Middle Kingdom foray planned

Ngati Kahungunu leader Ngahiwi Tomoana wants to cut out the middle man when selling Maori products into the Middle Kingdom.

Mr Tomoana, who also chairs Te Ohu Kaimoana Maori fisheries trust, leaves for the Shanghai World Expo this week to spearhead what he calls the Maori H-Q strategy.

He says there is a growing market in China for high quality Maori-grown kaimoana and produce.

That's why he's planning a permanent shop for Maori products after the Expo is over.

“Whether it's fish, fruit, honey, we’d have a Maori place for Maori products to be showcase to the buyers and importers, the restauranters, the supermarket chains, so we’re quite ambitious,” Mr Tomoana says.

By going direct, Maori HQ should improve returns to the producer.

NGAPUHI DEFINES SOVEREIGNTY WITH NO LIMIT

A Ngapuhi elder says the tribe's evidence given to the Waitangi Tribunal can give a lead to other iwi like Tuhoe.

The tribunal has just completed its first week of hearings at Waitangi into the Northland tribe's view of the constitutional status of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Titewhai Harawira says Prime Minister John Key's veto during the week of any return of Te Urewera to Ngai Tuhoe was a reminder of what the iwi is striving for.

“Ngapuhi is saying out tupuna didn’t cede sovereignty and therefore any Maori or any hapu or iwi that says this whenua, this maunga, this awa belongs to us, then Ngapuhi has a commitment to support that kaupapa,” Mrs Harawira says.

UNIVERSITY BAR GETS HIGHER FOR MAORI STUDENTS

The Maori students association says the decision by Victoria and Otago Universities to closing off this year's enrolments for undergraduate students will have long term consequences for Maori.

Jacqueline Poutu, the tumuaki of Nga Akonga Maori o Aotearoa says when enrolments reopen for next year, it's likely there will be an increased emphasis on academic achievement in filling the limited places.

This means many Maori school leavers are starting on the back foot, especially if they go to low decile schools where the full range of subjects isn’t taught.

MARAE SOUGHT FOR RUGBY TOURISM VENTURE

A builder turned tourism entrepreneur is looking for marae willing to open their doors for Rugby World Cup tourists.

David Tanenui says he's in talks with 18 marae around Auckland and other centres about what might be required for the venture.

The Waitakere City Rugby Club member says he was concerned at the lack of a Maori dimension to preparations for next year's sportsfest, and determined to do something about it for at least some of the manuhiri.

“And the brilliant thing about it is they get welcomed onto the marae Maori-style, plus Maori can be selling their arts and crafts or maybe they might have ta moko which is really a big exposure for our people. I think it’s really about telling the world who we really are,” Mr Tanenui says.

Marae charges will start at about $80 a night.

A Te Puni Kokiri spokesperson says the ministry was concerned any such venture respects marae protocols and tikanga.

MAORI SPORTS ORGANISATION COULD COUNTER NEGLECT

Meanwhile, the Maori Party wants a separate organisation to promote Maori sports.

Co-leader Tariana Turia says the way the New Zealand Rugby Football Union has mishandled its apology to past generations of Maori players for their exclusion from All Black teams touring South Africa is just a symptom of a wider problem.

She says Maori players get poor service from administrators and from the government-funded sports bodies.

“We know that there are many young Maori sportspeople that are unable to participate because their families don’t have the wherewithal in a whole range of sports, very difficult to get any consideration of those things,” Mrs Turia says.

She says the rugby union gives no support to the Maori women's rugby team, which is the world's top women's team.

DANCERS TRY TO INSPIRE NEXT GENERATION

The future of dance may be on at the pa.

Contemporary dancers Taane Mete and Taiaroa Royal are running a workshop on a Hawkes Bay marae today for up to 40 rangatahi.

The pair performed their autobiographical work Tama Maa at at the Hawkes Bay Opera House last night.

Mr Mete says they're concerned at the lack of young Maori coming through to dance school, and hope to inspire them by taking work back to the provinces.

Bad faith act threatens treaty policy

The Maori Party is asking whether Prime Minister John Key has broken the treaty settlement process.

Co-leader Tariana Turia says Mr Key's vetoing of a proposal to return Te Urewera National Park to Tuhoe showed bad faith.

