Ratana readies for political debates

Ratana Pa near Whanganui is preparing for an influx of politicians today, including Prime Minister John Key and his Maori Party allies and Labour leader Phil Goff with members of his caucus.

They will join thousands of morehu or church members in marking the birthday of church founder Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana.

Ratana-raised entertainer Ruia Aperahama says the annual hui continues to be a draw for MPs because morehu always vote, unlike many other sectors of the Maori community.

He says Ratana and Maori politics are inextricably linked.

“Holding the four Maori seats for half a century, a lot of Maori families that share that legacy, it’s no surprise they are still continuing those discussions at their family table. My experience around the country with morehu and at the huis, there is a strong core political body out there,” Mr Aperahama says.

SHAPLES OPEN TO TALKS WITH ALL

Meanwhile, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples he’s ready to discuss coalition agreements with either National or Labour after the next election.

Dr Sharples says the Party’s support agreement with National has allowed it to make gains which would not been impossible outside of government.

But that doesn't mean it must team up again with John Key next time and would consider Labour.

“For us it’s a question of who will dance with us, because we have our policy, and it’s Maori, it’s not right, it’s not left, and we’re wide open to be asked to join people but it will be that sort of relationship, that we can’t stray really from why we’re there and it’s things Maori which we believe what’s good for Maori is good for New Zealand,” Dr Sharples says.

HAKA WORLD RECORD PLAN FOR TE MATATINI

It's all go at Waiohika near Gisborne as volunteers work to get the natural amphitheatre ready for Te Matatini national kapahaka championships in three weeks.

Organising committee member Willie Te Aho says the biannual festival is creating unprecedented international interest, with seven international broadcasters attending.

He says the Guinness Book of Records is also getting in on the act, as the festival attempts to beat the record of 3264 people doing a haka, set at the Tainui games three years ago.

“We’re going to have on the last day up to 20,000 people on site and we want to get people involved in being a part of creating as new benchmark in Guinness Book of Records,” Mr Te Aho says.

More than 5000 tickets to the four day event have already been sold.

DAVIS DEFENDS NCEA OVER GRAMMAR CAMBRIDGE ELITISM

Labour's associate education spokesperson says a programme designed to increase Maori and Pasifika participation in tertiary education has confirmed the superiority of the NCEA system over Cambridge exams.

Kelvin Davis says Education Minister Anne Tolley is undermining public confidence in the national certificate of educational achievement by backing Auckland Grammar’s decision to only offer NCEA to its weakest students.

He says the school’s decision is based on elitist prejudice rather than research, such as the Starpath project used in other Auckland schools.

“The reason that Starpath says CEA is a better predictor of success than Cambridge is because the NCEA system sort of replicates the way teaching occurs in university so students are better prepared at university than the old fashioned system which is what Cambridge is of going through the year and at the end of the year having a big exam,” Mr Davis says.

He says the minister is too scared to front up to the National Party supporters on Auckland Grammar’s board of trustees.

WORKMAN ATTACKS JAIL FOR FINES PLAN

The head of prison reform advocacy group Rethinking Crime and Punishment says imprisoning people for non-payment of traffic fines would discriminate against Maori and the poor.

Kim Workman from Ngati Kahungunu says the proposed change in the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill runs counter to international research.

He says judges already have the discretion to jail people rather than adding another fine to their existing tariff – and it’s happening more often.

“What we’re finding is that with the recession the numbers of people being sent to prison for non-payment of fines is just out of all proportion and so what we’re doing is imprisoning people because they are poor, not because they necessarily refuse to pay fines,” Mr Workman says.

He says jailing non-payers imposes huge costs on the taxpayer, as well as harming the offender’s family.

SUCCESSFUL END TO WAKA AMA NATIONALS

The 21st annual waka ama championships wrapped up over the weekend, with thousands of paddlers from round the country churning up the waters of Lake Karapiro.

Hoturoa Kerr from Nga Kaihoe o Aotearoa says the event confirmed the popularity of the sport in Maori and Pacifika communities.

He says the host region can hold its head up high, with the Turangawaewae Waka Sports club having a particularly successful regatta.

