Frequencies irk iwi radio leader

A Northland iwi radio station says Maori radio is still being treated as second class by the Ministry for Economic Development's radio spectrum management division.

Ngati Hine Radio is being forced to switch from its 96.4 and 96.5 FM frequencies to 99.1 and 99.6 as part of a rearrangement of spectrum in advance of the shift to digital broadcasting.

Station manager Mike Kake says even though Maori won their case in the Privy Council for radio spectrum to help the promotion of Maori language and culture, they were dealt a bad hand by the ministry.

“The frequencies that were given to iwi radio were what I call the rats and mices – frequencies that are low powered, that are nowhere near the power of the mainstream commercial stations, so we’ve got that battle, and we’re continuing to have that battle,” Mr Kake says.

Radio Ngati Hine was top iwi station in the 2010 Radio Awards.

MENTAL HEALTH CAMPAIGNS HELPING MAORI SEEK TREATMENTS

A Maori psychiatrist says campaigns aimed at destigmatising mental health are helping many Maori sufferers.

Rhys Tapsell says having high profile people like footballer John Kirwan talking about their battles with depression has opened up conversations and allowed people to seek treatment.

He says Maori often need that sort of outside stimulus to seek treatment.

“Depression affects at least as many Maori people as non-Maori and possibly more. It is a big problem for us. It causes lots of disability, it causes lots of difficulty for people who suffer depression and often of course people who become depressed don’t know where to get help,” Dr Tapsell says.

A new series of ads will be premiered at this week's conference in Auckland of the Australasian College of Psychiatrists.

GENERATIONAL TRANFER INSPIRES EDUCATION LEADER

The head of Te Wananga o Aotearoa says he's a beneficiary of his father's belief that education can bring multi-generational benefits.

Bentham Ohia will today accept on behalf of the whanau the PhD his late father Monte Ohia earned from Auckland University.

At the time of his death in 2008, Dr Ohia was running as the Maori Party candidate in Te Tai Tonga, and the university was examining his thesis on whanau transformation through education.

Mr Ohia says his father devoted his life to Maori education.

“He's put all those elements as the thrust and the foundational platform for the PhD programme he completed and it’s his position in terms iof Maori leadership and the importance of education and the positive effects education has in transforming our families,” Mr Ohia says.

After the university graduation, the whanau plans a celebration on its Tauranga marae.

BILL BIRD OF NGATI MANAWA TO BE LAID TO REST

Ngati Manawa will today lay to rest the rangatira who brought home its treaty claim.

Bill Bird died on Sunday after a long battle with cancer.

Kaumatua Maanu Paul says the former teacher and forestry worker put in a huge effort not only to negotiate the deed of settlement signed in December, but to repair relations with neighbouring tribes in the eastern Bay of Plenty with potentially overlapping claims.

He says with the settlement still waiting enactment, there are parallels with Tainui's lead negotiator, the late Sir Robert Mahuta.

“The pain everybody felt while they hadn’t quite completed things, that same pain is felt here. The reverence with which people work with him and the government departments that worked against him, the respect and the mana is the same that they gave to Bob,” Mr Paul says.

The funeral service for Bill Bird at Ngati Rangitahi Marae in Murupara starts at 11 this morning.

MAORI MODEL INSPIRES INDIGENOUS BROADCASTERS

Maori Television's use of Maori journalists is proving an inspiration to other indigenous broadcasters.

Te Anga Nathan, the channel's manager of news and current affairs, was a featured speaker at a World Press Freedom Day forum at Queensland University attended by 150 indigenous journalists from round the world.

Organiser Heather Stewart says finding and training staff is a challenge for most indigenous broadcasters.

“Te Anga Nathan’s model is fantastic. To have an all-indigenous staff is stunning. In Australia, the federal government has asked the public broadcasters to meet a quota of indigenous broadcasters in its workforce by 2015,” Ms Stewart says.

GRAVE STORY CAPS EXTRAORDINARY CAREER IN MUSKET WARS

The author of a biography of one of the most colouful of the Pakeha Maori says it's fitting no one knows the location of Cannibal Jack's grave.

Trevor Bentley says Jacky Marmon was an Irishman who jumped ship in the Bay of Islands in the early 19th century, and ended up fighting for both Hongi Hika and Hone Heke.

He says when Marmon died in the 1880s, he was accorded the respect shown to rangatira and buried secretly in a cave overlooking the Hokianga.

“He had known and advised many of the great chiefs and fought beside them including Hongi Hika and Muriwai, Hone Kingi Raumati, Patuone, Tamati Waka Nene, but he’d always shown an unusual, an enormous amount of respect and enthusiasm for Maori customs and religious practices,” he says

Marmon had five wives during his lifetime, and Mr Bentley will go to Tauranga next week to give copies of the book to some of his descendants.

Music for Te Arikinui adds Royal garnish

Waikato University has added a Royal garnish to today's celebration of its links to the Kingitanga.

A concert tonight at the university's WEL Energy Theatre includes a rare performance of Ahukaramu Charles Royal's Te Arikinui, a work for tenor, strings and percussion dedicated to the late Maori queen, Te Atairangikaahu.

