Ngati Whatua wants mana whenua to prevail

The chair of Auckland's Ngati Whatua hapu wants the Maori advisory board for the super city to be limited to the 12 iwi and hapu who this month signed a framework agreement to manage the city's maunga.

The government has yet to announce the board's structure.
Grant Hawke says Ngati Whatua has reluctantly agreed to go on the board, despite its preference for Maori seats on the full council.

“If we all boycott it that means that others who would want to be there who don’t represent us entirely will be doing the negotiation from their perspective, not from the mana whenua perspective,” Mr Hawke says.

Ngati Whatua will continue to push for the Royal Commission's recommendation of seats on the council.

KEY SAYS LOAN CRACKDOWN CRITICS SCAREMONGERING

Prime Minister John Key is assuring Maori students his Government won't be cutting them off from access to student loans.

Comments in the Prime Minister's speech to Parliament about toughening up on loan recipients have been interpreted by

Canterbury Maori studies head Rawiri Taonui and Massey University vice chancellor Steve Maharey as a threat to Maori, who tend to enter university later in life.

But Mr Key says no-interest student loans are here to stay.

“People might want to run around and scaremonger but we have universal access rights to universities in New Zealand and universal rights to student loans providing people follow the rules and do what’s required of them at the time,” Mr Key says.

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce is yet to start his review of student funding.

ENVIRONMENT STEWARDSHIP FACTOR IN DAIRY AWARDS

The chief judge of the Ahuwhenua dairy farming awards says Maori tend to take greater care of the environment than other farmers.

It's the third time Doug Leeder has been on the panel to pick to top Maori farmer.

The Opotiki farmer says this year care for the environment has jumped up the judging criteria.

“The cultural aspect Maoridom in terms of managemenrt of the land nad guardianship of the land, has demonstrated to us probably a higher level of compliance than would have probably been seen across the general dairy industry,” Mr Leeder says.

Good environmental practices are vital for the long-term sustainability of farming as a business enterprise.

Initial judging takes place next month, with field days on the three regional finalists in April and the prizegiving in Taupo at the end of May.

TRIBUNAL DELAYS START OF NGAPUHI HEARINGS

The start of hearings on Ngapuhi's historical claims has been put off again.

The hearing of the last major tribal grouping to go before the Waitangi Tribunal was due to start on late March with evidence on the northern iwi's understanding of the meaning of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the 1835 Declaration of Independence.

But the tribunal has sought a two month delay because it was not able to field the full panel of members that week.

Nuki Aldridge from Te Kotahitanga o nga hapu o Ngapuhi says if it drags on further, important kaumatua evidence could be lost.

“The people that are going to present the korero, they are elders. If the korero needs to be spoken by them, give them the opportunity to do that. And I know the ones that passed on wanted to be there, they couldn’t and that’s because of all the damn holdups,” Mr Aldridge says.

He says it's important the evidence is heard by the full tribunal panel.

THREE STRIKES THROWS RANGATAHI FURTHER INTO MIRE

Labour's Maori affairs spokesman Parekura Horomia says many Maori will end up unfairly penalised by ACT's three strikes legislation.

The National Government is pushing through the bill despite concerns voiced by the Justice Ministry and by prison reform and human rights groups.

Mr Horomia says rangatahi Maori are already getting strikes they do not deserve.

“The real danger for Maoridom is a lot of our youth unnecessarily penalized because of their immaturity and their inability to understand the legal process and the system,” he says.

Mr Horomia says legal aid duty lawyers often tell young Maori to plead guilty to crimes they have not committed to speed up the system and avoid a full trial.

GENERATIONAL COMPLAINTS SIGN OF REO HEALTH

An expert in New Zealand English says it's a sign of a healthy language when elders complain how the younger generation is using it.

Jeanette King, the head of linguistics at Canterbury University, says all languages change over time because of changes in society and technology.

She says because Maori went through a long period of neglect, the recent revival of te reo in the education system meant the Maori Language Commission needed to build up a vocabulary of modern terms.

