Whanau ora suits Waipareira model

The chief executive of Waiparaera Trust is endorsing moves to make the new whanau ora health and welfare programmes available to all New Zealanders.

John Tamihere says the three quarters of the 47,000 west Aucklanders on the books of the trust's health care subsidiary are non-Maori, and it has put a proposal to government to extend whanau ora services to 130,000 families.

He says whanau ora should allow the Trust to align education, skills training and welfare programmes with health services.

“That alignment works better for us and it doesn’t matter who gets the service. What matters is that for the first time in New Zealand history, we are actually seen as no longer and anchor or burden to the community but are provising significant solutions,” Mr Tamahere says.

Whanau ora will work differently in other areas of the country where there higher percentages of Maori in the community.

BISHOPS CONCERNED AT HURIHANGA CLOSURE

Catholic and Anglican bishops in the Waikato have combined to voice their concern about the axing of government funding for Hamilton's Te Hurihanga offender rehabilitation centre.

The goverment claims the live in programme, which deals mainly with young Maori men, was too expensive.

But Denis Browne, who co-signed a letter to the Waikato times with Anglican David Moxon, says the programme wasn't given a chance.

“The success rate so far has been really uplifting, As far as we know there haven’t been any breakdowns at all in the formation that is given to these young peole and it’s disappointing a project so young is nipped in the bud before it gets a chance to prove itself,” Bishop Browne says.

He says the government seems to be turning its back on rehabilitation for offenders, particularly young Maori offenders.

CONE PLAN EMPTY WORDS ON PLANNING DOCUMENTS

Ngati Whatua says Auckland's City Council's commitment to protect the city's volcanic cones doesn't go beyond the words on planning documents.
The council has set aside just $457,000 this year to maintain all of the city’s 23 volcanic features.

Ngarimu Blair from Ngati Whatua o Orakei Trust Board says that means the continued degradation of the ancient sites.

That's a concern for the 12 mana whenua iwi and hapu who signed a framework agreement last week with the Crown promising them ownership and co-management of at least 11 cones.

Mr Blair says the budget doesn't match the council's claim the maunga make Auckland what it is.

“They're empty words on planning documents so if there is no real commitment from protecting these sites from erosion, form over-use of tourism and so on, it’s a travesty,” Mr Blair says.

WAKA TOI AXING COULD BE GOOD TIMING

A former head of Te Waka Toi and Creative New Zealand says the arts council needed an overhaul, but it's important to maintain a strong Maori presence.

The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Christopher Finlayson, is scrapping separate Maori and Pacific arts boards in favour of a single 13-member board, which would include four members with knowledge of Maori arts.

Cliff Whiting says Creative New Zealand had become top heavy and bureaucratic.

“That's a natural process in the way things grow and develop. I think it’s reached a point now where change needs to take place but I do hope and I’m pretty sure the minister and others who are involved will make sure it is a fair split all the way round with ethnic groups and not only treaty partners but also with the different art forms,” he says.

Cliff Whiting was among the group of Maori artists and writers who lobbied for a separate Maori arts council back in the 1970s.

SKEPTICISM ON NEW ATTEMPT TO PUSH EDUCATION VOUCHERS

Labour's education spokesperson says Maori are unlikely to benefit from education vouchers.

A working group of National, ACT and Maori Party MPs yesterday released a paper proposing that parents can shift their kids to another school if they are in the top 5 percent or bottom 20 percent of students.

Kelvin Davis, who was an intermediate school principal before entering parliament, says it's nonsense for Maori children are in rural areas, because there are no alternative schools.

“There's going to be more inconsistencies for Maori kids with this whatever this report says and whatever these vouchers are meant to allow kids to be able to do. I don’t think Maori are going to benefit from this whatsoever,” Mr Davis says.

He says the scheme is likely to mean the diversion of funds from low decile schools which are already struggling to teach large numbers of Maori children.

MAST STEP FOUND IN MURIWAI WAKA

An ancient waka dug out of Muriwai Beach last year has revealed some surprises.

Robert Brassey, the Auckland Regional Council's heritage specialist, says restorers have spotted a socket or step for a mast, making it a rare example of a sailing canoe.

The seven metre kauri canoe was moved yesterday from a temporary tank at the Muriwai Parks Depot into a more permanent container, and Mr Brassey says preservation could take two years.

