Sharples’ electorate rejects GST rise

Pita Sharples's Tamaki Makaurau electorate committee has come out against a rise in GST.

Chairperson Eru Thompson says nine of the electorate's 10 branches were represented at the monthly hui.

He says the committee appreciates the party's confidence and supply agreement would require MPs to vote in favour if National goes ahead with its plan to up the tax to 15 percent, but sentiment was strong.

“We wouldn't be entertaining that idea, so a resolution was moved by the Auckland electorate to have dialogue with the rest of the electorates in the country,” Mr Thompson says.

The branches also supported Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira's proposal that the takutai moana issue be resolved by putting all foreshore and seabed under Maori title with full public access.

PRISON CONDITIONS SHOW NEED FOR REVIEW OF SYSTEM

Former governor general Sir Paul Reeves says Maori need to be concerned not just by moves to increase imprisonment rates but by current prison conditions.

Sir Paul visited New Plymouth prison at the weekend with the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu.

They were shocked to find young prisoners in their cells for 22 hours each day, and remand prisoners who had been locked up for more than a year.

He says iwi leaders must get involved in the debate around measures ACT's three strikes bill, which is likely to mean even more Maori in jail for longer.

“It’s a matter of public debate and I think we should get there and be part of that debate and to say well, the way to treat people who have infringed is not necessarily by locking them up and throwing the key away. There are other ways of dealing with these people to try and produce some form of rehabilitation,” Sir Paul says.

GROW YOUR OWN SUBSTITUTE FOR TOTAL TOBACCO BAN

A Far North Maori health group is proposing people be allowed to grow tobacco for their own use, if there are to be restrictions on commercial sales of cigarettes.

Errol Murray from Whakawhiti Ora Pai Community Health Services told the Maori Affairs select committee inquiry into the tobacco industry that smoking has reduced the life expectations of generations of Te Aupouri and Ngati Kuri.

He says the ultimate aim is to stop the tobacco companies importing and selling tobacco, but there will still be people who are addicted to the drug.

“We also understand that people are still going to want to smoke so you will probably drive it underground so one of the proposals was they allow them to grow their own, only a certain amount and for personal use only,” Mr Murray says.

Hiss submission included details of industry marketing practices given by a former tobacco salesman, practices which the previous submission from British American Tobacco had denied.

ATTACK ON WAAHI TAPU DESPICABLE ABUSE OF POWER

Te Tai Hauauru MP Tariana Turia says blowing up of a two storey rock to make way for a power project was cultural vandalism.

On Monday Clearwater Hydro dynamited Te Rongomai o Te Karaka at Te Anga on the west coast of the King Country after police removed whanau from Marakopa Marae who were protesting the action.

Mrs Turia says the Lines Company subsidiary was aware of the significance of the natural feature to the hapu, and the behaviour of the company and its contractors was despicable.

“To sit there and cheer and celebrate and drink in that sacred spot, I just thought it was outrageous. It was really a display of power, of those who control asserting it and showing those whanau from there that they accounted for nothing,” Mrs Turia says.

Her personal appeal to Cleawater Hydro to hold off was simply ignored.

SCIENCE SUBJECTS NEEDED FOR START IN HEALTH CAREER

A national programme to bolster the ranks of Maori in the health sector was launched today at Auckland Airport's Te Manukanuka O Hoturoa marae.

Project manger Tuhakia Kepa says Kia Ora Hauroa aims to recruit another thousand Maori workers into the health and disabilty sector over the next 2 years.

The programme is overseen by Counties Manukau District Health Board, with the Waitemata, Lakes, Capital and Coast and Canterbury DHBs managing regional hubs.

Mr Kepa says a Kia Ora Hauroa website will give students information about the types of courses they need to work in health.

“So try and encourage Maori kids at secondary school to maintain some level of science qualification be it biology, physics or chemistry. With those subjects in their kete when they get to the end of secondary school, they will have an opportunity to look at probably 85 different health roles and health study pathways them might be interested in,” Mr Kepa says.

FORMER MILITARY CHURCH BECOMES CATHEDRAL 150 YEARS LATE

Former governor general and Anglican Archbishop Sir Paul Reeves says last weekend's dedication of a cathedral in New Plymouth is making people think about how a society heals a divided past.

St Mary's is the first new Anglican cathedral worldwide for more than 80 years.

It was built as a cathedral 150 years ago, but it was not consecrated because of the outbreak of the first Taranaki War, and instead became a church for the British garrison.

“It has the hatchments, the boards with the emblems of the British regiments and they’re hanging on the wall, and I’m sure there are relatives of mine who would say wasn’t St Mary’s the place where they stored the ammunition that subsequently was used to fire on our relatives. That may or may not have been the case but that’s the perception, so there’s a lot of work to be done and we’ve talked a lot about that,” Sir Reeves says.

Maori perspective needed for private prisons

A former Corrections Service manager says it should be compulsory for privately-run prisons to involve Maori in their operation.

