Whanau ora regional leaders sought

Nominations have opened for people willing to serve on regional leadership groups for the new Whanau Ora service delivery programme.

Rob Cooper, the chair of the Whanau Ora Governance Group, says Te Puni Kokiri will be looking for people who are well known in their communities and are able to give clear advice about the sort of issues those communites are facing.

The groups will also include representatives from the ministries of Health and Social Development and Te Puni Kokiri.

He says their first task will be to assist in the selection of the whanau ora providers in their regions.

“There will be an important ongoing role in advising us about how the resources that are already funded for are being better applied basically. We see this as a way of enhancing the performance of everyone engaged in the whanau ora strategy,” Mr Cooper says.

He says as the government gains more confidence in Whanau Ora, the regional leadership groups may be called on to suggest new areas it can move into.

URBAN MAORI STILL HAVE TO BATTLE FOR RESOURCES

The country's newest dame says the battle between urban Maori groups and traditional iwi is continuing.

Dame June Jackson was knighted for her work in a range of fields, including running the Manukau Urban Maori Authority for two decades and for her long service on the Probation Board.

She says while the divide isn't as sharp as it was during the fisheries settlement allocation debate when MUMA had to go as far as the Privy Council to get the interests of urban Maori acknowledged, there is still competition for resources.

“It hasn't been easy for us. We have to fight for everything we do. We are just not included because the tribes say ‘you should go back to your people.’ That’s all well and good, but a lot of Maori migrated to the cities after the war, so you have this new group of Maori established away from the wa kainga,” Dame June says.

NORTH AMERICA BECKONS FOR MAORI ARTISTS

Rotorua artist June Grant is on her way to Canada to show work inspired by native American philosophies.

She is teaming up with pounamu carver Lewis Tamehana Gardiner and Tim Paul from the Nuu-chah-nulth nation of Vancouver Island for an exhibition on the Moon Mothers who care for the earth.

Mrs Grant, who was this week made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to Maori art and tourism, has been showing at the Spirit Wrestler Gallery since the early 1990s.

She says gallery co founder Nigel Reading has a strong connection to New Zealand through his Christchurch-born father.

TREATY TITLE OPTION TO PROTECT FORESHORE AND SEABED

A leading constitutional scholar has endorsed a proposal for joint ownership of the foreshore and seabed put up by the iwi leaders group.

Alex Frame, who headed the Treaty of Waitangi Policy Unit, the predecessor of the Office of Treaty Settlements, says the idea is similar to the notion of a treaty title, which he put in a submission to select committee hearing the original Foreshore and Seabed Act.

The government wants to replace Crown ownership of the foreshore with a concept of public domain, and is resisting iwi pressure to acknowledge the Maori interest.

Dr Frame says it's possible to vest the foreshore in seabed in the Treaty of Waitangi in a way which locks in all three articles of the treaty.

“Article one is the government’s regulatory function. Government still has power to exclude nuclear ships or whatever. Article two as to protected Maori rights, so that customary rights have a field in which they can be demonstrated, and article three, as to the legal equality of all citizens,” Dr Frame says.

He says a treaty council consisting of members appointed by the Crown and Maori could oversee the law and sort out any local disputes.

MANAWATU IWI SEEKING RIVER CO-MANAGEMENT

Manuwatu iwi are not giving up on getting a co-management deal for their awa similar to the Waikato River settlement.

Chris Finlayson, the Minister for Treaty Negotiations, has indicated he doesn't want to repeat of the multi-party Waikato deal because if its complexity.

But Danielle Harris, the principal negotiator for Rangitaane o Manuwatu, says the iwi's priority is finding the most effective way to clean up the Manawatu River.

“Well I can't pre-empt the outcome of a negotiation process. All I can say is iut is part of our discussions with the Crown,” she says.

Rangitane is also part of an iwi forum negotiating with Horizons Regional Council on river management issues.

TOBACCO PRICE HIKE UPS STRESS FOR SMOKERS

A Maori health researcher and general practitioner says the rise in tax on tobacco could actually increase the amount Maori smoke.

Papers released to Radio New Zealand revealed Treasury opposed the April excise tax increase promoted by the Maori Party because it

Matire Harwood, who edits the Maori health review, says a recent United States study of smoking cessation efforts among Latino, African-American and Caucasian groups found people are less likely to stop smoking when they are under financial strain.

“When people are smoking, when they are addicted to tobacco, they’re going to find the money from somewhere in order to meet their addiction so put increased strain on the family which will create a cycle of ongoing smoking to reduce their stress,” Dr Harwood says.