“The only thing that's stopping the waka deteriorating is that the cell structure of the timber so if it were to dry out it would shrink and collapse and turn to dust so in the longer term that water needs to come out and be replaced with something more permanent which is Polyethelyne glycol,” Mr Brassey says.

Once preservation is complete the waka can be put on display, after consultation with iwi.

Circular language at Waitangi

Activity in the Bay of Islands will be picking up through the day, as manuhiri arrive for Waitangi Day commemorations.

Among them is an ope of Pacific Islanders organised by Ngati Maniapoto man Gerard Otimi ... who is facing charges for allegedly selling phony immigration documents.

A Waitangi Marae kaumatua, Kingi Taurua, says Mr Otimi told him the group is coming north to learn about the Treaty of Waitangi.

He says claims they are expecting help getting permanent residency by adoption into a Maori tribe may be based on a cultural misunderstanding.

“Maori is a circular way of speaking rather than a straight way of speaking. My way of speaking, I speak circular, and if I say whanau, it doesn’t mean I am going to put them in my house, If I say to 20 Tongans come and be my whanau, it doesn’t mean I am going to put them all in my house,” Mr Taurua says.

DOUGLAS OFFERING EARLY WORKFORCE EXIT OPTION

ACT's Maori Affairs spokesperson, Sir Roger Douglas, says the superannuation system is broken for Maori.

The architect of Rogernomics says instead of spending their energy on Treaty settlements, Maori leaders should focus on contemporary issues like education, health and superannuation.

He says Maori spend a lifetime paying tax for other people's superannuation, but because they are likely to die younger, few get to benefit themselves.

“If they were allowed to put it into their own personalised superannuation account they would probably retiree, many of them, with $1 million plus. How much better would that be than the sort of system that gives them $230, $250 a week for a few months or a few years,” Sir Roger says.

He also wants to see individual health insurance accounts.

MAORI CATEGORY ADDED TO RADIO AWARDS

The New Zealand Radio Awards are finally acknowledging Maori radio.

This year there will be a new award for Best Iwi Radio Station.

Past awards' judge Stacey Morrison it's a great way to get Maori stations to enter.

She says they'll be judged on broadcast quality, Maori language delivery, and on how they meet the needs of their target audiences.

Nominations are open until March, with the winners announced on May 6.

HOROMIA WARM ON ANCESTRAL LAND HOUSING PLAN

Former Maori affairs minister Parekura Horomia is congratulating the government for its new Maori housing initiative.

Under the under the Kainga Whenua scheme, Housing New Zealand will guarantee non-deposit Kiwibank loans of up to $350 thousand so people can build relocatable houses on ancestral land.

Mr Horomia says it's positive, but there are always risks in people taking on such large investments.

“Without being negative, I want to be sure our people get into housing, to own houses if that’s what they want to do but at the same time be realistic we don’t set them up to fail,” Mr Horomia says.

KAUMATUA EMPHASISES SUCCESS OF VALUES-BASED EDUCATION

The kaumatua of a Hamilton-based offender rehabilitation programme says it proved combining Maori principles with modern psychological methods was the way to beat youth crime.

The government has axed funding for Te Hurihanga because it says it is too expensive.

Pita Ngaru says the programme taught 14 to 17 year olds who have been serious offenders to understand the values of their ancestors and live by them.

“Those usual Maori values that we have, aroha, manaakitanga, wairuatanga and whanaungatanga, those values that were held so close by our ancestors, our tupuna, have been handed down and so these values have been instilled into young men,” Mr Ngaru says.

He says over time the programme would save the taxpayer money as it has a positive effect not just on the offender but his whanau, friends and wider communtiy.

HAUORA OFFERS BUDGET PHARMACY FOR MANUREWA MAORI

A pharmacy providing free and low cost medicine to Maori opens its doors in South Auckland this morning.

It's a joint venture between Raukura Hauora o Tainui charitable trust and new medicine services company Tihi Pharmaceuticals.

The operations manager, Wiremu Walmsley, says there will be no prescription charge for people under 18, and there will also be a free blister packs and delivery for elderly Maori.

He says the service at Raukura Hauora's Manurewa clinic will benefit a community hard hit by recession.

“A lot of our people can’t afford to get their scripts out because of low income and a lot of times the scripts stay thee in the chemist not getting picked up,” Mr Walmsley says.

Raukura Hauora hopes to open more pharmacies along the same lines.