“From little kids and midgets all the way through to the adults and masters it was great to see their fielding one of the biggest club showings and in terms of club points for the whole regatta they came second so I think it’s great for a club that’s just started off and just getting into the swing of things,” Mr Kerr says.

The country’s top paddlers will now focus on fundraising to attend the next world waka ama championships in Canada.

Earth Day a Green highlight

Metiria Turei will be one of the billion people from 190 countries who will be marking Earth Day today.

The Green Party co-leader says her focus this year is on using water wisely and stopping unnecessary mining.

She's meeting with hapu around Thames concerned about the Government's plans to open the Coromandel Peninsula up to mining companies.

“Iwi have been involved in this fight against mining for decades and so we need to make sure the environmental movement and the Green Party stand alongside iwi who are fighting against the destruction of their whenua,” Ms Turei says.

She says Maori may be able to use New Zealand's affirmation of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on issues like the fight against mining.

CANTERBURY PICKING UP PACE FOR MAORI GRADUATES

The number of Maori students graduating from Canterbury University at a special ceremony today is more than double that of last year.

Rawiri Taonui, the head of Aotahi, the School of Maori and Indigenous Studies, says it's a sign the university is finding ways to appeal to Maori students.

He says 18 of the 39 graduates represent the first intake to come through undergraduate courses within his department.

The rest come from a new te reo Maori major which recognises the language as a separate study away from Maori studies.

RONGOA USED TO FLAVOUR ELITE MEALS

A combination of fine dining and rongoa Maori is wowing guests at the elite Treetops Lodge just outside Rotorua.

Chef Eru Tutaki from Ngati Maniapoto leads guests from around the world into the bush to source the ingredients for the night's meal.

He then creates a degustation menu that includes flavours from Maori medicinal herbs.

“Rongoa Maori was mainly drunk as a tea, Now in terms of me becoming a chef, I can infuse it in the bread and in the soups even and in the sauces, so it’s pushing that rongoa Maori to a whole new perspective,” Mr Tukaki says.

On his days off, Eru Tutaki teaches the next generation of Maori chefs by running cooking classes at Te Kura Kaupapa Maori ki Hurunga Te Rangi.

DECLARATION SWITCH SENDING RIGHT SIGNALS TO WORLD

The Race relations commissioner says the government is sending a signal to the world it is taking Maori rights seriously.

Joris de Bres says by affirming the non-binding UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the government has created international expectations it will tackle inequalities in Maori health, education and justice.

That's despite the qualified language in the speech Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples gave to the ninth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York this week.

“Those are points which reasonably elegantly say we’re not going to change our whole treaty settlement process because of this, we’re not going to change our laws, but we do want to signal to Maori in New Zealand that the Crown takes indigenous rights of Maori seriously,” Mr de Bres says.

New Zealand was under huge international pressure over its previous opposition to the declaration.

MANA-CENTRIC EDUCATION SOUGHT AS NEW MODEL

The director of Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga Maori research centre wants universities to take a mana-inspired approach to education.

Ahukaramu Charles Royal addressed the topic of tertiary education in a breakfast speech at yesterday's Kingitanga Day celebration at Waikato University.

He says the focus in tertiary education is now on skills and preparing students for the labour market, rather than considering their future contributions to their communities.

“What our communities are looking for is young people who are certainly endowed with knowledge and skills and talents and abilities and so on, but even more so we’re looking for a kind of person who can relate to others well, communicate and is a warm hearted person,” Professor Royal says.

He says Maori communities have no tolerance for arrogant academics who are not prepared to offer anything back.

CHURCH ON THE HILL SUBJECT OF WHANGANUI EXHIBITION

A Whanganui art gallery is holding an exhibition to help the Ratana Temple at Raetihi buy a bell.

W H Milbank Gallery director Bill Milbank says growing up in the Waemarino township he was constantly aware of the iconic building, which has been the subject of famous photos by Ans Westra, Smash Palace director Roger Donaldson and the late Robin Morrison.

Those images, and others by artists like photographer Laurence Aberhard, sculptor Matt Pine and painter Megan Campbell, make up the Church on the Hill show.

He says the gallery and the artists will give the temple a koha from any of the work sold.

“In the process of talking with them to see if it was appropriate or not for us to put this exhibition together, we discovered that in their minds the building up there has never been complete because they don’t have a bell. We said let’s see if we can start to put together a fund that will allow them to secure a bell for the church,” Mr Milbank says.

