself on providing advice to small and medium size Maori businesses.

Chief executive Richard Jones from Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Whakaue and Ngati Pikiao says it has has helped dozens of businesses get started.

He says Maori entrepreneurs are better prepared than when he started 15 years ago, and far more likely to have a professional business plan.

Tonight's celebration is at an innovative Auckland Maori business the trust has worked with, the Big Picture Wine Adventure.

PROFESSIONAL APPROACH ENDEARS MAORI PARTY TO SMITH

Environment Minister Nick Smith is praising the Maori Party for helping National get changes to the emissions trading scheme through parliament.

Dr Smith says while every private discussion he had with Labour on the ETS appeared in the media the next day, the Maori Party MPs conducted themselves impeccably throughout their talks.

“The Maori MPs conducted themselves with total integrity. Yes they bargained hard, yes they had issues they felt strongly about but there was an integrity and a mana there that I think too many in the media in the broader community underestimate,” Dr Smith says.

Without Maori Party support, National would have had to do a deal with ACT and action on climate change would probably have been deferred for a year.

MAORI BETRAYED BY ETS – HOROMIA

Meanwhile, Tairawhiti MP Parekura Horomia says the Maori Party has betrayed its supporters by voting for the bill.

The former Minister of Maori Affairs says it failed to tell the public where the money for the scheme will come from.

“When you put up $110 billion over a short time, it’s things like health, education, and you can already see tinges of that now, things being clawed back, and that's the issue,” Mr Horomia says.

In her newsletter to supporters yesterday, Maori Party MP Rahui Katene said the party still preferred a carbon tax, but accepted the reality that there would be an emissions trading scheme which the public would pay for through either higher taxes or higher prices.

POU OF ANGLICAN CHURCH JANE MARSDEN DIES

A stalwart of the Maori Anglican church and pou of Ngati Kuri and Ngai Takoto from the far North has died.

Jane Marsden was the widow of the late Reverend Maori Marsden, and worked alongside him at Maori missions throughout the country.

MP Shane Jones says his aunt was a gutsy women who gave a lot of support to young people, especially those who got involved in land claims.

“Jane and her husband worked tirelessly to see the establishment of the Pihopatanga which is the Maori Anglican church with its own bishop. She was a tireless campaigner alongside Sir King Ihaka, Bishop Vercoe, Bishop Bennett, she goes right back to the days of Bishop Panapa. Embodied in her really was an entire history, starting from the missionaries in the far north, of Maori involvement or dare I say entanglement with the Anglican church,” Mr Jones says.

Jane Marsden is being taken back to Maemaru Marae at Awanui.

Haere atu ra e te whaea, ki taha o nga tupuna, ki reira oki oki ai.

CONTEST ORGANISERS REFUSE TO CENSURE TOBACCO BARONS

Organisers of tonight's best practice workplace awards have refused to withdraw the nomination of tobacco giant British American Tobacco despite protests from Maori and other anti-smoking organisations.

Te Reo Marama says the company contributes to the deaths of 600 Maori a year.

John Robinson from organisers JRA says nominations come from staff within companies, and it would not be appropriate for JRA, a management consultancy, to exclude nominations for ethical reasons.

John Robinson says he's a non-smoker.

OUTRIGGER FIND ELEVATES SIGNIFICANCE OF PAPANUI SITE

The kaitiakitanga of Papanui inlet on the Otago Pensinsula wants the area recognised as a site of national significance after the discovery of an extremely rare outrigger from a pre-European waka.

Hoani Langsbury, the manager of the Otakou runanga, says a series of archeological digs were undertaken says the discovery two years ago of Koiwi and other objects which were more than more than 200 years old.

This led to the unearthing of an eroding oval wooden structure which has now been confirmed as being made from both local totara and adzed timber from elsewhere.

“One of them is associated with a waka outrigger of which there has only ever been two other finds in New Zealand so indications are this site is of national significance,” Mr Langsbury says.

