Perception and reality meet at tide line

Labour leader Phil Goff says reform of the Foreshore and Seabed Act could cost the Maori Party votes once its supporters realise they've been had.

Mr Goff says the so called agreement between National and the Maori Party to let Maori go to the High Court to prove customary title is just two sides posturing to save political face.

He says perceptions need to line up with reality at same stage.

“When they don't, then people both feel angry because they haven’t got what they wanted, and feel angry that the wool has been pulled over their eyes and people don’t know what the difference between Crown ownership and public space is because there is no difference, they know that the same criteria for customary rights will apply as applied before the courts for decades and actually was being applied in the negotiations between iwi and the Crown under the existing act,” Mr Goff says.

NURSES’ STORIES ENLIVEN HISTORY BOOK

The author of a book celebrating a hundred years of the New Zealand Nurses' Organisation says she's discovered some larger-than-life Maori characters in her research.

Mary Ellen O'Connor says the rigid and regimental nature of the profession in its early years put off many Maori women, who were more likely to go into fields like mental health care.

But she says there were women like Marika Wehipehana who persisted and also practiced what is now called cultural safety, especially in strongly Maori areas like the East Coast.

The book is Freed to Serve, Proud to Care.

MATARIKI GAMES FOR TAINUI KAUMATUA

The organiser of today's Port Waikato Matariki Winter Olympics says the Maori new year celebration brings out the competitive spirit in the region's kaumatua.

Livane Ratu from Huakina Development Trust says kuia and koroua from Waiuku to Mangatangi will get advice on health eating and ways to avoid falls, which are the main cause of injury among the elderly.

They will also engage in some age-appropriate games like giant ball soccer, indoor bowls and darts.

A lemon tree will be planted, with due ceremony, to mark the day.

HIGH TAR AND NICOTINE LEVELS HITTING MAORI SMOKERS

Tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand says high levels of tar and nicotine in New Zealand cigarettes could be one reason the addiction hits Maori so hard.

Dr Wigand, who went public in 1996 with documents showing the industry was covering up its knowledge of the risks of tobacco, is in the country to give evidence to a Maori affairs select committee inquiry.

He says while factors such as family pressure to smoke and the lack of effective cessation programmes may contribute to the fact almost one in two adult Maori are addicted to tobacco, the way the industry concocts its products here is causing extreme harm.

“The high level of nicotine, the high level of tar could go to explaining partially the reason why there is such an issue among the Mori. You have a nicotine level that’s substantially higher than (brands in other countries). You have a tar level that is directly related to the illnesses associated with tobacco use, the morbidity and mortality, and I think that’s part of the equation,” Dr Wigand says.

He says as more affluent societies step up the pressure to go smokefree, the tobacco industry is shifting its focus to marketing in the developing world and to lower income communities such as Maori.

MAORI TO BE INVOLVED IN STAGE TWO OF ART PLAN

The consultant behind a 10-year public art plan for Hamilton is denying he left Maori out of the picture.

Some Hamilton City Councilors have complained Rob Garrett's $20,000 report ignored important themes like heritage and Maori.

But Mr Garrett says his intention was always to involve tangata whenua in the detailed planning which follows the initial document.

“You can't tell the stories of Hamilton and you can’t engage the communities of Hamilton without giving consideration to the Maori stories, both the vibrant, living ongoing stories of today as well as the heritage,” Mr Garrett says.

The four themes he identified for the council to focus on are the river, arrivals, innovation and people.

TITANICS PLAY TO PUT A SMILE ON FACES

Playwright Albert Belz wants today's audiences to experience some of the excitement generated by the Maori showbands of the 1960s and 70s.
His Raising the Titanics premieres tonight at TAPAC theatre in Auckland's Western Springs College.

The 37 year old from Ngati Porou, Ngapuhi and Ngati Pokai says he wanted to write a play which put Howard Morrison, Billy T James, Prince Tui Teka and Kiri Te Kanawa on the same stage.

That was put in the too hard basket, and instead he came up with the story of a fictitious showband called the Maori Titanics.

“Encompassed all the good times, the best things, the innocence, the romance, the adventure of that period. It’s about making people walk out of that theatre with the biggest smile on their face and walk down memory lane, having experienced for the first time the beauty that was the Maori showbands,” Mr Belz says.

This week's TAPAC season of Raising the Titanics is sold out, but it gets another run next month at the Taonga Whakaari: Maori Playwrights Festival in Papakura.

Foreshore decision hailed a win

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples says allowing iwi to take their customary rights claims for the foreshore and seabed to the High Court is a big win.

Maori Party MPs and the Iwi Leaders Group met Prime Minister John Key yesterday to spell out their reservations about the Government's proposed replacement to the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act.

Dr Sharples says it's still a work in progress, the main issue was restoring access to the courts which was taken away by the previous Labour Government.

“This was a major breakthrough for iwi, to every iwi, whether they’ve have their claims completed, full and final of their raupatu, can still come back for their foreshore and seabed,” Dr Sharples says.

Iwi leaders are still unhappy with the term public domain, so a new name will be chosen to reflect the fact the foreshore and seabed will be owned by no-one.

MAORI MEN FEEL IGNORED IN HEALTH SPENDING

A Maori men's health advocacy group wants more attention paid to their health needs.

Joe Puketapu from Te Mana Tane O Aotearoa was at Parliament yesterday for the launch of National Men’s Health Week.

He says politicians need to take notice of the fact Maori men, particularly those in middle age, suffer in greater numbers than non-Maori from obesity, heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

“Mana Tane Ora is here to represent the interests of Maori men and make sure the issues for Maori men are kept high on the political agenda and that Maori men around the country get on board by being able to provide information to Maori men’s communities in order for them to participate and contribute in a positive and productive way,” Mr Puketapu says.

Maori men are twice as likely to die of preventable illness than non-Maori.

TIGHT FIVE KEY TO RUGBY WIN

The tight five is seen as the key to the New Zealand Maori team's prospects against Ireland in Rotorua on Friday night.

The team won the first of three centenary games in Whangarei on Saturday night when Hosea Gear dotted down in the corner in the last minute, sealing a 37-31 victory against the New Zealand Barbarians.

Commentator Te Kauhoe Wano says the Maori scrum looked vulnerable in the first half, but was strengthened at half time when Hayden Triggs, Dan Coles and Colin Bourke came off the bench.

He says the win was just the preparation coach Jamie Joseph needed for his troops in the lead up to the two international fixtures.

BOK CAPTAIN ADMITS FEAR OVER PROTESTS

The Captain of the 1981 Springboks has revealed team members feared for their safety when anti-apartheid protesters invaded the pitch at a game in Hamilton.

In an interview broadcast last night on Maori Television's Native Affairs, Wynard Claasen told reporter Julian Wilcox that the team was surprised at how strongly New Zealanders felt about the issue.’

He says it all came home to them that afternoon.

“Then we were in the changing room and we were looking through the back door or the back window and there was a whole group of demonstrators coming round the back and trying to get into the pavilion and that was quite scary, There were these huge trucks parked at the back and they tipped that over so that was a scary sight to see, them coming for us,” Mr Claasen says.

He says more than half the squad want to come back next year, the 30th anniversary, to apologise for the divisions and violence the 1981 tour created.

CO-MORBIDITY FOCUS OF CANCER SURVIVAL STUDY

The Health Research Council has given Otago University $1.2 million to find out why Maori have a lower cancer survival rate than non-Maori.

Co-ordinator Diana Safarti, from the university's Wellington-based department of public health, says the three-year study will focus on co-morbidity, when people are battling more than one illnesses at the same time.

She says that may be more common among Maori.

“People have tended to look at cancer or just look at what other single condition people have but what we are interest in is how these things interrelate. Individuals are much more complex than just individual diagnosis of cancer so we’re trying to really disentangle all this stuff to reduce the inequalities between Maori and non-Maori patients,” Dr Safarti says.

The first year will be spent collecting and analysing hospital and treatment data from across the country.

MORE WORK NEEDED TO HELP YOUNG ACTORS GROW

The producer of the biggest grossing New Zealand film of all time says its young actors need a vibrant local industry if they are to carve out long term acting careers.

