Nanny Pita takes smoking credit

Those Maori who’ve managed to give up smoking since last week’s tax hike may want to give thanks to the nanny state.

The term was widely used by National before the last election to attack Labour government policies.

But Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples says the Maori Party isn’t afraid to intervene to improve people’s lives, and smoking is an area that affects a disproportionate number of Maori.

“There is always that nanny state sort of idea behind something when you push it but I want people to know the Maori Party has always been very strong about that. We haven’t all been smokers in the past. I know I have. I’m not sure about the others. So we’ve taken that stand now, this is our fourth, fifth year, we’re carrying on with that stand,” he says.

Dr Sharples accepts there is a risk some addicts may spend money on tobacco rather than making sure their children are fed properly.

KAUMATUA DRAWN INTO HEALTH AND WELFARE SERVICE

A new marae-based health service in south Auckland aims to use the marae’s kaumatua and kuia to help families in difficulty.

Manurewa Marae last week opened its new whare oranga or clinic in a joint venture with Counties Manukau Health.

Marae deputy chair Alec Tairua says it’s part of a wider service, Te Rau Korowai, which will use the practical experience of older residents.

“We have kuia, kaumatua that can go to homes and help these whanau that are struggling not only in health but finance wise, abuse, all those sort of things,” Mr Tairua says.

WEALTH OF GAMES STILL TO BE FOUND

A teacher who is reviving old Maori games says there is a wealth of pastimes to be rediscovered.

Harko Brown says space restrictions meant his first book, Nga Taonga Taakaro, contained only 20 activities, including the ball game ki a rahi.

He’s working on a comprehensive follow-up, drawing on 30 years of interviews with his own relatives and with kaumatua from around the country.

“A lot more information can be put in, whakapapa related to the game. I think a lot of people looking for the sources, and building that themselves by being able to whakapapa to the areas that release the knowledge and information,” Mr Brown says.

His interest in old games was sparked as a child talking to his six uncles who had served in the Maori Battalion.

MAORI A HURDLE TO OPENING MINING FLOODGATES

Greens’ leader Meteria Turei says the government’s decision to extend submissions on mining conservation land is a victory for Maori.

Ms Turei says the obligation to consult with Maori on aspects of resource management has been written into law … and it looks like the government initially overlooked that obligation.

She says that’s why it’s important iwi and individual Maori make their views known by the end of May.

“They know that they haven’t talked with Maori enough. Government hasn’t properly consulted with any iwi about what their real plans are and that has shut Maori out of the decision-making process of being aware of what the Government’s genuine plan is, so that process is going on now because the Government realises they have made a really big mistake,” Ms Turei says.

She was heartened to see so many Maori including representatives of Coromandel iwi taking part in Saturday’s anti-mining march down Auckland’s Queen St.

TOBACCO INDUSTRY CURSED FOR CUSTOMER DISDAIN

A leading tohunga has taken the anti-smoking campaign to a new level by putting a curse on tobacco manufacturers.

Amster Reedy from Ngati Porou has served as a cultural advisor to many groups, including the New Zealand team to the Beijing Olympics.

He unleashed the makutu in response to industry submissions to the Maori Affairs select committee inquiry into tobacco.

Mr Reedy says industry representatives seemed to be saying they reserve the right to sell their drug to the poor, black and the stupid.

“To me that was a slight to Maori. There’s nothing worse than not seeing how we could reply and the traditional Maori response would be the one I adopted which was to look up an old chant and send it on its way,” Mr Reedy says.

He says the makutu is a potent tool for change from traditional Maori culture which should not be ignored.

HARP WITH KOAUA IN MEMORY OF ARAWA HISTORIAN

A taonga puoro player is keen to take a composition written for the late historian Don Stafford out on the international festival circuit.

Horomono Horo played Legends of Rotorua by English composer Paul Lewis at two concerts with the Rotorua Chamber Ensemble at the city's Museum of Art and History.

It draws on the story collected by Mr Stafford of Te Arawa ancestor Ihenga and the patupaiarehe fairy people of Ngongotaha.