The runanga will meet Historic Places Trust and DOC representatives next month about the finds.

Goff slams iwi forum as selfish

Labour is accusing the Climate Change Iwi Leadership Forum of buying into pork barrel politics with its support of the Government's emissions trading scheme.

Leader Phil Goff says the changes going through parliament this week with the support of the Maori Party will benefit a few large iwi corporates.

Forum chair Api Mahuika says the scheme is far better than the one passed by the Labour government.

But Mr Goff says at the deal is at the expense of taxpayers.

“If you are only looking at the narrow pork barrel politics of your own business and not the overall well being of the community, Maori and Pakeha, you’re not worried about the taxpayer who’s paying for it and you’re not worried about the legal opinions that are ignored to suit a dirty political deal, then you might say that,” Mr Goff says.

He says the scheme is not sustainable and a future Labour Government will repeal it.

CHANCE TO OFFSET LIABILITIES FROM MAORI FOREST SECTOR

But an adviser to the Climate Change Iwi Leadership Forum says it's a great opportunity to offset the liabilities which would have owners of pre-1990 forestry land.

Willie te Aho says the five iwi covered in the deal going through this week we facing the prospect of their treaty settlements forests plummeting in value without the change.

He says the forum is continuing to work on a system to allow other pre-1990 forest owners to plant forests on conservation land.

This will take account of the fact the Kyoto regime requires landowners to pay if they don't replant the same blocks.

“It's basically saying that we will grow carbon on Crown land without the cost of leasing the land and we will use that profit to offset the cost of deforesting lands on other pre-1990 (forests) so it’s about creating a fund that can offset the costs of deforesting pre-1990 forest lands,” Willie te Aho says.

Maori own about 70 percent of pre-1990 production forests.

WHITE RIBBONS MESSAGE AGAINST VIOLENCE

If you see white ribbons around today, that's a call for men to end violence against women.

Child advocacy group Te Kahui Mana Ririki is hosting a men's breakfast at St Johns Theological College in Auckland to highlight the challenge in Maori communities.

Spokesperson Anton Blank says campaigns like It's Not Okay are changing attitudes, but there is a long way to go, with rates of violence again Maori women still far too high.

“Maori women are seven times as likely to be hospitalised as a result of being battered than other groups of women but what’s good to see is we have an emerging group of men who are taking responsibility for this issue and figuring out how to work with other men to achieve those changes,” Mr Blank says.

Speakers at this morning's breakfast include It's Not Okay frontman Alfred Ngaro and Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand.

FOREST OFFSET DEAL COULD WIDEN

Iwi leaders have thrown an olive branch to other forestry owners left out of the Government's emissions trading scheme.

The deal struck between National and the Maori Party this week will allow five iwi whose settlements included pre-1990 forests to plant trees on DOC land and collect the carbon credits.

Willie Te Aho from the Climate Change Iwi Leadership Group says the next step is to provide a framework for other Maori landowners with pre-1990 forests to also plant on DoC land.

He says that could be extended to other forest owners.

“I've been approaching other pre-1990 exotic forest landowning groups to see how we can work together. Ultimately by the time this gets to Cabinet in February we want to see a wider approach if possible but the discussions are just beginning,” Mr Te Aho says.

He met yesterday with the Forest Owners Association, which had branded the iwi deal as unjust, and he'll be meeting its chairman again later in the week.

QUINN UPSET ELECTORATE WORKSHOP CHECKED FOR RULE BREACH

A National list MP has hit out at one of the country's most senior department heads for investigating him for breaching parliament's rules.

Ministry of Social Development chief executive Peter Hughes Is investigating a complaint from Labour MP Grant Robertson that Paul Quinn was using Work and Income to promote National Party policies.

Mr Quinn from Ngati Awa says he invited business leaders and community groups in the Hutt South electorate to a workshop to address the needs of young Maori unemployed.