Ainsley Gardiner says BOY, directed and acted in by Taika Waititi, has so far grossed more than $8 million at the box office.

She says cast members, including James Rolleston who played Boy, are keen to learn more.

“You know the more product we are able to make, the more Maori film, the more Maori drama, the more opportunities there are, but these kids are awesome and a good few of them are interested in pursuing some more acting.” Ainsley Gardiner says.

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.

Hanerua trial in small block dairy development

A farming operation on the shores of the Kaipara harbour is showing how treaty settlements can help Maori development.

Te Uri o Hau set up Hanerua Farms after the Ngati Whatua hapu received its historic treaty settlement in 2002.

The 176-hectare operation now in the top two percent of dairy farms for financial performance and a finalist in this year's Ahuwhenua Trophy for Maori farming excellence.

Trustee Earle Wright says Hanerau Farms leases underperforming small units and pays the Maori owners a dividend.

“We benefit, they benefit, just on the profit of it. It they stayed like they were, they’d struggle. There’s not doubt all Maori land in small parcels do struggle because you need a lot of area now to make a profit. That is our aim, to develop their land, and we don’t have to put in the capital to purchase that land. It’s already owned by Maori,” he says.

The first Ahuwhenua field day is this Thursday at Waipapa 9 Trust, west of Taupo, with the Hanerau Farms field day next week.

SELF PROMOTION LACKING IN ARCHITECTURE CIRCLES

The head of the head of Unitec's Te Hononga centre for Maori architecture wants to see more Maori architects stand up for their designs.

Over the past week two non-Maori architects have featured in national and international awards for their work for Maori clients.

Rau Hoskins says similar work by Maori architects is often overlooked, because it doesn't get entered in competition.

“It's an issue of self-promotion. Maori architects, like a lot of other Maori are not perhaps so focused on self promotion and it’s partly a kumara and a sweetness issue and it’s also partly people being busy people,” Mr Hoskins says.

He's pleased to see an increase in the amount of Maori symbolism being appropriately used in architecture.

TOUGH GAME WOULD BE FITTING APOLOGY

Former Maori All Black coach Matt Te Pou says a Springbok game against the Maori team this winter would be a fair apology for past indignities.

Debate has been raging about whether an apology is needed for past policies like the exclusion of Maori players from tours to South Africa.

But Mr Te Pou, who coached the Maori team to victory against the British Lions in 2005, says a mid-week game between the July tests would be seen as a magnificent gesture by current and former players and fans.

“It's a way to move forward together. It’s an opportunity to play one of the top countries. They’re the reigning champions. Maori players always like to play the best, so it would be good for both sides,” Mr Te Pou says.

He says a Maori-Springbok game would be a fitting way to celebrate 100 years of Maori rugby.

ORWELLIAN CAST TO FORESHORE AND SEABED MEETINGS

Attorney General Chris Finlayson is detecting a barnyard theme at public meetings on his review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

Mr Finlayson says daytime consultation hui have been uniformly friendly and courteous, despite the strong views being expressed.

But he says the evening public meetings have attracted their share of malcontents.

“There seems to be a surprising repetition of references to Animal Farm; ‘all animals are equal but some are more equal than others,’ so obviously that’s the line people have been told to say by whoever. I said ‘yes, that’s the idea everyone should be equal which is why we want to restore rights that were taken away from Maori in 2003, 2004,’” Mr Finlayson says.

The minister is in Akaroa tomorrow for a hui, followed by a public meeting in Christchurch in the evening.

NEW SITE A MARAE VERSION OF FACEBOOK

A new social networking site claims to be the Maori answer to Facebook.

Whanauconnect.co.nz was launched last week from Waiwhetu Marae in Lower Hutt, and manager Kataraina Hetet says it's picking up strong interest.

She says many whanau want to communicate wherever they are in the world, but the want greater security than some other sites offer.

“If a marae decides to form a marae group with all their whanau members on board, they need to approve all these members being part of it, so it is v much under the control as to who sees their information and they way they form groups to share that information,” Ms Hetet says.

The whanau connect site can be a place where groups can store their historical records and information online.

HENARE LEAVES TEEN STAR STAR-STRUCK

One of the young stars of Maori Television's new series Kaitangata Twitch says it was an honour to work with one of the kaumatuta of stage and screen.

Thirteen year old Te Waimarie Kessal plays the lead role in the 13-part series opposite George Henare.

She says learning stagecraft from the veteran actor was a real highlight.

Kaitangata Twitch, which was adapted from the novel by Margaret Mahy, won a Platinum Remi award at this weekend's Houston Worldfest film and video festival in Texas.

Hold sought until seabed sorted

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples says it makes sense to put plans for a tidal power station in the Kaipara Harbour on hold until the review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act is complete.

Te Uri o Hau told a consultation hui last week it wanted a stay of Crest Energy's resource consent application.

Dr Sharples says it’s a issue he will take up with his government colleagues this week.

“I think it’s a wise call to complete the foreshore and seabed issues before we do major things. We’re holding back issues like aquaculture until we complete the foreshore and seabed,” he says.

A spokesperson for attorney-general Chris Finlayson says he is looking into the moratorium request.

YOUNGER CHILDREN NEED SAFE SEX MESSAGE

A Maori sexual health worker says even intermediate age children need to about safe sex.

Harley Kaihe-Katterns works for Te Kaha o te Rangatahi, Auckland's only Maori sexual health provider, covering schools from Franklin to Rodney.

He says at the intermediate level the main issue is teaching children about puberty, but they could do more, if schools and parents agree.

“We actually need to come in and talk to them about STIs and contraception because a lot of them are sexually active and they’re only 11, 12. Yet again we do encounter a lot of Maori whanau that, their parents don’t want us to teach their kids, they don’t want us to talk to them about it,” Mr Kaihe-Katterns says.

Te Kaha o te Rangatahi’s programmes are developing a greater emphasis on the importance of healthy relationships.

MOA CONSIDERS WAIATA REMAKE

Anika Moa is considering branching out into waiata Maori.

The Ngapuhi singer songwriter releases her fourth album this week, Love in Motion.

She says the Maori side of her work hasn’t been apparent so far, but that could change.

“But I do want to start branching out into writing Maori waiata and writing albums so al the local iwi statinos can start playing my songs ... in Maori,” she says.

NGAITERANGI TAKES GLOVES OFF ON TATTOOS

Tauranga iwi Ngai te Rangi is offering people a chance to remove gang or prison tattoos.

Manager Paul Stanley says the Ungloved initiative is part of the Peaceful Warrior programme aimed at helping people move on with their lives after deciding to step away from gangs or crime.

He says a dozen people started the laser process yesterday with tattoo removal specialists Invisible Ink.

The first session is free, and Ngai Te Rangi will support those going through the process.

NUFFIELD SHOWS VALUE OF MAORI INCORPORATIONS

A Nuffield scholarship winner will be a featured speaker at a conference the farm training organisation is holding in Gisborne next month.

Gregg Pardoe, the operations manager for Arai Matawai Incorporation, is only the second Maori to win a Nuffield scholarship in the 60 years the scheme has been going.

He looked at indigenous farming in Europe, Asia, South America and Australia, and returned convinced of the value of the Maori incorporation model of farming on behalf of large groups of owners.

Gregg Pardoe will encourage other Maori to apply for the scholarship.

The Nuffield conference will be held at Manutuke marae between 13 and 16 May.

HUIA AND KIA UNVEIL QBOOK TO WORLD

Kiwa Media and Huia Publishers are at the London book fair this week to unveil their revolutionary digital picture book.

Kiwa Media has adapted two of huia’s most popular children’s books, Barnaby Bennett and Oh Hogwash Sweet Pea!, to its new QBook format.

Business development vice president David Shakes says the QBook can be read on Apple’s iPad, IPod or iPhone … and in English, Spanish and Maori.

“To have a leading edge digit tech app like the Qbook for the iPad and have it in te reo Maori is a real first. There’s nothing like it in the world. There’s no one offering anything even remotely close to what we’re doing and in that sense it’s just putting Maori on the map, it’s giving them a place and a stake at the table of digital publishing,” Mr Shakes says.

Mystery injury keeps king home from school

Kingitanga representatives are refusing to discuss the injuries that kept King Tuheitia from opening a west Auckland kura kaupapa yesterday morning.