“Te Taura Whiri got the job of purring the job together and received a lot of flak. Sometimes they say its something about the way younger people speak, but we do also have to remember that older Pakeha complain about younger Pakeha and how they speak,” Professor King says.

Whanau ora suits Waipareira model

The chief executive of Waiparaera Trust is endorsing moves to make the new whanau ora health and welfare programmes available to all New Zealanders.

John Tamihere says the three quarters of the 47,000 west Aucklanders on the books of the trust's health care subsidiary are non-Maori, and it has put a proposal to government to extend whanau ora services to 130,000 families.

He says whanau ora should allow the Trust to align education, skills training and welfare programmes with health services.

“That alignment works better for us and it doesn’t matter who gets the service. What matters is that for the first time in New Zealand history, we are actually seen as no longer and anchor or burden to the community but are provising significant solutions,” Mr Tamahere says.

Whanau ora will work differently in other areas of the country where there higher percentages of Maori in the community.

BISHOPS CONCERNED AT HURIHANGA CLOSURE

Catholic and Anglican bishops in the Waikato have combined to voice their concern about the axing of government funding for Hamilton's Te Hurihanga offender rehabilitation centre.

The goverment claims the live in programme, which deals mainly with young Maori men, was too expensive.

But Denis Browne, who co-signed a letter to the Waikato times with Anglican David Moxon, says the programme wasn't given a chance.

“The success rate so far has been really uplifting, As far as we know there haven’t been any breakdowns at all in the formation that is given to these young peole and it’s disappointing a project so young is nipped in the bud before it gets a chance to prove itself,” Bishop Browne says.

He says the government seems to be turning its back on rehabilitation for offenders, particularly young Maori offenders.

CONE PLAN EMPTY WORDS ON PLANNING DOCUMENTS

Ngati Whatua says Auckland's City Council's commitment to protect the city's volcanic cones doesn't go beyond the words on planning documents.
The council has set aside just $457,000 this year to maintain all of the city’s 23 volcanic features.

Ngarimu Blair from Ngati Whatua o Orakei Trust Board says that means the continued degradation of the ancient sites.

That's a concern for the 12 mana whenua iwi and hapu who signed a framework agreement last week with the Crown promising them ownership and co-management of at least 11 cones.

Mr Blair says the budget doesn't match the council's claim the maunga make Auckland what it is.

“They're empty words on planning documents so if there is no real commitment from protecting these sites from erosion, form over-use of tourism and so on, it’s a travesty,” Mr Blair says.

WAKA TOI AXING COULD BE GOOD TIMING

A former head of Te Waka Toi and Creative New Zealand says the arts council needed an overhaul, but it's important to maintain a strong Maori presence.

The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Christopher Finlayson, is scrapping separate Maori and Pacific arts boards in favour of a single 13-member board, which would include four members with knowledge of Maori arts.

Cliff Whiting says Creative New Zealand had become top heavy and bureaucratic.

“That's a natural process in the way things grow and develop. I think it’s reached a point now where change needs to take place but I do hope and I’m pretty sure the minister and others who are involved will make sure it is a fair split all the way round with ethnic groups and not only treaty partners but also with the different art forms,” he says.

Cliff Whiting was among the group of Maori artists and writers who lobbied for a separate Maori arts council back in the 1970s.

SKEPTICISM ON NEW ATTEMPT TO PUSH EDUCATION VOUCHERS

Labour's education spokesperson says Maori are unlikely to benefit from education vouchers.

A working group of National, ACT and Maori Party MPs yesterday released a paper proposing that parents can shift their kids to another school if they are in the top 5 percent or bottom 20 percent of students.

Kelvin Davis, who was an intermediate school principal before entering parliament, says it's nonsense for Maori children are in rural areas, because there are no alternative schools.

“There's going to be more inconsistencies for Maori kids with this whatever this report says and whatever these vouchers are meant to allow kids to be able to do. I don’t think Maori are going to benefit from this whatsoever,” Mr Davis says.