He says by issuing public statements, Mr Hughes is giving legs to false accusations.

“What I find concerning is that Grant Robinson (sic) has been given a lot of wasted airtime because very senior public servants have given him some credence in his allegations,” Mr Quinn says.

He says the workshop was the sort of thing MPs should be supporting.

YOUNG SAILOR SETTING SUMMER ASIDE FOR LASER FOCUS

A top young Maori sailor from Te Teko leaves for Australia today for two months of competition.

Sixteen year old Rawiri Geddes from Ngati Awa and Ngaitai won last year's national winter champs in the laser radial class, and last Labour weekend took top honours in the open laser division in the Bay of Islands regatta.

He is set to race in the Australia Down under series in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and the Laser Open in Adelaide in before returning for the New Zealand Nationals off Timaru.

He says many rangatahi are put off by because they think it's an expensive sport, but it doesn't have to be.

He started sailing in club boats and borrowed boats, and only got his own boat last year.

Rawiri Geddes says his ambition is to race for New Zealand in an America's Cup.

Dame Kiri in the business of opera

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will tonight be honoured as Auckland University's Maori Business Leader of the Year.

Awards organiser Manuka Henare says the awards are a way to celebrate Maori achievement and point the way for the next generation.

He says opera singer's music talent is only one aspect of her 40 year distinguished international career, and she has also showed business acumen.

“Her business is the business of opera and classical music. We wanted to recognise her outstanding international achievements but also to her contribution to Aotearoa’s identity and culture internationally and thirdly the wonderful mentoring programme she has for young New Zealand singers and musicians,” Dr Henare says.

Dame Kiri is singing in Berlin tonight so can't be in Auckland to receive the award, but a small ceremony is planned for when she comes back to Aotearoa over the summer.

SCHOOLS NEED BUSINESS FOCUS ON ASIAN POTENTIAL

Meanwhile, the Asia New Zealand Foundation says Maori business stands to gain from an increased focus on Asian culture in New Zealand schools.

Director Richard Grant says while Asians make up about 10 percent of new Zealand's population now, that figure is expected to grow to around 16 percent by 2025.

He says New Zealand will rely heavily on trade with the region, and it makes sense for children to learn more about their future trading partners while at school.

Dr Grant says that also applies to the growing Maori stake in the economy.

“Now but also more so in the future their critical export markets are going to be probably around the Asian rim. These companies are going to need people who work for them, who are in the export business in product specification, in marketing, I communication, who feel confident about dealing with the various economies of Asia,” Dr Grant says.

SAFE HOUSE TO GET VIOLENT MEN OUT OF HOME

The phone at Tairawhiti Men against Violence has been running hot since news broke it was setting up a safe house for men in violent domestic situations.

Spokesperson Tim Marshall says the informal group, 75 percent of whom are Maori, was set up three years ago in response to three high profile domestic related murders in the region.

He says with the support of Gisborne women's refuge in Gisborne, from the new year a donated house will be used as temporary accommodation for men caught up in domestic violence.

“Instead of when the police turn up at a house and uplift a whole lot of children and take them away, and often in the middle of the night, wouldn’t it be easier to take the one person away and he could have somewhere else to stay for a couple of nights or however long it took. Still go to work the next day, still support the whanau, but then negotiate a safe way back,” Mr Marshall says.

Tairawhit Men Against Violence is also planning a resource centre to help men become better husbands, partners and fathers.

LAUREATE IHIMAERA LOOKING FORWARD TO FERTILE ACTIVITY

One of the country's newest Arts Foundation Laureates says his best work is yet to come.

Writer Witi Ihimaera from Ngati Porou and Te Aitanga a Mahaki was one of five people honoured last night.

Also receiving the $50,000 award were carver Lyonel Grant from Ngati Pikiao, taonga puoro revialist Richard Nunns, musician Chris Knox and photographer Anne Noble.

