National standards’ shock hits home

The NZEI's Maori vice president says Maori parents are being told their children aren't meeting the government's new national standards, but they're not told what to do about it.

The annual hui of the union's Te Reo Areare Maori council yesterday condemned the way the standards had been imposed, and called for trials to assess their impact on Maori pupils.

Laures Park says many of the 200 teachers at the hui are also parents, and they are getting the first reports under the new system.

“The schools have said their children are not meeting the standard or are at risk and that I think is when it hit home for them. In talking to the teachers, they are uncertain what they are doing as well and the difficulty is no one has had that conversation with the teachers and with the whanau to support their tamariki through this whole exercise,” Ms Park says.

She says the Maori Party, which supports the national standards policy, needs to understand that measuring under-achievement isn't the same a doing something about it.

MARAE MAPS TO LEAD PEOPLE HOME

Veteran broadcaster Rereata Makiha says new technology will help people track down historical marae and pa sites.

Te Potiki National Trust, which was formed by Mr Makiha and former Auckland Museum Maori curator Paul Tapsell, has been given $44,000 by the ASB Community Trust to map all marae present and past in Auckland and Northland.

He says the resulting publication will include GPS coordinates, so people can find the sites, even if like many they are on the back of farms and hidden from view.

“The idea of mapping the marae was first of all as a road map to get young people home, whether it’s to do repairs, whether it’s to plant Maori trees around the marae for Matariki, all those activities the marae can decide on, so basically it’s to get our young people back to the marae,” Mr Makiha says.

He has already identified more than 100 marae sites north of Hokianga, and believes there are more than 1400 nationwide.

WEKA CAMPAIGN PICKING UP MOMENTUM

A campaign to stop the Department of Conservation culling weka on Open Bay Island off South Westland is picking up momentum.

The Minister of Conservation, Kate Wilkinson, says the colony of 100 weka are killing lizards and raiding penguin nests.

But Ngai Tahu man Rawa Karetai, whose family has traditionally harvested kai from the Open Bay and Mutton Bird islands, says the birds should be relocated, not killed.

He says a Facebook Page opposing the Open Island weka cull has already attracted more than 400 members.

WHANAU ORA PLAN FOR CITY ROLL-OUT

Auckland's urban Maori authorities will reveal today how it intends to roll out whanau ora services in south Auckland.

Waipareira Trust chief executive John Tamihere says while the government is yet to approve a collective bid by the National Urban Maori Authority to be a provider under the new integrated social service delivery model, it's a kaupapa the authorities have been pursuing for years.

He says this evening's hui at Nga Whare Waatea Marae in Mangere will hear how collaboration and cooperation is the key to whanau ora.

“If people don't want to collaboration and cooperate, then they have to account for the dollars they get for the services they provide to our community and that’s everything from schools to health providers to welfare providers, education providers, justice providers, government as well as non-government. We want people to be accountable for the dollar values they achieve in our name but do not perform or account to us for the expenditure of those dollars,” Mr Tamihere says.

The hui starts at 6.

BOER WAR RIFLES SYMBOL OF BICULTURAL HAURAKI

A Thames based Maori health trust has bought a set of 15 Boer War rifles for its art gallery.

Hugh Kinninmonth, the chief executive of Te Korowai Hauora O Hauraki, says the purchase was a way to encourage respect for the bicultural history of the region.

The Thames rifles are the only known complete set from the 600 rifles sent back from South Africa in 1904 to be displayed in public buildings around the land.

Mr Kinninmonth says the display at the trust's complex in the former Brian Boru Hotel draws attention to the achievements of Wata Te Huihana, who enlisted in the Boer War under the name Walter Callaway and became the first Maori to earn commission as an officer.

He says it’s a taonga for the whole community and a bridge between the Maori and European history of Hauraki.

ARCHIVES SEEK TREASURES FOR CONSERVATION

The Film Archive's Maori project developer wants whanau to send in footage to ensure historical recordings are not lost.

Dianne Pivac says many film formats decompose over time, but the archive has the necessary temperature controlled storage to protect them.

She says whanau can avoid the heartbreak that comes with finding precious old footage has corroded.

“We're always very interested to hear from people who have film and we are also just at the beginning of a great big project called saving frames where the government has given us to some money to help us iun the urgent task of repairing and storing films properly, so the conservation side of our work is full steam ahead, Ms Pivac says.

A classic from the New Zealand Film Archive, the 1929 feature Under the Southern Cross, will get a run at this month's film festivals.