He says the scheme is likely to mean the diversion of funds from low decile schools which are already struggling to teach large numbers of Maori children.

MAST STEP FOUND IN MURIWAI WAKA

An ancient waka dug out of Muriwai Beach last year has revealed some surprises.

Robert Brassey, the Auckland Regional Council's heritage specialist, says restorers have spotted a socket or step for a mast, making it a rare example of a sailing canoe.

The seven metre kauri canoe was moved yesterday from a temporary tank at the Muriwai Parks Depot into a more permanent container, and Mr Brassey says preservation could take two years.

“The only thing that's stopping the waka deteriorating is that the cell structure of the timber so if it were to dry out it would shrink and collapse and turn to dust so in the longer term that water needs to come out and be replaced with something more permanent which is Polyethelyne glycol,” Mr Brassey says.

Once preservation is complete the waka can be put on display, after consultation with iwi.

Volcanic stinginess irks Auckland iwi

Auckland hapu Ngati Whatua is noting an imbalance between Auckland City Council's promises of partnership and what it's willing to spend.

Last week 12 mana whenua iwi and hapu signed a framework agreement with the Crown that would give them ownership and co-management of many of the city's volcanic cones.

At the same time, the Auckland Council's Citizens and Ratepayers' majority pushed through a budget that allocates only $457,000 to maintain all of the city’s 23 volcanic features.

Ngati Whatua o Orakei trustee Ngarimu Blair says there's a pattern of cost cutting around the cones.

“The whole reason we have brought abut this treaty settlement along with Marutuahu and Waikato is to bring greater leadership around these taonga to ensure that through our involvement in co-managing with council that more resources are put to them. It is extremely worrying we may be left with very little budget to do much else than what happens now which is watching cows eat grass while the mountain tumbles down around their ankles,” Mr Blair says.

He says the remains of pa on the maunga are as important as Inca ruins or Stonehenge.

HOUSING PLAN NEEDS WIDER ECONOMIC STRATEGY

A Kaitaia-based trust says the Kainga Whenua loan scheme for developing houses on ancestral land needs to be paired with a wider economic development strategy.

Ricky Houghton from He Korowai Trust says people moving back to their rural hau kainga could struggle to find work.

He says one answer is to use Maori land that is currently unproductive.

“We're trying to develop land-based activities there so we can use the underutilised or under-developed Maori land up here to generate an income so when the whanau do come home they generate an income off their land and that pays their mortgage,” Mr Houghton says.

Kainga Whenua could give future generations the opportunity to live on their own tribal lands.

CHANCE FOR PUPPETS TO HAVE NEW LIFE

Musician and academic Aroha Yates-Smith wants to bring the ancient art of Maori puppetry back to life..

The wooden karetao were believed to have been used to pass on tribal stories histories and even to imitate haka.

Professor Yates-Smith says wananga at Waikato University next week will look at what is known about the marionettes and how they might develop.

“This is an opportunity for some of our elders and practitioners in Maori performing arts word to come together, just a small group initially, to come together and talk about the karetao and discuss its past and its future,” she says.

There's growing interest in karetao from young Maori carvers and artists.

INEQUITIES BRING POOR MARK IN RACE REPORT

Race Relations commissioner Joris de Bres wants the Government to make reducing inequalities between Maori and Pakeha a top priority.

In his last annual report Mr de Bres linked the recession with race relations.

He says his predictions were borne out, and this year's document, due out soon, will record how progress in key areas like employment and standard of living had stalled or gone backwards.

Mr de Bres says the government can't stand back when one in three Maori between the ages of 15 and 24 is jobless.

“This is a big social issue and as such it does need government attention and it does need community initiatives,” Mr de Bres says.

He says the relatively young age of the Maori population means youth unemployment has significant costs for the whole Maori community.

POLICE SEEKING HELP DIVERTING YOUNG OFFENDERS

Taranaki police are working with Maori groups to increase the number of offenders who benefit from diversion.

