Three strikes law undermines feel good politics

Green co-leader Meteria Turei says Maori are missing out from the National-led government in areas where it really matters.

She says in spite of feel good policies like Whanau Ora and Maori flags, it's actions like the rise in GST and the three strikes policy which will really hit Maori families hard.

Ms Turei says the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill, which is being pushed through Parliament today by National with ACT's support, will further embed discrimination in the justice system against Maori.

“This Government is not interested in what is fair or what is just. They’re not genuinely interested in Maori issues as we saw with what John Key did to Tuhoe. They’re trying to present a nice face but it’s crumbling and we’re starting to see the real National Party, their real attitudes to Maori in particular come through,” Ms Turei says.

Maori already are more likely to be arrested and face longer sentences than non-Maori for similar crimes, so they are likely to run out of strikes much faster.

NGAPUHI LAUNCHES NEW WEB SITE

Ngapuhi has launched a web site to bring its members together during the treaty settlement process.

Sonny Tau, the chair of Te Runanga o Ngaphui, says only 13 percent of the tribe's 120,000 members live in Northland.

He says the tuhoronuku.com site is a way to generate contributions from people outside the rohe.

“The ideas should some from the grass roots people and we have constant dialogue with our people but there are those who for whatever reason are locked away from getting involved with iwi but this is a real initiative that takes Ngapuhi into the homes, into the bedrooms of every Ngapuhi,” Mr Tau says.

Interest round the Waitangi Tribunal hearings, which started last week, is driving traffic to the site.

TARANAKI WARS STILL RELEVANT IN MODERN ERA

The editor of a new book on the Taranaki Wars believes the conflict is relevant to those living in the modern era.

Contested Ground - Te Whenua i Tohea covers the two decades from the first shots fired in 1860 at Wiremu Kingi's pa in Waitara, Te Kohia, through to the invasion of Parihaka in 1881.

It includes essays by 11 academics and historians including Hazel Riseborough, Danny Keenan, Peter Adds and John and Hilary Mitchell, and is illustrated by images and taonga held by New Plymouth's Puke Ariki Museum.

Kelvin Day says although the Taranaki Wars started 150 years ago, they resonate today

“Unless we do understand what happened back then, how can we understand the healing process for today and understand why the Waitangi Tribunal claims are happening and why we get the headlines in the paper we do. The origin for a lot of those rests in that 1860s to 1880s period,” Mr Day says.

Contested Ground is published by Huia Publishers in association with Puke Ariki.

TAURANGA STRIPS PROTECTION FROM WAAHI TAPU

Ngai Terangi is shocked at Tauranga City Council's moves to cut more than half of the sites designated as significant Maori areas from the district plan.

Iwi resource manager Dee Samuel says the final draft removes 74 of the 126 significant Maori areas, so they can be developed without any consideration of their historic value.

He says while the sites are not registered under the Historic Places Act, they were designated as significant by elders when previous plans were drawn up and should not be set aside at the stroke of a planner's pen.

He says it was like a kick in the guts to the iwi and indicated some deep seated problem in council.

Mr Samuel says any site should be thoroughly examined before a decision is made to remove them from the plan.

HOROMIA AMAZED AT KEY’S CANDIDNESS

Labour's Maori affairs spokesperson expects short rations for Maori in tomorrow's Budget.

Parekura Horomia says the biggest item is likely to be the $34 million a year spent setting up Whanau Ora - and that's less than the Prime Minister is intending to spend on a national cycleway.

He says adding insult to injury is John Key's comment that other New Zealanders should not be jealous if the rich get more from tomorrow's Budget tax package.

PLASTIC POWHIRI FOR A PLASTIC MOUSE

MP Shane Jones has slammed a powhiri in Auckland for Mickey Mouse as a welcome too far.

The billion dollar rodent was welcomed to Vector Arena by kapa haka group Te Puru o Tamaki in advance of the Disney on Ice show which opens tomorrow.

The Northland-based Labour list MP says such dial-a-powhiri put the credibility of the ceremony and Maori culture at risk.

“If we want Maori ceremony and Maori culture to be taken seriously and to be respected, then we don’t drop our cultural trou and do a powhiri for Mickey and Minnie Mouse,” Mr Jones says.

He says kapa haka is becoming more a sport and less an expression of traditional culture.

Te Atiawa and Taranaki sign negotiation terms

The last two Taranaki iwi to complete their settlements, Te Atiawa and Taranaki, will today sign terms to start negotiations ... 14 years after the Waitangi Tribunal reported on their claims.

