Ratana readies for political debates

Ratana Pa near Whanganui is preparing for an influx of politicians today, including Prime Minister John Key and his Maori Party allies and Labour leader Phil Goff with members of his caucus.

They will join thousands of morehu or church members in marking the birthday of church founder Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana.

Ratana-raised entertainer Ruia Aperahama says the annual hui continues to be a draw for MPs because morehu always vote, unlike many other sectors of the Maori community.

He says Ratana and Maori politics are inextricably linked.

“Holding the four Maori seats for half a century, a lot of Maori families that share that legacy, it’s no surprise they are still continuing those discussions at their family table. My experience around the country with morehu and at the huis, there is a strong core political body out there,” Mr Aperahama says.

SHAPLES OPEN TO TALKS WITH ALL

Meanwhile, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples he’s ready to discuss coalition agreements with either National or Labour after the next election.

Dr Sharples says the Party’s support agreement with National has allowed it to make gains which would not been impossible outside of government.

But that doesn't mean it must team up again with John Key next time and would consider Labour.

“For us it’s a question of who will dance with us, because we have our policy, and it’s Maori, it’s not right, it’s not left, and we’re wide open to be asked to join people but it will be that sort of relationship, that we can’t stray really from why we’re there and it’s things Maori which we believe what’s good for Maori is good for New Zealand,” Dr Sharples says.

HAKA WORLD RECORD PLAN FOR TE MATATINI

It's all go at Waiohika near Gisborne as volunteers work to get the natural amphitheatre ready for Te Matatini national kapahaka championships in three weeks.

Organising committee member Willie Te Aho says the biannual festival is creating unprecedented international interest, with seven international broadcasters attending.

He says the Guinness Book of Records is also getting in on the act, as the festival attempts to beat the record of 3264 people doing a haka, set at the Tainui games three years ago.

“We’re going to have on the last day up to 20,000 people on site and we want to get people involved in being a part of creating as new benchmark in Guinness Book of Records,” Mr Te Aho says.

More than 5000 tickets to the four day event have already been sold.

DAVIS DEFENDS NCEA OVER GRAMMAR CAMBRIDGE ELITISM

Labour's associate education spokesperson says a programme designed to increase Maori and Pasifika participation in tertiary education has confirmed the superiority of the NCEA system over Cambridge exams.

Kelvin Davis says Education Minister Anne Tolley is undermining public confidence in the national certificate of educational achievement by backing Auckland Grammar’s decision to only offer NCEA to its weakest students.

He says the school’s decision is based on elitist prejudice rather than research, such as the Starpath project used in other Auckland schools.

“The reason that Starpath says CEA is a better predictor of success than Cambridge is because the NCEA system sort of replicates the way teaching occurs in university so students are better prepared at university than the old fashioned system which is what Cambridge is of going through the year and at the end of the year having a big exam,” Mr Davis says.

He says the minister is too scared to front up to the National Party supporters on Auckland Grammar’s board of trustees.

WORKMAN ATTACKS JAIL FOR FINES PLAN

The head of prison reform advocacy group Rethinking Crime and Punishment says imprisoning people for non-payment of traffic fines would discriminate against Maori and the poor.

Kim Workman from Ngati Kahungunu says the proposed change in the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill runs counter to international research.

He says judges already have the discretion to jail people rather than adding another fine to their existing tariff – and it’s happening more often.

“What we’re finding is that with the recession the numbers of people being sent to prison for non-payment of fines is just out of all proportion and so what we’re doing is imprisoning people because they are poor, not because they necessarily refuse to pay fines,” Mr Workman says.

He says jailing non-payers imposes huge costs on the taxpayer, as well as harming the offender’s family.

SUCCESSFUL END TO WAKA AMA NATIONALS

The 21st annual waka ama championships wrapped up over the weekend, with thousands of paddlers from round the country churning up the waters of Lake Karapiro.

Hoturoa Kerr from Nga Kaihoe o Aotearoa says the event confirmed the popularity of the sport in Maori and Pacifika communities.

He says the host region can hold its head up high, with the Turangawaewae Waka Sports club having a particularly successful regatta.

“From little kids and midgets all the way through to the adults and masters it was great to see their fielding one of the biggest club showings and in terms of club points for the whole regatta they came second so I think it’s great for a club that’s just started off and just getting into the swing of things,” Mr Kerr says.

The country’s top paddlers will now focus on fundraising to attend the next world waka ama championships in Canada.