Runanga o Te Rarawa chair Haami Piripi says it's a disgrace a bill reported back to parliament this week simply requires contractors to consult with Maori where they consider it appropriate.

Mr Piripi, who oversaw the Maori involvement in Auckland Central Remand Prison when it was under private management in the late 1990s, says the government is missing an opportunity to make a real impact on Maori reoffending.

“We’ve got systems here in place, we’ve got people in place, whanau in place, marae in place, and still the Department of Corrections insists on incarcerating these people in a barbed wire fence stuck in the middle of nowhere and making visits from their families very very difficult. It is a failed system and it needs to be renewed and reviewed,” Mr Piripi says,

He says nobody wants to reduce Maori offending more than Maori.

DIABETES WAITING TO STRIKE 20 PERCENT

It's diabetes awareness week, and a long-time sufferer is warning fellow Maori the good life could catch up with them.

Sonny Samuels of Tainui lost his ability to walk 15 years ago.

He says like many Maori and Pacific Islanders he ate and drank too much until he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

Now he's a prisoner of the disease, watching everything he eats and hooking up to a dialysis machine for hours at a time.

Sonny Samuels says there is a wealth of information now available on diabetes, and Maori who are over-weight or feeling unwell should get tested to see if they are among the one in five Maori with diabetes or a pre-diabetic condition.

MANY STRANDS TO GENIUS OF TAWHAO TIOKE

Tuhoe kaumatua Tawhao Tioke is being remembered as man of religion, a healer, a gifted musician and a man steeped in his tribe's language and culture.

Mr Tioke died on Tuesday in North Shore Hospital at the age of 89.

Relative Hemana Waaka says he was widely known for his encylopaedic knowledge of the ngahere or forest and of rongoa or traditional healing plants.

Before giving up farming and moving to Auckland, the Presbyterian minister was also an accomplished dance band musician.

Tawhao Tioke is lying in state at Papakura Marae until Friday.

LAST LINK WITH PIONEER BATTALION LOST

Also this week, Te Aupouri has laid to rest Jeanie Subritzky, the last link with the Maori contribution to World War One.

Mrs Subritzky's late husband Corporal Robert Subritzky enlisted in the Pioneer Batallion 1915, and fought at the Somme and Messines where he was seriously wounded.

Mrs Subritzky worked as a teacher in the north, and was known for the depth of her knowledge about her husband's companions in arms and about his Maori and Polish heritage.

CHASM SEEN IN MAORI PARTY HANDLING OF HARAWIRA

The first representative of a Maori party to hold a general seat in Parliament says forcing Hone Harawira to be come an independent would create an irreparable chasm in the Maori Party.

Sandra Lee, a former Mana Motuhake leader and Alliance deputy leader, says Maori Party leaders need to try harder to work through the problems they have with the Taitokerau MP.

She says a forced or voluntary expulsion would be a betrayal of the Maori who voted for Mr Harawira.

“They also voted for him the person as a candidate for the Maori Party. It would be a sad day if people in the north who have put their stake in the ground in support of having a Maori party in Parliament were disenfranchised,” Ms Lee says.

She says Hone Harawira's transgressions are relatively minor compared with what other politicians have done in the past.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN CLENDON WHAKAPAPA

Parliament's newest Maori MP has revealed a Pakeha whakapapa that reaches back to before the Treaty of Waitangi.

In his maiden speech this week, the Greens' Dave Clendon talked of his tupuna James Clendon, who was a witness on both the 1835 He Whakaputanga or Declaration of Independence and the 1840 treaty.

After the death of his first wife, James Clendon married Jane Kerenene, the daughter of Takotowi te Whata of Mangamuka.

Mr Clendon says that history gives him a unique perspective on the oath of allegiance to the Crown.

“We do recognise the monarchy here as having a legitimate right as sovereign so I had no discomfort with that but in my maiden speech I opened by also reaffirming my commitment to te tiriti as our founding document, our constitutional base,” he says.

Mr Clendon was a lecturer in resource management and small business advisor before being called into Parliament to replace Sue Bradford.

CNI IWI HONOURED FOR STRATEGIC EFFORT

The eight central North island iwi have been acknowledged for their strategic planning in the wake of their giant forestry settlement.

Tuwharetoa chair Tumu te Heuheu received the tohu on behalf of the iwi at the Auckland University Business School's Maori Business Awards last night.

Manuka Henare, the school's associate dean for Maori and Pacific development says past winners of the award have included hapu groups and land trusts.

He says the multi-iwi group stood out because it achieved unity after 20 years of division.

“Finally they reached a point where they could all sign off on one settlement but secondly, now how do we commercialise our assets and they were able to in very quick time reach in broad strategic terms what they want to do over the next 50 years in forestry, energy and carbon emissions,” Dr Henare says.

Opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was named Maori business leader of the year, and there were also awards for past students who have succeeded in business or management.