A spokesperson says the king was in an accident at his Huntly home on the weekend, but his injuries are not serious.

Eru Thompson from Te Kawerau a Maki says the king's absence at the opening of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Kotuku in Ranui was a disappointment, but the show went on with members of the royal household and from Tainui.

MAATATUA UNITE OF FORESHORE STRATEGY

Mataatua iwi are presenting a united front on their claims to the foreshore and seabed in the Bay of Plenty.

Whakatohea, Ngati Awa, and Ngaiterangi were among the tribes represented at a consultation hui in Kawerau on replacing the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

Kaumatua Joe Mason from Ngati Awa says the iwi approve of the repeal of the Act, the removal of automatic Crown title to coastal areas and allowing Maori to go back to court to prove their title.

He says the legacy of the land wars of the 1860s means the iwi would struggle to prove the unbroken relationship with the takutai moana that is needed for customary rights claims ... and that needs to be addressed in any reform.

“We are actually talking about the extinguishing of customary title I suppose. That goes much further than the Act. For example, the extinguishment of title as the result of the confiscation in the Bay of Plenty along the coastline adjacent to that foreshore and seabed,” Mr Mason says.

Today's foreshore and seabed consultation hui and public meetings are in Gisborne.

CREWS TRAINED FOR EPIC OCEAN VOYAGE

Waka expert Hoturoa Kerr is confident the crews of four double-hulled voyaging waka will be ready to head for Tahiti with a few more months training.

The fibreglass vessels underwent trials on Waitemata harbour last weekend.
Mr Kerr, the head of Te Wananga O Aotearoa's waka culture course, says crew members come from Vanuatau, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji and Aotearoa.

“We've got a good mix of fairly experienced waka sailors and a lot of ones that are just trying to build that experience up so I’m kind of looking at it, if everything goers right in the next three or four months, of a band of reasonably experienced sailors for this sort of vessel, so it’s all looking good,” Mr Kerr says.

The voyage later this year is to draw attention to the environmental threats faced by Pacific nations.

MANA TAMARIKI BUILDING WINS ARCHITECTURE PRIZE

A Palmerston North Maori immersion school designed by non-Maori architects has been singled out in the public architecture category of this year's New Zealand Architecture Awards.

Project leader Ewan Brown says while his Wellington practice Tennant and Brown has designed many schools, Mana Tamariki kura kaupapa was the first time it was required to incorporate Maori concepts into a building.

“It was trying to make it a Maori building without reflecting it as a wharenui. They wanted to have it all under the one roof so we put the kohanga and kura under one roof so we picked up on the idea of the cloak, the korowai so this roof that went over both organisations became the korowai, sort of this over-arching support over the whole organization,” Mr Brown says.

He and partner Hugh Tennant have joined a reo Maori class and are working on a project for Te Whare Wananga O Raukawa in Otaki.

TAURA WHIRI WANTS TO CONTINUE COMMUNITY FUNDING

The Maori Language Commission is making a case for continued funding of flax roots Maori language regeneration programmes.

Te Taura Whiri acting chief executive Wayne Ngata says Ma Te Reo, which distributes $1.8 million each year to iwi, hapu, whanau and individuals to promote the language, is due to be wound up this year.

Applications have just opened for the final funding round.

Mr Ngati says since the programme was launched in 2001, huge strides have been made.

“There is scope for more to be done and we have been carrying out research to make a case to continue to support community-based language,” Mr Ngata says.

To encourage a spread of Ma Te Reo funds across regions, Te Taura Whiri is encouraging iwi, hapu and other providers to collaborate on applications.

Deadline is May 7.

SOPHISTICATED HOOKS FOR FISHING RESEARCH

A researcher into traditional Maori fishing practices says it appears different sized hooks were used as a sophisticated way of conserving fish stocks.

Sarah Coup from Mapua and Richard Hamill from the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre are studying middens around the Wainui estuary in Motueka.

She says they will make replicas of any hooks found to test the theory.

“What we think was that a partcular sized hook was used for the middle sized fish, If you have a large fish, the hook slips out, and a small one couldn’t target so it was obviously to target that right sized fish,” Ms Coup says.

The findings could be used to develop sustainable methods for modern day fishing.

Coastal rights way a dangerous path

Labour list MP Shane Jones says Attorney General Chris Finlayson is treading a dangerous path with his suggestion Maori should negotiate with him for customary rights rather than go through the courts.

The Maori Party has criticised Labour's Foreshore and Seabed Act for stopping the courts looking at foreshore claims.

Mr Finlayson told TV3 on the weekend that while his suggested reform of the Act reinstates access to the courts, he'd encourage iwi to talk to him instead.

He also agreed iwi who got customary title could lease the coast to outsiders for resort development.

Mr Jones says that's an alarming prospect.

“I just think it's really unwise before the public hui are over the minister is gaily announcing he doesn’t know what seabed customary title is but he’s more than keen for all and sundry to traipse up to his office and they’ll make it up in some sort of patchwork nature around the coastline. I fear the coastline will end up with this quilt of uneven, half baked, hotchpotch deals,” he says.

Chris Finlayson is holding a consultation meeting in south Auckland this evening, and he'll be in Gisborne for hui and public meetings tomorrow.

EDEN PARK DRESSING ROOM SHAME RECALLED

An Anglican Bishop has described the Maori rugby team's shame at being told to throw a game against South Africa.

Muru Walters was the 22-year-old fullback for the New Zealand Maori team against the touring 1956 Springboks.

He says before the game in Auckland, Maori affairs minister Ernest Corbett told the team if it won, New Zealand would never be invited to tour South Africa again.
Bishop Walters says the message contributed to the Maori team's 37-nil trouncing.

“That was a pretty destructive message to deliver before a game and a crowd of about 61,000 and it ripped the guts out of the spirits of our team. I was only a young person then but I saw my experienced friends just throw in the towel. It was an amazing transformation. Senior leaders capitulated to government direct interference,” Bishop Walters says.

He says in the centenary of Maori rugby, Maori deserve an apology for the way they were treated during the apartheid era.

MAORI BUSINESS URGED TO NETWORK

The Ministry of Maori development is encouraging Maori businesses to find ways to work more closely together.

Te Puni Kokiri hosted a Maori business network dinner bringing together a range of business owners working in community development, security, animation and wine companies.

Martin Mariassouce, TPK's commercial development manager says as Maori business expands beyond fishing, farming and forestry, business owners often find themselves isolated from other Maori.

He says Maori businesses should make an effort to find other Maori suppliers for the goods and services they need.

WHANAU ORA WILL CREATE STAFF DEMAND

The chief executive of Hawkes Bay's largest Maori heath provider says Whanau Ora scheme will opens up opportunities for trained Maori health workers.

Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga already employs more than 150 people, and it's holding seminars to encourage other Maori to consider health careers.

Alayna Watene says the new method of integrated service delivery to Maori families will create a demand for professional health and welfare workers with cultural competence.

“There's going to be a huge workforce required that is culturally and professionally safe in their practice. It’s no longer the days when you can send well meaning nannies and aunties and uncles out to advise and give counsel to whanau with multiple complex,” Ms Watene says.

CAPTAIN CONFIRMS BISHOP’S TEAM NOBBLING STORY

The captain of the 1956 Maori All Blacks has confirmed the team was told to lose its game against the touring Springboks.

Some rugby journalists have questioned a claim by fullback Muru Walters that the minister of Maori affairs told the team to throw the match for the good of rugby.

But Hapi Potae from Ngati Porou and Tainui remembers the team manager, Ralph Love, confirming the minister's message.

He says its effect was seen on the field, where the Maori's woeful tackling and lack of attack saw them go down 37-nil.

“That game in Eden Park was a disgrace. I actually felt so embarrassed that I went over and crossed from Eden Park over to the railway line and it was embarrassing.

Mr Potae says the reasons for the defeat were not something team members liked to talk about, and certainly not to Pakeha.

NEW POLICY COULD DRAIN FUNDS FROM OLD PROGRAMMES

Labour leader Phil Goff says good social service providers will be axed to provide money for Whanau Ora.

Mr Goff says the lack of transparency around the new Maori-oriented health and welfare delivery programme indicates poor planning by the government.