Dr Royal, the head of Nga Pae o te Maramatanga Maori research centre at Auckland University, says the work was commissioned in 1991 by the late Miria Simpson of Ngati Awa, with words by Timoti Karetu of Ngae Tuhoe.

“It has been played only twice previously on a public occasion and we tried very hard to have it played for Dame Te Ata before she passed away but unfortunately we weren’t successful but today we will finally play it before the incumbent ariki, King Tuheitia, who will be there, and it’s his birthday of course,” Dr Royal says.

Te Arikinui will be sung by Howard McGuire from Ngati Kahungungu, with the Waikato University Orchestra conducted by violinist Adam Maha

IMAGE MANAGEMENT KEY TO INDIGENOUS DECLARATION TICK

The Prime Minister says New Zealand's support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People is about how this country is seen abroad, rather than about what happens at home.

There is debate about whether the carefully-crafted affirmation read by Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York contained no caveats, as the Minister claimed.

John Key says the change in policy came after advice the declaration would not affect New Zealand's constitutional framework or the existing treaty settlement process.

“New Zealand’s got a very proud record in indigenous rights, a much prouder record than many other people who have confirmed the declaration, and in our view we looked on the world stage as if we didn’t care about indigenous people when in fact we’ve got this great record and all the advice I had from Crown Law is ‘nothing you’re doing here is going to make any difference if that’s what you’re worried about, it’s a non binding aspirational goal and you set out your position,’” Mr Key says.

The declaration has already been raised in court cases.

TUAKANA SOUGHT FOR MENTORING PROGRAMME

A Manawatu mentoring service is seeking Maori tuakana for at-risk youth.

Big Brothers Big Sisters coordinator Dale Anderson says the successful international programme will be launched in the region next week.

She says mentors from all walks of life are sought, especially those who can relate to Maori boys from single parent families.

Ms Anderson says mentoring has benefits for whanau and the wider society.

“Children's use of alcohol and drugs diminish while they’ve been enrolled in the programme, they attend school better, they start to think of employment opportunities, they start to have a bit more hope, they start to have they start to interact with their whanau a whole lot better, they feel better about themselves,” Ms Anderson says.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is for rangatahi aged 7 to 17.

WAIKATO UNIVERSITY COMES TOGETHER AS COMMUNITY

Class was out at Waikato University today as the institution studied and celebrated its links to the Kingitanga.

Pro-vice chancellor Maori Linda Smith says it's been a day of symposia and seminars, as well as sports and cultural events, capped off with a banquet anc concert this evening hosted by King Tuheitia.

She says it is a chance for the university to behave as a community, rather than a series of disconnected faculties and schools.

“So this is also a day about the university, about engaging our staff, not just our academic staff but all our staff, and about engaging our students and our community where we can come together and do things together. That doesn’t actually happen in most universities,” Professor Smith says.

The long-standing relationship with Tainui and Kingitanga has influenced the development of the university, so that one in five of its students are Maori.

RACE COMMISSIONER WELCOMES UN DECLARATION

Race relations commissioner Joris de Bres is welcoming New Zealand's affirmation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Mr de Bres says the Human Rights Commission has already been using the declaration in its work, and it's great to see the government catch up.

He's defending the secrecy surrounding Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples’ trip to New York to announce the change of policy.

“I can understand the decision it announce it at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples which is meeting in New York this week because that’s where a lot of the external international pressure has come on New Zealand to change its position,” Mr de Bres says.

He says people internationally were confused a country which led the world in many areas of indigenous rights had not backed the declaration.

MAORI TELEVISION SWAPS STAFF WITH CANADIAN BROADCASTER

A broadcaster from Canada's Aboriginal Peoples' Television Network says Maori Television has a lot to teach her.

Toronto-based Patrice Mousseau, who has French, English and Ojibway whakapapa, is working on current affairs programme Native Affairs as part of a new scheme which came out of this year's indigenous television conference in Taiwan.

The APTN national news anchor says the exchange is about raising standards among indigenous broadcasters.

“If anything you’re on par or even pushing the limits for us to make sure we keep our standards high. Maori Television is doing an incredible job and I’m proud to be here learning from you guys,” Ms Mousseau says.

Aquaculture settlement passes hurdle

The passing of the Commercial Aquaculture Settlement Act will allow a new chapter in Maori fisheries.

The $97 million settlement package passed on Wednesday covers Hauraki, Ngai Tahu and top of the South Island iwi.

Harry Mikaere from Hauraki says all that's left to do is signing the cheques.

His iwi already has a large investment in aquaculture, but the settlement will allow it to plan for the future.

“I really don't want our people caught up in the factories any more. We want them in the boardrooms. We want them in the sciences that this opportunity allows, and there is a whole range of other innovations coming through our industry that our people should be involved in,” Mr Mikaere says.

Maori aquaculturalists need to start looking for opportunities offshore, so they can offer customers year round supply of product.

DIABETES SUFFERERS MISS ANNUAL CHECKS

The Waitemata District Health Board is concerned too many Maori with diabetes are missing annual check ups.