Tolley testing patience of teaching profession

The matua takawaenga for the NZEI primary teachers' union, Laures Park, says the government should put its money into improving literacy and numeracy, not into testing against new standard in schools.

The controversial national standards policy comes into effect today.

Teacher unions say it's inevitable the data collected will become public, creating league tables which will hinder rather than help schools to lift student performance.

Ms Park says the data won't reveal anything new.

“What we would like is something to be done about raising those achievement levels rather than taking a test to tell us something that we already know,” she says.

Many parents are still in the dark about what the new national standards will mean for them.

GOFF BETTER LEADER THAN MEDIA PORTRAYS

Labour list MP Shane Jones has spoken out in support of current leader Phil Goff after a poll showed Maori support for Labour at an all time low.

The Te Karere Digipoll of 1000 voters in the Maori seats found only 18 percent approved of Mr Goff's performance, while 59 said he doesn't provide good leadership on Maori issues.

Even among Labour voters he could only muster 36 percent support.

Mr Jones says Mr Goff hasn't been able to overcome the way his speech last year attacking National's deal with the Maori Party on its emissions tradition scheme was interpreted.

“We just couldn't get a balanced coverage of that speech from the media. They immediately compared it to Don Brash. I mean it’s opposition politics, it’s a bugger of a job leading the opposition party after nine years in government and give the guy some credit. He’s trying to cover all the bases and there’s nothing prejudiced, nothing racist about that man whatsoever,” Mr Jones says.

WIDESPREAD INTEREST IN WAITANGI DAY COMMEMORATIONS

A Waitangi kaumatua is expecting record attendances at this year's treaty commemorations in the Bay of Islands.

The programme includes a major waka regatta as well as the usual sports, cultural and political events.

Kingi Taurua says there is interest not only from New Zealand but overseas, with groups coming from Switzerland, Australia and throughout the Pacific which has never happened before.

He says it’s important visitors realise Maori own Waitangi Day, not the government.

Mana whenua expect to be stretch looking after all the manuhiri, but everything is in place for a successful celebration.

NEGOTIATIONS SET OVER MAORI STAKE IN SPECTRUM

Broadcasting and telecommunications claimants are preparing to negotiate with the Crown about how Maori should share in a major reorganisation of spectrum.

Cabinet wanted to make decisions before Christmas about hundreds of millions of dollars worth of frequencies freed up by the shift to digital television, but was forced to backpedal after claimants went back to the Waitangi Tribunal.

Piripi Walker, the secretary of the Wellington Maori language board Nga Kaiwhakapumau i te Reo, says the Crown ignored tribunal findings on the issue in 1990 and 1999, but this time it may be forced to reach a settlement.

“The Crown assumes its right to ownership, rights to auction, rights to take payment from people over the last 20 years, left Maori out. The Crown’s coming back to the table, Maori would first of all want the Crown to bow its head a little bit and say maybe we weren’t on the right track to throw the tribunal reports in the rubbish tin,” Mr Walker says.

If negotiations break down the claimants can be back before the tribunal with three days notice.

SHARPLES’ STANDARDS’ SECOND THOUGHTS WAY TOO LATE

The Greens' education spokesperson Metiria Turei says Pita Sharples' opposition to national standards comes a year late.

The new testing regime for primary and intermediate schools starts today.

Ms Turei says the Maori Party backed the legislation allowing the standards, despite data from overseas showing students from disadvantaged communities suffer when such national literacy and standards are imposed.

She says it's the price the Maori Party is paying to be in government.

“This is the political reality when you are part of a government that has a radical programme that is bad for your own people, and it’s something the Maori Party is going to have to live with. And it’s really distressing for those of us who support what the Maori Party is trying to achieve but seeing them thwarted every time they try to make progress,” Ms Turei says.

She says Pita Sharples should push for a trial before the standards are rolled out nationally.

EURPOEAN TOUR FITTING END TO MAORI RUGBY CENTENARY

Rugby commentator Ken Laban says Maori rugby deserves a high calibre competition to mark its centenary year.

Players and fans are waiting for the New Zealand Rugby Football Union to confirm games for the Maori All Blacks against England, Ireland and Wales.
Mr Laban says a European tour would be a great opportunity to expose the world to Maori rugby.

“In terms of popularity, outside the All Blacks they would be the second most popular. They’re an integral part of New Zealand society and the national game of rugby, so it would be wonderful if they could pull off a tour of this magnitude at the end of the season,” Mr Laban says.

The lack of New Zealand A Games this year would suggest a Maori is tour is the cards.