Urban authorities make play for whanau ora

The head of west Auckland-based Waipareira Trust says urban Maori authorities are likely to be major providers of services under Whanau Ora.

John Tamihere is holding a hui tonight at Nga Whare Waatea Marae in Mangere to inform the community how the new integrated health and welfare service will be rolled out in south Auckland.

He says it's not a job that iwi groups should assume they have a monopoly on.

“We have always respected and supported mana whenua’s rights to look after their preferential beneficiary base. I’m not part of that. Tens of thousands of Maori in Auckland are not part of Ngati Whatua or part of Waikato. We have forged a new way of protecting our interests in town and good on the mana whenua people, but we have never given up our mana tangata and never will,” Mr Tamihere says.

A joint whanau ora bid by the National Urban Maori Authority will bring together groups like Waipareira, Te Runanga o Kirikiriroa in Hamilton, Te Runanga Awhina ki Porirua and Maata Waka in Christchurch, which already deliver services to more than 300,000 Maori,

GREENS SEEK VOTES IN BRINY DEEPS

Greens co-leader Metiria Turei wants the courts to determine whether Maori have customary title to seabed in New Zealand's exclusive economic zone beyond the 12 mile limit.

Ms Turei says the Government shouldn't be issuing permits to explore or exploit offshore oil and gas until the question is decided.

She says there are many iwi which would want to be party to such a case.

“There are no laws, New Zealand laws, that apply to seabed beyond the 12 mile limit. The Resource Management Act doesn’t apply. So the question becomes, was that ever extinguished? If customary title as determined under tikanga Maori before 1840 extended beyond the 12 mile limit, arguably those areas beyond the 12 mile limit have never been extinguished by an act of law, and therefore customary title exists,” Ms Turei says.

MARAE FOOD SAFETY TICKET TO JOB

A south Auckland marae has become the first to get its kitchen certified as a commercial kitchen.

Manurewa Marae has been taking part in the New Zealand Food Safety Authority's Kai Manawa Ora project, which aims to prevent food-borne illnesses coming out of hui.

Project coordinator Raniera Basset says ringa wera are given training in food handling which can give them a basis for further accreditation.

“A lot of our people when they get this ticket, there’s an opportunity for them to work on their marae but also to go the local cafeteria or restaurant and say ‘are there any jobs going,’” Mr Basset says.

The Manurewa Marae kitchen has also earned an A rating from the Manukau City Council's food safety team.

ENGLISH DEFENDS NATIONAL STANDARDS PUSH

Deputy Prime Minister Bill English says Maori teachers need to give national standards more time to work.

The annual hui of the NZEI Te Rau Roa's Maori arm called for the government to pull back on the new testing regime and run pilots to determine whether they will achieve the desired outcomes.

But Mr English says measuring every child against a national standard will ensure they get the teaching they need.

“Everyone has a common objective which is to raise the achievement of children. That’s particularly important for Maori children and there is I think basic agreement about the method which is find out what the child knows and doesn’t know and teach them what they don’t know and it’s just a matter of implementing that system and it’s going to be bit testing because some schools haven’t done this and it’s difficult for them,” he says.

Mr English says national standards will give parents the information they need to get more involved in their child's education,

BODY LANGUAGE INCLUDED IN CROSS CULTURAL STUDY

Canterbury University researchers believe their work on Maori body language can help break down cultural barriers.

Project leader Jeanette King from the New Zealand Institute of Language says the project is looking at differences in the way Maori and Pakeha communicate, including not only oral language but facial expression, posture and body language.

She says the differences come through in both English and Maori.
“(That) te reo Maori is a language which uses this aspect of communication so richly is a wonderful source and inspiration for us because it’s full of all these gestural aspects,” Dr King says.

Her research will build on the Joan Metge and Patricia Kinloch's 1978 book Talking Past Each Other, which identified the cross-cultural difference.

FUNDING CONFIRMED FOR HAWKES BAY MUSEUM OVERHAUL

The director of the Hawkes Bay Museum and Art Gallery says an $18 million dollar redevelopment will allow the institution to better display its nationally-significant collection of taonga Maori.

The government has announced it's putting $6 million into the project through the regional museums policy, with the rest of the money coming from Napier City Council and public donations.

Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins says the museum was founded in the 1850s by pioneer missionary and printer William Colenso, and was also associated with scholar Augustus Hamilton and premier Donald McLean, who between them laid the foundations for the largest Maori collection outside the main centres.

Among the treasures include 120 cloaks, including rare dogskin examples, which illustrate the depth and complexity of the collection.

The Hawkes Bay Museum and Art Gallery will close at the end of the month and reopen in 2013, with 15 new galleries.

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.

Tuhoe pays first fruits to marae

The Tuhoe Establishment Trust will distribute $5 million in interest payments on its share of the Central North Island forestry settlement to its marae and hapu.

Chairperson Tamati Kruger says the trust is still working on a distribution formula, as some of the 50 marae and hapu overlap with other tribal areas.

He says the trust won’t tell the marae how the first fruits of the $67 million settlement should be spent, but it will ask for it to be properly accounted for.

“They’re not asking for our permission so much as we want to agree with them about the parameters of how the money will be used, what would look good and what would not look good if we were to report back to the general Tuhoe population,” Mr Kruger says,

A further $1 million will be shared among tribal executives in the Waimana, Ruatoki, Ruatahuna and Waikaremoana valleys to help cover the consultation costs of developing a new tribal structure.

MAINSTREAM IGNORED IN MAORI PARTY ADVOCACY

Labour associate education spokesperson Kelvin Davis is accusing the Maori Party’s Pita Sharples of selling out Maori children in mainstream schools.

Mr Davis, a former intermediate school principal, says there is nothing in the Government’s policy of testing to national standards that will improve outcomes for Maori boys, which is one of the toughest challenges the education system faces.

He says Dr Sharples, the associate education minister, knows the problem but isn’t prepared to buck his government partners.

“He fought hard for a trial of national standards in kura kaupapa, 95 percent of Maori kids are in mainstream schools. They deserve to have a trial of national standards, not to have national standards trialed on them,” Mr Davis says.

He says there wouldn’t be a teacher in the country who is opposed to high standards or giving parents information on their child’s achievement levels, but passing tests doesn’t make children brainier.

Dr Sharples says he cares for every student, but his ministerial responsibility is for children in kura kapapa immersion education.

NGAI TAHU LORE INCORPROATED IN BOTANIC GARDENS TRAIL

Visitors to Christchurch’s Botanical Gardens are being given a look at how Ngai Tahu used resources from the bush.

Curator John Clemens says Te Wao Nui Tane nature trail, which is open for the next two weeks, will be an eye opener.

It includes five activities, including traps and storage fur tuna or eels and snares for manu or birds, as well as displays on the use of plants like raupo, ferns, harakeke and lancewood.

Dr Clemens says it complements the Mo Taatou Ngai Tahu Whanui exhibition at nearby Canterbury Museum.

Te Wao Nui Tane is at Christchurch Botanical Gardens for the next weeks.

THREE STRIKES LAW HITTING MAORI HARDER

An Auckland university law lecturer says Maori will be disproportionately affected by ACT’s three strikes bill now before Parliament.

Richard Ekins says Maori are more likely to come before the courts for crimes of violence, which count as strikes, rather than large scale frauds, which don’t, despite being extremely harmful to victims.

He says Maori who commit a relatively minor assault could end up sentenced for extended periods if it counts as a third strike.

He expects Maori MPs to vigorously oppose the bill.

Dr Richard Ekins and Professor Warren Brookbank will speak on the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill at a public meeting in Auckland University business school tomorrow night.

CULLEN APPOINTED TO TUHOE INVESTMENT FUND

The author of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund will now try to put Tuhoe’s future finances on a firm footing.

Former Labour finance and treaty negotiations minister Michael Cullen has been appointed to the investment committee which advises the Tuhoe Establishment Trust where it should put the Bay of Plenty tribe’s Treaty of Waitangi settlement cash.

The Ohope resident joins Supreme Court Judge Sir Noel Anderson, Treasury adviser Murray Nash and Aaron Hing from Perpetual Portfolio Management.

Trust chairperson Tamati Kruger says Tuhoe was looking for plain language advice and recommendations.

“Tuhoe people are finding themselves in a different place, a different environment and having to consider a whole host of things they have not really got the background experience so they have has to learn very quickly about these things so it becomes most important you are able to surround yourself with people you have trust and confidence in,” he says.