The signings, at Owae Marae in Waitara and Puniho Marae southwest of New Plymouth, are on the 150th anniversary of the first shots being fired in the Taranaki Wars.

Te Atiawa negotiator Grant Knuckey says Prime Minister John Key and Treaty minister Chris Finlayson will sign the document at Owae under a statue of Sir Maui Pomare, who first put the issue of confiscation on the table in 1923.

And at the front of the meeting house is Wiremu Kingi, whose refusal to allow the sale of the Pekapeka Block at Waitara was used by the Crown as an excuse to attack.

“Not only Wiremu Kingi but the doors to the meeting house will be open and the other tupuna will be able to peer out the door, Titokowaru at the back, one of the main pou of the house, he will be able to see the table as well,” Mr Knuckey says.

Te Atiawa expects negotiations to take up to two years.

HAWKES BAY CELEBRATES MAORI-IRISH LINKS

The relationship between Maori and Irish immigrants will be celebrated today in the Hawkes Bay at the annual hui and hooli.

Organiser Dennis O'Reilly says the event has become a must do for the community, who gather at Waiohiki Community Arts Center to see and hear musicians, dancers and storytellers from both cultures reflect on a shared history.

He says the cross cultural approach to St Patrick's day is going down a treat, to be sure.

“It's good fun. It’s about celebrating our differences as kiwis but our unity as a nation, so we’ve got three flags, the New Zealand flag, the Irish flag and the Maori flag,” Mr O’Reilly says.

This year’s St Patricks Day address will be by radio presenter Noelle McCarthy.

CANADIAN EXPERIENCE TO HELP WORLD CUP BROADCASTS

Maori Television will tap into the experience of Canadian indigenous broadcasters to cover next year's Rugby World Cup.

Presenter Julian Wilcox says at the Second World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network in Taiwan last week, Canada's Aboriginal People's Televison Network reported on its experience covering the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 10 languages.

Maori Television is sending programmer Haunui Royal to Canada to learn what he can from the Aboriginal People's Televison experience.

VOICE FOR TIKANGA IN SCIENCE DROWNED

Green Party Maori spokesperson Bevan Tipene Matua has drowned while collecting kaimoana near his home at Porangahau in the Hawkes Bay.

Party co-leader Metiria Turei says Mr Matua from Ngati Kahungunu and Ngai Tahu was a pou of the party and a strong Maori voice in the conservation movement.

She says his work as a scientist and policy analyst means he was able to make his arguments persuasive.

“He was right on the forefront of working on issues like genetic engineering, those kinds of issues that are really technical and often which the scientific and the Pakeha scientific community dismiss Maori views, dismiss the tikanga and don’t respect the fact that Maori have a strong tikanga analysis that is as strong and as legitimate as any other cultural analysis, like western science,” Ms Turei says.

E te tama purotu o Ngati Kere, moe mai ra.

TARANAKI MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF LAND WARS

It's the 150th anniversary of the start of the Taranaki Wars, and the province is marking the day by making and showing history.

Te Atiawa and Taranaki iwi are signing terms of negotiation to finally settle their claims over the confiscations of the 1860s.

And Puke Ariki Museum in New Plymouth is turning over its galleries to show the effects of war and colonisation on the region.

Chief executive Bill McNaught says the show aims to challenge some of the understandings of the Taranaki War and show it was about more than land.

“Issues around cultural redress and the fact the language was almost wiped out, the general cultural disrespect, all those issues we’ve tried to explore and it’s only when you understand the complexity of that ht you realise why war broke out and why there is still an incredible challenge in resolving of the legacy of last 150 years,” Mr McNaught says.

Taranaki War, Our Legacy ... Our Challenge will be opened this morning by the Prime Minister

AUCKLAND POLYFEST BIGGEST EVER

The world's biggest secondary schools cultural festival gets under way in south Auckland this morning.

ASB Polyfest spokesperson Dean Wilson says over the next four days 208 culture groups from 65 schools will battle it out at the Manukau Sports Bowl.

That's a big jump from the first festival hosted at Hillary College in 1976, when four schools took part.

He says breaking kapa haka into three divisions means all schools will have a chance, and not just the traditional strong ones like Hato Petera, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Hoani Waititi, Kahurangi from Auckland Girls Grammar, and Manurewa's James Cook High.