He says it's becoming clear Whanau Ora is about politics and making the Maori Party look good rather than delivering real change to Maori families.

MOA AND MORE BONES BRING BLESSINGS TO DEVONPORT

Auckland iwi combined today to bless human remains found during foundation work for a new navy museum at Devonport's Torpedo Bay.

The Historic Places trust says last week's find of koiwi as well as moa bones, an adze head and other artifacts indicate Maori occupation of the site more than 500 years ago, making it one of the earliest sites found.

Eru Thompson from Tainui says kaumatua from Ngati Whatua, Ngati Paoa and Ngai Tai where joined by officers from the navy at the blessing ceremony.

He says the navy was happy to stop the excavation of an area which is near where the navigator Kupe is thought to have landed about 900 AD.

Whanau Ora whakapapa points to autonomy

Maori Party president Whatarangi Winiata says the Whanau Ora model for government service delivery is a belated expression of the reforms recommended in Puao Te Ata Tu.

He say the recommendations for Maori autonomy in the late John Rangihau's groundbreaking 1986 review of the Department of Social Welfare fell on deaf ears at the time.

But party co-leader Tariana Turia, who was a Maori Affairs community welfare officer at the time, has never forgotten the message.

“It's not going to go away, that is the aspirations to determine our own future, to have Maori management of matters Maori, to have those who know the culture prescribing for the culture, and that is what Whanau Ora is going to do,” Professor Winiata says.

KAHUNGUNU BOOSTING HEALTH WORKFORCE OPTION

Hawkes Bay Maori health and social service provider Te Taiwhenua O Heretaunga is holding seminars to encourage Maori into the health workforce.

Chief executive Alayna Watene says the Whakamahi Atu series is aimed at students and workers who may doubt they have the skills needed.

Some of Taiwhenua's 160 staff are sharing their experiences of career development.

“Many of the vocations or career opportunities available aren’t easy for them to aspire to because they think it’s unattainable. Having workers that can fit into any job setting around the country, as part of their commitment to the kaupapa was giving back to the whanau by sharing their personal stories,” Ms Watene says.

Whanau Ora will create opportunities for more Maori health workers.

NICHE SPECIALISATION AND AROHA WORKING FOR TIME

An award-winning tourism company says being small and specialised can work for Maori operators.

TIME Unlimited Tours in Auckland has won a global award for its website from eco-tourism magazine Planeta.com and the secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

Director Ceillhe Sperath from Ngapuhi says the website is part of a company philosophy to give visitors the information they are looking for to make their stay in Aotearoa one to remember.

“They really want to meet the locals. They want to ask us the questions that they wouldn’t ask in a bigger group and you become friends. We keep getting told it’s like being shown around by a family friend. That’s probably one of the success elements, we don’t do large groups and we like to learn as much about them as they learn about us,” Ceillhe Sperath says.

Just over 48 percent of contributors to the Indigenous Tourism and Biodiversity Website Award voted for the TIME Unlimited site, compared with just 21 percent for the second placegetter.

CLUB MED IWI FORESHORE TOO FAR FOR JONES

Labour's economic development spokesperson, Shane Jones, has slammed a suggestion by the Attorney General that customary title means Maori could partner with foreign companies to develop Club Med style resorts along the coast.

Chris Finlayson made the suggestion on TV3's The Nation show on the weekend.

Mr Jones says that's not what the public expects to come out of the consultation on a replacement for Labour's Foreshore and Seabed Act.

“Well the implication of what Chris Finlayson was saying is that he envisages a situation where foreign interests will have substantial opportunities to create major enterprises along with some hapu or something like that in the seabed and foreshore. That’s a very new and almost sinister turn to this whole process,” Mr Jones says.

He says after criticising Labour for leaving it to the High Court to determine customary title, Mr Finlayson now says he will grant rights through negotiation with individual iwi.

Foreshore and Seabed consultation hui will be held today at Puatahi Marae on the Kaipara Harbour at noon and Butterfly Creek near Auckland Airport at six.

MERIDIAN GIVES WHY FOR NGATI WAEWAE PAY-OFF

Meridian Energy is welcoming Ngai Tahu support for its plans to build a giant hydro dam on the Mokihinui River north of Westport.

A weekend hui by the Ngati Waewae hapu endorsed a decision to withdraw opposition to the $300 million project, which has just got planning consent from the West Coast regional and Buller district councils.

Meridian spokesperson Alan Seay says it's undeniable the dam and its associated infrastructure will have an impact on the river, so it made sense to offer Te Runanaga o Ngati Waewae compensation to fund cultural initiatives.

“We obviously understand that the local iwi is going to have a very particular point of view, that this is a landscape that’s very important to them and we want top do the very best we can to take those interests into account and we’re very happy we’ve come to an agreement,” Mr Seay says.

Details of the mitigation agreement are confidential, but the money will only be paid if the project goes ahead.

BISHOP DEMANDS APOLOGY BEFORE FORGIVENESS

One of the greats of Maori rugby says New Zealand government should apologise for its past complicity in Maori being excluded from teams touring South Africa.

Muru Walters, who probably missed selection from the 1960 All Blacks because of the ban, says the Rugby Union had the full backing of the government of the time.

That extended to the minister of Maori affairs, Ernest Corbett, visiting the dressing room before the Maori game on the 1956 Springbok tour of New Zealand and telling the team that for the good of rugby it must not win.

“We had never had an apology from the South African government, neither have we had one from the New Zealand government, both of whom took a strong measure of direct political interference not to include Maori,” Bishop Walters says.

He will ask Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples to seek a joint apology to Maori Rugby from both governments.

Foreshore ownership formula fiction

A Maori lawyer says the Government's proposal that there be no owner of coastal space is fundamentally dishonest.

Among the options for replacing the Foreshore and Seabed Act is to replace the Crown title to land below the high tide mark with a new concept of public domain or takiwa takiwa iwi whanui.

Annette Sykes from Ngati Pikiao says there are at least 42 laws managing the rights around coastal space which assume de facto ownership by the Crown.

She says the Government's position is immediately undermined by the mining licenses it has issued for coastal areas.

“Now if the Crown is saying they don’t own it and Maori don’t own it, when they discover minerals and there is royalties due, who is going to receive the royalties. If the Crown doesn’t own it, then they shouldn’t get it. If Maori don’t own it, we’re not going to get it, so who is going to get those royalties? Is China going to say ‘We have got a licence so we own it,’” Ms Sykes says.

The Government is holding at least 11 consultation hui on the foreshore and seabed proposal, starting in Marlborough on April 9.

INFORMATION LACKING ON RECREATIONAL FISH TAKE

The head of Te Ohu Kaimoana is calling for better accounting of what is taken by recreational fishers.

Ngahiwi Tomoana says if fisheries are to be managed sustainably, people need to know what is out there.

While customary and commercial fishers must account for what they catch, there is no requirement for recreational fishers to account for what they take ... even though for some species the total would be far more than the other two sectors combined.

“You can't really plan to have a healthy fishery in 10 years time if you don’t know what one sector is catching, and that’s the recreational sector, and there seems to be no political will or courage to find what they're taking,” Mr Tomoana says.

Ngahiwi Tomoana says politicians are afraid to go up against the large and well funded recreational fishing lobby.

APPLICATIONS BUT NO ACTION ON KAINGA WHENUA

The Kainga Whenua housing scheme is off to a slow start.

Chief advisor Maori, Tamati Olsen, says about 200 applications have been received for Housing New Zealand to guarantee Kiwibank loans build on multiply-owned Maori land, but none have yet been approved.

He says applying for kainga whenua money is arduous, with as many as eleven steps to go through.

“A lot of that is outside our control, the issues round multiply owned Maori land and licence to occupy, working between ourselves, Kiwibank, the Maori Land Court and local government to get all these things, it’s an arduous process,” Mr Olsen says.

Housing New Zealand is also selecting proposals for its Maori Demonstration Partnerships programme, which has a putea of $5.5 million in matching funding to back innovative housing projects put up by iwi of Maori trusts.

HIGH BAR TO PROVE CUSTOMARY TITLE

An expert on Maori law and resource management says the proposed rewrite of the Foreshore and Seabed Act puts an unfair onus on Maori to prove customary rights.