The Church on the Hill runs until May 19 at the gallery on Taupo Quay.

Key pleased at Ratana reception

Prime Minister John Key is counting the year's first major hui as a win for National and its partner the Maori Party.

Mr Key says the effusive praise he heard for his government at Ratana Pa over the weekend was a welcome endorsement of the coalition's Maori initiatives.

He says it was a clear sign that the long historical relationship between Labour and Ratana is in trouble.

“My sense is that is not anywhere near as strong as it used to be that tie is fairly severely broken. I think you’d say the majority of that support has gone over to the Maori Party,” Mr Key says.

MOREHU FEELING INTERESTS COMPROMISED BY LABOUR

An emerging Ratana leader says the morehu or church members are sick of being taken for granted by Labour.

Ruia Aperahama says the relationship began in the 1930s when Labour was desperate for votes from Ratana members.

But he says Labour failed to keep its side of the bargain by helping Ratana with serious social and economic issues, and now many members are switching allegiances after staying silent for decades.

“You will find that there are a lot of Ratanas who because of this history have had enough of the compromise. They don’t want to be taken for granted any more. They put their sway behind the Maori Party,” Mr Aperahama says.

He says Labour is good at developing Maori policies but lacks the courage to follow through.

IMMIGRATION POLICIES BREAK UP MAORI WHANAU

Meanwhile, John Key's next major hui may not go so smoothly.

Immigration consultant Tuariki John Delamere says the Prime minister can expect a protest at Waitangi against the deportation of the parents of Maori children.

Mr Delamere, an immigration minister in the 1996 National - New Zealand First coalition, is acting for six families whose fathers have been kicked out of New Zealand as overstayers.

He says the families intend to confront the Mr Key on Te Tii Marae, and emotions may run high.

“They're Maori children, from Whakatohea, Tainui, Te Whanau Apanui, Ngapuhi, and they’re entitled to live in this country because they are tangata whenua and they are citizens and the treaty says they have the right to grow up with their whanau. Well, their whanau includes their father,” Mr Delamere says.

He would like other families in the same situation to join the protest, even if they are not Maori.

WAKA READYING FOR SPECTACULAR WAITANGI REGATTA

Waka are arriving Te Pewhairangi, the Bay of Islands, for the largest gathering of traditional canoes since 1990.

They include Mataatua Puhi, the first waka built by Hekenukumai Busby, Te Toi o Mataatua from Whakatane, the voyaging waka Te Aurere and a waka which will have an all-female crew.

Mr Busby has spent the past few months restoring two Northland waka, Ngatoki matawhaorua, which were commissioned by Princess Te Puea for New Zealand's centenary.

“They celebrated the 1940 commemorations together and this will be the first year, 70 years after, they will actually be on the water together,” Mr Busby says.

More than 300 kai hoe or paddlers have been attending weekend wananga in Auckland, Whakatane and the Bay of islands to fine tuning their paddling skills and learn waiata, karakia and haka appropriate to waka.

WHANAU ORA TOP OF GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES

The Prime Minister says rolling out Tariana Turia's whanau ora family support programme will be one of his government's top priorities for the year.

The scheme will put Maori providers between government agencies and families in need.

John Key says shifting funding from Wellington-based government agencies to social service providers in the community makes sense.

“There no particular reason why Waipareira Trust for instance can’t take responsibility for 200 or 300 families or more, go there and say we will look after all your needs, we’ll work with you. You’ve got some responsibilities but you have too, let’s work our way through it,” Mr Key says.

The principles behind whanau ora could be applied to other groups receiving government services.

AVATAR HAS LESSONS FOR MAORI

The head of arts organisation Toi Maori says the blockbuster Avatar has lessons for Aotearoa.

The James Cameron movie, which includes special effects by Wellington's Weta Workshop and an invented language based on Maori, tells the story of an indigenous race fighting off a ruthless mining corporation.

Garry Nicholas says it's a story indigenous peoples can relate to, and it should serve as a warning to the government over its plans to open national parks up to mining.

“What we saw in Avatar is no different to what’s happened to a number of indigenous people’s throughout the world and the work that is being done now internationally to try and protect those sacred areas, those special areas of uniqueness, I applaud that effort,” Mr Nicholas says.