Mr Horo says it was a great to play traditional Maori instruments alongside the ensemble's harp, violin and cello.

“It's been a wonderful journey collaborating taonga puoro with the different genres, not only from New Zealand or from the different point of view but also from the western world and contemporary music’s,” Mr Horo says.

He will also perform at the New Zealand Pavilion during the Shanghai World Expo.

Declaration creep good news to Maori Party

Maori party president Whatarangi Winiata is welcoming the prediction by a former Waitangi Tribunal chairperson that the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will find their way in time into New Zealand law.

Sir Taihakurei Durie made the comment in a private letter of congratulation to Maori Party MPs, which was read in Parliament by Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira.

The retired judge declined to comment further.

Professor Winiata says Sir Taihakurei is reminding people what happened with the status of the Treaty of Waitangi.

“It has no standing in the law except for those parts of the law where reference has been made to it and there are few. Nonetheless it has great standing among the people of this country and he’s saying we can expect the declaration will in due course find it is on the same track,” Professor Winiata says.

This week's affirmation of the declaration has greatly improved relations between the Maori and National Parties.

OTARA KURA WINS LANDSCAPING PRIZE FOR JASMAX

The design for the grounds of an Otara Maori immersion school has won Mike Thomas from Jasmax two awards in this year's New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects pride of place landscape awards.

Judges praised the strongly Maori design character that enhances the Te Whanau o Tupuranga's sense of community and place.

Mr Thomas says he consulted with local iwi on stories which were incorporated into paving patterns.

The design needed to tie together the vaious old and new buildings in the school complex, as well as include space for food gardens.

POST CAREER PROSPECTS FOR RUGBY PLAYERS STUDIED

A former Samoan rugby representative wants to know what support Maori and Polynesian players need when they finish their professional rugby careers.

Tuapuai Fa'amalua Tipi now lectures in critical studies at Auckland University's faculty of education.

He's interviewing 70 recently-retired players for a report which could have implications for the way clubs and national squads manage their players in future.

Tapuai Fa'amalua Tipi says many Maori and Polynesian players spend their career earnings on benefits for their wider families and neglect their own future fortunes.

FOX SHY ON THIRD CRACK AT IKAROA RAWHITI

Two time Ikaroa Rawhiti candidate Derek Fox says there is little chance he will put his name forward again to stand for Parliament.

The broadcaster and Mana magazine editor and former Wairoa mayor lost to Parekura Horomia by 695 votes when he stood as an independent in 1999, and by 1645 votes as a Maori Party candidate last election.

He says the problem is funding rather than lack of political fire.

“It's a very costly thing to do as an individual very demanding of your time, and I think I still own my bank money from the first time I ran in 1999 so I am unlikely to run again. I just can’t afford it,” Mr Fox says.

DOCTORS KEEN TO SEE SMOKE PRICE JUMP

The country's doctors want an additional tax on tobacco to encourage people to stop smoking.

The president of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, Harry Pert, has told the Maori Affairs Select Committee inquiry into the tobacco industry that such a tax would hit hardest on low income earners, and in particular Maori and Pacific smokers.

But he says any short term pain would be worth the long term gain.

“Price is a very effective way of reducing tobacco consumption. There is a lot of evidence for this so it isn’t just us flying a kite here. There is evidence that particularly for vulnerable communities, if the price is increased, people will spend much more time considering stopping and getting involved in smoking cessation,” Dr Pert says.

He says money raised from the tax could go towards extra smoking cessation programmes targeting low income earners and Maori and Pacific islanders.

STUDENT DRAWS LESSONS FROM HOME BEACH

St Josephs Maori girls college student Sarah Te Aho says young people could be doing more to look after their environment.

The young conservationist attended last week's Sir Peter Blake Youth Environment Forum in Wellington, where she highlighted the problems caused by litter at the beach near her home at Waimarama in the Hawkes Bay.

She says her school environment group encourages other students to not leave their mess for others.

