Quick action needed on mobile charges

2Degrees is calling for quick action on a Commerce Commission recomendation which could slash its cost of doing business.

The mobile phone company uses frequencies made available to Maori as part of a treaty settlement, and Maori shareholders own just under 12 percent of the company.

Chief operating officer Bill McCabe says the Minister of Telecommunications, Stephen Joyce, needs to act fast on the recommendation that the amount charged to terminate a mobile call on another network be regulated.

“Every time a customer of ours calls a Telecom of a Vodafone customer, Vodafone or Telecom clip the ticket, and the Commerce Commission is saying ‘well you can clip the ticket but at the moment it’s way too much, it’s an excessive amount, and those rates have got to come down,’” Mr McCabe says.

As long as the process for determining the cost of calls is not delayed by court action, customers could benefit from lower rates across the board by early next year.

DAIRY COWS DAMAGE TARANAKI PA SITE

A South Taranaki iwi is fuming at the damage done to a waahi tapu site on land owned by troubled corporate farmer Crafar Farms.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer from Ngati Ruanui Group Management says overstocking of dairy cows on Hillside farm at Ohangai led to what could be permanent damage to Te Ruaki Pa during recent wet weather.

Crafar was put into receivership last October with more than $200 million in debt and multiple prosecutions for illegal waste discharges from its 16 farms.

She says the iwi is talking to local government about how the mana of such sites can be protected.

“We're not just talking about rectifying it now but we’ve put this waahi tapu, our pa site on the attention list so it never ever happens again. Deliberate damage by over-stocking paddocks in wet weather is (negligent),” Mrs Ngarewa-Packer says.

Ngati Ruanui is trying to contact the Crafar Farms receiver, KordaMentha about the damage.

SOCCER DRAW INSPIRED YOUNG MAORI

A Maori sports broadcaster says tamariki will be lining up to play soccer after the All Whites' success at the 2010 football World Cup.

Te Kauhoe Wano says the performance of Maori players Leo Bertos, Jeremy Christie, Rory Fallon and especially goal scorer Winston Reid in yesterday's 1-1 draw with Slovakia will inspire young Maori boys and girls.

It's even getting to the traditionalists at Maori Television, where soccer was the only topic of conversation among the sports team.


A Maori studying in Australia has been picked as one of that country's top 100 brightest young minds.

Areti Metuamate of Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Kauwhatu and Waikato-Tainui is on Freyberg Scholarship to the National University in Canberra, studying for a masters degree in international politics, defence and strategic studies.

The former Hato Paora head boy and executive member of the Catholic Runanga says his selection over thousands of Australians shows Maori can do anything with focus and hard work.

“For so long we have been back seat, second class citizens. For so long we’ve been seen as ‘oh no, you’re not really an achiever, the Pakeha will become the doctor and so forth.’ That is complete rubbish and we have to change the thinking in that regard. We can do it not only in our own country but on the global stage. We’re competitors everywhere,” Mr Metuamate says.

The 25-year-old will attend next month's Brightest Young Minds summit in Sydney to discuss current issues with leading business and community leaders including Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

MAHUTA A ROLE MODEL FOR YOUNG WAHINE MAORI

Green's co-leader Meteria Turei has praised the promotion of fellow Maori MP Nanaia Mahuta to Labour's front bench as a result of the reshuffle brought on by the ministerial expenses controversy.

She says the Hauraki-Waikato MP is showing the way for others.

“She's got huge years of experience. She’s a young woman, a young mother. She’s an excellent role model for other young Maori women who’re starting families and things that you can be involved in politics and have longevity in politics. I think it’s long overdue that she’s been promoted like this,” Ms Turei says.

She was also impressed with the dignified way list MP Shane Jones took his demotion in the Labour ranks.

FEAST OF A LIFETIME BECOMES FEAST FOR THE EYES

It was the feast of a lifetime, and it's being recalled several lifetimes later.

The time was 1844, when Tainui and Ngati Whatua chiefs invited Auckland's 6000 Pakeha residents to feast on the slopes of Remuera, now known as Mt Hobson, to thank them for past hospitality and as a show of power.

The menu was fish and chips ... more than 9000 sharks and 11,000 baskets of potatoes were consumed over four days.

Exhibition developer Janine Love has used a watercolour by Joseph Merret recreated the amazing event for Auckland museum's Kai to Pie show.

“From that watercolour lithographs were made which we’ve reinterpreted digitally so it becomes a lithograph that on a touch screen, it’s actually a computer console, you can actually fly into the space and explore the lithograph,” she says.

