Ngati Whatua wants mana whenua to prevail

The chair of Auckland's Ngati Whatua hapu wants the Maori advisory board for the super city to be limited to the 12 iwi and hapu who this month signed a framework agreement to manage the city's maunga.

The government has yet to announce the board's structure.
Grant Hawke says Ngati Whatua has reluctantly agreed to go on the board, despite its preference for Maori seats on the full council.

“If we all boycott it that means that others who would want to be there who don’t represent us entirely will be doing the negotiation from their perspective, not from the mana whenua perspective,” Mr Hawke says.

Ngati Whatua will continue to push for the Royal Commission's recommendation of seats on the council.

KEY SAYS LOAN CRACKDOWN CRITICS SCAREMONGERING

Prime Minister John Key is assuring Maori students his Government won't be cutting them off from access to student loans.

Comments in the Prime Minister's speech to Parliament about toughening up on loan recipients have been interpreted by

Canterbury Maori studies head Rawiri Taonui and Massey University vice chancellor Steve Maharey as a threat to Maori, who tend to enter university later in life.

But Mr Key says no-interest student loans are here to stay.

“People might want to run around and scaremonger but we have universal access rights to universities in New Zealand and universal rights to student loans providing people follow the rules and do what’s required of them at the time,” Mr Key says.

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce is yet to start his review of student funding.

ENVIRONMENT STEWARDSHIP FACTOR IN DAIRY AWARDS

The chief judge of the Ahuwhenua dairy farming awards says Maori tend to take greater care of the environment than other farmers.

It's the third time Doug Leeder has been on the panel to pick to top Maori farmer.

The Opotiki farmer says this year care for the environment has jumped up the judging criteria.

“The cultural aspect Maoridom in terms of managemenrt of the land nad guardianship of the land, has demonstrated to us probably a higher level of compliance than would have probably been seen across the general dairy industry,” Mr Leeder says.

Good environmental practices are vital for the long-term sustainability of farming as a business enterprise.

Initial judging takes place next month, with field days on the three regional finalists in April and the prizegiving in Taupo at the end of May.

TRIBUNAL DELAYS START OF NGAPUHI HEARINGS

The start of hearings on Ngapuhi's historical claims has been put off again.

The hearing of the last major tribal grouping to go before the Waitangi Tribunal was due to start on late March with evidence on the northern iwi's understanding of the meaning of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the 1835 Declaration of Independence.

But the tribunal has sought a two month delay because it was not able to field the full panel of members that week.

Nuki Aldridge from Te Kotahitanga o nga hapu o Ngapuhi says if it drags on further, important kaumatua evidence could be lost.

“The people that are going to present the korero, they are elders. If the korero needs to be spoken by them, give them the opportunity to do that. And I know the ones that passed on wanted to be there, they couldn’t and that’s because of all the damn holdups,” Mr Aldridge says.

He says it's important the evidence is heard by the full tribunal panel.

THREE STRIKES THROWS RANGATAHI FURTHER INTO MIRE

Labour's Maori affairs spokesman Parekura Horomia says many Maori will end up unfairly penalised by ACT's three strikes legislation.

The National Government is pushing through the bill despite concerns voiced by the Justice Ministry and by prison reform and human rights groups.

Mr Horomia says rangatahi Maori are already getting strikes they do not deserve.

“The real danger for Maoridom is a lot of our youth unnecessarily penalized because of their immaturity and their inability to understand the legal process and the system,” he says.

Mr Horomia says legal aid duty lawyers often tell young Maori to plead guilty to crimes they have not committed to speed up the system and avoid a full trial.

GENERATIONAL COMPLAINTS SIGN OF REO HEALTH

An expert in New Zealand English says it's a sign of a healthy language when elders complain how the younger generation is using it.

Jeanette King, the head of linguistics at Canterbury University, says all languages change over time because of changes in society and technology.

She says because Maori went through a long period of neglect, the recent revival of te reo in the education system meant the Maori Language Commission needed to build up a vocabulary of modern terms.

“Te Taura Whiri got the job of purring the job together and received a lot of flak. Sometimes they say its something about the way younger people speak, but we do also have to remember that older Pakeha complain about younger Pakeha and how they speak,” Professor King says.

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.

Te Awanui Hukapak joins industry heavyweight

The largest Maori kiwifruit processor, Te Awanui Hukapak, has amalgamated with the country's largest processor, Seeka Kiwifruit Industries.

Chief executive Hemi Rolleston says the $24 million deal gives Hukapak 17 percent of the Seeka, and the combined business will account for a quarter of New Zealand's kiwifruit exports.