The Tuhoe Estabnlishment Trust will distribute $5 million among its 50 affiliated marae and hapu as the first fruits of its $67 million share of the Central North Island forestry settlement.

TE WAIORA WINS HUI ARANGA KAPA HAKA COMPETITION

Maori Catholics had a busy Easter with more than 5000 people turning out to the 58th Hui Aranga at Te Aute College in the Hawkes Bay.

The annual event involves religious debate, sports, kapa haka and choral singing.

Master of ceremonies Soli Hemara from Ngapuhi says the cultural performance were of a particularly high standard, with Feilding’s Te Waiora taking out the overall prize.

Soli Hemara says it’s take the judged six years to come to terms with Te Waiora’s unique style of kapa haka, which includes extremely theatrical elements.

Maori Party wants trapping over poison

The Maori Party is calling for a moratorium on use of 1080 for poisoning possums.

The Prime Minister says there is no other way to rid some areas of the Australian native.

But the party's conservation spokesman Te Ururoa Flavell disagrees.

He says more research needs to be done on the effect of 1080 on waterways.

Mr Flavell says the government should run a large scale trapping programme using the unemployed.

SMOKING AMONG YOUNG WOMEN PERSISTENT PROBLEM

A tobacco researcher says urgent action is needed to help Maori women of child bearing-age quit smoking.

Marewa Glover will give a submission today to the Maori Affairs Select Committee inquiry into smoking, which is sitting at Auckland's Alexandra Park Raceway.

Dr Glover, who has researched smoking among Maori for almost two decades, says Maori women make up a distinct group.

“Fiftyfive percent of women of childbearing age are smoking, and then they are pregnant and suddenly they have to deal with that addiction on top of all the other changes they’re going through and we haven’t got anything for them. Big holes in our delivery. Plenty of bombarding people with messages but not enough help at the other end,” Dr Glover says.

Smoking by mothers leads to a disproportionate number of Maori babies dying from Sudden Instant Death Syndrome.

MAORI LESS CONFIDENT ABOUT ECONOMIC WELL BEING

Maori are twice as negative about their current economic circumstances as the rest of the population.

A first time nationwide survey of 100 people by the UMR research group found Maori had a negative 36 rating compared with the overall rating of negative 18.
The survey was conducted in the last week of February, with respondents questioned about the national economy, personal finances and whether it was a good time to buy things.

Executive director Tim Grafton says the Maori difference comes down to income, and as more Maori are lower income they feel twice as negative as the total population.

Maori were more optimistic than Americans, who in a similar survey had a rating of negative 49.

STANDARDS USED TO MAKE MORE EFFECTIVE TEACHERS

A member of the independent advisory panel on national standards says new standards for Maori medium education can work, but parents need to ensure they don't damage what kura are there for.

The government is asking parents and teachers to comment on the draft standards for Maori-medium education programmes.

Tony Trinnick from Auckland University's school of education is part of the team which has created the maths standard.

He says the team looked at criticism of the way standards were implemented in overseas countries, and has tried to use them to enhance the curriculum rather than confuse it.

“We saw the standard as a means to support these teachers in making sure that the mathematics knowledge was much more explicit. That was our primary motivation and if you make that much clearer to teachers, the aim would be to make them more effective teachers in mathematics,” Mr Trinnick says.

He says Maori parents don't want to see the curriculum narrowed to mathematics and literacy.

SERVICE ON SCHOOL BOARDS ITS OWN REWARD

The first Maori president of the School Trustees Association says Maori should stand in this year's triennial board elections, even if the only skill they take to the table is their common sense.

Lorraine Kerr from Tuwharetoa and Ngati Awa says there has been a slight increase over the past two elections in the number of Maori on school boards.

She says many it's a rewarding job.

“Knowing that you have a say in your own kid’s future, something most of us have never had the opportunity to do so you know that you will have a say in their education, you know the decisions you make will be about all our tamariki, and hopefully for the better,” Ms Kerr says.

She says many Maori parents feel too shy or inexperienced to put themselves forward, but governance is about common sense and having a sense of what's best for one's children.

MAORI ARTISTS GIVEN POINTERS FOR WORLD MUSIC CAREER

The organiser of a two-day Taranaki music expo says Maori artists will get a chance to learn from other musician and from visiting international promoters.

Sounds Aotearoa starts today leading up to WOMAD on Friday, and features Whirimako Black, Richard Nunns, Tama Waipara, Maisy Rika, Kora and others.