The board has identified more than 1500 Maori in Waitakere and North Shore cities with diabetes, but the number seeing their GP regularly is below the Health Ministry's Get Checked programme target.

Public health physician Tom Robinson says Maori are twice as likely than Pakeha to have diabetes, and far more likely to get complications.

“Really strong evidence from international studies that people who have good care and achieve the targets associated with care round sugar control and blood pressure control are much less likely to have complications like heart disease, kidney disease, blindness, and are likely to live a lot longer,” Dr Robinson says.

Waitemata DHB is now chasing up GPs to get them to encourage patients to come in for checks.

ALTERNATIVE SPORTS ADD TO AWARDS EXCITEMENT

It's early in the sporting year, but competition is already heating up for the Maori sports awards.

Organiser Dick Garrett from Ngai Tuhoe says increased media coverage of the awards has encouraged more Maori sports people to identify themselves as worthy of recognition.

Many come from non-traditional sports, such as ocean swimmer Kane Radford, ice speed Olympian Blake Skellerup and soccer player Rory Fallon.

Mr Garrett says there's a big year ahead for Maori athletes, with the centenary of Maori rugby, rowing and soccer world cups to look forward to before the award ceremony in December.

MAORI GEOTHERMAL OWNERS SLEEPING ECONOMIC GIANTS

The head of one of the country's largest electricity generators says Maori trusts which own geothermal hot spots are the sleeping giants of the New Zealand economy.

Doug Heffernan says Mighty River Power has been developing Maori geothermal resources for more than a decade.

He says the trusts are increasingly looking to partner with the state owned enterprise, rather than just leasing their land.

“The economic growth that these Maori trusts have had in harnessing the geothermal resource below their land has transformed the interests of the land trust, hundreds of millions dollar business, way beyond what their ancestors would have thought of 50 years ago and in a lot of ways they have been the sleeping giant of success in New Zealand business, not only within Maoridom,” Mr Heffernan says.

Maori trusts are good to work with because they want to develop the resource in a way which is sustainable and benefits their people.

WAAKA ON THE HUNT FOR LOGS

Maori forest owners are being urged to break out of traditional channels and sell direct China.

Hemana Waaka and fellow Maori Rakau Trading director Bin Wang have identified trusts in the Hawkes Bay and the South Island with forests ready to harvest.

Mr Waaka says Maori landowners need to make the shift from leasing their land to forest companies to planting their own trees.

He says by replanting their own trees, their children and grandchildren will benefit not only from the harvest but from jobs along the way.

Mr Waaka says there are Chinese business people who are keen to trade directly with Maori and build up cultural as well as business relationships.

KURA TAPPED FOR REO TELEVISION TALENT

The head of programming for Maori Televison's Te Reo channel is promising more programmes from novice producers as more Maori make programmes that reflect their world.

The total immersion channel marks its second birthday this week.

Eruera Morgan says it's been a challenge to create a catalogue of programmes in te reo Maori, but shows like He Pari Karangaranga o te Motu, where Maori communities produce programmes about themselves, have pointed the way ahead.

The next step is to get kura kaupapa to provide programmes and tell their stories.

Eru Morgan says the audience for Te Reo Channel is growing as more Maori become fluent in te reo.

Te Atiawa and Taranaki sign negotiation terms

The last two Taranaki iwi to complete their settlements, Te Atiawa and Taranaki, will today sign terms to start negotiations ... 14 years after the Waitangi Tribunal reported on their claims.

The signings, at Owae Marae in Waitara and Puniho Marae southwest of New Plymouth, are on the 150th anniversary of the first shots being fired in the Taranaki Wars.

Te Atiawa negotiator Grant Knuckey says Prime Minister John Key and Treaty minister Chris Finlayson will sign the document at Owae under a statue of Sir Maui Pomare, who first put the issue of confiscation on the table in 1923.

And at the front of the meeting house is Wiremu Kingi, whose refusal to allow the sale of the Pekapeka Block at Waitara was used by the Crown as an excuse to attack.

“Not only Wiremu Kingi but the doors to the meeting house will be open and the other tupuna will be able to peer out the door, Titokowaru at the back, one of the main pou of the house, he will be able to see the table as well,” Mr Knuckey says.

Te Atiawa expects negotiations to take up to two years.

HAWKES BAY CELEBRATES MAORI-IRISH LINKS

The relationship between Maori and Irish immigrants will be celebrated today in the Hawkes Bay at the annual hui and hooli.

Organiser Dennis O'Reilly says the event has become a must do for the community, who gather at Waiohiki Community Arts Center to see and hear musicians, dancers and storytellers from both cultures reflect on a shared history.

He says the cross cultural approach to St Patrick's day is going down a treat, to be sure.

“It's good fun. It’s about celebrating our differences as kiwis but our unity as a nation, so we’ve got three flags, the New Zealand flag, the Irish flag and the Maori flag,” Mr O’Reilly says.

This year’s St Patricks Day address will be by radio presenter Noelle McCarthy.

