Finalists found for Ahuwhenua trophy

Three dairy farms have been named as finalists for this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy for Maori Excellence in Farming.

They are Hanerau Farms Trust near Dargaville, which is owned by Te Uri o Hau and run by 2009 Northland Sharemilkers of the Year Dean and Tania Mischeski ... Waipapa 9 Trust, west of Taupo ... and Rangatira 8A 17 Trust near Reporoa.

Organising committee chair Kingi Smiler says a new set of judges will go in to review the farms.

“So there'll be a whole set of questions and analysis of their business and the next day they operate a field day where it’s open to the public and again that’s part of the judging round and they demonstrate the strengths of their business and how hey operate and give other dairy farmers and particularly Maori dairy farmers the opportunity to ask questions and see what systems they have,” Mr Smiler says.

The supreme Ahuwhenua Trophy winner will be announced on May 28.

CANTERBURY HEALTH REPORT SHOWS UNMET NEED

A snapshot of health in Canterbury shows Maori enjoy better health than other Maori around the country, but still lag non-Maori.

The Hauora Waitaha report identified unmet need in areas like heart disease and cancer, where diagnosis rates are lower but death rates are higher than for non-Maori.

Compiler Matthew Reid says the report will give the District Health Board a better idea of how to plan for the needs of the 7.2 percent of Cantabrians who identify as Maori.

Dr Reid says the report doesn't try to delve into the specific reasons for health differences.

IMPEDIMENTS VISIBLE IN DEVOLUTION PLAN

Former Maori affairs minister Parekura Horomia says devolving resources for Maori language promotion to community and iwi groups is a good idea, but some capacity building could be required.

The Maori language comissioner, Erima Henare, has recommended Te Taura Whiti be merged with broadcast funding agency Te Mangai Paho to save administration costs, and spending on te reo by other government agencies also be scrutinised to avoid duplication and waste.

Mr Horomia says there are risks in devolution.

“How you go to the iwi, how you make sure there is a fair whack at it and they run it and I’m sure some are more capable than others. Some are so strong and forward they could do it tomorrow, but a whole lot aren't,” Mr Horomia says.

He says a devolution strategy needs to acknowledge that some agencies of departments have unique roles in preservation and promotion of the Maori language.

PARIHAKA PART OF TARANAKI SETTLEMENT TALKS

A Taranaki claim negotiator says the iwi won't be constrained by earlier settlements within Taranaki Whanui.

Taranaki, whose territory covers most of the coast from Opunake to New Plymouth, and its northern neighbour Te Atiawa this week signed agreements to negotiate settlements, making them the last two iwi in the region to enter the process.

Mahara Okeroa says while many of its issues relate to the land confiscations that affected the whole region after the wars of the 1860s, it has a specific duty to win redress for the sacking of Parihaka in 1881.

“The impact has been right through Taranaki, mai runga, mai raro. The distinction in this case if Parihaka sits squarely in the middle of the rohe, so that adds another dimension. We are going to pursue this as a specific iwi clai, not necessarily related to what has happened in Taranaki prior to this claim, we’re looking at it as a clean table so to speak,” Mr Okeroa says.

Taranaki also intends to contest the Crown's ownership of oil and gas, despite the Prime minister's contention the issue off the table.

PAST PLAYERS SOUGHT FOR MAORI RUGBY CELEBRATION

Anyone who has pulled on boots for the Maori All Blacks is being sought by the NZRU.

The union has just announced a three match centenary series in June... with games against England and Ireland and an as yet unnamed team.

Wayne Peters, the chair of the New Zealand Maori Rugby Board, says as well as the games there will be special functions to commemorate one hundred years of Maori rugby.... and the union is keen to hear from as many former players as possible.

“The invitations are not only to players who are present but families of players who have passed on so we will endeavor to make this as inclusive as possible, recognizing the contributions that a lot of people have made to Maori rugby over a long period of time,” Mr Peters says.