Senior Sergeant Malcolm Greig says in the past Maori haven't benefited as much as other groups from diversion, which gives first-time offenders the opportunity to avoid conviction.

He says raising awareness among non-Maori diversion officers of cultural factors like body language can help.

“Sometimes like feelings of shame are expressed with the head down and non-communication. Sometimes that can be interpreted as non-engagement with the diversion process,” Senior Sergeant Greig says.

Police are getting help from family violence and other Maori groups.

MATAURI X FENDING OFF CREDITORS WAITING FOR MARKET REBIRTH

Northland's troubled Matauri X Incorporation has fended off an attempt to wind it up, but it needs an upturn in the market for holiday homes if it is to pay off its main lender.

Kevin Gillespie, the incorporation's court-appointed administrator, yesterday struck a time payment deal with United Civil over a $150,000 debt, which was the balance owed for engineering work on the 81-section beachfront development.

But the Maori Land Court refused to double the term of the 52 year leases, which have proved unsalable in the current market.

Mr Gillespie is now trying to stabilise the situation with Strategic Finance, which refinanced the incorporation after the collapse of a water-bottling business entered into by its previous management committee.

“It cost us $6.2 million to get out from Bridgecorp and Instant Funding. It cost us another $10.5 million for construction of the subdivision. So the balance is interest and fees. They have not been charging penalty interest and we’re talking with them about putting a cap on the debt at some point so we know what we’ve got to repay,” Mr Gillespie says.

Only 25 sections have sold, but 15 are in dispute as buyers try to back out of their deals.

Tamaki iwi sign framework for volcanic ownership

It was smiles all round at Old Government House in the grounds of Auckland University today as representatives of 12 iwi and hapu with interests in Tamaki Makaurau put their tohu on a framework agreement to share ownership of the city's volcanic cones.

Ngati Whatua o Orakei chair Grant Hawke says his hapu made significant concessions to allow the agreement to go ahead, including giving up exclusive ownership of three of the maunga.

He says Ngati Whatua is happy to share assets with the iwi who married in to it over the centuries, but it's not dropping its claim to the preeminent position.

“The conquest in 1740 by Tupiriri and others was conclusive. Utu was a way of life in those times, We gained the mana whenua, we gained the mountains of Kiwi Tamaki but now we are having to re-share those with our whanaunga but for the benefit of the future, this can lead to something good.
Mr Hawke says.

As well as the framework agreement, Ngati Whatua signed a agreements in principle to settle its outstanding claims at Hikurangi, Tupiriri's pa on the flanks of Maungakiekie-One Tree hill.

MINISTER PRAISES GENEROSITY OF NGATI WHATUA

Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson says Ngati Whatua has shown extraordinary generosity in setting aside its earlier agreement in principle to allow other mana whenua iwi to join a comprehensive settlement process.

The rethink came in response to a scathing Waitangi Tribunal report into how the Office of Treaty Settlements excluded other iwi from negotiations.

Mr Finlayson says it's been a long hard road to today's signings.

“I think a lot of people were feeling pretty bruised after the 2007 Waitangi Tribunal report but Ngati Whatua have put that behind them, they’ve made some very generous concessions and as a result have helped kick start the comprehensive settlements,” Mr Finlayson says.

He hopes to bring the settlements to final deed stage this year.

TWO DEGREES GETS TO 206,000 ACTIVE USED IN SIX MONTHS

Maori money managers may have some regrets today after mobile phone operator Two Degrees reported it has gained more than 206,000 active users in its first six months, including 50,000 who brought their numbers over from other networks

The Maori stake in Two Degrees dropped below 20 percent after spectrum company Hautaki failed to bring in new investors, despite a comprehensive marketing effort among iwi and land trusts.

Two Degrees chief executive Eric Hertz says there will be other opportunities for Maori to invest.

“The thing about this one is a little different from more traditional investments in that you put a fair amount of capital in before it starts to generate positive cash flow so it you have to be prepared for that in this kind of investment. Over the long term, it does pay off, it’s proven in the track record, so it’s a bit of a different investment,” Mr Hertz says.