CANADIAN EXPERIENCE TO HELP WORLD CUP BROADCASTS

Maori Television will tap into the experience of Canadian indigenous broadcasters to cover next year's Rugby World Cup.

Presenter Julian Wilcox says at the Second World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network in Taiwan last week, Canada's Aboriginal People's Televison Network reported on its experience covering the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 10 languages.

Maori Television is sending programmer Haunui Royal to Canada to learn what he can from the Aboriginal People's Televison experience.

VOICE FOR TIKANGA IN SCIENCE DROWNED

Green Party Maori spokesperson Bevan Tipene Matua has drowned while collecting kaimoana near his home at Porangahau in the Hawkes Bay.

Party co-leader Metiria Turei says Mr Matua from Ngati Kahungunu and Ngai Tahu was a pou of the party and a strong Maori voice in the conservation movement.

She says his work as a scientist and policy analyst means he was able to make his arguments persuasive.

“He was right on the forefront of working on issues like genetic engineering, those kinds of issues that are really technical and often which the scientific and the Pakeha scientific community dismiss Maori views, dismiss the tikanga and don’t respect the fact that Maori have a strong tikanga analysis that is as strong and as legitimate as any other cultural analysis, like western science,” Ms Turei says.

E te tama purotu o Ngati Kere, moe mai ra.

TARANAKI MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF LAND WARS

It's the 150th anniversary of the start of the Taranaki Wars, and the province is marking the day by making and showing history.

Te Atiawa and Taranaki iwi are signing terms of negotiation to finally settle their claims over the confiscations of the 1860s.

And Puke Ariki Museum in New Plymouth is turning over its galleries to show the effects of war and colonisation on the region.

Chief executive Bill McNaught says the show aims to challenge some of the understandings of the Taranaki War and show it was about more than land.

“Issues around cultural redress and the fact the language was almost wiped out, the general cultural disrespect, all those issues we’ve tried to explore and it’s only when you understand the complexity of that ht you realise why war broke out and why there is still an incredible challenge in resolving of the legacy of last 150 years,” Mr McNaught says.

Taranaki War, Our Legacy ... Our Challenge will be opened this morning by the Prime Minister

AUCKLAND POLYFEST BIGGEST EVER

The world's biggest secondary schools cultural festival gets under way in south Auckland this morning.

ASB Polyfest spokesperson Dean Wilson says over the next four days 208 culture groups from 65 schools will battle it out at the Manukau Sports Bowl.

That's a big jump from the first festival hosted at Hillary College in 1976, when four schools took part.

He says breaking kapa haka into three divisions means all schools will have a chance, and not just the traditional strong ones like Hato Petera, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Hoani Waititi, Kahurangi from Auckland Girls Grammar, and Manurewa's James Cook High.

Truancy moves part of wider education reform

The Prime Minister John Key says measures are needed to address why half the 30,000 kids wagging classes each day are Maori or Pacific Islanders.

Yesterday the budget for fighting truancy was boosted to $8 million a year.

John Key says that's on top of investment in curriculum and national standards, so kids have the basics and don't describe themselves as dumb.

He says school won't be the best place for every student, which is why alternatives are being developed.

“Our youth guarantee scheme is basically aimed at all of that. Instead of saying to a child that’s probably in year 10 or year 11, year 12, look stay at school, do the three Rs, and that will be the thing you need to do, why don’t we say we can pass this back to a polytech or wananga or whatever it might be that have those courses that may be more interesting,” Mr Key says.

He says education in a relevant manner is a top priority for the government.

RACE CRITICISM FROM ACT NOT CREDIBLE

Labour leader Phil Goff says ACT's claim the Maori Party is damaging race relations and promoting Maori privilege is a bit rich coming from a party that blocks Maori aspirations at every turn.

The claims were made in a speech by former MP Muriel Newman to ACT's annual conference, and endorsed by leader Rodney Hide.

Mr Goff says in one breath ACT blocked Maori representation on the Auckland super city, and in the next it criticises the other government support party for promoting Maori issues.

“The Act Party is the ones that wanted to implement Don Brash’s report for the National Government to cut the statutory minimum wage by $100 a week and pay more money to their very wealthy mates. Well sorry. The Act Party doesn’t represent the New Zealand that I believe in. I don’t put much store on its words on anything,” Mr Goff says.

NGARIMU AWARD SPECIAL FOR DAUGHTER OF BATTALION VETERAN

Getting a Ngarimu VC and 28 Maori Battalion Memorial Scholarship has a special meaning for Kahurangi Waititi.

The Te Kaha 27-year-old from Te Whanau Apanaui, Ngati Porou and Kaitahu was one of the eight winners from a field of 57.

She felt proud to pick up the tohu at Parliament this week alongside her 88 year old father, who served in C company alongside second Lieutenant Moananui a Kiwa Ngarimu.

“There is that connection with the 28 Maori Battalion. I’ve grown up with stories of the Maori Battalion. My father was one of those soldiers, Major John Waititi. I think he was really happy because I’m sure he’s aware of how competitive these scholarships are,” she says.

