Te Uri o Hau fighting tide power on all fronts

Kaipara Maori say the government can't give the go ahead for a tidal power station on the Kaipara Harbour until ownership of the Seabed and Foreshore is settled.

Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust has sought an urgent hearing of the Waitangi Tribunal to consider whether the Minister of Conservation can consent to the project, and it's also seeking injunctions from the Maori land Court and the High Court.

Chairman Russell Kemp says Crest Energy's project, which is backed by the Enviroment Court, would wreck the harbour.

“We’re totally opposed to it because it will kill the Kaipara. What they are going for is a 35-year property right on a prized area of the Kaipara where there is an abundance of fish,” Mr Kemp says.

Crest Energy wants to build up to 200 five-storey turbines near the entrance to the Kaipara.

BAIT AND SWITCH SEEN WITH WHANAU ORA KAUPAPA

The head of Maori and indigenous studies at Canterbury University believes Whanau Ora has lost its focus on Maori, and is being used to justify major changes to welfare delivery across the board.

Rawiri Taonui says the Maori Party talked up the initiative last year as a way to devolve services and decision-making to Maori.

But this week Prime Minister John Key said Whanau Ora would be available to New Zealanders of all races who are in need.

Mr Taonui says that shows the policy has been captured by mainstream departments - to the detriment of the kaupapa.

“One of the modifications has been to do that not only for Maori social service providers but to do it for all services generally and that constitutes a lack of recognition of the structural prejudice Maori people face when they are engaging with social services, health, education, and so forth,”
Mr Taonui says.

Unless the government tackles issues of inter-generational poverty, structural racism and Maori rights, there will be no change in negative Maori statistics.

SHOWCASE AIMS TO SEND NEW ZEALAND ACTS INTO THE WORLD

A Taranaki businesswoman wants to sell New Zealand music to the world.
Emere Wano is putting together next month's Sounds Aotearoa showcase in New Plymouth in March to introduce the country's musical talent to international buyers.

She says it's cheaper to bring international buyers to watch artists here than to send the artists to perform on the other side of the world.

“They really wanted a point of difference which I think New Zealand can offer not only through our Maori and Pacific artists by our New Zealand artists, we have a different sound and look and way about us,” Ms Wano says.

She hopes Sounds Aotearoa can lead to acts like Anika Moa, Kora and Little Bushmen getting overseas releases and tours.

TREATY PLAN SEEN AS THREAT TO PUBLIC OWNERSHIP

Auckland Regional Council chair Mike Lee is opposing a plan to use the region's largest park to settle a Treaty claim.

Treaty Settlements minister Chris Finlayson has written to the council with a proposal that Ngati Whatua o Orakei and Te Kawerau a Maki be brought in to co-manage the Centennial Park in the Waitakere Ranges, in a similar way to that being considered for the city's volcanoes.

Waitakere mayor Bob Harvey is backing the idea.

But Mr Lee says public ownership needs to be protected.

“Public ownership represents a unified New Zealand of equality of all people and those assets which I came in to politics to defend need to remain owned by all the people, not given away, however worthy the cause, to settle injustices of the past,” Mr Lee says.

Centennial Park was bought with public donations to mark the city's centenary in 1941.

KEY WORD CHOICE IRKS GREEN LEADER

Green co-leader Metiria Turei is accusing the Prime Minister of paternalism for the way he referred to Maori in this week's statement of government priorities.

John Key promised to find better ways to tackle the child abuse, family violence, poor educational results and crime continue to characterise the lives of too many Maori families.

Ms Turei says Mr Key seemed to be harking back to the 19th century.

“He talks in his speech about ‘our Maoris’ and other people have noticed it, but there are a few times in his speech where he talks about ‘our Maori community’. I think that paternalistic 19th century attitude to Maori and also other vulnerable communities as well like beneficiaries, like the low paid, is really telling,” Ms Turei says.

She says the real message for Maori and low income communities in the speech was that they would be hammered by an increase in GST.

MOTOWN CONCERT SLOT AN HONOUR FOR STEVENS

Entertainer Frankie Stevens says he's honoured to take part in tonight's Maori Motown concert in Taradale.

The event is a low cost local alternative to tomorrow's Mission Estate concert featuring acts like Martha and the Vandellas, the Four Tops and the Temptations.

Stevens will perform alongside other Maori soul singers like Rewa Ututaonga, Thomas Stowers and Brannigan Kaa.

He says the family concert, which will raise money for marae rebuilding and a methamphetamine awareness campaign, is a great idea.

If any of the Motown stars want to drop in, they'll be welcome up on the Otatara Pa stage.

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.