He says on current trends Two Degrees should be cash flow positive in 18 months, and its average return per user is already substantially well above Telecom's published figures.

MARUTUAHU PLEASED TO BE IN SETTLEMENT

Auckland iwi have moved into a new phase in relations between themselves and with central and local government.

Representatives today signed a framework agreement that will give 12 iwi and hapu shared ownership of at least 11 volcanoes in the region.

It replaces an earlier agreement that would have give Ngati Whatua o Orakei exclusive ownership of three maunga, as well as a right of first refusal over surplus Crown land on the isthmus.

Paul Majurey from Marutuahu says it's taken a lot of work by a lot of people over the past year.

“The solution was always there. It was articulated and ventilated in the Waitangi Tribunal report of 2007 and very simply that was a shared approach. Not a process where you recognise only one group and first up, best dressed but where you recognise all the interests.

“Credit for this achievement is multifaceted, it is to the leadership of the tangata whenau especially, the compromises by all the iwi and hapu of tamaki because everyone have compromised to recognize the shared interests as well as the Crown and the people it has brought to bear such as Sir Douglas Graham, Michael Dreaver under the auspices of minister Finlayson,” Mr Majurey says

Marutuahu is pleased to have its kaitiaki role in Tamaki Makaurau acknowledged, and to participate in the new political and economic opportunities the deal will enable.

SIR DOUGLAS GRAHAM WISHES SETTLEMENT LUCK

Former treaty negotiations minister Sir Douglas Graham says the settlement should give Aucklanders a more comprehensive view of the history of their city.

Sir Douglas was brought in as a facilitator to get the various iwi and hapu with claims to Tamaki Makaurau working together.

“Well they had to accept there we overlapping interests, Some found that difficult to do but we were going back 500 years, not 150, and if you look at it that way there were overlapping interests and they had to be recognised. They have and this is a very positive way forward so good luck to them all,” Sir Douglas says

He says it was great to see the iwi in the same room for the signing at Old government House at Auckland university.

KARANGA ADDED TO KAPA HAKA JUDGING

Judges at this Sunday's Tainui Regional Kapahaka competitions at Mystery Creek near Hamilton will take a hard look at the quality and pronunciation of language used.

Organiser Paraone Gloyne says reo quality will be a factor in the aggregate scores, and there will be special emphasis on the karanaga or calls of welcome that form part of each team's performance.

“The whaikorero wouldn’t exist on the marae if the karanga wasn’t there first so in line with tikanga Maori we thought it wuld be a good idea to include the kanga in the judging and we look at perpetuating karanga and whaiukorero within the competition,” Mr Gloyne says.

The top three roopu will represent Tainui rohe at next years Te Matatini national championships near Gisborne.

Dial a powhiri off the hook

Civic powhiri could be off the agenda for the Auckland super city.

Ngati Whatua o Orakei trust board member Ngarimu Blair says if mana whenua can't take part in making decisions about the future of where they live, they have no stake in welcoming people to the city.

He says the hapu has been patient with city leaders over the past couple of decades, but it's not prepared to have a merely ceremonial role.

“We've done hundreds if not thousands of powhiri and karakia and welcoming dignitaries and so on in this city and I think that’s something else we are going to have to question, whether we are going to continue to do that, continue to be at their beck and call,” Mr Blair says.

TREATY COMMITMENT POINT OF PRIDE FOR GREENS

The Green Party is citing its commitment of the Treaty of Waitangi as one of the highlights of its first decade in parliament.

Co-leader Russell Norman says it's 10 years today since Jeanette Fitzsimons won the Coromandel seat on special votes and brought the party into parliament in its own right.

He says whole it shares principles of sustainability, democracy, peace and fairness with other parties in the international Green movement, the principle of respect for the Treaty makes it unique.

“We're a Green party which has to come to terms with the fact there was a colonizing experience here, it had a dramatic impact on the first peoples and we need to make sure that any policies, whether they’re to do with social policies or environmental policies, actually accommodate that and respect the treaty,” Dr Norman says.