Te Awanui will continue to pack some fruit under its own brand, which is well known in Malaysia, Singapore and India.

Mr Rolleston says Te Awanui, whose shareholders are Bay of Plenty land trusts, also bought back the three hectare block at the port of Tauranga where its packing facility is located, and is leasing it back to Seeka.

“The site has a special connection to us. It’s where the company was set up on our own land to develop our own part of the industry. I think we’ve achieved quite a bit out of this because we’ve retained the land but we’re getting commercial returns on the land as well,” Mr Rolleston says.

He says Seeka has a good record of working with Maori growers, and the being part of a larger business will create oportunity for the Te Awanui growers.

TRUST CONSIDERED FOR MAORI FLAG REVENUE

Now it's official, the custodians of the tino rangatiratanga flag are working out how they will keep up with demand.

Cabinet this week approved the flag as the one to fly on the Auckland Harbour Bridge and other official sites on Waitangi Day.

The red and black flag with a white koru, designed by Hiraina Marsden, Jan Dobson and Linda Munn won a 1990 competition by the Kawariki protest group in 1990 for a national Maori flag.

Maori Party MP and Kawariki founder Hone Harawira says it was made available for use by kura, marae, sports teams and other Maori groups.

“We've been happy for that but it’s now got into a situation where there’s considerable money being made out of it and I think that the intention of the Kawariki is to set up some kind of trust. I know Linda’s said to us that one of the original intentions was to create a kind of trust for the continuation of Maori artistic design, so I know that Linda and Hilda are talking about hw that can be managed into the future,” Mr Harawira says.

TURIA PERKY AFTER STOMACH OPERATION

Meanwhile, Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has a clean bill of health after her stomach stapling operation three weeks ago.

The associate Minister of Health says all signs of diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma are gone.

“I’m feeling really really well in myself and that’s the reason for doing it. It’s been all good and looking forward to next year, having a lot more energy and being able to put longer hours in at work,” Mrs Turia says.

She has been back at work for a few hours each day this week.

SPECTRUM CLAIMANTS SECURE WAITANGI TRUBUNAL HEARING

The Waitangi Tribunal has agreed to an urgent hearing on whether Maori should get a share of spectrum freed up by the shift from analogue to digital television.

Jim Nichols from the New Zealand Maori Council says the claimants, who also include Nga Kaiwhakapumau i Te Reo and 3G spectrum claimant Graeme Everton of Ngati Raukawa, felt they were being shut out of decision-making.

He says spectrum has become an important not just for protecting te reo Maori but for wider Maori development.

“Maori Television is part of that. Maori broadcasting is part of that because without it we don’t have Maori broadcasting. Two Degrees and Te Huarahi Tika Trust without which we don’t have a mobile communications network. Regional Maori television which we need to secure for the likes of Tairawhiti and in Kaitaia,” Mr Nichols says.

The tribunal says it will hold a hearing on the claim on January 28.

BOARD REPRESENTATIVES HELP BREAK POLYTECH PREJUDICE

The head of Maori studies at Canterbuy University says Maori on the boards of tertiary institutions help break down prejudice.

Rawiri Taonui says all tertiary institutions are dominated by Pakeha, and formal steps are needed to get representation from Maori, Pasifika and Asians who make up an increasing percentage of the student population.

He says moves by Education Minister Anne Tolley to radically trim the size of polytech councils by getting rid of dedicated seats for Maori and other stakeholders is a leap backwards.

“The biggest barrier to the success of our people is prejudice or obstructive processes at the level of middle management and the only way you are going to break that down is if you have our people sitting on councils and making those people more accountable,” Mr Taonui says.

If New Zealand is to be one nation of two peoples and many cultures, it needs to give voice to the concerns of people from non-European communities.

GREENS BACK NEW MAORI FLAG WITH RESERVATIONS

The Green Party is backing the tino rangatiratanga flag.

Co-leader Meteria Turei says it's wrong to dismiss the symbol Maori activists have rallied around since 1990s as being only a protest flag or a Maori party flag.

She says there's room for multiple flags.

“I know that Pakeha often get into this idea that all Maori are all the same and that’s just not true and it’s not true for this flag either. So there will be place and there will be people for whom this just does not represent them and there should be no sense that this is about all of us,” Ms Turei says.

She says tino rangatiratanga means not imposing symbols on others.

Schools have role in fight against violence

A campaigner against domestic violence says schools can do more to fight abuse of women and children.

Hone Kaa, the chair of Te Kahui Mana Ririki trust, says many children aren't taught appropriate behaviour in the home.

He says anti-violence education should become a formal part of the curriculum.