The Prime Minister has denied there was agreement the park land would be included in the final settlement package, but Mrs Turia says all the signs are it was.

“Tuhoe clearly believed from a hui that they held just the day before that they had an agreement in principle and who have that withdrawn in the way that it was has created a feeling that anybody’s settlement can be withdrawn at whim,” Mrs Turia says.

She says John Key's action was clearly driven by the National Party's polling and by pressure from party members attending a regional conference the previous weekend.

GEOTHERMAL PROFITS TO FUEL HAPU DEVELOPMENT

A Taupo Maori trust intends to use profits from a new geothermal power station for development of the whole hapu rather than paying individual dividends to beneficiaries.

Tauhara North Number 2 has a 25 percent stake in Mighty River Power's 140 megawatt Nga Awa Purua plant at Rotokawa, which opened at the weekend.
Trust chief executive Aroha Campbell says the 785 Ngati Tahu owners agreed to forego annual dividends.

“The challenge for the trustis to come up with new ideas round sponsorships, scholarships, education and well being,” Ms Campbell says.

She says the trust is also working closely with the Ngatu Tahu Ngati Whaua Runanga in Reporoa on ways to benefit the hapu as a whole.

Construction on the second of three power stations the trust is building with Mighty River Power will start later this year.

VETERAN DANCERS SHOW OFF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MOVES

Contemporary dancer Taane Mete says tonight's performance at the Hawkes Bay Opera House will give his whanau to see how his career developed after he left his Napier home more than two decades ago.

Mr Mete, from Ngati Koroki, developed Tama Maa with fellow dancer Tai Royal for the Tempo Dance Festival in Auckland in 2008.

He says it's an autobiographical work, showing the transition from boyhood to manhood, and allows them to show off the skills they've mastered.

They have taken parts of the piece to a dance festival in the United States, and they will tour it to Australia later this year.

BULK UP MESSAGE FOR WHANAU ORA

The minister in charge of the new Whanau Ora programme wants social service providers to team up to deliver services.

Tariana Turia says there is huge interest in the policy, with hui to explain the new funding model attracting between 300 and 600 people.

She says delivering a wrap-around health and welfare service to families will stretch the capacity of many existing organisations, and they may need to reconfigure themselves or merge to realise the programme's potential.

“This is not another opportunity to industrialise our whanaus’ misery. We’re saying to people, ‘do not see this as a programme, do not see it as an opportunity to get a lot more money.’ We want this money to be as close as possible to the whanau, hence whanau ora,” Mrs Turia says.

There will only be 20 accredited Whanau Ora providers, so the size of those providers will be an important factor in who gets the contracts.

HAURAKI SHARE SENSE OF BETRAYAL WITH TUHOE

The chair of Hauraki's kaumatua council says the Government's refusal to return Te Urewera National Park to Ngai Tuhoe is mirrored by his iwi's experience.

Jim Nichols says in both cases the Crown acquired land unjustly, and it's refusing to give it back.

He says like Tuhoe, Hauraki is still waiting for the government to honour commitments made in the late 19th century.

“In Hauraki they said ‘we promise to give you your land back, we only want it to mine the gold.’ When the gold mining ceased, they did not give the land back. And that is the basis our treaty claims are in front of the Crown right now,” Mr Nicholls says.

The Hauraki Kaumatua Kaunihera delivered a firm message last week to Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee that the iwi will oppose his plans to reopen the Coromandel for mining.

MAORI ARTISTS FLY FLAG FOR AOTEAROA IN WORLD MUSIC

Despite it being New Zealand Music Month, Maori musicians say they're doing better on the world market than at home.

Ngahiwi Apanui, the chair of Puatatangi Contemporary Maori Music, says lack of airplay outside of iwi stations means Maori acts aren't picking up the local sales they merit.

That's forcing many to look for opportunities offshore.

“Talking to people who have been going overseas, groups they talk about are not ones you hear about through the mainstream press like OpShop. They’re talking abut groups like Wai, Moana and Pacific Curls, they’re the people that are distinctive for New Zealand on the world music scene,” Mr Apanui says.

This year's Pao Pao Pao symposium and concert at Pipitea Marae on Friday and Saturday could uncover the next Maori world music star.