Goff looking for right message

Labour leader Phil Goff acknowledges he has work to do among Maori after a poll found the party's support is rising but his own is falling.

The Te Karere Digipoll showed Labour gaining 12 points since November to draw level with the Maori Party, which dropped 10 points.

Mr Goff says it's a good result, but he's disappointed only 5 percent of Maori named him as their preferred prime minister.

“When I go out this year and talk abut how miserable the 25 cents an hour increase in the minimum wage was, when I talk about how we need to reverse the doubling of Maori unemployment in the last year, I would I hope I would find an audience in Maoridom who say yes, those are thing things that are important to us,” Mr Goff says.

RACE COMMISSIONER PUTS TREATY ON CONSTITUTIONAL AGENDA

The Race relations commissioner says any review of New Zealand's constitutional arrangement needs to take into consideration the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of indigenous Peoples - and that means giving proper recognition to the Treaty of Waitangi.

Joris de Bres says the agreement between the Maori Party and the National Party for a constitutional review this year will reopen debate about entrenching the treaty.

He says even though New Zealand has not adopted the UN declaration, it can't ignore the human rights spelled out in the document.

“One of the things they emphasise is the recognition of treaties so I guess in a way we’re drawing on that as well as on the UN bodies including the UN Human Rights Council which last year called for constitutional recognition of the treaty,” Mr de Bres says.

MAORI TEENS ATTRACTED TO GRIDIRON

Forget cricket, tennis and softball ... gridiron is the new summer sport for Maori and Pacific Island teenagers in West Auckland.

The Waitakere Typhoons' under-19 team has qualified for the Auckland finals, in just its first year in the competition.

The Typhoons' under-16 side will also make its final if it beats the South Auckland Raiders next weekend.

Michael Mau'u, who coaches both sides, says they're drawing on rugby and league talent in the area, especially from Kelston Boys High.

He says there's potential for Maori and Pacific Island players to do well in the American code, which already has a disproportionate number of American Samoan player in NFL ranks.

POWER PENNY PINCH MEANS MAORI LOSE CHANCE FOR REHAB

Managers of a Hamilton rehabilition programme says young Maori are the ones who will be most affected by its axing.

The Government says Te Hurihanga, an intensive live-in programme, is too expensive.

Cath Handley from the Young Horizons Trust says Maori males make up 90 percent of the participants.

She says Te Hurihanga's whanau-based approach was expensive but effective in breaking a pattern of offending which long term will cost society dearly.

“Part of restoring young people’s self esteem and getting them engaged is getting them to understand who they are and give them pride in who they are and that particularly relates to young Maori so we have a particularly strong cultural component,” Ms Handley says.

The two-year old programme cost about $160,000 for each participant, not the $600 thousand plus the Government is claiming.

TE OHU KAIMOANA MOVING INTO TIME OF TRANSITION

Te Ohu Kaimoana predicts it will run at a deficit this year as it completes its task of allocating Maori fisheries settlement assets to iwi.

At its annual meeting in Auckland over the weekend the trust reported its operating revenue dropped almost $2 million from $11.9 to $9.9 million, and projected income will fall below $7 million this year.

Fred Cookson, the chair of the trust's audit and risk committee, says the amount earned from the sale of annual catch entitlements is falling as quota is handed over iwi, and investment earning are also dropping because of lower bond rates.

He says Te Ohu Kaimoana is in a transitional phase.

“We've relocated to one floor of the building we are in, we’ve rationalized the operations to focus on what’s efficient for us getting the allocation completed, also into the next phase of what might be our existence, so that’s meant changes an that’s meant committing transitional costs that will put us into a deficit,” Mr Cookson says.

Te Ohu Kaimoana had allocated more than 80 percent of fisheries settlement assets to iwi, worth more then $480 million.

KAHURANGI GETS INVITE TO INDIAN SACRED ARTS FESTIVAL

The Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre has been asked to take part in a festival of sacred arts in India next month.

Director Tama Huata says the longstanding Hawkes Bay kapa haka, which is an offshoot of his Maori performing arts academy, has two troupes or the road most of the year, one based in North America and the other touring New Zealand schools.

He says over the past 20 years it has developed a range of items which will be suitable for perfoming in Delhi.

Goff defends high cost solution to hard problem

Labour leader Phil Goff the Government's decision to stop funding a successful bicultural youth offender programme in Hamilton is a disgrace.