Kahurangi Waititi has completed a Master's degree from Waikato University where she researched applying kaupapa Maori processes to documentary film making, and she also plays netball for the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic.

MAORI TELEVISION LEAD BROADCASTER FOR FREE RUGBY

Maori Television is celebrating the final deal on free-to-air television rights deal for next year's Rugby World Cup, which allows it to broadcast all 48 games of the tournament, 16 of them live.

Television One and TV3 will each simulcast seven key games live.

Chief executive Jim Mather says the channel's objectives were met.

“We're very pleased that we’ve been able to secure the rights for our te reo channel because that means that those 16 key live games will be broadcast 100 percent in te reo and on our Maori Television channel we have agreed the Maori language content can be up to 10 percent so we think we are gong to have the language and cultural bases very well covered under this arrangement,” he says.

Mr Mather says Maori Television is still planning for complementary programming around the tournament, even though it lost the Te Puni kokiri subsidy originally intended to allow this to happen.

IWI GO FOR AGREEMENT ON PULP MILL DISCHARGES

Three eastern Bay of Plenty iwi have signed an agreement with the operators of the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill to work together to improve the quality of the Tarawera River and surrounding land.

Ngati Awa, Ngati Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau and Ngati Rangitihi objected to Carter Holt Harvey Pulp & Paper and Norske Skog Tasman getting a 25-year resource consent.

But Graham Pryor from Ngati Rangitihi says now the consent is through, subject to appeals to the Environment Court, the iwi want a less adversarial way to engage with the companies.

“The consent process that we went through, pretty much everything that was requested by the individual iwi was met, so we haven’t got any issues right now with the consent process. There are review periods and there are things that have to be done over certain time periods. There are some people who are not happy with that but I think a lot of those issues will be addressed in future as we work through this,” Mr Pryor says.

About 100 people were at Umutahi Marae in Matata today to witness the agreement.

MANUREWA KURA GETS TO GO IT ALONE

There was a big turn out at Te Wharekura O Manurewa today to hear the Minster of Maori Affairs, Pita Sharples, officially grant the Maori immersion secondary school stand alone status.

Since it started a decade ago the kura has operated under the umbrella of kura kaupapa from Kaitaia and Mangere, but the agreement with the Ministry of Education means it can operate autonomously from the beginning of April.

Tumuaki Mahia Nathan says staff, students and Manurewa Maori appreciated Dr Sharples' personal touch, rather than just sending a letter.

The kura will soon move from relocatable classrooms behind Manurewa Marae to a new site in Brown's Road next to Homai College.

IHI gearing up for long fight on local bodies

Organisers of a hui on Maori in local government are expecting a tough fight ahead.

Helen Te Hira from the Iwi Have Influence group says Friday’s hui was unhappy with the statutory Maori board proposed for the Auckland super city, and Maori will continue to push for seats at the council table.

She says the government has shown it intends to sideline Maori, so it’s important Maori unite to protect what they’ve already got an push for more.

“As Maori we know we don’t keep or attain things in this country without a struggle and without a fight. That fight can be on the streets or it can be in the boardroom. But it’s got to be done together and it’s got to be about strengthening each other individually,” Ms Te Hira says.

She says the invention of the Maori statutory body has worrying implications for local government throughout New Zealand.

LANGUAGE SPEAKERS DISAPPEARING ACROSS TASMAN

Maori are taking more than their job skills with them when they head across the Tasman.

Paul Hamer from the Institute of Policy Studies says one in six Maori now live in Australia.

He says just over 6000 or 7 percent of the 93,000 Maori identified in the Australian census said they spoke Maori in the home.

“Often when people talk about skills they forget about other skills which are equally valuable to New Zealand and one of those is te reo Maori of course,” Mr Hamer says.

It will be harder for Maori speakers in Australia to maintain and pass the language on.

MINISTER CALLS EXPATRIATES HOME

Meanwhile, Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples want older Maori expatriates to come home.

He says reports one in six Maori now live in Australia are disturbing.

Dr Sharples says New Zealand is missing out on their talents, and on recent trips over the Tasman he’s been telling kaumatua their marae are crying out for them.

"Get your mokopuna and go home. Leave your kids there if they want to stay there. I am one who wants to come back to Aotearoa and build and support out people there. It’s sort of like they’ve escaped, and there’s a bit of a downturn for them now over there because of the recession but we do need our people back home,” Dr Sharples says.

MAORI TV CLAIMS TOP SPOT IN RUGBY BROADCAST TUSSLE

Maori Television is again claiming the lead broadcaster title for the 2011 Rugby World cup.

Chief executive Jim Mather says the pending deal with the Rugby World Cup board will give the channel rights to show all 48 games, including 16 live broadcasts.

He says those 16 games will also be simulcast with a Maori commentary on the Te Reo Channel, with the commentary also going out on the iwi radio network.

He says the other free to air broadcasters, Television New Zealand and TV3, will also broadcast the games, so all New Zealanders should be able to watch the games.