DHB wants one stop shop for Maori health

The Waitemata District Health Board wants to know what front line health care Maori want.

Edith Mc Neill, the manager of Maori primary health care services, says there are currently six PHOs covering Maori in west Auckland and North Shore.

The board plans to cut that number to one or two.

She says a series of hui will be held next month on the best way to proceed.

“We don't have all the answers for Maori sitting inside the DHB which is why the process we are about to go to is very important. What we do know is we have whanau across the district we want to ensure have some consistent service delivery,” Mrs McNeill says.

TEACHERS AND WHANAU GET LESSONS IN NCEA PATHWAY

The Qualifications Authority is giving Maori teachers and whanau a better understanding of how the National Certificate of Educational Achievement works.

Daryn Bean, the NZQA's deputy CEO Maori, says many people still don't know how to get the best for their rangatahi out of the 20-year-old secondary school assessment system.

He says a series of whanau workshops is giving them a chance to catch up.

“Had a lot of new teachers coming to the workshops learning about assessment, learning about moderation, learning about what’s available on the qualification frameworks, there’s the NCEA but there’s also the Maori traditional areas and how they can incorporate those into qualifications, so there’s lots of learning happening for kaiako, and they’re really appreciating it,” Mr Bean says.

The key to handling NCEA is packaging units so rangatahi have enough credits each year to move up the levels.

MAORI WOMEN’S SEVENS GREAT TOURISM PROMOTION

The coach of the Maori Womens Sevens rugby squad says New Zealand Tourism missed out on a golden opportunity by not backing the team on its latest overseas tour.

Peter Joseph says the team has dominated the Hong Kong women's seven's tournament for several years, and its first foray to the Roma Tournament in Italy achieved a similar result.

He says their impact as they swept aside the opposition was extraordinary.

“When you see them on the field and you see not only their playing ability but that they know they are ambassadors for their whanau, their culture and their country as well, you see they put everything into it and when they achieve that result, it’s wonderful,” Mr Joseph says.

He says because of the cultural angle, the Aotearoa Maori Womens Sevens team drew extraordinary media interest during its time in Italy.

HISTORIC PLACES MOVES ON WAAHI TAPU DAMAGE

The Historic Places Trust says it's considering a prosecution over stock damage to a south Taranaki pa site.

Senior archaeologist Rick McGovern-Wilson says the trust is investigating whether permanent harm was done to earthworks at Te Ruaki Pa near Hawera when a sharemilker employed by the receivers of Crafar Farms ran cows on the site during wet weather.

He says it serves as a warning of the need to protect such areas

“This is an outstanding pa site. It’s two or three hundred metres long, it sits along the crest of a ridge. It has quite large ditch and bank defensive systems around it and it’s big enough and important enough that it’s actually marked on the Q21 topographic map, and you can see it on Google earth,” Dr McGovern-Wilson says.

The Trust will be taking the matter up with the receivers and the South Taranaki district council after a senior archaeologist has investigated the full extent of damage next week.

MAORI HIT HARDER BY DEAF AID DEFAULT

The Audiologists Society is calling on Maori organisations to make a noise about a change in Accident Compensation Commission policy that older people whose hearing is affected by noisy workplaces will have to pay for hearing aids.

Society president Lesley Hindmarsh says the ACC's decision not to pay what it considers is age-related hearing loss is unscientific.

She says it will particulary affect Maori workers.

“Those Maori workers that have worked in more manual professions and factory workers, farm, forestry, if they have any damage to their hearing, when they come to majke a claim for a hearing aid and there’s an age component, they would have to pay something towards that,” Ms Hindmarsh says.

Maori are already less likely to take up their entitlement for hearing aids, and the top-up demanded by ACC will make that situation worse.

NGA PAE O TE MARAMATANGA OFFERS FULBRIGHT SCHOLARSHIPS

Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga, the Maori centre for research excellence, has teamed up with the Fulbright Foundation to offer scholarships for travel and study in the United States.

Director Charles Royal, a past Fulbright scholar, says while the scholarships are funded by the centre, they are backed by the full resources of the Fulbright organisation.

He says the country's best students often end up in the Fulbright system.

“The excellence theme around Fulbright is the perfect fit for Nga Pae. We’re certainly interested in uplifting the participation of Maori in research but we have a specific interest to do with research excellence and pathways to excellence and Fulbright is iconic in this pathways to excellence around research and scholarship,” Dr Royal says.

Applications for the Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga senior Fulbright Scholarship close on July 1.