Emere Wano says Maori musicians wanted a forum to present their work and discuss the challenges of making a living from music.

“We're trying to instill that sense of pride and cultural and identity about what makes us different from the rest of the world. We’re bringing in other indigenous festival directors, buyers, programmers, so they can share their knowledge and expertise with Maori artists,” Ms Wano says.

There is a demand on the international festival circuit for both traditional and contemporary Maori acts.

Maori child health on par with Chile slums

A world authority on child health is describing the health of Maori children as an international scandal.

Innes Asher, the professor of paediatrics at Auckland medical school, is leading a study into child illness in more than a 100 countries.

She says Maori kids and others from poor families are growing up in third world conditions similar to the worst slums in countries like Chile and India.

Professor Asher says government is to blame New Zealand ranking at the top of OECD tables for preventable childhood diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, whooping cough, and rheumatic fever.

“Maori have about double rates of most of those types of conditions but particularly higher rates of rheumatic fever and bronchiectasis which are both permanently disabling conditions of the lungs and the heart so children who get these conditions may die in young adulthood from lung or heart disease or have permanent injury and be unable to work. Appalling high rates by international standards, quite a disgraceful outcome by our country’s children,” Professor Asher says.

She says many New Zealand families can’t afford to take their children to the doctor.

KAPA HAKA PREPARE FOR SHANGHAI EXPO

Groups from the country’s three top kapa haka are getting ready to stir up the crowds at the Shanghai World Expo starting in May.

A 10-metre kauri log is on its way to China to be turned into a waharoa or gateway for the New Zealand pavilion by carvers from Te Puia national Maori arts and craft institute.

Trevor Maxwell, the kaupapa Maori advisor to Tourism New Zealand, says it will be a great backdrop to the daily performances by teams from Te Waka Huia, Whangara Mai Tawhiti and Te Whanau A Apanui.

He says the Maori performing arts were a big draw at the last two world expos.

More than 70 million visitors are expected through the Shanghai Expo between May and October.

CRITICS TOO LATE TO STOP LAKE WALK CONSTRUCTION

The chair of Tuhourangi says opponents to a $4 million walkway around Lake Tarawera have missed the boat.

Some tribal members say the walkway will result in rubbish being left in the area, and it won’t have the economic benefits its promoters are claiming.

But John Waaka says they should have raised their concerns earlier in the process, rather than as construction starts.

John Waaka says the land trusts around the lake believe they can develop new businesses catering for tourists walking the track.

ADVISOR WANTS MINISTER TO DELIVER ON GOOD INTENTIONS

A member of the independent advisory group on national standards wants to make sure the new testing regime for primary and intermediate schools won't make things worse for Maori pupils.

Tonny Trinnick from Auckland University's faculty of education was put on the group at the request of associate education minister Pita Sharples.

He says Education Minister Anne Tolley has made it clear the standards will be implemented, despite the lack of clear evidence from the United States and Britain that they make a significant difference to children who are underachieving.

“National standards are like any educational initiative. On the face of it they perhaps have good intentions. We need to translate those good intentions into practice and make sure that we’re very clear that national standards will actually make a difference for our Maori children and not make things more challenging for them and for teachers,” Mr Trinnick says.

His role will be to provide free and frank advice to the minister.

OLDMAN COLLECTION GETS COORDINATED CURATORSHIP

Te Papa Tongarewa has reached agreement with other museums around the country to co-ordinate guardianship of an important collection of Maori taonga and Polynesian objects formerly owned by British collector William Oldman.

Acting chief executive Michelle Hippolite says the Oldman Collection of more than 3500 objects from the late eighteen hundreds and earlier was purchased by the New Zealand government in 1948 and split up among museums around the country on its return.

“He used to store his collection in his home and in every room including up the stairway he had object after object after object sop he obviously had a passion about the people of this land, and any opportunity he had to collect and buy, that’s exactly what he did,” Ms Hippolite says.

Some of the objects show unique styles and patterns and the agreement between Te Papa, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Canterbury museum and Otago museum will allow the collection’s full significance to be understood.

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.

Teachers invited to be disobedient

Labour list MP Kelvin Davis says Education Minister Anne Tolley is inviting civil disobedience with her threats to enforce national standards.

