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.

Ngapuhi line-up preparing for hearing

Northern iwi Ngapuhi is fine tuning its attack for next month's opening hearing on its claim over the meanings of the Treaty of Waitangi and the 1835 Declaration of Independence.

Mere Mangu, who coordinated a meeting this week of Te Kotahitanga o nga hapu o Ngapuhi, says the iwi is adamant their tupuna never conceded sovereignty.

She says the hui was impressed by the line up of kaumatua and tribal scholars who will put the case.

“Nuki Aldridge is talking about the world view of Maori. Rima Edwards will concentrate his korero on the word ‘mana’ in He Whataputanga. Patu Hohepa has a paper on the language that was used in both He Whataputanga and Te Tiriti,” Ms Mangu says.

A further Kotahitanga hui will be held in a fortnight on Oromahoe Marae.

CONSTITUTIONAL ROAD TRIP GOODBYE PORK BARREL

Meanwhile, Maori Party MP Hone Harawira wants this year's promised constitutional review to be taken out to the nation.

With the party's co-leaders now government ministers, the Tai Tokerau MP and protest leader has been delegated to front the issue for the party.

He says it's not something that can be left to Wellington.

“We have to make sure it gets on the road, it stays on the road, we get it onto Maori radio, it becomes something people can talk about and understand and not just up there in the air. We’ve got to keep it low to the ground. There’s the whole issue of Maori rights, human rights,” Mr Harawira says.

He's optimistic the Moana Jackson-led roopu put together by the Iwi Leaders Forum to work on the review will provide a useful balance to the official process.

PROBLEM GAMBLING SETS UP PASIFIKA UNIT WITH MAORI INPUT

The Problem Gambling Foundation's new Pasifika unit is drawing on the experience of Maori-focused services.

Mapu Maia unit manager Pesio Ah-Honi Siita says gambling causes huge problems in both Maori and Pasifika communities.

She says the challenge is to create culturally focused interventions, including talking to people in their own languages and less emphasis on counseling.

“We don't have that concept in the Pacific. We call it talanoa which is talking, sharing stories and talking about our families and where we are connected and building that trust first before we can talk about the problem so developing different ways of doing things and delivering those services in a Pacific effective way,” Pesio Ah-Honi Siita says.

WHANAU ORA TAILORED FOR MAORI PROBLEMS

Associate social welfare minister Tariana Turia says if non-Maori want whanau ora, they can develop their own version.

In this week's statement to Parliament, Prime Minister John Key said the Government will ensure Whanau Ora is available to New Zealanders of all races who are in need.

Mrs Turia says while she doesn't mind other people having the same opportunities, the Whanau Ora taskforce led by Sir Mason Durie is working on Maori solutions to Maori problems.

“It's not a welfare progamme but when you transform people’s lives to take back more control over their lives, to be more self-determining about their future, to reconnect them to the essence of who they it is no doubt that we, through doing this, will address many of these social ills that impact on our people,” Mrs Turia says.

TE ARAWA SEEKS TO LEARN FROM WAIPAREIRA EXPERIENCE

Now it has completed its land settlement, Te Arawa is talking with other Maori groups around the country about social services.

Police superintendant Wally Haumaha from Ngati Ngatauranui was part of a Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa group which met with Te Whanau o Waipareira.

He says the West Auckland trust has built up considerable expertise in service delivery which the iwi can draw on.

“Now that we’ve come through treaty settlements and mapping our economic future within the tribe, we’ve also got to look at what that means for the well being of whanau, so our social programmes and social development aren’t left behind and forgotten,” Superintendant Haumaha says.

It's important to develop service delivery structures which are tailored to Maori needs and aspirations.

OWAIRAKA KAUMATUA PUT TOGETHER ROOPU TO OFFER MARAE HELP

A kaumatua group in Auckland has reformed to offer assistance to urban marae short on speakers.

Te Roopu kaumatua o Owairaka ki Tamaki was started in 1992, but went into recess a few years later.

Yesterday about 40 kaumatua met to breathe life back into the kaupapa.

Spokesperson Hone Komene says all members are over 60, and have put their hand up to help wherever needed.

The group will meet to learn waiata, tikanga and kaupapa which will help on the marae.

Hone Komene says as well as strengthening paepae when invited, the kaumatua roopu will continue to visit maori inmates in jail.

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.