Manurewa Marae opens whare oranga with sadness

A kaumatua of Manurewa Marae says the opening of a new health clinic was tinged with sadness, but looked towards a brighter future.

Te Manu Aute Whare Oranga is a joint venture between the marae and Counties Manukau Health.

Alec Tairua says today's ceremony included unveiling memorials to two workers killed last year when a relocated house which was to serve as the clinic slipped from its supports.

More than 100 people have already registered with the health clinic, and the search is on to fully staff it.

TOUGH LOVE BEHIND TOBACCO PRICE RISE

The Maori Affairs Minister, Pita Sharples, is describing the extra tax on tobacco as tough love from the nanny state.

Dr Sharples says he knows many Maori addicts won't cut down, and the extra amount they spend on cigarettes could mean less food on the table for their children.

But he says smoking reduction is a kaupapa the Maori Party is making its own.

“It's very much an example of tough love. At the end of the day we are over-represented in the statistics of dying through smoking and we’re represented in the figures of smoking amongst our youth as well, so it is tough love,” Dr Sharples says.

He says there is always the nanny state factor when government pushes does what it believes is good for the people.

INFORMATION CAN TURN PADDOCKS INTO WAAHI TAPU

The Historic Places Trust's Maori heritage advisor would like to see more information made available to the public about prominent waahi tapu.

Helen Brown interviewed dozens of tangata whenua for an exhibition at Akaroa Museum on Takapuneke, the scene of the 1830 massacre where Ngai Tahu ariki Te Maiharanui was killed.

She combined those interviews with text and images to show why the area also known as Greens Point is considered sacred by Maori of Akaroa and Oonuku.

“A lot of our waahi tapu rest silently in the landscape. Their history isn’t evident. You look down into the bay and it’s a beautiful place but it just appears as paddocks so in future we’re looking at the development of a conservation plan and a management plan, making people have a connection with that place and its history,” Ms Brown says

Before the exhibition Nga Roimata o Takapuneke, which closes on Monday, many residents had no idea of the land's historical significance .

CARVERS TAKE THE CHISELS TO SHANGHAI

Five carvers from Te Puia Maori Arts and Crafts Institute are in Shanghai to put the finishing touches to a 10 metre waka mau mahara that will serve as the entrance to New Zealand's world Expo pavillion.

Te Puia visitor experience manager Karl Johnstone says about two thirds of the work on the 3500 year old kauri log has been done, and the carvers start tomorrow on the surface decoration and kowhaiwhai, under the eye of thousands of daily visitors.

He says yesterday's opening of the pavilion was awe-inspiring, particularly the unveiling of the 1800 kilo pounamu boulder which stands at the entrance.

“Chinese are very much a jade culture as well so strong connection to them with that but also with the carving because of the story and I guess with the values that go along with the gifting of this piece to the people of China. There’s a lot of synergies between the values of the Chinese and Maori so they understand the conceptual nature of the work,” Mr Johnstone says.

The Maori contribution should help the New Zealand pavilion stand out.

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT DIRVING LEARNING IMPROVEMENT

More input from parents is being credits with improving the achievement of Maori students.

Patrick Walsh, the president of the Secondary Principal's Association, Patrick Walsh, says there is a huge increase in the number of Maori staying on until year 13 and gaining the three levels of the National Certificate of Education Achievement.

Contributing factors include the way NCEA better addresses Maori needs, new approaches to management of Maori students such as Te Kotahitanga, and changes in parents' attitudes.

“We're getting more engagement from the whanau. We have whanau committees that have been established in schools, Maori parents have greater aspirations for their children. They’re prepared to sit on boards of trustees. They’re prepared to monitor the work of their children. They want them to go to university and achieve,” Mr Walsh says.

Improved performance by Maori is reflected in better behaviour both in and out of school.

REO PIONEER AUNTY BEE PUBLISHED ANOTHER TANIWHA

A pioneer teacher of te reo Maori is launching another story books in Rotorua about now.

Aunty Bea Yates from Ngati Pikiao was the first itinerant teacher of Maori in the Waiariki rohe.

She hopes Hoha Te Taniwha will match the success of One Day a Taniwha, which she and daughter-in-law Gay Kingi self-published last year.

Aunty Bea says started writing her stories half a century ago on sheets of A3 paper because she discovered there were no resources in Maori.

She started publishing after her daughter in law found piles of her old A3 books at the back of a classroom

NCEA bringing positive change for Maori students

Maori under-achievement at school is being rapidly turned around.