He says in the past decade the Greens have won ground on issues like climate change and sustainable development.

MAORI ALL BLACKS LOOKNG FOR TOP EUROPEAN OPPONENTS

The New Zealand Maori rugby team could get a crack at both England and Wales next year.

Commentator Ken Laban says that's the itinerary emerging to mark 100 years of Maori rugby.

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union has been under fire for its lack of support for Maori rugby, but Mr Laban says he's heard from the top that progress is being made on lining up European opponents.

Ken Laban says with the All Blacks already having a packed international agenda, there's plenty of scope for the Maori team to increase its playing commitments.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT FIGHT GOES BACK TO TREATY SIGNATORIES

Auckland mana whenua groups say they don't want to settle for anything less than they're getting already from local government.

The groups are fighting back against plans to corral them into a Maori statutory advisory body, rather than allow Maori seats on the Auckland super city council.

Tracy Davis from the South Kaipara takiwa of Ngati Whatua says his group has developed a constructive relationship with Rodney District Council which includes monthly meetings with the mayor and councilors where governance level decisions are made.

He says it's taken years to reach that point, and the iwi doesn't want to go back to a mere advisory role or worse.

“Every generation we get more and more. That’s what the fight’s about. From the days my tupuna Te Reweti and Apihai Te Kawau signed the treaty, they’ve been arguing for these rights since then, 1840, and it continues and I don’t think it will stop today. It will continue until it happens,” Mr Davis says.

He says Local Government Minister Rodney Hide is only in the job for three years, while the iwi will be there forever.

RESO STRUGGLE FOR SUSTENANCE OVER DITCH

A researcher into Maori migration says Maori moving to Australia will struggle to sustain their reo.

Paul Hamer from Victoria University's Institute of Policy Studies says at the 1986 census about 15 percent of the 26 thousand Maori in Australia spoke the language in their homes.

While the number of Maori across the ditch has tripled since then, the percentage of speakers has halved.

“Now we've got 6500 Maori speakers in the home and 93,000 Maori officially so that’s more like 7 percent so while the numbers are going up there there’s also a shift away from Maori language use in Australia which is what you‘d expect. It would be a surprise for Maori language use to be growing in Australia given the separation from New Zealand,” Mr Hamer says.

It's not possible to tell from the Australian census questions how often or how well te reo is used by Maori in Australia.

AUCTION BUY MAJOR COUP FOR NORTHERN MAORI COLLECTION

Whangarei Art Museum's plan for a survey show of early Maori contemporary artists has been boosted by the discovery of an important work by the late Pauline Kahurangi Yearbury.

Museum director Scott Pothan says the painting, Hatupu and the Bird Woman, was featured in a ground-breaking exhibition of Maori art at Canterbury Museum in 1966.

It turned up at auction last month.

Mr Pothan says Yearbury, who died in 1977, and Katerina Mataira were the first Maori women to study modern art at Auckland's Elam School of Art.

They both became art tutors in Northland in the experimental Northern Maori Project developed by educationalist Gordon Tovey, alongside artists like Ralph Hotere, Arnold Wilson, Selwyn Wilson and Selwyn Muru.

“You could argue that the whole of contemporary Maori art really devolved from that period in the 1950s with a quite small group of artists who were really the first to step into the Pakeha realm and study modernist art and then develop their own voice from that,” Mr Pothan says.

The Whangarei Museum hopes to show its collection of northern Maori artists towards the end of 2010.

Auckland sub-council not enough for mana whenua

Mana whenua groups are considering boycotting Auckland super city's proposed Maori statutory board.

The board is will contain up to nine members, seven of them mandated representatives of recognised mana whenua groups within the Auckland Council boundaries and two taura here representatives appointed by those seven members.

It will be able to appoint persons to sit on Auckland Council committees that deal with the management and stewardship of natural and physical resources.