Auckland University law professor Ken Palmer says Maori have to prove they have a continuing interest in specific coastal areas through activities such as collecting shellfish.

He says it should be the Crown's responsibility to show Maori have abandoned their stake.

“The present act is not particularly attractive because it puts a huge challenge on Maori to prove their continuing existence with these particular coastal areas and it’s rather hard to do at the moment with other people using them and there’s a financial challenge of getting expert, getting lawyers, and of course trying to meet the Crown who have got endless funds on their side,” Professor Palmer says.

The Prime Minister's expectation there will be a relatively small number of claims could be way off the mark, as Maori will be keen to asset their ancestral relationships.

ENVIRONMENT CANTERBURY COUP PART OF WIDER ATTACK

Labour list MP Shane Jones says the Government's takeover of Environment Canterbury is part of a deliberate strategy to dismantle regional government in New Zealand.

Parliament under urgency last night passed the law replacing of Canterbury's regional councilors with commissioners.

Mr Jones says environment and local government ministers Nick Smith and Rodney Hide are moving resource management back into central government.
He says the new act gives the minister power to make decisions above the new commissioners.

“Our fear is that these commissioners will be pressured by the minister to reward the users of the water which is predominantly the agricultural community who have not shown a lot of interest in cleaning up their act in terms of cleaning up our streams and rivers,” Mr Jones says.

He says just as Mr Hide has done in the Auckland super city, authority has been taken away from democratically elected local representatives

MEN’S GROUP SPARKS INTEREST IN GARDENING

An East Coast mana tane roopu will be showing off its newly aquired horticultural skills at the region's first traditional Kai Festival at Whakarua park in Ruatoria on Saturday.

Event coordinator Rozanna Milner says the men's group formed through Ngati Porou Hauora encouraged members to share skills including fishing, hunting and eeling.

They also set up community gardens in Ruatoria, Tikitiki, Rangitukia and at Te Puia Hospital.

Rozanna Milner says seed funding for Saturday's festival comes from the sale of excess produce from the gardens, and the men have also formed a collective to supply a stall at the Gisborne farmers market.

Foreshore formula sparks backlash fear

Labour MP Shane Jones says giving hapu veto rights over coastal development will create a backlash.

The proposal is contained in a consultation document on possible changes to the Foreshore and Seabed Act released yesterday.

Mr Jones says after a long and expensive process, the National Government has ended up in the same place as Labour was in 2004 in terms of recognising Maori customary rights.

The main difference is it is reopening the door to litigation, and giving hapu the final say on coastal development if they can establish customary title.

“Without accountability, without professional structures, you can see all sorts of developments held up, and in fact unlikely to go ahead unless there is a transfer of wealth etc. Hapu are taking a very treacherous step if they think the public will tolerate them having veto rights without them showing any obligation to wider community,” Mr Jones says.

He says the National government is lowering the bar for iwi to prove customary rights, but it's also diluting the value of those rights.

MANA TRUMPS TITLE IN FORESHORE DEBATE

Meanwhile, Ngati Porou runanga chair Api Mahuika says recognition of mana is more important than title over the foreshore and seabed.

Options for replacing the Foreshore and Seabed Act released yesterday range from leaving coastal areas in Crown title, assuming it is under Maori title, or giving it a new status of public domain/ takiwa iwi whanui.

Mr Mahuika says Ngati Porou negotiated its own foreshore settlement based on tikanga and mana, rather than getting bogged down in arguments over title.

“The individualization of titles to land has resulted in alienation, confiscation, so what we are saying is the key to mana is it is an inherited right. Through that mana we then have a kaitiaki right which allows us to look after the foreshore, the land etc in our lifetime,” Mr Mahuika says.

He says the repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act will give the East Coast tribe the chance to renegotiate aspects of its settlement, which has been signed off but still not passed into law.

GROUPS KEEN TO JOIN INNOVATIVE HOUSING PILOT

Housing New Zealand has been flooded with interest from Maori groups wanting to undertake innovative housing developments.

Tamati Olsen, the corporation's chief Maori advisor, says 16 runanga have applied for the half dozen or so Maori Demonstration Partnerships.

Typical of the schemes wanting to tap into the $5.5 million putea is a Northland runanga that wants to build ten communal houses.

“The houses have chopped down living spaces so it’s more about sleeping in the houses and small living spaces and one big communal area for the whole of the ten houses,” Mr Olsen says.

Some asset rich, cash poor iwi have missed out because of a requirement partners put up half the cost of the project.

FORESHORE ACT REPLACEMENT FALLS SHORT OF IWI DEMANDS

The iwi leaders group is disappointed at the proposed replacement for the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

The group says the plan released for consultation yesterday may not satisfy the rights, expectations and values of iwi and hapu.

Matiu Rei from Ngati Toa says the offer doesn't acknowledge Maori mana over the takutai moana, and falls far short of the customary authority that was sought.

“The crown was never able to prove they had extinguished the title Maori claim to the foreshore and seabed so we’re not so happy there has been no recognition of our enduring mana over the foreshore and seabed,” Mr Rei says.

It's likely hapu and iwi will end up in court or negotiating with the Crown to have their rights recognised.

ALARMS RINGING ON SCOPE OF CANTERBURY COUNCIL TAKEOVER

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira says principles introduced in a bill for managing Canterbury rivers will effectively replace the Resource Management Act, to the huge detriment of Maori and the nation as a whole.

The Environment Canterbury Bill was introduced yesterday, a day after the Government sacked Environment Canterbury regional council and replaced it with commissioners.

Mr Harawira says the bill was sneaked into parliament during the foreshore and seabed debate as a local measure, but in fact it gives unelected commissioners total administrative power, cutting out the Minister for the Environment and the Environment Court.

“You are taking out of the hands of government agency an asset that has critical value to the whole nation and putting it in the hands of officials who are appointed by a Government hell bent on commercialising assets,” he says.

Mr Harawira says the asset grab won't stop at water but will include other minerals and natural resources.

IT’S IN THE BAG REVIVAL GOOD FOR TOOGOOD

The Toogood whanau from Ngai Tahu will be closely following the revived It's in the Bag as it moves around the country over the next three months

Spokesperson Kit Toogood says the family was happy to pass over the rights when Maori Television wanted to resurrect the quiz show, with up to 40 percent Maori language content.

His father Selwyn Toogood launched the series in the 1950s and continued it on television into the 80s, tempting thousands of contestants with the money or the bag.

“My father was very proud of his Ngai Tahu whakapapa and we thought it was an interesting proposition to take the show back to the smaller centres which is really where it originated, particularly in the radio days,” Mr Toogood says.

His late father would have been thrilled to see how much reo the mainstream audience at the pilot filming understood and how they responded to presenters Pio Terei and Stacey Morrison.

Filming starts in Dargaville on April 7.

Party scrapping undermining welfare policy

Labour leader Phil Goff says conflict between National and the Maori Party is creating confusion in welfare policy.

Mr Goff says a claim by associate social development minister Tariana Turia that she was only informed at the last moment of benefit changes indicates a huge rift with the senior minister, Paula Bennett.

He says that doesn't bode well for the Maori Party's flagship health and welfare initiative, the whanau ora system for service delivery.

“The government and he Maori Party have left a huge amount of confusion, one Tariana saying it’s by Maori for Maori, John Key saying it’s for everybody. Well, it can’t be both. The real question is how the money is going to be spent, who it’s going to spent on, where that money comes from and whether there are proper accountability mechanisms. Now all of those are big questions. None of them have been answered,” Mr Goff says.

The Maori Party has announced that it will be casting four votes against the government's welfare crack down, but Mrs Turia will vote in favour in line with her ministerial responsibility.

WHANGAREI KEEN TO SELL LAND BEFORE CLAIMS PROCESS

Whangarei Maori are crying foul over Whangarei District Council's plan to sell former Northland Harbour Board land.

Businesses which occupy the land, most of which is under perpetual lease, have been asked if they want to freehold.

Mike Kake, the chair of neighbouring landowner Rewarewa D Incorporation, says the land was taken from Maori under the Whangarei Harbour Vesting Act, and it should be returned to the original owners if it's surplus.