The president of the Secondary Principal's Association, Patrick Walsh, says latest figures show a huge increase in the number of Maori staying on until year 13 and passing levels 1, 2 and 3 of the National Certificate of Education Achievement.

He says while a lack of jobs in the economy means students are more likely to stay on, Maori also find the greater range of subjects under NCEA attractive.

“When you look at the way things were four or five years ago, there’s been a huge leap in the achievement of Maori students and more Maori students are entitled to attend universities. I think that’s a fantastic thing for schools when you also conider that what we’ve got now in New Zealand of course is the browning of New Zealand, we are going to have more Maori and Pacific students in our schools,” Mr Walsh says.

The improved engagement of Maori students in schools is leading to less anti-social behaviour and a reduction in criminal offending.

CIVIC LEADERS’ HERITAGE SPAT AS ELECTION LOOMS

Relations between Auckland Regional Council chair Mike Lee and city mayor John Banks have plummeted over attitudes to heritage management.

Mr Lee accuses the super city mayoral candidate of politicking over converting century-old sheds on Queens Wharf into Rugby World Cup party central, while at the same time his council is fighting the ARC in court over protection of an ancient Maori settlement site on Waiheke.

But Mr Banks says in the five months he has left in the job, Mr Lee should reflect on how hard it is to do business with the regional council.

“He's quite bitter and quite twisted about anyone that has any view that he doesn’t share. If it’s not his view, he doesn’t share it, they’re wrong, they’re mad, they’re bad. You can’t be like that in politics. You have to disagree without being disagreeable,” Mr Banks says.

WARDEN ROLE FOR WORLD CUP CONSIDERED

Police are considering how they can use Maori wardens to help with any extra work associated with the Rugby World Cup.

Superintendent Grant O'Fee, who's in charge of police planning for the event, says wardens and police are working more closely after a police-led training programme.

He says it makes sense to include them in planning for the cup.

He says how each district uses wardens will be a partnership between the police and the wardens.

Superintendent O'Fee says the response from Maori wardens to being involved has been extremely positive.

RESEARCH UNCOVERS HIGH CHLAMYDIA LEVELS

Health Waikato researchers have found young Maori in the region have the highest reported infection rates in the world of the sexually transmitted disease Chlamydia, which can cause infertility.

Research head Jane Morgan estimates one in 10 under 25 year olds have Chlamydia with one in five young Maori women testing positive compared to one in nine non-Maori.

She says similar research in other parts of the country would probably uncover similar rates, and they are almost certainly due to high levels of testing compared to other countries.

“The last message I want to get out there is there is any difference in sexual behaviour. It may be that some young women have greater difficulty getting their partners to use a condom. That might be and issue but it’s not an issue of promiscuity, it’s an issue of access. Access to antibiotics. Access to condoms – how do young people actually get condoms,” Dr Morgan says.

She says 70 percent of people with Chlamydia don't know they have it.

MAORI PUT BET ON GAMBLING TREATMENT

The head of the Problem Gambling Foundation says the organisation is starting to make a dent in Maori gambling.

Graeme Ramsey says the number of people seeking treatment was up 25 percent last year, and more than a third of those assisted were Maori.

He says awareness campaigns and the impact of the recession are encouraging gamblers to face up to their sickness.

“Treatment works. We can help people who are impacted by gambling whether that is gamblers or their whanau or even the employers of gamblers,” Mr Ramsey says.

More than 70 percent of problem gambling comes from pokie machines which have a particular attraction for Maori, so the sinking lid policies many councils are adopting are starting to have an impact.

LISTENING SERVICE BRINGS OUT HARROWING STORIES

A Maori community worker is finding his new job listening to victims of state abuse is unexpectedly harrowing.

Bobbie Newson from Te Rarawa is part of a new Confidential Listening and Assistance Service for people who claim they were abused in psychiatric hospitals, health camps, child welfare care or special education homes before 1992.

He says many of those wanting to tell their stories are Maori, and what he's hearing at sessions in Arohata women’s prison, and Rimutaka Prison show the need for the service.

“I can only take one or two of these a day. You can sit there, you can cry, you can laugh with them and then it’s like they bring their life before you, and some of it is really really sad,” Mr Newson says.

The panel can't pay compensation, but it can suggest ways people can get further help.

Customer insight needed for forest investment

The manager of Tuwharetoa's largest forestry businesses says Maori need to understand the needs of the global timber customer so they can know where best to invest.