Mr Ihimaera, who was also made was made a Distinguished Companion in the New Zealand Order of Merit this year, says he sees it as recognition of the body of work he's built up since his first collection of short stories, 1972's Pounamu Pounamu.

“It's an honour to have that recognized, that longevity, but also to know the foundation wants to invest in all of our futures because there comes a time when you’re within that rank of artists and your best work is still to come and I think my best work is still to come and so I’ll be using this award to ensure that that happens,” Ihimaera says.

He's now looking forward to writing the next two books in the series that started with The Trowenna Sea, the controversial historical novel published this year.

GREENS SAYS CHEAP PRICE PAID FOR MAORI PARTY SUPPORT

The Greens say the Maori Party is selling its people short in accepting a deal to support National's emissions trading scheme.

Co-leader Meteria Turei says what's been offered would probably have happened anyway, such as the chance for some iwi to plant trees on conservation land and harvest the carbon credits.

She says ordinary Maori will pay higher taxes and higher fuel bills while National's farming and big business supporters get huge subsidies.

“National are getting a fabulous deal because they get to protect the business interests which they’ve always supported, get the Maori Party on side and get their legislation through. The losers are ordinary whanau who won’t get huge advantage out of the forestry deals, who don’t have huge political sway with the Maori Party or politics in general and who are going to have to deal with increased costs,” Ms Turei says.

She says the only way to protect whanau from the impact of the ETS is to make sure polluters pay.

NGATI PAOA BLOCKS DISPLAY OF FARMER’S FOSSICKED ARTIFACTS

Hauraki Maori want to stop fossickers taking sacred artefacts from their historic pa sites.

Glen Tupuhi, the Ngati Paoa representative on the Hauraki Maori Trust board, says that's behind his iwi's objection to a private museum near Kaiaua displaying taonga found at Rangipo on the Firth of Thames.

He says it's for Maori to decide their fate, not the farmers who have set up the museum.

“In former times our tupuna were having to cope with urbanisation, having to cope with all sorts of things. These things were very much fringe issues for Maori. But the whole landscape has changed now. For us as Maori, we are very concerned about these taonga. They belong to us and you cannot actually go out and say ‘hey look what I’ve found and I’ve got a collection,’” Mr Tupuhi says.

He says fossicking on pa sites is illegal and breaks wahi tapu.

Labour ETS attack brings in racial taunt

Green Party co-leader Meteria Turei has accused Labour's Phil Goff of playing the race card on changes to the emissions trading scheme.

Mr Goff claims the Government's negotiations to win support from the Maori Party for its plans means race-based legislation is in the offing.

The idea is some iwi who received forests in their treaty settlements would be given the right to plant trees on parts of the conservation estate and collect the carbon credits.

But Ms Turei says the there could be some merit in the proposal.

“It's not about being race based. It‘sa bout the value of those settlements and Labour can take some responsibility for issues around the valuation of settlements and themselves when they were in government. It’s a silly comment from Phil Goff and playing to the worst kind of politics,” Ms Turei says.

She says the forestry deal should have been part of the scheme anyway, and the Maori Party is selling its support cheaply and ignoring the long term interests of ordinary Maori.

FOSTERING REVIEW LOOKING IN WRONG PLACE FOR TROUBLE

A veteran Maori social worker says a review of foster care needs to take a Maori way of seeing the world.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has asked whether children placed with extended family are better off than those fostered outside the family, in light of high re-abuse rates for children in whanau care.

But Malcolm Peri, who was involved in the maatua whangai programmes of the 1980s which championed whanau-based care, says Ms Bennett's department has squeezed the kaupapa Maori aspects out of its work with children.

“I can't remember any real effort in the last 20 years the system has put in place to to strengthen Maori families from te ao Maori and I don’t think they give us credit for things Maori have progressed, for the families have been placed with families and have been healed,” Mr Peri says.