Kaitakaro o mua or their whanau can email maoricentenary@nzrugby.co.nz or contact NZRU offices on 04 499 4995.

WHALE OF A BOOK TO BE WRITTEN

Writer Brad Haami plans to use the first ever Maori residency at the Michael King writer's centre in Devonport to explore the special place whales have in Maori culture.

Mr Haami is working on the book with his aunt Ramari Stewart.

He says his interest in the giant mammals was sparked growing up in Whakatane.

“Since then I have been interested in trying to find out how did Maori people classify whales, how did they understand them, how did they portray them in narrative. I’ve always been interested in that so I’ve been collecting stuff for a number of years and decided to put it together in a manuscript,” Mr Haami says.

He never met Michael King, but is honoured to to work at the centre set up in memory of the late writer and historian.

PM queries Maori phone investment

Prime Minister John Key says he can understand why Maori groups were reluctant to invest more money in new mobile phone company 2Degrees.

A capital raising last year by Te Huarahi Tika Maori spectrum trust failed to find new investors, resulting in a dilution of the Maori stake in the company, which uses frequences gained through Treaty claims.

Mr Key says Telecom's problems with its new XT network highlights the risk of investing in telecommunications.

“I guess the challenge is, and maybe that’s why the iwi leaders and those with a bit of cash were reluctant, is that new telecom networks are very capital intensive and what you’ve seen in the case of XT is Telecom’s thrown a lot of money at this things and yet it’s still not working. That’s your big risk, isn’t it?

“I think the challenge always was can New Zealand support three mobile networks. Now, the answer is we don’t know. Other countries have three, they have a bigger population than us but other countries do have three and support three so I expect that’s what we’ll find out in the next few years,” Mr Key says.

He says 2Degrees appears to be doing well with international investors who have deep pockets and know what they are doing.

The Government is currently considering its response to a Commerce Commission report that highlighted major barriers to new entrants in the mobile phone market.

PAY RATES NOT CAUSE OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

Greens co-leader Meteria Turei says the huge rise in young Maori without jobs is caused by the recession rather than lack of youth rates.

A private bill in the name of ACT's Sir Roger Douglas to bring back youth rates was drawn from the ballot yesterday.

Ms Turei says getting rid of youth rates was a big win for the Green Party, and it will fight their reintroduction.

“If we want our rangatahi to be proud about their work, to feel that they are contributors to their society, to act responsibly and as adults, then we have to treat them that way, and one of the ways it to pay them the minimum adult wage,” she says.

Ms Turei says many young Maori are doing adult jobs and accepting adult responsibilities.

ENGLISH PICKING UP WORDS FROM MAORI

An expert in New Zealand English says the language is picking up more reo Maori.

Jeanette King, the head of linguistics at Canterbury University, says Pakeha are using Maori words more often because of what they learn from school and the wider society.

She says that means specific words are crossing over like hui, kaupapa and tangi.

Professor King says most of the country's print media no longer put English meanings in brackets next to common Maori words, which shows most New Zealanders know what those words mean.

JUDGE LOOKS TO INTERNATIONAL EXAMPLES

The new deputy chief judge of the Maori Land Court says New Zealand can learn from international experience to find local solutions for Maori problems.

Judge Caren Fox from Ngati Porou and Rongowhakaata has studied international law as it relates to indigenous peoples, and has worked with Native American and Pacific groups.

She says lessons can be learned in areas such as natural resource management and economic development, without forgetting what is unique to Maori.

“It's important that we recognise however solutions to the issues that impact on Maoridom are to be found ultimately here and only here,” Judge Fox says.

MAORI LEFT OUT OF THREE STRIKES SUBMISSION PROCESS

A Maori prison reformer says Maori are being excluded from the debate around ACT's three strikes sentencing law, despite the effect it will have on Maori prisoners.

Kim Workman from Rethinking Crime and Punishment says the Government is limiting submissions on the Sentencing and Parole Bill to people who spoke up when it was first introduced.

That excludes most Maori organisations.