The Government should research what smoking cessation programmes work with different groups and resource those.

UN view of treaty status flawed

A Maori constitutional lawyer says Justice Minister Simon Power must resist calls to incorporate the Treaty of Waitangi into a New Zealand constitution when he speaks today at the UN Human Rights Committee.

Mr Power is presenting New Zealand's Fifth Periodic Report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and it's expected he will be quizzed on the status of the treaty, Maori imprisonment rates and the anti-terror raids in Ruatoki two years ago.

Moana Jackson says the UN committee has been calling for the Treaty to be incorporated into a constitution to protect Maori human rights, but that is no solution.

“You run the risk of the ultimate cooption really that the treaty then becomes subservient legislatively and legally to the Crown so the issue for me is never how can the treaty say fit within a new New Zealand constitution but how can a constitution be based on the treaty,” Mr Jackson says.

PAPAKAINGA MONEY SPARKS INTEREST IN HOUSING CONFERENCE

The house full signs are out for the national Maori housing conference at Te Papaiouru Marae in Rotorua next week.

Organiser Kaye Maree Dunn from Community Housing Aotearoa says it's a chance for Maori architects, engineers and people working in iwi social service agencies to compare notes on what sort of homes Maori want and how they can get them.

She says the economic climate and new government programmes means delegates will come with lots of questions.

“Where is housing for our people right now. Who are some of the greatest movers and shakers for housing on the ground. What are some great examples of papakainga development architecture projects out there that are working and how can we get that information to our whanau,” Ms Dunn says.

A hot topic will be the deal between Housing New Zealand and Kiwibank which is supposed to clear some of the obstacles to building on Maori land.

BATTALION VETERAN AN INNOVTOR IN CULTURE, BUSINESS

Maori Battalion veteran Takamoana Delamere will be remembered not only for his war time service but as an innovator in business and culture.

Mr Delamere died at his Kawerau home on Sunday, a week after returning from the 28 Maori Battalion reunion in Auckland.

His son Larry Delamere says when his father returned from the war he set up a dry cleaning busines in Kawerau with two cousins, which was considered unusual for the times.

He helped establish the first non-tribal marae, Nga Hau e Wha in Kawerau, and a credit union to encourage Maori economic development.

He was also involved in kapa haka and started the Delamere Cup primary school competition, which has helped Te Whanau a Apanui maintain a high standard of kapa haka.

Many veterans are expected at Whitianga Marae for Takamoana Delamere's funeral on Wednesday.

JAMIE JOSEPH LOOKS TO HISTORY OF MAORI ALL BLACKS

Jamie Joseph has been named the new coach to guide the Maori All Blacks through their centennial year.

The 44 year old from Ngati Maniapoto and Rangitane takes the reins after successful stints by Donny Stevenson and Matt Te Pou.

The 20-test All Black veteran played for the Maori squad in the early 90's, following in the footsteps of his father Jim Joseph.

He says Maori rugby is a unique mix of sport, culture and history.

“When you play as a Maori player in this team, we’re responsible to the people who have gone before us and making sure we leave a legacy for those that follow us. I know my father played for the Maori All Blacks in the late 60s, early 70s, very proud moment for me to then put the jersey on myself, so I feel pretty responsible and very proud to be able to lead the team as a coach,” Mr Joseph says.

TAURANGA IWI FIGHT SHIP CHANNEL DREDGING

Taurangamoana iwi have united against a plan to dredge 15 million cubic metres from Tauranga harbour.

The three iwi told commissioners considering a Bay of Plenty Harbour Board resource consent application that deepening shipping channels for the next generation of super sized container ships will cause major damage.

Spokesperson Hauata Palmer says pipi and mussel beds are already under pressure.

“When we have visitors to our marae we say we give them the best of our marine larder and that is part of the debate as well, because we can’t perform those traditional things because we don’t have the resources,” Mr Palmer says.

He says past reclamation for the container terminal destroyed a large area of shell-fish beds.

THE PLAYER YOU GET

Hawkes Bay Maori families fighting methamphetamine have won support from an American musician who started his own recovery from addiction in Aotearoa.

Community activist Dennis O'Reilly says the guitarist Joe Walsh hero fronted up to his own demons when he came to this country in 1989 to play with reggae band Herbs.

Now he's bankrolling a monthly event at Otatara.

“Joe Walsh sponsored our Sundays. He sent us over US$5000 because the first Sunday of every month we have this sort of celebration for families who are beating meth, so rather than just going on about all the terrible thing, there’s a chance to have a bit of a pick me up,” Mr O'Reilly says.