Kai to Pie also features the 1854 Albert Barrack ball and banquet at which Aucklanders celebrated Queen Victoria’s birthday and the first sitting of the New Zealand parliament by dining in knee deep mud on tinned food imported from around the world.

Auckland iwi looking at collective settlement

Iwi with claims to Tamaki Makaurau are optimistic a new offer could lead to a collective settlement.

The iwi met yesterday to develop a response to the offer, which includes a new mana whenua body to hold title to many of Auckland's volcanic cones.
There will also be settlements negotiated with individual iwi over the next couple of years.

Paul Majurey from Marutuahu says the offer, which comes after six months of intense negotiations gets around some of the problems thrown when the Crown tried to strike a deal only with the Ngati Whatua o Orakei hapu.

“It is an advance because there were shared interest contests between the tribes and we’ve moved a long way since then into a collective approach to recognise there are different tribal interests around Tamaki Makaurau and this is a collective approach that seems to provide a solution,” Mr Majurey says.

The iwi hope to reply to the Crown by the end of the week.

MAORI PARTY SILENCE ON TE HURIHANGA NOTED

Hauraki-Waikato MP Nanaia Mahuta is calling on the Maori Party to break its silence on the government's decision to axe a Hamilton-based rehabilitation programme for serious young offenders.

The government says there be no more money for Te Hurihanga after June because it costs too much.

Ms Mahuta, who helped set up of the programme, says it has kept young Maori with bad track records out of prison.

“I think they are going to divert the funding probably to whanau ora, but this is a whanau ora concept so I’m surprised the Maori Party hasn’t supported it and if this is going to be another Child Youth and Family-run facility then we will continue to see young Maori slip through the cracks,” Ms Mahuta says.

PROPER CEREMONY NEEDED FOR MAORI FLAG RAISING

The chair of the Auckland District Maori Council wants kaumatua and kuia to be present when a Maori flag is hoisted on Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day.

Titewhai Harawira says after all the hard work that went into choosing the tino rangatiratanga flag as the official ensign, the Minister of Maori Affairs has failed to properly organise the flag raising ceremony.

“Pita Sharples has done nothing to organize and ensure that our kaumatua and kuia have an opportunity to bless that flag and to go to the transport department the ensure one lane is left open to allow our kaumatua and kuia to be present on such an important occasion to ensure our flag is raised with dignity,” Mrs Harawira says.

If he doesn't get the ceremony right in Auckland, Dr Sharples could be in for a rude reception at Waitangi.

MANUKAU FLAG DECISION CALLED RACIST AND DIVISIVE

Green co-leader Metiria Turei has slammed Manukau City Council's decision not to fly a Maori flag at its offices on Waitangi Day.

A council committee last night reconfirmed its policy of only flying the New Zealand and Manukau City Council flags, as well as flags belonging to sister cities or overseas visitors.

Councilor Jami-Lee Ross of Ngati Porou that the Maori flag represents protest and separatism.

But Ms Turei says the council is creating further division.

“Refusing to fly even a Maori symbolic flag because it’s divisive actually creates and enhances that division. It’s an act of racism in my and it’s very disappointing it’s the decision of Manukau which describes itself as being New Zealand’s biggest multi-cultural city,” Ms Turei says.

TE OHU KAIMOANA TRIMMING DOWN AS ASSETS HANDED OVER

Success is catching up with Te Ohu Kaimoana.

The Maori fisheries trust told iwi at its annual meeting that it has now allocated more than 80 percent of settlement assets, representing almost half a billion dollars in quota and cash.

Fred Cookson from the audit and risk committee says because its income from leasing out quota has fallen, it is increasingly reliant on investment income to find its activities.

“We've got $100 million invested into bonds. As those bonds mature we’re rolling them into lower rates and that’s reflected the impact of global recession as far back as 2008 and as those flow through we’re still quite comfortable because we didn’t suffer any loss on the value of the portfolio,” Mr Cookson says.

As well as helping coordinate the activities of iwi fishing interests, Te Ohu Kaimoana has subsidiary trusts which promote Maori economic development and stewardship marine and freshwater fisheries.

HAAMI CHAPMAN PICKED FOR COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION

Forty years working with underprivileged groups in south Auckland has earned a Te Rarawa man a finalist's spot in tonight's New Zealander of the Year awards in Auckland.

Haami Chapman from Te Rarawa is up for the Local Heroes Award, which recognises people who make enormous contributions to their communities.

He's worked with a broad range of groups he's worked with over the years, and says solutions have to come from within communities.

He works with gangs, individuals, whanau and community groups.