“On our own we reach 90 percent of New Zealand through our UHF analogue transmission. Through the satellite transmission 100 percent but certainly having TVNZ, TV3 on board will guarantee 100 percent cover or as near to it as is possible,” Mr Mather says.

Following on from the three David Tua fights Maori Television will show this year, the World Cup coverage should make the channel more attractive to mainstream advertisers.

CONSULTATION PROCEDURES NEED OVERHAULING

Maori party co-leader Pita Sharples has admitted the party isn’t meeting its members’ expectations of consultation before major policy decisions are made.

In the past MPs have used breaks between parliamentary sittings to get around the country and hold hui, but its support arrangement with National means the caucus is under huge pressure.

Dr Sharples says that has led to MPs flying on their own on issues like the emissions trading scheme, Accident Compensation changes and the super city.

“We’ve got to find a way of getting our people involved in the decision making. Some of the academics have kicked up about some of the decisions, say ETS, ACC, but the rank and file aren’t involved in that discussion and somehow we’ve got to find a way to channel the discussion back to them and the understanding so they know exactly what it’s about,” Dr Sharples says.

In hindsight the party could have dealt better with the furore over Hone Harawira’s trip to Paris and subsequent email, but he’s happy the Tai Tokerau MP is continuing with the party.

SPORTS STARS LAUNCH MENTORING SCHEME FOR GISBORNE

East Coast sports stars are working together to help local tamariki stay out of trouble.

Former New Zealand Maori captain Rua Tipoki, All Black Hosea Gear and boxer Shane Cameron hope their mentoring scheme will help build leaders of the future.

Tipoki, who has recently returned to Gisborne after playing in Europe, says his own background was similar to many troubled youngsters, being brought up by a solo dad in a low income part of town.

Rua Tipoki says it was only the presence of a couple of strong role models who stopped him becoming another crime statistic.

Turia urges Maori to get diabetes checks

Associate health minister Tariana Turia is appealing to Maori to get tested for diabetes.

The type 2 diabetes sufferer says Maori have a gene which means the majority will get diabetes at some time in their life.

She says many won't know they have the illness until it's too late, and Diabetes Awareness Week is a good time to get checked.

“Really really important to get checked. Really important to get the treatment early, because there are treatments you can get, and of course one of those treatments relies on you being able to eat the right kai,” Mrs Turia says.

The kind of food Maori eat now affects their ability to process insulin.

PHD SCHOLARSHIP IN HONOUR OF SIR HOWARD MORRISON

A scholarship in the name of the late entertainer Sir Howard Morrison is designed to build up future generations of Maori business leaders.

An endowment fund has been set up for the scholarship to Auckland University's business school with seed money from expatriate freight magnate Owen Glenn, a friend of Sir Howard.

Associate dean Manuka Henare says the aim is to get at least half a dozen Maori with doctorates in business and economics over the next two decades.

He says that fits with Mr Glenn's vision of business.

“He has been particularly interested in PhD level formal education for business leaders. He’s very aware of the trends internationally where more and more CEOs of significant commercial entities require PhDs as part of their formal education,” Dr Henare says.

Owen Glenn accompanied Lady Kuia Morrison and other members of the Morrison whanau in bringing Sir Howard's kawe mate to last night's Maori Business Awards at the university.

MEMORIAL UNVEILED FOR TAINUI LEADER AND SPORTSMAN

Waikato Stadium has unveiled a memorial to one of Tainui's greatest rugby players.
Hare Puke, who died last year, played for the new Zealand Services team straight after the second world war and then for the Maori All Blacks in 1946 and 7.

His sister, Heketerangi Broadhurst, says he was small and fast but with strong thighs and a high-kneed running style which made him hard to tackle.
She recalls a game against East Coast team where the first five caught the ball near half way, and sidestepped the great fullback George Nepia to score a try.

In later years Hare Puke was involved in coaching and administration, as well as chairing the Tainui Maori Trust Board.

MAORI INVOLVEMENT IN PRISONS CRITICAL FOR REHABILITATION

A former Corrections head says Maori need to be involved all levels of prison management.

Kim Workman, who now heads prison fellowship organisation Rethinking Crime and Punishment, says a bill now before parliament allowing private management of prisons leaves it up to managers to decide on Maori involvement.

That makes it like the cultural needs of half the prison population will be ignored.

“Especially if you've got overseas prison managers, a lot of them will do absolutely nothing and just run the place as a warehouse so I think community engagement should be a key part of the contract,” Mr Workman says.

Involving iwi and other Maori groups is the way to stop violence in prisons and is vital for integrating prisoners back into their communities.

NGATI APA BILL BRINGS OUT EMOTIONS FOR MINISTER

Maori party co-leader Tariana Turia says the second reading of the Ngati Apa settlement bill has been an emotional event for her.

Mrs Turia says her Rangitikei-based iwi lost 99 percent of its land during colonisation and was never given the reserves they were promised.

She says that had a huge impact on the iwi, and led to the loss of much traditional knowledge.

“Our people were moved between two rivers, taken away from their own lands. It was quite devastating. None of my generation with the reo. Sometimes you get on with your life and you try not to think too deeply about it and then all of a sudden it all comes back,” Mrs Turia says.