“They were all agin it but when you ask them ‘Why didn’t you make a submission?’ the response was ‘because we never thought the National Government would take this bill seriously.’ They honestly believed it was such an outrageous piece of legislation it was simply not possible for the National Government to support it to the extent they have,” Mr Workman says.

He says the government is ignoring advice from the Ministry of Justice about the effect of the bill on Maori and the chance people could be locked up for up to 10 times longer than they would be under current legislation.

FAMILY TALES CAST NEW LIGHT ON PARIHAKA STORY

The author of a new book about Parihaka says it reveals a previously untold story about Maori urbanisation.

The Parihaka Album, Lest We Forget by LaTrobe University journalism lecturer Rachael Buchanan is being launched about now at the Wellington Railway station.

It draws on stories from her own whanau, many of whom ended up in Wellington after their ancestral lands in Taranaki were confiscated.

That challenges the widely accepted narrative that urbanisation was mainly a 1950s and 60s phenomenon.

“Maori also were urban people and they stayed in cities and tried as best they could to preserve what was left but it was pretty difficult for like my grandmother and great grandmother when there weren’t any marae left for them to connect with and I think there was probably a bit of a feeling of shame or they were whakamaa about going back to Taranaki,” Ms Buchanan says.

Parihaka Album is published by Huia

Drivers of crime given priority

December 18

The government has pledged to address the drivers of crime for Maori as a priority of its new approach to crime fighting.

This follows a ministerial hui on the Drivers of Crime in April which found far too many Maori children end up in prison after growing up in households and communities disrupted by crime and punishment.

The new approach based around government agencies working together will support Maori designed, developed and delivered initiatives.

Maori party MP Te Ururoa Flavell says the approach is heading in the right direction.

“You can either say we haven‘t got a problem and do nothing or accept you have got a problem and move around strategies to get there and that’s where we’ve come,” Mr Flavell.

MODERATION MESSAGE FOR HOLIDAY BREAK

A South Auckland community leader is warning whanau not to overextend themselves this Christmas.

Manukau City Councillor Alf Filipaina who has spent 33 years in the police says big hearted Maori want to do the best by their families at Christmas time.

But he says with the recession hitting many Maori families hard it is important to realise that love is more important than any present.

Alf Filipaina who is of Maori and Samoan decent says when alcohol is followed by domestic violence Christmas is ruined.

GREEN THEMSE FOR PARIHAKA PEACE FESTIVAL

There'll be a green theme at next month's Parihaka Peace Festival.

Director Te Miringa Hohaia says the annual gathering is a platform to acknowledge the iconic Taranaki village's tradition of passive resistance.

He says while top line musical acts are a draw card, the festival has discussion forums to talk about issues like as global warming, and how marae can lead by example with sustainable environmental management.

“Marae throughout the motu need to be placing themselves so that they are leaders in their communities. That’s how we’re using this event. We’ve gained that experience and we’re transferring it back into how we run the pa and how our families coming into the pa are responding to these urgent issues facing the whole country and the whole world,” Mr Hohaia says.

WAIKATO RIVER IWI SIGN SETTLEMENT FOR AWA MANAGEMENT

An agreement was signed yesterday between Waikato-Tainui tribal leaders and the Crown to set up a single authority to co-manage the Waikato River.

Iwi executive chair Tuku Morgan described his people as being in a state of euphoria.

Tom Roa, the head of the tribal parliament, said the joy was only tempered by the knowledge of the work that lay ahead.

He says there was a clear sense of the history of the moment from those present at the Hopuhopu ceremony.

The new Waikato River Authority, which will have equal iwi and Crown representation will draw from both tikanga Maori and tikanga Pakeha. It will have $210 million to spend on a river clean-up.

“The tikanga is the base and our history is our base. But the future is with our young people, our young scientists, our young lawyers, our young people who can work in those spheres to ensure the vitality of the river,” Mr Roa says.

There is already a substantial amount of work being done with Environment Waikato, local farmers and other iwi to improve water quality and clean up the river.