He says iwi will join with conservation groups to block mining plans.

Key smile hiding extremist agenda says Green

Green co-leader Metiria Turei says the smiling face of Prime Minister John Key is being used to push through an extremist right wing agenda which is hurting Maori.

Ms Turei says ACT rather than National seems to be setting the Government's agenda.

She says backing for ACT's three strikes bill as a response to crime is just the latest example.

“Government is under no obligation to support that legislation but they are going to anyway. ACTR is completely dismantling Auckland city councils and shut Maori out of that process. ACT will probably get a fair amount of its extremist economic policy through because National’s philosophy is geared to that way,” Ms Turei says.

She says it's clear ACT has far much more influence in government than the Maori Party.

MARK CLAIMS CREDIT FOR TOUGH PENAL POLICY

Meanwhile, a former New Zealand First MP says ACT's three-strikes policy will be good for Maori.

Ron Mark says his party originally came up with the tougher sentencing policy for violent offenders, which will be included in the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill.

He says low income Maori are the most likely to be affected by violent crime, especially those who have extended whanau with gang links.

“Many of us who are Maori sit in absolute despair watching more and more of our whanaunga slipping down into that trap, that way of life,” Mr Mark says.

AVATAR LANGUAGE INSPIRED BY MAORI TONGUE

An expert on Maori language is praising Hollywood's use of a fictional language based on Maori.

Film director James Cameron has revealed the language spoken by the blue aliens in his hit Avatar is based on the reo he heard during visits to New Zealand.

Hana O'Regan, the dean of Christchurch polytech's Maori faculty Hana O'Regan, says she found the movie had not only Maori but also echoes of Maori tikanga.

THEOCRACY VERSUS MERITOCRACY IN RATANA CLASH

A Ratana spokesperson is pitching the movement's current tensions with the Labour Party as a clash between theocracy and meritocracy.

Andre Mason, the son of tumuaki or church head Haare Meihana, is leading a push for Labour to give high list placings to four Ratana-endorsed candidates.

Under the Electoral Act Party lists must be determined by a democratic process.

Mr Mason says the Tumuaki is particularly upset at Labour's treatment of his other son, Errol Mason, who has twice failed to unseat the Maori Party's Tariana Turia in Te tai Hauauru.

“The Tumuaki was wanting them... He didn’t want to tell them what to do but at least think abut that, that they would put his son high on the list, to have him in there so he could see and learn what is happening today with our people,” Mr Mason says.

He rejected criticism from Labour MP Shane Jones that Ratana spokespeople are confusing their religious and political roles, because he says the movement has always had that dual character.

RENEWAL NEEDED IN RATANA-LABOUR RELATIONSHIP

Shane Jones agrees Labour's relationship with Ratana needs to change.

The Northland-based list MP says Labour is respectful of the relationship formed in the 1930s with church founder Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana.

But he says both Maori and Labour have changed, and such pacts need to be interpreted in the context of each generation.

“When you look at a relationship, you are always searching for ways how can it be bolstered, how can it enjoy meaning in the lives of people in the political world who may only be voting in a few years time for the first time or who may have issues that are vastly different than the ways Maori communities functioned in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s,” Mr Jones says.

He says Labour won't be dictated to by church members running political agendas.

TAIKA WAITITI AGAIN SHINES AT SUNDANCE

Taika Waititi's second feature film is attracting sell out audiences at the prestigeous Sundance independent film festival in Utah.

James Thompson, the sales manager for the New Zealand Film Commission, says Boy extends some of the characters and ideas from Waititi's award winning short film Two Cars One Night.

It's set in the 1980s on the East Coast, and Mr Thompson says it's one of the films everyone at the festival is talking about.

“The audience reaction has been fantastic. They’ve absolutely fallen in love with James Rolleston, who plays Boy. It’s been really warmly received and I think everyone here has been really appreciative of a really truly New Zealand film in a really true New Zealand setting,” Mr Thompson says.

The reaction is a tribute not only to Taika Waititi, who wrote, directed and acted in the film, but to the producer who include Cliff Curtis, Ainsley Gardiner, Emanuel Michael and Mereta Mita.