He says abandoning Maori programmes would mean going back to failed assimilation policies.

DAWN’S LIGHT SHINES ON HISTORICAL WAHAROA

A giant carving in the middle of Taupo is leaving townspeople and visitors awestruck.

The nine metre totara waharoa was commissioned from master carver Delaney Brown by Contact Energy to mark the 50th anniversary of the Wairakei geothermal power scheme.

Mayor Rick Cooper says more than 2000 people were on hand for the unveiling on Saturday morning, and watched at the first rays of the sun struck the sculpture.

The carving is a history of Ngati Tuwharetoa.

FIVE FEATURE IN ALUMNI AWARDS

A writer, a carver and a musician who rediscovered ancient Maori sounds are this evening joining the ranks of New Zealand's laureates.

Witi Ihimaera, Lyonel Grant and Richard Nunns are being honoured this evening at a ceremony in Auckland, along with musician Chris Knox and photographer Ann Noble.

Mr Ihimaera says it's an honour to join the select group of 49 who have been honoured by the privately-funded Arts Foundation’in its first decade.

“We've never really had that opportunity at all until the foundation came along and focused on that so for nine years or so they’ve been building this wonderful poutama or stairway of excellence on which they have placed us so from a Maori perspective I am very honoured to stand on that poutama,” Ihimaera says.

Even with 12 novels under his belt, he feels his best work is yet to come.

GRANT WILL USE GRANT TO WRITE TESTAMENT TO HOUSE

Another of the laureates, Lyonel Grant of Ngati Pikiao, says he's still getting over completing a new meeting house at Unitec, which has consumed all his energy for the past six years.

He also received an honorary doctorate from the west Auckland polytechnic this year.

Mr Grant says the laureate award, which comes with a no strings $50,000, gives him a chance to reflect on where he is at in his career, and possibly to write a book about Te Noho Kotahitanga.

“The reaction to the house has been such I feel walking away would be an injustice to the house and all that energy and time so I am going to go as hard as I can and write as much a I can in the next year or so and then get an over arching editor to make sense of it,” Mr Grant says.

COMMUNITIES TOLD ARTIST WHAT TO HEAR

A third laureate says it was the affirmation of Maori communites that allowed him to continue his investigations into traditional Maori instruments.

Richard Nunns worked with stone carver Brian Flintoff and the late Hirini Melbourne from Ngai Tuhoe to recreate taonga puora and work out how to play them.

He says because there was no one around to learn from, the trio asked the people if they were on the right track.

“We chose consciously from day one that we would take our work back to audit, back to affirmation or condemnation among the people themselves to marae after marae after marae and their affirmation is often tears, their affirmation is often wild excitement, their affirmation is a collegial argument going on in the wharenui late at night.

“That also taught us very quickly that Maori knowledge, traditional knowledge seems to be collegial. No one person knows it all and in fact it’s a wonderful protective system of sharing knowledge in a whole variety of ways so that you contribute part and also the people themselves, the hapu, the iwi the whanau are an organism, are a unit in themselves and the knowledge is protected in that way,” he says.

Richard Nunns, who has Parkinsons disease, says the money will help him move house and build a new studio so he can protect and record the instruments he has discovered over the years.

Maori Party finds reasons to support ETS

The Maori Party's environment spokesperson says Maori will be directly affected by any sea level rise caused by global warming.

National needs the party's votes to get its changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme through, after it failed to get select committee support for the bill.

Rahui Katene says the Maori Party is seeking concessions to protect Maori from flow on effects such as a energy price rises and restrictions on land use.

She says National's scheme is significantly better than Labour's, and doing nothing wasn't an option.

“A lot of our marae are built at sea level and even when they’re built a bit higher, with sea level coming higher, they’re going to be getting I guess you could call them refugees from the coast,” Mrs Katene says.

The legislation is on track to be passed before the United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen next month.