Justice Minister Simon Power and Social Development Minister Paula Bennett claim Te Hurihanga has cost $5 million since it started in 2007, and it will be replaced with a more cost effective programme.

Mr Goff, who was justice minister when the programme started, says it cost about $170,000 per offender, rather than the $600,000 claimed by the ministers.
He says its effectiveness topped the world, with zero reoffending by graduates so far.

“I said it would not be a cheap programme because it has to be intensive to work with kids that have got serious problems and to work with their families but there’s nothing cheap about imprisoning people at a cost to $100,000 a year, nothing cheap about the cost of crime and the hurt to the victim, nothing about the wasted lives of those boys who will probably without intervention go on to spend most of their time, when they are not out in the community offending, being locked up in prison,” Mr Goff says.

CORRECTIONS NIXES FLAXMERE COMMUNITY WORK CENTRE

Meanwhile, Hawkes Bay Maori are welcoming the decision by the Corrections Department to scrap plans for a community work centre in the middle of Flaxmere.

More than 400 residents attended a meeting last night to speak out against the centre.

Henare O'Keefe, the Flaxmere representative on the Hastings District Council, says it's a victory for people power, which was shown at the meeting.

The council will work with Corrections to find another site in a non-residential area.

MAORI WOMAN TALES ON THE MUSHERS ON MINNESOTA

It's been a tough day for Maori musher Ngarewa Houston-Cummings, who has just completed the John Beargrease dog race in Minnesota.

Mrs Houston-Cummings, who now lives in Vermont, came in 18th out of a field of 44 in the 106 mile middle distance race, which included a four hour night leg.

Her mother, Bernadette Ririnui, says her daughter has called her team of eight Malamuts and Alaskan huskies Toiamai, which means to pull.

“It's been a wonderful thing because she’s brought a lot of Maoritanga into her interests and she is often in touch with us here in Aotearoa New Zealand to ask for different meanings she can apply to her team and her kuri and she emanates that Maoritanga to all her friends in the racing fraternity which is just great,” Mrs Ririnui says.

Another New Zealander, Curt Perano from Queenstown, is taking part in the Beagrease marathon, which is still going on.

FLAG CHOISE SYMBOL OF SEPARATISM FOR COUNCILOR

A Manukau City councilor is fighting plans to fly the tino rangitiratanga flag from council buildings on Waitangi Day.

The issue comes before the council's policy and activities committee tonight.
Jami-Lee Ross from Ngati Porou says that means reversing a decision to only fly the New Zealand flag.

“I'm concerned that it unfortunately stands for separatism, it is a protest flag and a lot of people also see it as a flag that stands for separate Maori government and on New Zealand’s national day the Manukau City Council should be flying the New Zealand flag which is the flag of our country and represents all New Zealanders,” Mr Ross says.

NUMBERS FUDGED TO JUSTIFY YOUTH SCHEME CLOSURE

The Youth Horizons Trust is disputing figures used to justify the closure of its ground-breaking Te Hurihanga programme for young offenders.

Justice Minister Simon Power and Social Development Minister Paul Bennett yesterday withdrew funding for the Hamilton based residential programme, saying it was costing $630,000 per graduate.

But trust chief executive Cath Handley says only eight of the 23 predominantly Maori offenders had completed the programme.

“The cost has averaged per young person just over 160,000 or 166,000 per year and that is a cost that reduces over time as you increase your throughput and increase your efficacy of your programme. As you get better at certain things, you do not cut corners but you do them better,” Ms Handley says.

The 14 to 17 year olds in Te Hurihanga have an average of 23 previous convictions, and if they continue in that life they will cost the taxpayer much more for much longer.

TATAURANGI SHOWING DESIRE TO WIN DESPITE PAIN

Phil Tataurangi's agent says his performance in last week's New Zealand Open in Queenstown shows his determination to come back from injury.

Tataurangi finished with a six under par 282 for a share of 16th place.

Geoff Burns says it has taken the golfer years to get over double hernias and two lots of back surgery, but he's not giving up the game.

“Phil’s not a quitter. Obviously you wonder if you are gong to get back to where you have been, but I didn’t sense he thought he’d done enough. I always felt he’d keep working for as long as he could,” he says.

Phil Tataurangi in now in Melbourne getting ready for this week's Moonah Classic.