MAORI PARTY TORN OVER EASTER TRADING BILL

The Maori Party found itself in a dilemma yesterday when a private members bill to allow shops throughout the country to stay open over Easter came before parliament.

At present shops in some parts of the country can open on Easter Sunday but in others they can’t.

Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell says its a problem for tourist towns like Rotorua.

“Our people are involved in the tourist industry in Rotorua but on the other side of the coin Easter is the time Maori families in particular are generally tied up with unveilings, sports tournaments, church gatherings such as Hui Aranga and so on,” Mr Flavell says.

He says while the Maori Party was prepared to support the bill to a first reading it would have probably withdrawn its backing down the line but didn't have to make this decision when it wasn't supported by other parties.

ROBERT KENNEDY JR WELCOMED TO AOTEAROA

A member of America's royal family...or almost royal family... the Kennedy's... is sampling some tikanga Maori today

He's Robert Kennedy Jnr who, as the name suggests, is a son of Bobby Kennedy who was assassinated 1968.

This morning he'll be welcomed at Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau, the largest kaupapa Maori provider for Maori with intellectual disabilities.

Waitai Petera, from Te Aupouri and Ngati Kuri, says the Kennedy whanau has a long history of helping people in need.

He says Mr Kennedy's aunt... Eunice Kennedy Shriver... was instrumental in the foundation of the Special Olympics while their support for racial equality... at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s... and more recently... will undoubtedly be mentioned in the whaikorero.

“I think the Kennedy whanau helped indigenous America to be where they are and they wrre also the whanau that endorse Barack Obama, they got in behind him, the late Ted Kennedy. That is something we will as Maori will never forget,” Mr Petera says.

Robert Kennedy Jnr came to New Zealand to speak on environmental issues at a charity dinner.

Seeka deal creates opportunity for Maori growers

The chief executive of Tauranga Maori kiwfruit company Te Awanui Hukapak says amalgamation with the region's biggest processor will allow shareholders to benefit from changes in the sector.

Hemi Rolleston says by joining with Seeka Kiwifruit Industries, the company started 25 years ago by a group of Maori land trusts goes from processing 5 percent of the crop to 25 percent.

He says the added size means it can take advantage of new varieties and new ways of going to market, including bringing more Maori land into production.

“When you're investing in new developments you certainly need a partner and we’ve been doing it with a lot of our Maori orchards but we’re getting a little too small in terms of scale in able to finance some of these transactions and Seeka has a history of assisting Maori orchards and joint ventures to develop the land so we think there are some exciting opportunities for Maori to create economic development and employment and utilise our land so it ticks a lot of boxes there,” Mr Rolleston says.

The $24 million deal includes provision for Te Awanui to continue marketing kiwifruit overseas under its own brand.

MINISTERIAL INFLUENCE LAST CHANCE FOR POLYTECH POSITIONS

The Maori Party will try to get Maori representatives on polytechnic councils through the back door.

The party failed this week to get an amendment to the government's polytechnic reforms, and withdrew its support as the bill was passed with ACT's support.

The bill scraps dedicated seats for Maori and other stakeholders on polytechnic councils.

Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell says as associate education minister, party co-leader Pita Sharples gets another chance to influence how the new law is implemented.

“We are hopeful of working behind the scenes with the minister to set up some rules that say if you are going to have ministerial appointments then the ministerial appointments that appoint up the rest of everyone else on the councils, then we need to put some rules there that say they must give consideration to ensuring that mana whenua or Maori are represented on the council,” Mr Flavell says

He says polytech councils need Maori on board so Maori training needs are catered for.

MAORI SQUADS PREPARE FOR INDIGENOUS TOURNAMENT

There'll be only a smidgeon of Christmas cake for members of the national Maori touch squads chosen to contest the world indigenous touch tournament in Rotorua late next month.

Carol Ngawati from Maori Touch says the three open teams chosen at last weekend's nationals will be up against the best in the Pacific as they vie with Australian Khoori, Cook Islands and Chinese squads for the world title.

