Perception and reality meet at tide line

Labour leader Phil Goff says reform of the Foreshore and Seabed Act could cost the Maori Party votes once its supporters realise they've been had.

Mr Goff says the so called agreement between National and the Maori Party to let Maori go to the High Court to prove customary title is just two sides posturing to save political face.

He says perceptions need to line up with reality at same stage.

“When they don't, then people both feel angry because they haven’t got what they wanted, and feel angry that the wool has been pulled over their eyes and people don’t know what the difference between Crown ownership and public space is because there is no difference, they know that the same criteria for customary rights will apply as applied before the courts for decades and actually was being applied in the negotiations between iwi and the Crown under the existing act,” Mr Goff says.

NURSES’ STORIES ENLIVEN HISTORY BOOK

The author of a book celebrating a hundred years of the New Zealand Nurses' Organisation says she's discovered some larger-than-life Maori characters in her research.

Mary Ellen O'Connor says the rigid and regimental nature of the profession in its early years put off many Maori women, who were more likely to go into fields like mental health care.

But she says there were women like Marika Wehipehana who persisted and also practiced what is now called cultural safety, especially in strongly Maori areas like the East Coast.

The book is Freed to Serve, Proud to Care.

MATARIKI GAMES FOR TAINUI KAUMATUA

The organiser of today's Port Waikato Matariki Winter Olympics says the Maori new year celebration brings out the competitive spirit in the region's kaumatua.

Livane Ratu from Huakina Development Trust says kuia and koroua from Waiuku to Mangatangi will get advice on health eating and ways to avoid falls, which are the main cause of injury among the elderly.

They will also engage in some age-appropriate games like giant ball soccer, indoor bowls and darts.

A lemon tree will be planted, with due ceremony, to mark the day.

HIGH TAR AND NICOTINE LEVELS HITTING MAORI SMOKERS

Tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand says high levels of tar and nicotine in New Zealand cigarettes could be one reason the addiction hits Maori so hard.

Dr Wigand, who went public in 1996 with documents showing the industry was covering up its knowledge of the risks of tobacco, is in the country to give evidence to a Maori affairs select committee inquiry.

He says while factors such as family pressure to smoke and the lack of effective cessation programmes may contribute to the fact almost one in two adult Maori are addicted to tobacco, the way the industry concocts its products here is causing extreme harm.

“The high level of nicotine, the high level of tar could go to explaining partially the reason why there is such an issue among the Mori. You have a nicotine level that’s substantially higher than (brands in other countries). You have a tar level that is directly related to the illnesses associated with tobacco use, the morbidity and mortality, and I think that’s part of the equation,” Dr Wigand says.

He says as more affluent societies step up the pressure to go smokefree, the tobacco industry is shifting its focus to marketing in the developing world and to lower income communities such as Maori.

MAORI TO BE INVOLVED IN STAGE TWO OF ART PLAN

The consultant behind a 10-year public art plan for Hamilton is denying he left Maori out of the picture.

Some Hamilton City Councilors have complained Rob Garrett's $20,000 report ignored important themes like heritage and Maori.

But Mr Garrett says his intention was always to involve tangata whenua in the detailed planning which follows the initial document.

“You can't tell the stories of Hamilton and you can’t engage the communities of Hamilton without giving consideration to the Maori stories, both the vibrant, living ongoing stories of today as well as the heritage,” Mr Garrett says.

The four themes he identified for the council to focus on are the river, arrivals, innovation and people.

TITANICS PLAY TO PUT A SMILE ON FACES

Playwright Albert Belz wants today's audiences to experience some of the excitement generated by the Maori showbands of the 1960s and 70s.
His Raising the Titanics premieres tonight at TAPAC theatre in Auckland's Western Springs College.

The 37 year old from Ngati Porou, Ngapuhi and Ngati Pokai says he wanted to write a play which put Howard Morrison, Billy T James, Prince Tui Teka and Kiri Te Kanawa on the same stage.

That was put in the too hard basket, and instead he came up with the story of a fictitious showband called the Maori Titanics.

“Encompassed all the good times, the best things, the innocence, the romance, the adventure of that period. It’s about making people walk out of that theatre with the biggest smile on their face and walk down memory lane, having experienced for the first time the beauty that was the Maori showbands,” Mr Belz says.