He says the council is running scared of what might come up in the forthcoming Waitangi Tribunal investigation of Northland land claims.

“There's been no consultation with tangata whenua at all. They look like they’re cashing up and I believe a lot of this activity is to get in before the treaty settlements. Once the hearing is done the pressure could come on,” Mr Kake says.

He says councils in other parts of the country have been prepared to make former harbour board land available for treaty settlements, but not Whangarei.

NEW NETBALL CENTRE MAGNET FOR RANGATAHI

Rangatahi in west Auckland have a new sports centre.

Te Pai in Henderson has reopened after a four year, $7 million refit.
It includes indoor netball courts and facilities for other codes.

Eru Thompson from Te Kawerau a Maki, who blessed the new building, says it's an investment in the city's future leaders.

He says Waitakere is taking the lead in programmes and facilities for Auckland's young people, especially rangatahi Maori.

TAMIHERE LISTS OBSTACLES IN MAYORAL RACE

Waipareira Trust head John Tamihere says he's not the man to become the third candidate for the the Auckland super city mayoralty.

The former Tamaki Makaurau MP has denied reports he's seeking the number two spot on Auckland mayor John Banks' ticket.

He says Waipareira, rolling out whanau ora and his talkback radio gig are keeping him busy ... and there are also major hurdles in the way of anyone contemplating taking on Mr Banks and rival Len Brown.

“You've got two candidates who have national political organisations, one National and one Labour. That’s a formidable organisatIonal base to overcome. As a consequence they’ve got a lot of money behind them. That’s something you have to overcome,” Mr Tamihere says.

He'd like to see a well funded, high profile alternative candiate emerge, because the current contest is a big yawn for Auckland voters.

FORESHORE DISCUSSION DOC WILL TEST RELATIONSHIP

Former Alliance president Matt McCarten says today's release of the Foreshore and Seabed Act rewrite will be a real test for the National-Maori Party relationship.

Mr McCarten says tensions between the two partners over things like welfare policy, Maori representation on the Auckland super city seats and the introduction of standards testing in primary schools are natural.

But if the Government does not deliver real gains on the Maori Party' defining issue, its supporters will be asking questions.

“If they don't get anything, I think they’re in real trouble, the Nats and the Maori Party both. I think you may see the relationship, the warm personal relationships they have will come under because the Maori Party will legitimately have to say what’s our role here,” Mr McCarten says.

He says the Maori Party needs to show what is offered is better than it got under Labour.

HARAKEKE WORKER CHOSEN ARTIST IN WAITAKERE RESIDENCE

A Ngapuhi flax artist is to serve as Auckland Regional Council artist in residence in the Waitakere ranges.

Maureen Lander was taught korowai and other weaving skills by the late late Diggeress Te Kanawa, and went on to teach Maori material culture at Auckland University's Maori studies department.

She says Waitakere has long been a source of inspiration, as well as the place she gets raw materials for her weaving and installation work.

She’s excited by the number of younger weavers emerging who are going back to traditional sources for inspiration.

Foreshore changes to be rushed through

Labour leader Phil Goff says the government isn't giving enough time for debate on its alternative to the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

A discussion paper will go out tomorrow, and the Prime Minister, John Key, says there will be four weeks of consultation.

Mr Goff says is seems the government intends to push through its changes in the same way it is opening the conservation estate to mining.

“These are areas that were preserved, protected under law by bi-partisan agreement in the parliament over many many years. Suddenly the proposal is there, we’re going to mine and there’s six years there for the public to make submissions. Likewise with foreshore and seabed,” Mr Goff says.

He expects the government will try a sleight of hand, saying it is repealing the law but leaving the underlying customary rights regime in place.

TAINUI TAKES ON HAMILTON CITY OVER VARIATION 21

Waikato Tainui is in the High Court challenging a Hamilton City Council district plan change that blocks further development of Tainui's Base retail complex at Te Rapa.

Variation 21, which was rushed through in September under the old Resource Management Act, aims to restrict all office and box store development to a commercial service zone in the central business district.

Tainui Group Holdings chief executive Mike Pohio says the case is over the council's deliberate failure to consult.

“They did not believe that any consultation with Waikato Tainui prior to the issuing of variation 21 would have made any changes. That is a key issue if Waikato Tainui are to make a submission. If in issuing variation 21 there wasn’t going to be change, what’s the chance of any change through the submission making process,” Mr Pohio says.

If it is allowed to stand, Variation 21 will mean a major financial loss to Tainui and its 50,000 members.

The hearing finishes tomorrow.

NGATI REHIA KAUMATUA JUDAH HEIHEI DIES

Ngati Rehia and Ngapuhi are mourning Te Hurihanga Judah Hei Hei, who was buried today at his whanau wahitapu – Te Ahirau - at Te Tii in the Bay of Islands.

Mr Heihei, a diabetic, died in an ambulance on Friday on his way to Kawakawa Hospital. He was 69.

He was a leading member of Te Taumata Kaumatua o Ngapuhi and was also prominent in the Hokianga Accord, which tries to build consensus between customary, recreational and commercial fishers in the north.

Ngati Rehia kaumatua Kingi Taurua says his whanaunga was a true gentleman who always put his whanau and hapu first.

He was descended from Tareha from Ngati Rehia who refused to sign the Treaty of Waitangi.

TAMIHERE RULES OUT MAYORAL RUN

Former Tamakai Makaurau MP John Tamihere is ruling out a run for mayor or deputy mayor of the Auckland super city.

Television Three yesterday claimed Mr Tamihere's team had sounded out Auckland mayor John Banks about running as his number two.

But the Waipareira Trust chief executive and radio talkback host says he has made no such approach, and ruled out a return to politics at this stage.

“My life is going extraordinarily well without getting involved in it. My social conscience work at Waipareira and whanau ora is going extraordinarily well. The commercial side of my life is going extraordinarily well. Why would you want to ruin that for the likes of political pundits like Willie Jackson, Matt McCarten, Matthew Hooten and the rest of the shooting match,” Mr Tamihere says.

He says anyone wanting to enter the mayoral race would need a lot of money, a high public profile and an organisation to match the resources National and Labour will be putting into the campaigns of John Banks and Len Brown respectively.

TE OHU KAIMOANA SEEKING STRATEGY AND ROLE

Te Ohu Kaimoana wants to take the lead in finding a balance between customary, commercial and recreational fishing interests.

The fisheries settlement trust outlined its growth and seafood strategy to the fifth Maori Fisheries Conference in Napier today.

Chief executive Peter Douglas says people in the various sectors need better information so they can see the impact of their activities have on the overall fishery.

Peter Douglas says more cooperation is needed throughout the fisheries sector.

BOY HIT IN FIRST DAY AT BOX OFFICE

The producer of Taika Waititi's new film says its popularity is due to its ability to connect with all people.

Boy premiered in Auckland last week.

Producer Ainsley Gardiner says she's confident Boy will do well because of word of mouth and positive media coverage from the Sundance and Berlin Film Festival ... bar one review.

“The negative one said he had scrubbed it of all its cultural specificity. Basically they were saying where were the grass skirts, where were the karakia, where are the whales, where are the fistfights and the drinking so we didn’t put a lot of stock in that particular review,” Ms Gardiner says.

Boy earned more at the box office on its first day than Whale Rider, The World's Fastest Indian and Sione's Wedding.

Harawira pushing tupuna title ahead of policy

Taitokerau MP Hone Harawira is on the road gauging Maori opinion on replacing the Foreshore and Seabed Act, despite there being no clear alternative on the table.

A technical working group chosen by the Iwi Leaders Forum is working with a small group of Crown officials on a proposal for Attorney General Chris Finlayson to take to Cabinet.

Fellow Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell has backed the process, and said the party believes an effective solution can only come out of meaningful engagement between the Crown and iwi and hapu.

But Mr Harawira says he’s not waiting, and he’s looking for support for his idea of replacing Crown ownership with Maori or tupuna title.

“They’re not clearly Maori Party policies but unless you go out with a basic set of information, you’re out there floundering, so we’re not floundering, we’ve got some basic ideas – Maori title, no sale and access for all, see what our people think,” he says.

Last Friday’s hui at Dargaville was only the first of what he expects will be 40 nationwide.