And for those in party mode, the third annual St Patrick's Day hui and hoolie, celebrating all things Irish and Maori, is on again tomorrow at the Waiohiki Community Arts Center in the Hawkes Bay.

Foreshore Act replacement takes shape

Iwi leaders are happy with progress made on replacing the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

The Iwi Leaders Forum met at Waitangi with Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson to discuss how work being done by Crown officials and forum advisers would translate into action.

Ngapuhi chair Sonny Tau says Mr Finlayson assured them the act would be repealed as soon as an alternative was ready, and the Crown would no longer insist it owned foreshore land until proven otherwise.

"Section 13 will be removed, that’s the ownership by the Crown, and the new Foreshore and Seabed legislation will contain a clause that gives the mana of the iwi status and that in terms of its management the Crown is happy to share that management,” Mr Tau says.

Maori will be able to go back to court to pursue their foreshore claims.

MOANA JACKSON PICKED TO HEAD IWI CONSTITUTION WORK

Meanwhile The Iwi Leaders Forum has established a working group to look at constitutional change, ahead of an official exercise run by the Government.

The Maori Party was promised a constitutional review as part of its support agreement with National.

But working group head Moana Jackson from Ngati Kahungunu says any terms of reference for such a review would be limited by the Crown’s views of its own power.

He says for Maori, everything starts from the Maori version of the Treaty of Waitangi.

“The view that I take is whatever constitution is established in this country is subject to Te Tiriti rather than Te Tiriti being subject to any constitution, which is what the Crown has tried to do for 160 years, so a Maori constitutional review would start from a different place,” Mr Jackson says.

The working group will talk with Maori around the country and draw together some of the work done by earlier generations.

NGATI AWA KEEN ON IWI INPUT TO LONG TERM PLAN

Ngati Awa has launched a campaign for iwi members to have a say in the future direction for the Bay of Plenty iwi.

Spokesman William Stewart says Ko Ngati Awa Te Toki was officially launched on Saturday, Waitangi day, and aims to make contact with tribal members worldwide using social networking web sites to create a collective vision for 2050.

He says the month long campaign is important to ensure a unified approach to tribal development over the next 40 years.

FORESHORE AND SEABED ROWN BASED ON FALSITIES

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says debate over the Foreshore and Seabed Act has descended into farce.

The Ngati Wai kaumatua was on the paepae on Friday when the Government was welcomed to Te Tii Marae.

During the welcome, Taitokerau MP Hone Harawira described the Foreshore and Seabed Act as a gigantic land grab that needed to be reversed, and Prime Minister John Key warned the Act could be left in place if Maori were unwilling to compromise.

Mr Peters says the exchange on the marae was a reminder of the danger of making promises that can’t be kept.

“The reality is if no land was taken after Foreshore and Seabed Act passed, if not one inch of land was taken from anyone or passed from anyone’s hands into anyone else’s hands, what on earth is Hone and the Maori Party talking about? It’s a great lie, a great fiction, which Mr Key thought he could accommodate. Now he’s finding what a farce this is,” Mr Peters says.

He says whatever the Government comes up with to replace the Foreshore and Seabed Act, the Maori Party and its supporters are likely to be disappointed because they have such unrealistic expectations.

WARNING GIVEN ON TONGAN HIKOI REPEAT

Meanwhile a Maniapoto man who encouraged hundreds of Pacific Islanders to go to Waitangi in the hope of getting residency has been warned against a repeat performance.

Gerard Otimi was at the head of a group of about 100 Tongans and Samoans who went on to Te Tii Marae on Friday, telling them just before going on that if questioned by media, they were to say they were there to celebrate the treaty.

When the Labour Party was welcomed later in the day, Waitangi kaimatua Kingi Taurua said his explanations of marae protocol seemed to have been misinterpreted as a promise to adopt people into the tribe so they could stay in New Zealand.

But Northland-based list MP Shane Jones said the misinterpretation seemed deliberate.

“Tongans, greetings. To all the Maoris bringing the Tongans here, our eyes are on you. Do not use the name of Ngapuhi, do not use this marae, and never use the Treaty of Waitangi to either mislead or bring expectations among our Pacific brethren that you will not be able to deliver. That is not the kaupapa of this day,” Mr Jones says.

KAINGA WHENUA COULD LEAD TO RURAL MARAE REPOPULATION

A co-ordinator of Maori economic development projects in many parts of the country Willie Te Aho says the government's latest housing initiative will let many Maori return their rural marae.