The Maori tournament attracted 80 teams, with strong growth in younger grades as well.

The World Indigenous Touch tournament starts on January 27.

MAORI COUNCIL REJECTS ROGERNOMICS TEST ON TREATY CLAIM

The Maori Council is rejecting criticism from ACT that its fourth generation spectrum claim was a waste of time and money.

ACT economic spokesperson Sir Roger Douglas says instead of going to the Waitangi Tribunal, the council and fellow claimants Nga Kaiwhakapumau i te Reo and Graham Everton should address issues like Maori educational under-achievement.

Jim Nichols, the council's deputy chair, says the former Laour finance minister's recipe for Maori development is a proven failure.

“When he was in government, they made no effect at all in the changing of the Maori economic position. The spectrum can make a very significant contribution to Maori well being in terms of education and the significant influence that Maori television and Maori broadcasting has had talking Maori into the lounges of people throughout the country,” Mr Nichols says.

He says the claimants are being forced back to the Waitangi Tribunal because the Crown is yet again making decisions about resources in which there is a proven treaty interest without properly consulting its treaty partner.

The Waitangi Tribunal will hold a hearing on the claim in late January.

TURIA EXPLAINS WHANAU ORA POLICY

Associate health minister Tariana Turia says her policy of whanau ora isn't hard to understand.

Families Commission head Jan Pryor last week told a parliamentary committee she could not explain the fledgling policy because as a middle class white woman it included concepts she was unfamiliar with.

Mrs Turia says whanau ora recognises that you can't treat individuals or issues in isolation.

She says Maori families in crisis may become involved with multiple government agencies.

“What this is about is turning all that around to provide the opportunity for our families to start looking at the issues that are impacting on all of them and to work with them in the first instance to change that themselves rather than having other people always telling them how to be, always telling them what to do,” Mrs Turia says.

She says her integrated approach is getting support from people right across health and social sector.

WHANAU RETURN TO LEND SKILLS TO PARIHAKA PEACE FESTIVAL

Organisers of the 5th Parihaka Peace Festival are buoyed by support from Taranaki whanau who are pitching in to create a better event.

Director Te Miringa Hohaia says the three day festival, which starts on January 7, draws on to the village's record of passive resistance to land confiscations after the Taranaki wars.

He says up to 10,000 people are expected to hear artists like Tiki Tane and Fat Freddy's Drop or take part in other events such as discussion forums, and whanau have been returning home to help the hau kainga run the event smoothly.

“Of the 25 managers we’ve got, 23 of them are Parihaka people. We’ve pulled home also a lot of our skilled people. We didn’t realise we had so many people involved in production, film, theatre, media and that helped us to upskill people who are here on the ground,” Mr Hohaia says.

Aquaculture ban lifted in billion dollar push

Maori are welcoming the lifting of the ban on new marine farms.
Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley announced the end of the moratorium at the aquaculture industry conference in Nelson yesterday.

He said allowing marine farming outside the current aquaculture management areas can help marine farming become a billion dollar industry within a decade.

Coromandel mussel farmer Harry Mikaere says the ban has stalled the industry for the past decade.

He says the minister's promise to adopt the recommendations of a technical advisory group headed by former Fisheries Minister Sir Douglas Kidd was music to the ears of the delegates.

“It's going to make it a lot easier, it gives us confidence, I think the durability we were looking for in terms of this allows our industry to be more confident about that and we applaud the government for taking this particular review on,” Mr Mikaere says.

The Kidd report upholds the principle that at least a fifth of marine farm area should be for Maori while containing strong measures to protect the environment from the over-expansion.

MAORI JOB LOSS OUTSTRIPPING REST OF SOCIETY

New figures show Maori are suffering the brunt of job losses caused by the recession.

The Household Labour Force survey shows in the past year Maori unemployment has rocketed from 9.6 percent to 14.2 percent.

That’s an increase of almost 10 thousand out of work.

