Tarawera River deal irks tribal elements

A member of Ngati Rangitihi in the eastern Bay of Plenty says an agreement this week with the operators of the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill in Kawerau is hot air.

The memorandum of understanding commits Carter Holt Harvey and Norske Skog to work with Rangitihi, Ngati Awa and Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau on measures to clean up the Tarawera River, which is known as the black drain.

But Maanu Paul says those who signed the memorandum don't hold the mandate from the Matata iwi when it comes to the river and the mill's resource consent.

“The claim for the river in the Waitangi Tribunal is in the name of Te Tino Tangatiratanga o Ngati Rangitihi. The appeal to the Environment Court is in the name of Te Tino Tangatiratanga o Ngati Rangitihi. It is certainly not in the name of those people who are purporting to speak in the name of Rangitihi,” Mr Paul says.

He says the small number of jobs Ngati Rangitihi people have at the mill needs to be weighed against the hundreds they miss out on because of the pollution of their waterways.

WHANAU ORA POLICIES COULD CLOSE THE GAPS

New Waikato University emeritus professor Tamati Reedy believes the government's new whanau ora policies could close some of the gaps between Maori and Pakeha.

Associate social welfare minister Tariana Turia highlighted some of the gaps in a speech to the Business Roundtable today, including the fact only 19 percent of Maori students leave school with NCEA level 3 or higher compared to 45 percent of Pakeha.

Dr Reedy, who headed Waikato's school of Maori and Pacific development, says Maori have been pointing to the answers for generations.

CROWDS BRING LOVE AND TEARS TO MARAE

Hundreds of people have been through Otiria Marae near Moerewa to pay their respects to Gerard Ngawati, who died on Tuesday aged 55.

The Ngati Hine man touched the lives of thousands through his championing of Maori touch rugby and other sports and his work for the Ministry of Education, the Hillary Commission and Skill New Zealand.

Tamaki Makaurau MP Pita Sharples, who worked with Mr Ngawati in west Auckland for more than two decades, says hundreds more mourners saw him off at Hone Waititi Marae in Glen Eden before he was taken north.

“The saying on the marae yesterday at Hoani Waititi was the kawa of the marae was violated by love and that’s how it was. We had no control of the whare by the end,” Dr Sharples says.

Gerard Ngawati's funeral service at Otiria Marae starts at 10 tomorrow morning.

LANDOWNERS MOVE TO OWN NEXT HARVEST

One of the country's most experienced Maori foresters says Maori have to stop letting others grow trees on their land.

George Asher, the chief executive and general manager of Lake Taupo and Lake Rotoaira Forest Trusts, spoke to a forestry conference in Auckland today about Maori aspirations for the sector.

He says the Ngati Tuwharetoa trusts have been resuming rather than rolling over leases on their 33,000 hectares of forests, and they have encouraged the Central North Island iwi collective to adopt the same strategy with the 170,000 hectares of forests it has got back from the Crown.

“At least for the Tuwharetoa Trusts, we’ve got skin in the game and we’re progressing towards 100 percent ownership of the crop, we’re over 50 percent of the way there now and we’re fully appraised of the risks and the operations and the prospects of future value added entry into the value chain,” Mr Asher says.

He says the bottom line for Maori business is people, so they need to generate profits which can be used to meet the social and cultural objectives of iwi.

TRUANCY MAJOR THREAT FOR MAORI FUTURE

Ikaroa Rawhiti MP Parekura Horomia says the Maori community needs to get on top of truancy and absenteeism.

Education Ministry figures out this week show absenteeism rates have stayed static for the past three years, with about 30,000 students a day skipping classes.

Mr Horomia says a disproportionate number of those students are Maori, and changes are needed at school and in the home.

The government is spending an additional $4 million a year tackling truancy.

VETERANS WELCOMES TO ORAKEI MARAE FOR REUNION

Ngati Whatua today welcomed a small number of surviving veterans of the 28 Maori Battalion and hundreds of their family members to Orakei Marae.

Kaumatua Joe Hawke says it was a day rich in emotion, and the veterans remembers companions whose graves lie on foreign battlefields.

Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples says the turnout shows the support that still exists for the group.

The event has a different structure than previous reunions, with more time given for the 28 veterans to talk among themselves, rather than their time filled with performances.

Truancy moves part of wider education reform

The Prime Minister John Key says measures are needed to address why half the 30,000 kids wagging classes each day are Maori or Pacific Islanders.

Yesterday the budget for fighting truancy was boosted to $8 million a year.

John Key says that's on top of investment in curriculum and national standards, so kids have the basics and don't describe themselves as dumb.