DIABETES HUGE RISK FOR MAORI

Trimmed down Maori entertainer Ruia Aperahama has joined the chorus urging Maori to get checked for diabetes.

The composer of the most played reo Maori song on iwi radio this year says years of eating the wrong foods has caught up with him, and he's made lifestyle changes to avoid the need for dialysis.

He says Maori make up a disproportionate number of the nearly 200 thousand New Zealanders who have undiagnosed diabetes, so it is vital they take time for check up.

Diabetes Awareness week starts tomorrow

MAORI CONTRIBUTION TO SOCCER JUST STARTING

The best ever Maori soccer player says Maori are poised to make a bigger contribution to New Zealand football than ever before.

Wynton Rufer from Ngati Porou was in Wellington on Saturday night to watch Rory Fallon, who also has whakapapa connections to the East Coast, land the goal that put Bahrain out and New Zealand in to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The Oceania player of the Century, who runs the Wyners Soccer Academy in Auckland, says with the right support Maori players can go all the way.

“The programmes have gt to be set up all round the country so we have a pathway going right through to professional football. You can see the kids that have come through our programme. We had a young Maori lad, he was on a three year scholarship to Japan, and there’s more of them there, so get them to give me a call,” Mr Rufer says.

Maori and Polynesian players featured prominently in the New Zealand squad for this year's under 17 World Cup and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

BARRETT LEGACY WILL BE LEGION OF MAORI DIPLOMATS

The country's most senior Maori diplomat, Tia Barrett, is lying in state at Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahi, where his Ngati Maniapoto and Tainui people are remembering his contributions to Maori and New Zealand.

Mr Barrett died in Auckland on Sunday aged 62 after being taken ill in the Cook Islands, where he was High Commissioner.

Writer Witi Ihimaera, who entered Foreign Affairs with Mr Barrett in the early 1970s, says his shoes will be hard to fill.

He says Mr Barrett patiently worked to create a Maori dimension to the way New Zealand represents itself overseas, and he created opportunities for other Maori to enter the diplomatic service.

“As a consequence there are so many many Maori now who are representing New Zealand in overseas posts throughout the world so that is something he was very proud of. We have people who are working at all levels now and wherever I go in the world I’m constantly thrilled excited that Tia’s legacy is there and of course it will live on because he was such and inspiration to all of them,” Mr Ihimaera says.

Tia Barrett will be at Turangawaewae until Thursday, when his body will be taken to Kahotea Marae in Otorohanga for burial.

WANANGA CONTRIBUTE TO TARANAKI FESTIVAL SUCCESS

A thumbs up for the first Taranaki Maori Festival held in Waitara over the weekend.

Waatea News reporter Te Kauhoe Wano returned home for the gathering which brought together the region's eight iwi for two days of sports and kapa haka.

There were also wananga where reo experts like Huirangi Waikerepuru and Ruakere Hond shared their knowledge of the region's distinctive tikanga and dialect.

“They were conducting wananga, whether it be waiata or tribal history, talking about our mita, all those things that make us Taranaki and reinforces our pride in ourselves as a people and coming together makes us a stronger force and that’s a goal for years to come,” Mr Wano says.

Organisers will consider whether to make the festival an annual event, to capitalise on the momentum created over the weekend.

TEXT ON POU INFLUENCES SCULPTOR

A whare tupuna has inspired a Maori visual art student's contribution to a show at Palmerston North's Te Manawa, Museum and Art Gallery.

Karangawai Marsh is one of five Massey University degree and masters students represented in Te Awatea Matatau, the dawning of light and knowledge.

Her three free-standing pou made of dowels, cable ties and flourescent lights are inspired the pou pou of her ancestral meeting house, Te Tokanganui a noho in Te Kuiti, which incorporate text.

As a Maori language teacher, she's intrigued by the way words can be used in the visual arts.

Te Awatea Matatau is on display at Te Manawa in Palmerston North until early February.