JUDGE PRAISES QUALITY OF LAWYERS BUT NOTES GAPS

The new deputy chief judge of the Maori Land Court is praising the depth of Maori legal talent.

Between 10 to 20 Maori are admitted to the bar each year, and there are now a few hundred Maori lawyers.

Caren Fox says it's great to see Maori doing commercial, regulatory and environmental law, but there aren't enough lawyers in other fields with a high Maori need.

“The criminal courts and the family courts could do with a good smattering of Maori lawyers but they don’t tend to go into those fields and stay very long,” Judge Fox says.

DENTAL DECAY LEADING TO OTHER HEALTH PROBLEMS

The head of the Maori dental association, Pauline Koopu, wants Maori and mainstream health organisations to give priority to Maori oral health.

Te Ao Marama held its annual hui at Rotorua over the weekend.

Dr Koopu says many Maori never go near a dentist once they turn 18 and stop getting free treatment.

That creates other health problems.

“There are underlying diseases such as diabetes, cardio-vascular. Pre-term low birth-weight babies have also been linked to having poor oral health so there’s a huge link there between oral health and general health that isn’t well known,” Dr Koopu says.

Te Ao Marama is trying to make iwi realise the importance of oral health.

THREE STRIKES LAW WILL INCREASAE STREET VIOLENCE

South Auckland youth worker Haami Chapman says ACT’s three strikes bill being pushed through Parliament is likely to lead to more serious offending.

Mr Chapman, who was named local hero in this year’s New Zealander of the Year awards for his work with gangs, says by trying to look tough, the Government is ignoring effective community-driven responses to crime.

He says increased prison terms don’t act as a deterrent for rangatahi caught up in violence.

“If you know you ain’t got no other option for you, if you know you’re going away for a long time, what’s to prevent you from doing whatever you want to do. Let’s just make a good job of it. If you know you are going to be locked away the next 30 years, I may as well go the whole hog. See, it has that opposite effect,” Mr Chapman says.

What is working in south Auckland is whanau-based programmes, which are turning lives around.

SHAPLES DISAPPOINTED AT HEATLEY DEPARTURE

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples says former housing and fisheries minister Phil Heatley did a lot for Maori.

The Whangarei MP stood down on Friday over his use of a ministerial credit card.

Dr Sharples says Mr Heatley brought together Housing New Zealand and Kiwibank to allow people building on ancestral land to get loans.

He also pushed to get agreements between those managing customary fisheries, recreational fishers and quota holders, so it’s a disappointment to lose him from Cabinet.

“I don’t know whether there’s something behind it or not but I do know he’s a genuine guy and to be down the road for a couple of bottles of wine seems to me really silly when you look at what company executives do ore even employees with their privileges and so on,” Dr Sharples says.

WOMEN THE FACE OF MOKO REVIVAL

One of the country's top ta moko artists is crediting women with keeping the ancient art alive.

Mark Kopua from Tologa Bay has been demonstrating tattooing at the Face Value Exhibition of moko at Waikato Museum and Art Gallery.

He says in the same way wahine Maori led the way in language initiatives like kohanga reo or Aataarangi, they are also embracing the moko kauae, the chin moko and other designs that reflect their tribal identity.

“Our women are the strongest carriers of moko. Throughout the country the women outnumber the males and it’s very obvious to us the women are the strongest carriers of that type of kaupapa,” Mr Kopua says.

Choppy reaction to foreshore ownership compromise

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia is rejecting the Prime Minister's suggestion no one should own the foreshore.

John Key put up the option as a way around one of the most controversial aspects of Labour's Foreshore and Seabed Act, that it vested title in the Crown until proven otherwise.

Mrs Turia says that would satisfy neither the Maori Party nor iwi generally.

“That's about the Crown taking a property right away from our people and it’s not something they do to anyone else in this country and that’s why there was such an outrage in the original foreshore and seabed issue where Labour took the ownership of the foreshore and seabed away from our people and put it into Crown hands,” Mrs Turia says.

HOUSING SCHEME OUT OF REACH IN TRIBAL HEARTLAND

A northern iwi leader is sounding a note of caution over the new Kainga Whenua housing loan scheme.

Housing New Zealand will guarantee Kiwibank loans of up to 100 percent for Maori building homes on multiply-owned land.

Haami Piripi from Te Rarawa says the bar is set too high, and he can't see a stampede of Maori signing up.

“You have to have a household income of $85,000 a year. In my iwi, the average income for a Maori male is $14,800. To have an annual incomes of $85,000 you have to have two people working in a relatively well paid job,” Mr Piripi says.

SCIENCE SKILLS NEEDED TO DEVELOP MAORI ECONOMY

There's a call for more Maori scientists to develop the Maori economy.

A survey by the New Zealand Association of Scientists has found that Maori make up just 1.7 percent of the science workforce.

Association president James Renwick says while that is double the figure of 15 years ago, there is a matter of great concern that Maori are not attracted to work in the area.

“Science and technology are crucial to our economic future and it’s pretty well recognised Maori are entrepreneurial and capable so bringing science and technology to the fore can only be a good thing,” Dr Renwick says.

More study is needed into why more Maori are not entering the sciences.

GST HIKE NOT ENOUGH TO SINK CONFIDENCE AND SUPPLY AGREEMENT

The Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has ruled out splitting with the government over a 20 percent hike in GST.

Te Tai Tonga MP Rahui Katene says walking away is an option if the government doesn't compensate low income people for the increase.
Mrs Katene has produced a bill to exempt so called healthy food from the tax.

But Mrs Turia says it's not an issue that will break the support agreement.

“In signing up to confidence and supply on all matters that are related to tax or to finance we are bound to vote with the Government so it does but you into a Catch 22 situation of having to vote for some things you certainly do not agree with,” Mrs Turia says.

FORESHORE OWNERSHIP FORMULA POLITICAL DECEPTION

A lawyer involved in the Iwi Leaders' Forum's talks on the reform of the Foreshore and Seabed Act says it's political deception to say no one will own the beaches.

Prime Minister John Key says removing the assumption of Crown ownership is one of the options under consideration.

Moana Jackson from Ngati Kahungunu says by saying it will remain silent on ownership, the Crown is really saying its ownership will continue.

“There a bit of deception in the proposal and rather than looking at something that might be different than the previous legislation, it sounds like it will be more of the same with more sensitive-sounding language,” Mr Jackson says.

He says Maori have always said they would give the public access to the beaches.

ADAM BLAIR TOP INTERNATIONAL PLAYER AFTER MAGNIFICENT YEAR

Kiwi Rugby league coach Steven Kearny says Adam Blair fully deserves the NZRL International player of the year award he picked up last night.

It's been a tumultuous seven-year journey for the Melbourne Storm backrower since he was spotted as a 16-year-old Whangarei schoolboy by a Queensland club.

Mr Kearny says with 76 NRL games and 16 tests under his belt, the 23 year old, 108 kilo Kiwi vice captain is on top of his game in both domestic and international competition, and his performances last year were magnificent.

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.

Maori Party blamed for Environment fee hike

The Greens are blaming the Maori Party for letting through a 900 percent increase in Environment Court fees.

Co-leader Metiria Turei says the jump in the filing fee from $55 to $500 is a disaster for iwi, hapu and whanau who want to object to damage to their rohe.

The Greens, the coalition of Environment and Conservation Organisations ECO and Forest & Bird challenged the increase as illegal, but the Maori Party voted with the Government on the Regulations Review Committee allowing the rule change to go through.

“This is simply a policy of shutting us out and that’s why I think the Maori Party response to this has been such a shock because that is the only justification for increasing the filing fees is locking out Maori and locking out those who don't have heaps of money,” Ms Turei says.

Most Environment Court cases got to mediation rather than a full hearing, but if they are not parties Maori groups won't get to take part in that mediation.

GOFF SEEKING ASSURANCES BEFORE LABOUR COOPERATION

Phil Goff says Labour would need an assurance of good faith from prime minister John Key before the party could agree to work with the government on changes to the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

Mr Key yesterday said the government would announce the Act's replacement in the new year, and promised it's way of dealing with such customary rights claims would be is far more elegant and acceptable to New Zealanders

Mr Goff says Labour's previous attempts to work with National on the emissions trading scheme, superannuation and ACC all ended when the government refused to talk through the issues.