She feels proud the young people who negotiated the settlement were able to put the past behind them.

The settlement will include an apology from the Crown, $16 million in commercial and financial redress and a right to purchase 6,500 hectares of Crown forest licensed land.

RUGBY BROADCAST NEGOTIATIONS NEARING END

Maori Television expects to know within a week whether its joint bid to cover the 2011 Rugby World Cup has been successful.

Chief executive Jim Mather says the process in deciding broadcast rights has been convoluted with politicians stepping in and blocking Maori TV's bid to cover the games on its own.

But the International Rugby Board, which issues broadcast rights, is close to a decision.

“I can't be specific because negotiations are still being finalised. However, I would feel fairly confident it would be within the next week,” Mr Mather says.

He is disappointed Maori TV can't broadcast the games on its own but he's confident the channel will benefit if its joint bid with TVNZ and TV3 is successful.

Please explain to associate minister

Labour MP Shane Jones says associate Maori Affairs Minister Georgina te Heuheu needs to explain why she didn't keep senior colleagues informed of Maori Television's bid for free to air broadcast rights to the 2011 Rugby world cup.

Mr Jones says Pita Sharples should not have to apologise for using his budget to bankroll the bid, by having Te Puni Kokiri buy $3 million of programming on the channel.

But he says more experienced colleagues have been trying to turn the situation to their own ends.

“The person who has been furtive in this whole deal and I’ll have more to say about that in the House this week, has been Georgina te Heuheu. Pita deliberately delegated to her the governance role as minister for Maori TV. She’s never put her head up once. She deliberately misled Bill English,” Mr Jones says.

He says Maori Television was set up by Labour to foster the revival of Maori language and cultural identity, not to be a populist sports broadcaster.

TOBACCO INQUIRY WATCHED BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

There's international interest in how New Zealand is tackling the tobacco industry.

Shane Bradbrook from anti-smoking lobby group Te Reo Marama says people at the Oceania Tobacco Control Conference in Darwin last week were keen to hear his presentation on the schedules Maori Affairs Select Committee inquiry into the tobacco industry.

He says there is a similar inquiry going on in Western Australia, but it lacks the kind of forthright rhetoric coming from Maori Party MP Hone Harawira.

“One of the advocates here wanted those quotes from Hone Harawira because he wanted to impress on politicians that they needed to be passionate about getting rid of tobacco. All eyes are now focused on New Zealand. They believe that Maori Affairs Select Committee inquiry shows massive leadership and of course it’s indigenous leadership,” Mr Bradbrook says.

Written submissions to the Maori Affairs Select Committee enquiry close at the end of January

MAORI BODYBUILDERS DO WELL IN NATIONALS

Maori bodybuilders were to the fore at the New Zealand Federation of Bodybuilders national championships in Auckland over the weekend.

Maureen O'Connell picked up the Open Women's figure tall title ... and the pairs title with Johnson Reihana.

She says there's a lot of talented Maori bodybuilders coming through.

“The sport's growing amongst Maori but we still need to promote it because it’s such a healthy lifestyle and it gets the whole family involved in active living. It’s a mean as sport,” Ms O'Connell says.

She says the federation is looking at taking a Maori bodybuilding team to compete in the South Pacific championships next year, if the international body approves.

TAMIHERE CONFIDENT MAORI CAN WIN IN HEALTH SHAKE UP

The head of one of the country's largest social service providers is confident Maori will do well in a major shake up of the primary health sector.

Bids to provide regional primary care services close on Wednesday.

John Tamihere, the chair of Waiora Health PHO in West Auckland, says it's one of the biggest ever reorganisations of the health sector.

He says reducing the number of public health organisations set up by the last government should channel more money into care rather than administration.

“I am reasonably certain Maori will do OK in this change process for one reason only. We are some of the best providers of primary healthcare to our communities that are working and working at good dollar value,” Mr Tamihere says.

If Maori health providers miss out on contracts they are likely to challenge the decision in court.

PREVENTION WORKING FOR WAIORA HEALTH

Meanwhile, Waiora Health is finding prevention is about doing simple things well.

Community worker Katherine Tipene says by providing transport and child care so women can get to appointments, it has halved the number of Maori women in west Auckland missing tests for cervical cancer.

The service follows up with supportive phone calls.

“A lot of it comes down to the upbringing and about our body, how whakama our wahine are and so forth, and not knowing what a colposcopy is. When a lot of wahine hear colposocopy, automatically they think it’s cancer, but I just educate them and say no, it is preventable,” Ms Tipene says.

Getting women to tests has a positive effect on early diagnosis and treatment.

IRONY BONE MISSING IN IKRAM CRITICS

A TV3 reporter under fire for spoofing Maori Television's rugby world cup coverage says young Maori need to develop a sense of humour.

Ali Ikram says his Night Line item was his idea of a redneck's nightmare if MTS wins its bid for free to air broadcast rights.

It included using the Waitangi Tribunal as a video ref, and a dig at the number of programmes presenter Julian Wilcox fronts.