The minister says she will sack boards of trustees who allow staff to boycott the new assessment regime.

Mr Davis, a former intermediate school principal, says teachers and principals throughout Taitokerau have indicated they're not prepared to experiment with children's education ... and they will stand up to the minister.

“If 80 boards of trustees allow their teachers to not implement the national standards, I think the minister will struggle to sack 80 boards and appoint 80 commissioners, especially 80 commissioners that are going to reflect the Maori nature of the Tai Tokerau so I think she’s got to be careful she doesn’t back herself into a corner and then doesn’t have the means to back up her threats,” Mr Davis says.

He says Mrs Tolley should listen to her educational professionals, rather than imposing a regime which is not backed by evidence.

ANTI-SMOKING MESSAGE NOT REACHING RURAL MAORI VILLAGES

A Northland iwi health worker says rural Maori communities are missing out on help because of their isolation.

Clint Edmonds, the co-ordinator of Ngati Wai's smoking cessation programme, says he's seeing the number of young smokers in the north growing, even as the habit is losing ground elsewhere.

That's because young people see their elders smoking, but programmes to help them quit are just not getting through.

“More than half the families I meet have a youth or someone of that age who is smoking. It’s just a habit we’ve got to change the face of,” Mr Edmonds says.

Smoking is a human disaster as communities lose their old people.

NEW BUILDING NEEDED FOR WAITANGI TREATY TAONGA

The Waitangi National Trust is looking at building a museum on the treaty grounds.

New chairperson Pita Paraone says it has just completed re-roofing the Treaty House, restoring the waka taua Ngatokimatawhaorua and building extensions to the visitors' centre.

He says the trust is concerned about other taonga, and is looking at a “museum-type building” to house artifacts associated with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which are stores in conditions it does not consider sufficient.

Mr Paraone says any extra money needed would come from new sources, rather than by re-introducing entry fees.

PROTEST FLAG BECOMES ONE FOR ALL AND 80% FOR ONE

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira is happy his protest flag has won national acceptance.

Critics says the red and black and white flag which will fly on the Auckland Harbour Bridge and other government sites on Waitangi Day is too closely associated with the Maori Party and the Kawariki protest movement.

But the Tai Tokerau MP says it's the design that was endorsed by 80 percent of those who came to party's consultation hui around the country.

“That flag was born as the Maori flag in 1990. I know that because we launched the competition for a Maori flag and that’s the one that won. It became known as the tino rangatiratanga flag and because there wasn’t a national Maori flag most active Maoris picked it up and so it’s become known as a flag for activists and a flag for protest but it’s always been a Maori flag,” Mr Harawira says.

He says Te Kawariki and the flag's surviving designer are discussing what to do with revenue from increased flag sales.

POLYECH COUNCIL DECISION SIGN OF TRUE FEELING

Meanwhile, Labour list MP Kelvin Davis says the Government's overhaul of polytechnic councils says more about its attitudes to Maori than allowing a Maori flag to fly on the Auckland harbour bridge.

Parliament yesterday debated a bill that would cut polytech councils to eight members, four of them appointed by the Education Minister.

Dedicated seats for Maori, staff, students, employers and other community interests in the region served by the polytech will be scrapped.

“They've done away with the dedicated Maori seats on the Auckland super city. They’re doing away with guaranteed representation on polytechnics. I think it’s time Maori wok up to the fact this government doesn’t really care about the needs and issues for Maori,” Mr Davis says.

He says the changes will make it harder for polytechs to cater for the needs of young Maori, who are more likely to end up there than at universities.

ARTISTS SEEKING OWNERSHIP OF TOI IHO BRAND

Maori artists are squaring off with Creative New Zealand over control of the Toi Iho Maori-made brand.

The arts funding body has cancelled its support of the trademark and demanded artists stop using it.

But Nga Puna Waihanga spokesperson Ata Te Kanawa says there were fireworks this week when CNZ chief executive Stephen Wainwright and staff from Te Waka Toi staff met a delegation led by potter Manos Nathan and furniture designer Carin Wilson.

“Carin announced he refuses to give the mark back. Manos suggested that he would encourage Toi Iho holders to continue to use the mark despite the letter from creative New Zealand saying that it would be illegal if they were to continue to use it,” Ms Te Kanawa says.

The artists want to run the Toi Iho mark themselves and even open it up to a wider range of creative arts.