“It's certainly what I would ask off the kohanga and the kura kaupapa because of the high incidence of abuse amidst our iwi Maori. It’s not just them of course. Across all sectors of primary and secondary education, because I do believe we can start this from primary school level,” Dr Kaa says.

He says anti-violence programmes in Maori communities are starting to work.

Te Kahui Mana Ririki held a breakfast in Auckland today to mark White Ribbon Day, which raises awareness of violence against women.

PARTY NEEDS TO TAKE STOCK OF INTERNAL SYSTEMS

A Maori academic says the Maori Party has a big fix up job to do if rebel MP Hone Harawira returns to the fold.

Rawiri Taonui, the head of Maori and ethnic studies at Canturbury University, says the blow up between Mr Harawira and the party leadership was a dispute waiting to happen.

He says despite the lessons of history such as the failure of the New Zealand First-National coalition, the Maori Party didn't seem ready for the internal strains which come from being in an alliance.

“Hone Harawira's remarks aside, I think there’s really a reflection about some internal tensions within the party about the cost of working with National and they need to focus on that and get the waka back on track,” Mr Taonui says.

He says keeping Mr Harawira in the party is the right way forward.

Mr Harawira will meet party members in west Auckland tonight as part of his consultation over his future.

WIDER SCOPE SOUGHT FOR CARBON FOREST OFFSET PLAN

Iwi leaders have their eyes on 200,000 hectares of conservation land for afforestation to offset the effects of the emissions trading scheme on land with pre-1990 forests.

Willie Te Aho, an advisor to the Climate Change Iwi Leadership Group, says the group has until February to come up with a mechanism under which forest landowners can plant carbon sink forests on DoC land.

He says the Department has been asked to identify suitable land with low conservation value, on top of the 35,000 hectares already earmarked for five iwi whose 10-year-old treaty settlements will be affected by the ETS.

“To really make it worthwhile, we’d be looking at 200,000 hectares and access to that 200,000 hectares but I understand that work is still being undertaken,” Mr Te Aho says.

Maori forest owners could use the New Zealand Unit carbon credits they receive from existing forests to fund the planting, which is estimated to cost between $1000 and $2000 a hectare.

WAITANGI TRIBUNAL TAKE URGENCY ON EAST COAST DEAL

The chair of an East Coast iwi is celebrating the Waitangi Tribunal's decision to look into the proposed settlement between the Crown and Te Runanga o Ngati Porou.

Tui Marino says the Crown and the runanga have been riding roughshod over his Te Aitanga a Hauiti people, as well as Ruawaipu and Ngati Uepohatu.

He says Ngati Porou's traditional rohe is around the Waiau River and Ruatioria, but it has used its favoured status to take the rights and interests of the other three tipuna groups.

“It's an out and rip off and we’ve got to do something about it, otherwise our young people, the generation to morrow, will be called Ngati Porou and we really don’t want that. That’s alright for Ngati Porou but we are Aitangi a Ahuiti and we need to and we wish to maintain that mana,” Mr Marino says.

The urgent hearing in Wellington the week of December 14 will give the other three iwi the chance to show how they have separate and distinct identities.

LEAGUE HARDMAN TALKS AGAINST VIOLENCE TOWARDS WOMEN

Former rugby league hardman Ruben Wiki says his experience allows him to be brutally honest when talking about the need for men to stop violence.

The Otara raised community worker is the ambassador for white ribbon day, which draws international attention to violence by men against women.

Mr Wiki, who gained a formidable reputation in the NRL and as New Zealand's most capped international player, says he's proud to stand up for women today.

“I've spread my story, growing up with violence, watching mum get beaten up by her partner, so it’s not acceptable. Women bring life into this world, our kids, and they shouldn’t be treated like that so just trying to get a message out and hopefully all the men can get behind and support the white ribbon campaign,” Mr Wiki says.

SENTIMENT OUTWEIGHS HISTORY IN FLAG CHOICE

A Ngapuhi academic is overcoming personal loyalty to endorse the tino rangatiratanga flag as the official Maori flag.

Rawiri Taonui from Canturbury University says his preference was for the Confederation of United Tribes flag which came out of relations between northern Maori and Europeans in the lead up to the Treaty of Waitangi.

But the more modern tino rangatiratanga flag which Cabinet is expected to endorse on the recommendation of Maori Affairs minister Pita Sharples may have wider appeal for today.

“It has Maori mythology embedded within it, it reflects that whole struggle of the 80s and 90s that led to the renaissance and it’s widely recognised, particularly by young people,” Mr Taonui says.

He's looking forward to seeing a Maori flag alongside the New Zealand ensign next Waitangi Day.