George Asher says Lake Taupo Forest Trust and Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust have a policy of buying out leases as trees are harvested, so they have total ownership of the next crop.

The policy has also been adopted by the Central North Island forestry coalition, which Ngati Tuwharetoa is part of.

Mr Asher says Maori need to invest in other parts of the industry, and his preference would be to buy into the marketing and distribution end of the chain

“We want to understand what our customers want. Understanding that determines what sort of product creates the best value, what sort of trees are best suited to creating those products and that’s the sort of stuff we need to know before investing in any part of that value chain,” Mr Asher says.

TRUSTEES GET TIPS ON RUNNING MARAE BETTER

Marae trustees in the Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa will be given a crash course over the next few weeks on how they can do their jobs better.

Roger Arana, the Takitimu regional manager for Te Puni Kokiri, says the Internal Affairs-led marae planning and funding workshops will give trustees a chance to hear what agencies like Inland Revenue, the Fire Service, Historic Places Trust and the Maori Land Court have to offer them.

He says it's protection for kaitiaki.

“A lot of our people do things from their heart, he Maori tena, but there are also responsibilities that come from being a trustee and there’s liabilities for trustees too so you’ve really got to understand what that's all about,” Mr Arana says.

TAONGA COLLECTION ADRIFT FROM TALES OF LAND AND MANA

A former curator of Maori taonga at Auckland War Memorial Museum says treating the Oldman Collection as a single unit may help people identify where individual items came from.

The collection of Maori and Pacific Island artefacts was put together by William Oldman in England in the first half of last century.

The New Zealand Government bought it in 1948 and split it between museums in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, who have now agreed to coordinate guardianship.

Paul Tapsell says it's a significant collection with many fine objects, but the specific tribal or geographic origins of most of the pieces are unknown.

“A lot of these things were probably collected by early visitors, be they whalers or missionaries, early settlers, collecting them perhaps for aesthetic, curiosity reasons that had nothing to do with their ancestral connections to landscapes and expressions of mana. That korero is no longer available,” Professor Tapsell says.

There could be clues about some of the items in early writings by missionaries or travelers, or in tribal records, but it will require diligent research to track them back.

WHANAU ORA IN LINE WITH HEALTH SECTOR CHANGES

One of the architects of Whanau Ora says the new way of delivering services to Maori is consistent with other changes the Government is making in the health sector.

Lorna Dyall from Te Kupenga Hauora Maori in Auckland University's School of Population Health says rather than services being developed to suit health professionals, they are now being designed to give consumers and whanau what they want.

She says whanau ora also includes development, which is important for the wider society which is trying to grapple with the needs of an aging population.

“You can only look after an older population and a young population if you work as a whanau so actually helping skills in the whanau to be able to care for each other both now and plan for the future so it’s actually moving from just focusing on me, what’s important for me, to actually how do I contribute to a whanau because a whanau only exists if you all work together,” Dr Dyall says.

The whanau ora idea has upset some people because of the way Maori people make their culture explicit, but the principles can apply to any group.

KIDNEY TESTS COULD SAVE LATER ILLNESS

It"s Kidney Awareness Week, and Maori are being urged to get a check up which can pick up problems like undiagnosed diabetes.

Kelvin Lynn, the medical director of Kidney Health New Zealand, says the disease can be beaten if detected early through a simple test, but left undiagnosed it can lead to kidney failure and other conditions.

He says Maori are twice as likely to have diabetes than Pakeha, and community-based programes are the best way to detect it and treat it.

Professor Lynn says if people know they have diabetes, they can make the lifestyle changes which are the key to beating both diabetes and kidney failure.

FORM TWO STUDENTS SITTING NCEA LEVEL 1 MAORI

The principal of Titahi Bay North School says a group of year 8 language learners are inspiring younger students by sitting level 1 NCEA Maori before they head to High School.

Stephen Caldwell says Te Whanau o te Kakano reo immersion programme complements the mainstream teaching programmes at the school, which has a 75 percent Maori roll.

He says the teachers believe the second formers can pass level 1 NCEA Maori.

“The kids were needing to be extended. They were very fluent. We’re confident they can handle it. We’ve got four kids sitting it this year and we expect it to continue,” Mr Caldwell says.

Milk plant planned on Tuaropaki land

Two Maori land trusts are teaming up to build a $100 million milk processing plant at Mokai northwest of Lake Taupo.

Tuaropaki and Wairarapa Moana run about 10,000 cows, which could supply about a fifth of the plant's capacity.