“We would want more guarantees of acting in good faith than we got last time when they broke their word, they broke their undertaking, they acted in bad faith so we’d want some reassurance around the fact they might be prepared in future not only to act in god faith but to continue doing so rather than playing political games,” he says.

Despite speculation beforehand, there were no major fireworks at Labour's caucus today in which Mr Goff's speech last week on the foreshore and seabed issue was discussed.

MUSIC INDUSTRY PIONEER ELDRED STEBBING DIES

A music historian says many Maori musicians owe a debt of gratitude to recording industry pioneer Eldred Stebbing.

Mr Stebbing died at the weekend at the age of 86, ending a recording career that started in the 1940s.

John Dix, the author of the classic New Zealand music history Stranded in Paradise, says the producer and label boss gave a break to artists like the Howard Morrison Quartet, Daphne Walker, and Bunny Walters.

Eldred Stebbing's Funeral is All Saints Church in Ponsonby on Friday.

NEW TESTS IRK TAI TOKERAU PRIMARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS

Primary school principals in Te Tai Tokerau will refuse to implement the new National Standards.

Around 80 tumuaki met at Kawakawa Primary last week to discuss Education Minister Anne Tolley's signature reform.

Moerewa principal Keri Milne-Ihimaera says similar testing regimes in other countries have done little or nothing to raise student achievement.

She says the standards are a step back from the new Ka Hikitea education strategy, which spoke of valuing Maori knowledge and raising Maori achievement.

“This year National Standards sends quite clearly the message that what’s really important in this country is measuring students against standards in literacy and numeracy that are in English only and that don’t value any of the educational experiences our Maori learners might bring to school with them and it does nothing to acknowledge or measure Maori knowledge,” Ms Milne-Ihimaera says.

Schools already provide parents with good information on how their tamariki are faring.

FEE RISE SQUEEZES MAORI OUT OF MEDIATION PROCESS

A leading resource management lawyer says a 900 percent increase in Environment Court filing fees will rule most Maori out of the planning process.

Parliament's regulations review committee turned down a complaint against the fee increase after the Maori Party sided with National on the issue.

Maori Law Review editor Tom Bennion, who made submissions to the committee, says in the past he would have advised people concerned with developments to lodge an appeal, but the new $500 fee will put off most applicants.

“If an iwi group files and says ‘We’ve got a section 6e issue linked to ancestral land being affected,’ any application for resource consent will say ‘Okay, let’s sit down and talk about it.’ So for $5 you have a mediation under way and you often get, most appeals are mediated to a settlement, about 70 percent. That simple option kind of gets taken off the table,” he says.

Maori will also be adversely affected by amendments allowing developers to demand security for costs, and by one which says an appeal can only consider issues raised in the original territorial local authority consent process.

GOFF SAYS MAORI PARTY DOESN’T REPRESENT MOST MAORI

Labour leader Phil Goff has stepped up his attacks on the Maori Party, saying it has failed to represent the Maori view on issues like climate change and Accident Compensation.

Mr Goff says the Maori Party's deal with National on the emissions trading scheme was shoddy and would benefit a small group of iwi corporates rather than Maori generally.

He says the Maori Party is polling at just over 2 percent, and it needs to stop pretending it speaks for all Maori.

“Their answer to criticism can’t be ‘If you’re criticizing us you’re criticizing Maoridom and that must be racist.’ That’s a nonsense. They’ve got to grow up and be mature enough to debate the issues on the merits and not hide behind the name of Maori Party which simply reflects one aspect of one group of one group of people and one political party that’s behaving very much like a political party,” Mr Goff says.

He says the media shouldn't buy into the idea the party represents the Maori point of view.

Greens fear for hapu rights in seashore deal

The Green Party is warning a national settlement over the foreshore and seabed could allow large iwi to override the interests of smaller iwi, hapu and whanua groups.

Co-leader Meteria Turei says the Maori Party is to be congratulated for getting the Government to seriously consider repealing the controversial law which led to its formation.

But as an alternative is developed over the next few months, she is not confident the Maori Party can protect small who can't afford to pursue their interests through the courts.

“I am a bit worried about the idea of a nationwide settlement because there’s talk about it being like a fisheries settlement. The fisheries settlement was a disaster for the very small iwi. It benefited the few but not the majority. We don’t want to see anything like that happen again because that’s taking the mana the rangatiratanga out of the hands of the hapu,” Ms Turei says.

She says smaller groups often turn up at select committee hearings to beg the politicians to protect their rights.

TIME WILL PREVENT FUTHER MISTAKES SAY TE HEUHEU

Meanwhile, associate Maori Affairs Minister Georgina te Heuheu says while good progress is being made on replacing the Foreshore and Seabed Act, National won't be rushing any legislation.

She says under the leadership of Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson a lot of work has been done with the Maori Party, the iwi leadership group, and other interested parties.

“I think everybody will be working hard to be sure there’s not even a hint of the repetition of what happened previously and finally when something is agreed upon it has the maximum buy in, not just from iwi Maori but from the public as well,” Mrs te Heuheu says.

She says a key issues is ensuring public access to beaches.

MAUNGA AND AWA BUILT INTO RUATORIA SCHOOL

A Maori-tinged designed Ngata Memorial College's new senior school has won the attention of fellow architects.

The project which involved merging two Ruatoria schools earned Gisborne firm Nicoll-Blackburne a regional architecture award, with judges commenting on its use of the building language of the marae.

Architect James Blackburne says he tried to reflect the Ngati Porou heartland, with the roof pushing up sharply in the centre out of low sloping sides, to reflect Mt Hikurangi behind.

“From the school looking at it, it represents the maunga in that way, but looking sideways, the corridor we put in there was trying to be representative of the river, the Waiapu, and the other concept too was like an educational waka so the kids were using that, it’s their last point, and from there they’re heading out into the community,” he says.

Nicoll-Blackburne won another prize for its design for the new Gisborne Maori Land Court offices and courtroom.

UNITED MAORI PHO COMES UP TRUMPS IN HEALTH OVERHAUL

A consortium of Maori providers has been selected as one of nine super-PHOs to implement the Government's primary health care reforms.

National Maori PHO chief executive Simon Royal says the next stage will be preparing a business case for meeting the government's policy of better, sooner, more convenient healthcare.

The government wants the PHOs to develop Integrated Family Health Centres, greater use of nurse practitioners, the development of more multi-disciplinary teams and greater cooperation with hospitals.

Mr Royal says the Maori sector will develop the whanau ora kaupapa of integrating health and other social services.

“I guess their expectation for us is certainly around commissioning for improved health and social outcomes, developing whanau ora centres and developing a whanau ora business model that works inside the industry along with all the other industry players,” Mr Royal says.

Maori providers hope the changes will reduce bureaucracy and increase their effectiveness.

WHANAU FASTING WAY TO FIGHT FAT AND GAIN FITNESS

Organisers of a weight loss competition in South Auckland believe they've hit on the ideal way to help Maori slim down.

Tahuna Minhinnick from iwi consortium Mana Whenua ki Tamaki Makaurau says they've adapted the 12 week weight loss challenge concept to involve the whole whanau, rather than having individuals competing against each.

He says more than 500 Maori in 41 whanau teams are trying to see how much weight they can collectively shed.

“Maori like kappa haka, they like touch, they like netball, they like team things and the whole idea of losing weight as a team will probably appeal to a lot of the people in this challenge,” Mr Minhinnick says.

The average weight in most teams is over 100 kilograms, with the heaviest teams averaging 130 kilos.

HIGH STANDARD AT PRIMARY SCHOOLS’ KAPA HAKA

While the winner's names may be familiar, organisers of the national primary school kapa kaka finals say there were consistently high performances from all competitors.

Huntly's Rakaumangamanga took out top honours at the event which ended in Gisborne today.

Locals Manutuke came second and West Auckland's Hoani Waititi was third.

Maui Tangohau, the chair of the organising committee, says the future of kapa haka is in good hands, and based on the performances of the tamariki there should be some exciting kapa haka coming through over the next five to 10 years.

He says the Rakaumangamanga performance was precise, flowing and very clear.