He says school won't be the best place for every student, which is why alternatives are being developed.

“Our youth guarantee scheme is basically aimed at all of that. Instead of saying to a child that’s probably in year 10 or year 11, year 12, look stay at school, do the three Rs, and that will be the thing you need to do, why don’t we say we can pass this back to a polytech or wananga or whatever it might be that have those courses that may be more interesting,” Mr Key says.

He says education in a relevant manner is a top priority for the government.

RACE CRITICISM FROM ACT NOT CREDIBLE

Labour leader Phil Goff says ACT's claim the Maori Party is damaging race relations and promoting Maori privilege is a bit rich coming from a party that blocks Maori aspirations at every turn.

The claims were made in a speech by former MP Muriel Newman to ACT's annual conference, and endorsed by leader Rodney Hide.

Mr Goff says in one breath ACT blocked Maori representation on the Auckland super city, and in the next it criticises the other government support party for promoting Maori issues.

“The Act Party is the ones that wanted to implement Don Brash’s report for the National Government to cut the statutory minimum wage by $100 a week and pay more money to their very wealthy mates. Well sorry. The Act Party doesn’t represent the New Zealand that I believe in. I don’t put much store on its words on anything,” Mr Goff says.

NGARIMU AWARD SPECIAL FOR DAUGHTER OF BATTALION VETERAN

Getting a Ngarimu VC and 28 Maori Battalion Memorial Scholarship has a special meaning for Kahurangi Waititi.

The Te Kaha 27-year-old from Te Whanau Apanaui, Ngati Porou and Kaitahu was one of the eight winners from a field of 57.

She felt proud to pick up the tohu at Parliament this week alongside her 88 year old father, who served in C company alongside second Lieutenant Moananui a Kiwa Ngarimu.

“There is that connection with the 28 Maori Battalion. I’ve grown up with stories of the Maori Battalion. My father was one of those soldiers, Major John Waititi. I think he was really happy because I’m sure he’s aware of how competitive these scholarships are,” she says.

Kahurangi Waititi has completed a Master's degree from Waikato University where she researched applying kaupapa Maori processes to documentary film making, and she also plays netball for the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic.

MAORI TELEVISION LEAD BROADCASTER FOR FREE RUGBY

Maori Television is celebrating the final deal on free-to-air television rights deal for next year's Rugby World Cup, which allows it to broadcast all 48 games of the tournament, 16 of them live.

Television One and TV3 will each simulcast seven key games live.

Chief executive Jim Mather says the channel's objectives were met.

“We're very pleased that we’ve been able to secure the rights for our te reo channel because that means that those 16 key live games will be broadcast 100 percent in te reo and on our Maori Television channel we have agreed the Maori language content can be up to 10 percent so we think we are gong to have the language and cultural bases very well covered under this arrangement,” he says.

Mr Mather says Maori Television is still planning for complementary programming around the tournament, even though it lost the Te Puni kokiri subsidy originally intended to allow this to happen.

IWI GO FOR AGREEMENT ON PULP MILL DISCHARGES

Three eastern Bay of Plenty iwi have signed an agreement with the operators of the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill to work together to improve the quality of the Tarawera River and surrounding land.

Ngati Awa, Ngati Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau and Ngati Rangitihi objected to Carter Holt Harvey Pulp & Paper and Norske Skog Tasman getting a 25-year resource consent.

But Graham Pryor from Ngati Rangitihi says now the consent is through, subject to appeals to the Environment Court, the iwi want a less adversarial way to engage with the companies.

“The consent process that we went through, pretty much everything that was requested by the individual iwi was met, so we haven’t got any issues right now with the consent process. There are review periods and there are things that have to be done over certain time periods. There are some people who are not happy with that but I think a lot of those issues will be addressed in future as we work through this,” Mr Pryor says.

About 100 people were at Umutahi Marae in Matata today to witness the agreement.

MANUREWA KURA GETS TO GO IT ALONE

There was a big turn out at Te Wharekura O Manurewa today to hear the Minster of Maori Affairs, Pita Sharples, officially grant the Maori immersion secondary school stand alone status.

Since it started a decade ago the kura has operated under the umbrella of kura kaupapa from Kaitaia and Mangere, but the agreement with the Ministry of Education means it can operate autonomously from the beginning of April.

Tumuaki Mahia Nathan says staff, students and Manurewa Maori appreciated Dr Sharples' personal touch, rather than just sending a letter.

The kura will soon move from relocatable classrooms behind Manurewa Marae to a new site in Brown's Road next to Homai College.