Pakeha unemployment has only gone from 3.1 to 4.5 percent.

Council of Trade Unions secretary Peter Conway says the recession has hit hard in the construction and manufacturing sectors, which employed large numbers of Maori.

“Maori are also a younger population on average and youth unemployment is now above 25 percent so part of it is that and there also may be still some discrimination in the labour market. I’m not saying it’s there but others say it’s there and hitting Maori hard,” Mr Conway says.

The CTU says the government needs to take specific action to fight Maori unemployment or the social consequences will be around for generations.

BILLY T’S MUSICAL ROOTS BOOSTED COMEDY CAREER

He may be remembered as a comedian, but the late Billy Taitoko James started his entertainment career as a musician in Maori showbands.

Biographer Matt Elliott says Billy T's comic success before his early death almost 20 years ago have overshadowed his musical prowess.

But he says for the boy from the small Waikato town of Leamington, that early experience playing and singing in bands like the Maori Volcanics paved the way for that later success.

“New Zealand performers are always talking about cracking it overseas. Well the showbands were doing that. They were playing the top venues in the UK and the states and Germany and Bermuda, they were packing houses out, and Billy really did learn how to work an audience and the stage with the showbands,” Mr Elliot says.

He says part of Billy T's comic genius was his ability to find humour in racial stereotypes without favour to Maori or Pakeha.
"The Life and Times of Billy T James", is published this week.

PARIS JAUNT A BREACH OF PUBLIC TRUST

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says Hone Harawira's Paris holiday was a breach of trust from his party and the New Zealand public.

The Tai Tokerau MP skipped meetings with European Parliament MPs in Brussell to take wife Hilda to the French capital 300 kilometres to the south.

Mrs Turia says Hone Harawira was the leader of the parliamentary delegation, and his actions bring the credibility of the Maori Party into question.

“All of us have to be really conscious as to the perception that’s created as to how we use public funds. The public doesn’t actually fund us to go on holiday and have a look around and that's the reality,” Mrs Turia says.

She says she understood Hone Harawira was too sick to make the meetings, until he revealed the side trip in a newspaper column.

CALL FOR RETHINK OF AFGHAN OCCUPATION

The anniversary of the last military action of the land wars has brought a call for New Zealand to rethink its involvement in the Afghanistan conflict.
It's 128 years since 1500 armed constabulary and militia invaded the coastal Taranaki settlement of Parihaka to end a campaign of passive resistance to land confiscation.

Te Miringa Hohaia, the director of the Parihaka International Peace Festival, says that gives the community a unique perspective on the National Government's decision to escalate its involvement in the conflict from peacekeeping to combat.

“We're there as an occupation army. Parihaka was occupied so I’m not at all happy with the fact the New Zealand government can continue to corrupt the psyche of the nation in the same way that occurred in 1881 without there being a robust referendum with the ability of the nation to decide are we going to war or are we not,” Mr Hohaia says

He says Parihaka leaders Tohu Kakahi and te Whiti o Rongomai were called dangerous fanatics, the same language that is employed against Afghanistan's former Taliban government.

MAORI SICK OF BEING ARCHITECTURAL AFTERTHOUGHT

A leading Maori artist says Maori are sick of being an afterthought when public buildings are planned.

Judging of a design competition for the redevelopment of Queens Wharf has been deferred because city leaders were unhappy with the entrants.

That could open the door for Ngati Whatua ki Orakei, which criticised the process because it did not specify Maori or Pacific involvement.

Derek Lardelli, whose work in the new Gisborne Maori Land Court helped architects Nicholl Blackburne win a regional architecture award, says getting involved early makes a difference to the quality of the final product.

“We're so strong at giving the afterthought that people wake up to it, so now we’re starting to say you need to get Maori involved at the beginning, not the end, because they’ve had enough of being an afterthought. They need to be heard in the beginning because they are the point of identity. When you travel internationally, it’s the indigineity of our culture that stands out,” says Mr Lardelli, from Ngati Porou and Rongowhakaata.