Kingi Smiler, the chair of Wairarapa Moana Incorporation, says once they get resource consents from Environment Waikato they will seek to involve other Maori trusts within the region, both as suppliers and investors.

He says it's an advance on supplying milk to Fonterra.

“In terms of our particular trusts and Maori in particular we are generational farmers and we think there is a lot of demand out there for milk products and we think this is the next logical move on behalf of our shareholders which will be a more attractive proposition for our shareholders over time,” Mr Smiler says.

Initially Miraka will make whole milk powder.

LESSONS ACROSS TASMAN FOR RECESSION BUSTING

Phil Goff says New Zealand could learn lessons Australia on how to beat Maori unemployment.

The Labour leader says with the number of Maori out of work now running at over 15 percent, the highest it's been since the early 1990s, all the Government can think of is more tax cuts for the well off.

He says in contrast to National's do-nothing approach, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd responded to the spike in unemployment with well targeted stimulus and training packages.

“The result is that they have brought their unemployment rate down, and our unemployment rate is now 30 percent higher than that of Australia. For most of our history, New Zealand has had a much lower rate of unemployment that Australia. They’re beating us at that now even though John Key said he wanted to close the gap. Well, he’s going in the wrong direction,” Mr Goff says.

Skill and apprenticeship training programmes targeted at young Maori are desperately needed.

NCEA GIVES MAORI STUDENTS CHANCE OF CATCHING UP

An education researcher says the National Certificate of Education Achievement is working for Maori students.

That's in spite of a Salvation Army report showing only half Maori school leavers have NCEA level two compared to three quarters of Pakeha.

Dr Rose Hipkins, the chief researcher for the Council for Education Research, says while there is a gap between Maori and Pakeha achievement, that gap narrowed by 4 percent between 2004 and 2008, and the trend is continuing.

“They're definitely doing better because there is a wider range of subjects they can do their learning in and get credits for their NCEA for. It’s not like the old system where you had to be good at the academic subjects or you were likely to be a failure. The whole premise on which it is based is different,” Dr Hipkins says.

She says the work schools are doing to improve the performance of their Maori students will show results over time.

SEMINAR TO HEAR MAORI VIEW ON WATER OWNERSHIP

A seminar in Wellington today will hear that Maori want their claims for ownership of water to be considered in any reform of water allocation and management.

Morrie Love from Te Atiawa says he'll seek to show attendees at the New Zealand Freshwater Management Forum that Maori, in common with many other indigenous groups, see control of water as being even more important than control of land.

He says that jars with English law which takes as its starting point ownership of land.

“The whole concept that water can’t be owned is in fact an English law construct. Maori see it in a different way. They might not use the term ownership but certainly, as the people of the Whanganui say, ‘I am the river and the river is me.’ That is a statement of ownership.
Mr Love says.

He says the government has indicated it wants to make a fresh start on water policy, and Maori want to be part of that.

LAWYER DEFENDS COUNCIL PROCEDURES OVER IWI ARRANGEMENT

A Maori lawyer says the behaviour of the Iwi Leaders Forum shows there's still a need for the New Zealand Maori Council.

The Maori Affairs select committee is holding an inquiry into the operation of the Maori Community Development Act, which provides the legal foundation for Maori councils and Maori wardens.

Annette Sykes from Ngati Pikiao says the council has been under attack for years from iwi leaders who say it's outdated and the Crown should deal directly with iwi.

But she says secretive negotiations between the Iwi Leaders Forum and Attorney general Chris Finlayson over replacing the Foreshore and Seabed Act show they can't be trusted.

Ms Sykes says the Maori Council has a proud record of fighting for treaty rights as well as advocating for poor, urban and disengaged Maori.

DIVERSITY LOSS LIKELY FROM POLYTECH RESTRUCTURE

Maori look set to make way for bean counters as the government's reforms bit into the tertiary sector.

The government is trimming the size of polytechnic councils to eight members, and appointing half of those itself, including the chairs and deputy chairs.

Tom Ryan, the president of the Tertiary Education Union, says that means students, staff, union, regional employers and Maori will have to fight for the remaining four slots, and their ability to influence the programmes polytechs offer will be greatly reduced.

“It's basically community representation and all the different groups that represent the community, they’re benign done away with, and basically it’s the bran counters and accountants, the business people who are going to be put on these boards,” Dr Ryan says.

Iwi need to get in now and lobby the polytech boards to specify a position on the new boards for Maori.