Mr Te Aho says the initiative under which the government will guarantee Kiwibank loans for Maori to build on multiple owned land is most welcome.

“A lot of our Maori people who drifted into urban areas are now looking at how to get back to their bases, the baby boomers and that, so this creates an opportunity for them,” Mr Te Aho says.

It will not only allow more Maori to build on land around marae but on any multiple owned land.

"Revolutionary" change led by Maori

Leading Treaty of Waitangi scholar Claudia Orange says Maori have driven a lot of what can only be described as revolutionary change in New Zealand over the past 40 years.

At Te Papa tonight, Dr Orange hosts a debate on the development of Maori activism between Whakatohea academic Dr Ranginui Walker and his biographer Paul Spoonley.

She says change may have happened anyway, but it has been given a push through the treaty process.

“Change has been forced and it has been forced by Maori, sometimes by protest and sometimes by judicious means by a whole range of issues and there have been key Maori leaders at each time in different areas and spreading that drive in a whole range of issues and political persuasions,” Dr Orange says.

The debate and another next week between Massey university professor Mason Durie and political commentator Colin James will be broadcast on Radio New Zealand National.

MAORI FAMILIES UPSET AT IMMIGRATION POLICIES

Immigration consultant Tuariki John Delamere says a planned protest at Waitangi could get heated.

The former New Zealand First MP and immigration minister is acting for six families where the fathers of Maori children were deported as overstayers.

He says the health of whanau is a treaty issue, so the families intend to go to the birthplace of the treaty to make their point.

TOTAL BAN DEMAND ON TOBACCO PRODUCTS

The director of a Maori anti smoking group is calling for a total ban on the sale of tobacco products in New Zealand by 2013.

Shane Kawenata Bradbrook from Te Ao Marama says more than 600 Maori will die this year of a tobacco-related condition.

He says if government can ban party pills, it can ban tobacco.

“Not one death occurred and yet it was gone overnight, yet here we have this situation, 5000 New Zealanders, 600 Maori die each year and there’s no such urgency,” Mr Bradbrook says.

He says this year's Maori Affairs select committee's investigation into the tobacco industry is a chance for Maori to take the industry to task for the damage smoking does to Maori communities.

UNDERSTANDING OF TREATY ON THE RISE

The Human Rights Commission says understanding of treaty issues has risen significantly in the past year.

Race Relations commissioner Joris de Bres says the commission's annual survey found those who considered they had a good understanding of the Treaty rose from 34 to 41 per cent.

He says 56 per cent saw it as New Zealand's founding document.

“Those were good results. The general view still in terms of those surveys is the health of the Crown-tangata whenua relationship has some way to go,” Mr de Bres says.

The government was seen as making good progress with Treaty settlements, despite refusing to allow Maori representation on the Auckland super city council.

TECHERS PREPARE FOR TE KOTAHITANGA ROLL-OUT

It's back to the classroom already this week for teachers in the 17 schools coming in to the innovative professional development programme Te Kotahitanga.

Russell Bishop, the foundation professor of Maori education at Waikato University, says the schools, which include clusters on the East Coast and the Hawkes Bay, bring more than 6000 Maori students into programme.

In-school facilitators are training the teachers about what support they can expect and how they can change their classroom practices and interactions with Maori students to improve outcomes.

Professor Bishop says it's an important week for the 50 schools in Te Kotahitanga.

“Some of these schools are using these weeks now as part of their initiation into the school and so new staff come along and existing staff come in and support them and they use it as a big team building exercise for the start of the year,” he says.

Professor Bishop has just completed a book on how innovation can be scaled up through the school system, and he's writing another one on the lessons of Te Kotahitanga.

EDUCATIONS STANDARDS WILL EXCLUDE MAORI STUDENTS

Meanwhile, Greens' co-leader Meteria Turei says the Government's planned national education standards will hurt Maori students.

In yesterday's cabinet reshuffle, Education Minister Anne Tolley was relieved of her tertiary education responsibilities so she could concentrate on introducing the new testing regime for primary schools.

Ms Turei says it's clear Mrs Tolley is following former United States president George Bush's no child left behind policy, even though it has been shown to have a negative effect on students from minorities.

“In the UK and US the black and poorer students in those countries have suffered the most under national standards because teachers are teaching to the test, there are students who don’t get access to the test because they won’t pass it and therefore the school won’t allow them to sit those tests,” Ms Turei says.

Low decile schools which include lot of Maori children will be hit hardest by national standards.