Mr Ikram says his job on Night Line is to send up the news, but it has drawn a complaint from Auckland university Maori students.

“One of the things this has uncovered, there are sections of young Maori who don’t have a sense of humour or a sense of irony about race relations in this country. I know what racist humour is and I know what racial vilification is all about. I didn’t go anywhere near that because I know that is completely wrong,” Mr Ikram says.

He says it would be more racist to declare Maori topics off limits.

Sharples seen as Auckland Mayoral possible

A former Auckland mayoral candidate wants to see Tamaki Makaurau MP Pita Sharples lead the super city.

Unionist Matt McCarten says indications Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia may seek another term in Parliament opens the door for Dr Sharples to take up the challenge.

He says Auckland, with its large Maori and Polynesian population, needs a transformational mayor and Dr Sharples fits the bill nicely.

“Pita would be the ideal person bringing the community, both Pakeha and Maori, and with the right campaign he’d win. There’s no need for him to step down whilst he’s a minister. He could still be a minster and run and say if I got elected, I would consider it at that point. It would certainly thrown the race wide open that’s for sure,” Mr McCarten says.

MAORI TELEVISION EFFECTIVE IN BRINGING TE AO MAORI TO PAKEHA

A media researcher says Maori Television's Anzac Day coverage is changing the way many Pakeha see themselves as New Zealanders.

Sue Abel, a media studies senior lecturer at Auckland University, has analysed comments from the shows' viewers.

She says by focusing on a Maori perspective, Maori Television offered a marked contrast to conventional broadcasts of the day, which have tended to diminish the role of Maori in past wars.

Dr Abel says the comments show Maori Television is achieving a wider educational role in society that just its primary kaupapa of revitalizing the language.

“For Maori to really achieve equality in the country, Pakeha need to understand the Maori world better, and something like Maori Television, when it makes programmes that do educate non-Maori about the Maori world, I think that does play a really good role,” Dr Abel says.

She says the Anzac Day audience was prepared to accept large amounts of te reo through the broadcast, even if they did not speak Maori.

ASHBURTON MARAE PLANTS GARDEN FOR GREEN COURSE

An Ashburton marae is growing a garden as a way to strengthen its links to the wider community.

A South Island marae is to get $10,000 a year for three years from Health Ministry’s Healthy Eating Healthy Action fund to develop a half acre of spare land.

Produce will go to the marae and the local foodbank.

Marae chair Trevor Simpson says Hakatere Marae has an important role to play in the south Canterbury town as the main facus for the Maori community, most of whom come from mata waka iwi.

Mr Simpson says rangatahi will be trained in horticulture, and the marae’s new kitchen will be used to run cooking courses.

BULLOCK IN A MARAE CASE EUROCENTRISM GONE MAD

A leading Maori academic says a Human Right’s Review Tribunal ruling that a probation officer’s human rights were breached when she was refused permission to speak during a powhiri was Eurocentrism gone mad.


In the latest edition of the MAI Review, the online journal of the centre for Maori research excellence, Gary Raumati Hook says in making its decision, the tribunal failed to call evidence from anyone with knowledge of Maori tradition.

The probabation officer, Josie Bullock, claimed she was discriminated against because of her gender when she tried to sit on the speaker’s bench during a formal welcome that preceded a graduation ceremony for offenders who had been doing courses.

Dr Hook says she might have had the right to speak during the Pakeha part of the event, but she had no qualifications to speak in the powhiri.

“For one she didn’t speak Maori. She didn’t understand the nature of the interaction. She was not trained in whaikorero. She lacked whakapapa. All of the things which a Maori needs in order to function as a speaker,” Dr Hook says.

He says following the Human Right’s Review Tribunal’s logic, the Catholic mass would be outlawed because it is conducted by people with gender-specific roles.

MIROMODA GIVE MAORI PLATFORM FOR FASHION WEEK

Maori designers have geared up for a strong showing at this week’s Air New Zealand Fashion Week.

A Thursday afternoon session at the main Auckland Viaduct venue will showcase eight designers who won through from the first MiroModa Fashion Design Awards earlier this year, including Wiremu Barriball, Kiri Nathan, Samara Vercoe, Keri Wanoa and Bianca Walford-Collier

MiraModa says it’s a chance for Maori designers to show they can compete with the best in the country.

SHORT FILM SCRIPT WINNER LOOKING FORWARD TO ESCAPE

A new life beckons for the winner of the Pikihuia award for best short screenplay.

Nathanial Hinde from Ngati Raukawa and Ngati Porou says in the week since his script Ten Cent Life wowed the judges, he’s been writing furiously as he attempts to flesh out his ideas into a full length horror script.

Mr Hinde says the acclamation is welcome after a decade of writing with little encouragement.

“I’ve basically been working as an accounts administrator my whole working life since I was 19 – I’m 34 now. I’ve always been like go to work, do the data entry, come home and forget about it, watch my movies and horror movies and try to jot down some ideas,” jhe says.

The Pikihuia prize included having his script considered by The New Zealand Film Commission, for development and film production.