Ngarimu Blair from Ngati Whatua o Orakei says it's no substitute for having Maori seats on the full council, as the Royal Commission on Auckland governance recommended.

“The best they could come up with was a toothless powerless advisory board which they’ve tried to beef up with some kind of status by calling it a statutory board but at the end of the day we haven’t moved out of the 1990s,” Mr Blair says.

He understands Tainui is considering boycotting the committee, and Ngati Whatua could follow suit.

HARAWIRA SENTENCE SOFT OPTION AS MATES DROWN OUT CRITICS

Labour's Maori issues spokesperson says the way Taitokerau MP Hone Harawira has been allowed to keep his party status is an indictment of the Maori Party.

Mr Harawira yesterday apologised to any New Zealander who may have been offended by the language and sentiments used in an email to a party supporter, and he's been told to stay in his electorate until the New Year.

Parekura Horomia says the party's leaders have demonstrated they can't manage the maverick MP.

“The membership ignored the direction of the leadership. Hone’s outspoken mates have got their way. It’s a real Clayton’s fixture but it’s their choice and Hone seems to be settled with it but the public was expecting more. That’s a pretty soft option – don’t come back to Parliament until next year and don’t say anything more. That’s one think I know Hone won’t recognise because that's not his line,” Mr Horomia says.

MANUKAU LIBRARIES GET MORE TAMARIKI THROUGH THE DOORS

A programme to keep kids reading during the summer holidays is winnning over Maori in south Auckland.

Manukau Libraries has adopted a Mission Possible theme to set challenges for five to eleven year-olds.

Jolene West, the learning and literacy co-ordinator, says the number of Maori and Pacific kids taking part is 50 percent up on last year, many of whom haven't been as regular library users as those in higher decile ares.

She hopes the programme will continue once Manukau is absorbed into the new Auckland super City.

AUSTRALIANS MISINTERPRET DATA TO BASH OBVIOUS NZERS

A Victoria University demographer says the Australian media has misrepresented his work to paint Maori across the Tasman as bludgers.

James Newell's analysis of census data found Maori were migrating to Australia at a greater rate than Pakeha, and migrants also tended to be less skilled than those who headed further afield.

He says the fact Maori are more likely to be machine operators and labourers than accountants or lawyers doesn't mean they're not contributing.

“They're skilled. They work hard. They probably work harder than their Australian counterparts. They don’t put such a burden on their tax system and they have the benefit of the training they have had in New Zealand, so it would be good to get that message across in the Australian media at the moment,” Mr Newell says.

Maori have been targeted because they are so visible particularly, on Brisbane streets.

FRESH WATER CONCERN FOR GREENS LEADER

Greens co-leader Metiria Turei says management of the countrys fresh water could be as contentious issue Maori as the foreshore and seabed.

Iwi leaders have called a national hui in Wellington next week to update people on work they have been doing with government officials about freshwater policy.

Ms Turei says pastoralists, agriculuralists and recreational users are competing for the nation's streams and rivers, but economic interests can swamp Maori cultural expectations.

“Iwi have to be able to express their mana over freshwater sources in their area and if Maori aren’t right central in the middle of it along with environmentalists who are trying to keep these areas clean for future generations too, we can see some real damage being done to our freshwater sources,” Ms Turei says.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT HUI TO DISCUSS MARGINALISATION

A hui in Auckland tomorrow is likely to come down hard on the government for its treatment of Maori in the Auckland super city

Ngarimu Blair from Ngati Whatua o Orakei Trust Board says the local government hui at Unitec's Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae is well timed, with Minister Rodney hide today revealing how Maori will be represented in the city.

A nine-member statutory board, including seven mana whenua representatives, will promote social, economic, environmental, and cultural issues of significance for Maori.

Mr Blair says the structure leaves Maori toothless and powerless.

“I think all the tribes will be looking at Auckland now and wondering where it leaves them in Wellington and Christchurch and on the East Coast and so on. If anything, Maori in local government is a strong issue now,” Mr Blair says.

Ngati Whatua is considering boycotting the super city Maori board.