This week's TAPAC season of Raising the Titanics is sold out, but it gets another run next month at the Taonga Whakaari: Maori Playwrights Festival in Papakura.

Key smile hiding extremist agenda says Green

Green co-leader Metiria Turei says the smiling face of Prime Minister John Key is being used to push through an extremist right wing agenda which is hurting Maori.

Ms Turei says ACT rather than National seems to be setting the Government's agenda.

She says backing for ACT's three strikes bill as a response to crime is just the latest example.

“Government is under no obligation to support that legislation but they are going to anyway. ACTR is completely dismantling Auckland city councils and shut Maori out of that process. ACT will probably get a fair amount of its extremist economic policy through because National’s philosophy is geared to that way,” Ms Turei says.

She says it's clear ACT has far much more influence in government than the Maori Party.

MARK CLAIMS CREDIT FOR TOUGH PENAL POLICY

Meanwhile, a former New Zealand First MP says ACT's three-strikes policy will be good for Maori.

Ron Mark says his party originally came up with the tougher sentencing policy for violent offenders, which will be included in the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill.

He says low income Maori are the most likely to be affected by violent crime, especially those who have extended whanau with gang links.

“Many of us who are Maori sit in absolute despair watching more and more of our whanaunga slipping down into that trap, that way of life,” Mr Mark says.

AVATAR LANGUAGE INSPIRED BY MAORI TONGUE

An expert on Maori language is praising Hollywood's use of a fictional language based on Maori.

Film director James Cameron has revealed the language spoken by the blue aliens in his hit Avatar is based on the reo he heard during visits to New Zealand.

Hana O'Regan, the dean of Christchurch polytech's Maori faculty Hana O'Regan, says she found the movie had not only Maori but also echoes of Maori tikanga.

THEOCRACY VERSUS MERITOCRACY IN RATANA CLASH

A Ratana spokesperson is pitching the movement's current tensions with the Labour Party as a clash between theocracy and meritocracy.

Andre Mason, the son of tumuaki or church head Haare Meihana, is leading a push for Labour to give high list placings to four Ratana-endorsed candidates.

Under the Electoral Act Party lists must be determined by a democratic process.

Mr Mason says the Tumuaki is particularly upset at Labour's treatment of his other son, Errol Mason, who has twice failed to unseat the Maori Party's Tariana Turia in Te tai Hauauru.

“The Tumuaki was wanting them... He didn’t want to tell them what to do but at least think abut that, that they would put his son high on the list, to have him in there so he could see and learn what is happening today with our people,” Mr Mason says.

He rejected criticism from Labour MP Shane Jones that Ratana spokespeople are confusing their religious and political roles, because he says the movement has always had that dual character.

RENEWAL NEEDED IN RATANA-LABOUR RELATIONSHIP

Shane Jones agrees Labour's relationship with Ratana needs to change.

The Northland-based list MP says Labour is respectful of the relationship formed in the 1930s with church founder Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana.

But he says both Maori and Labour have changed, and such pacts need to be interpreted in the context of each generation.

“When you look at a relationship, you are always searching for ways how can it be bolstered, how can it enjoy meaning in the lives of people in the political world who may only be voting in a few years time for the first time or who may have issues that are vastly different than the ways Maori communities functioned in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s,” Mr Jones says.

He says Labour won't be dictated to by church members running political agendas.

TAIKA WAITITI AGAIN SHINES AT SUNDANCE

Taika Waititi's second feature film is attracting sell out audiences at the prestigeous Sundance independent film festival in Utah.

James Thompson, the sales manager for the New Zealand Film Commission, says Boy extends some of the characters and ideas from Waititi's award winning short film Two Cars One Night.

It's set in the 1980s on the East Coast, and Mr Thompson says it's one of the films everyone at the festival is talking about.

“The audience reaction has been fantastic. They’ve absolutely fallen in love with James Rolleston, who plays Boy. It’s been really warmly received and I think everyone here has been really appreciative of a really truly New Zealand film in a really true New Zealand setting,” Mr Thompson says.

The reaction is a tribute not only to Taika Waititi, who wrote, directed and acted in the film, but to the producer who include Cliff Curtis, Ainsley Gardiner, Emanuel Michael and Mereta Mita.