She's keen to pursue a career in environment management.

Language agency streamlining on agenda

Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples is sympathetic to calls to streamline efforts to strengthen te reo Maori.

Maori language commissioner Erima Henare has recommended merging Te Taura Whiri with the Maori broadcast funding agency. Te Mangai Paho, with any savings used for community-level projects.

Dr Sharples says resources were being wasted through duplication of language promotion.

“So we need to co-ordinate the effort whether it’s Taura Whiri, whether it’s kura kaupapa, whether it’s mainstream, we need to coordinate that so we get a good effort, because we’re not out of the woods yet in saving Maori language,” Dr Sharples says.

Improvements could come from organisations working together rather than by full mergers.

PEER BEHAVIOUR MAKES QUITTING TOUGH

The head of anti-smoking group QUIT says Maori face particular difficulties in over-coming the addiction.

Paula Snowdon from Te Rarawa says the first step is getting nicotine out of the system, with people who use nicotine patches twice as successful at giving up.
They then need to develop new strategies to deal with smoking behaviour.

“The thing with smoking is the challenge to quit. The only difference between Maori and non-Maori is more Maori smoke so when you try to quit you are in an environment when re more of your family and friends and work colleagues are smoking around you, it makes it so much harder to stay quit,” Ms Snowden says.

Smokers have to want to quit before cessation efforts will be successful.

MAORI COSMOLOGY INCLUDED IN OBSERVATORY REFIT

Wellington's Carter Observatory plans to use state of the art digital technology to tell the Maori creation story alongside the Big Bang theory.

The observatory in Kelburn re-opening at the end of the month after a two year, $2 million refit.

Spokesperson Dawn Muir says the Wellington 10ths Trust was involved throughout the project.

“We are looking at Maori navigation and cosmology as it relates to our southern skies so it’s a very important story and we are encouraging the use of Carter Observatory for Maori in our community for things like navigation training,” Ms Muir says

Visitors will able to use the observatory to track the stars in the way Maori did when they came to Aotearoa.

MINISTER WANTS MAORI TEAM IN RUGBY WORLD CUP

Maori affairs minister Pita Sharples is standing by his view a Maori team should take part in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Rugby Union officials were upset when Dr Sharples made the suggestion yesterday while hosting a lunch at parliament to celebrate 100 years of Maori rugby.

He says Maori are a nation within the New Zealand nation, in the same way Scotland, Wales and England all come within the nation of Great Britain, which tours as the Lions.

“Most of the Maori in that room definitely agreed that it’s time that we did lash out a bit and have more games and possibly in the World Cup as well,” Dr Sharples says.

He says the NZRFU is treating the Maori team as second rate citizens who are less important than Super 14, NPC or even under 19 teams.

TE ATIAWA WANTS WAIWHETU STREAM CLEANED UP

Hutt Valley Maori are incensed the Greater Wellington Regional Council won't stop overflows of untreated sewage into the Waiwhetu Stream.

Te Rira Puketapu from Te Atiawa says decades of factory waste have already made Waiwhetu one of the most polluted waterways in the country.

He says the new 15 year consent granted to Lower Hutt City Council will mean on average six overflows a year in heavy rain.

He says the alternative requires the council to replace decaying clay pipes put in when the goverment built about 8000 State houses in the valley during the 1930's and 40's.

“As kaitiaki we have a heavy responsibility and if nobody else is going to worry about it, someone has to speak it, not just for Maori but for everyone. This is the 21st century and we’ve got to catch up,” Mr Puketapu says.

As an alternative the overflows could be discharged into the Hutt River during storms where they would be absorbed by the greater river flow.

MARAE REMEMBERS HARBOUR HEROISM

A feat of bravery 66 years ago will be aknowledged tomorrow at a marae on the shores of the Kaipara harbour.

In 1944, Wana Ruarangi Paikea rescued eight children when a punt capsized off Otamatea marae.

His 7 year old sister drowned in the accident, and her body was never found.

Broadcaster Jim Perry says survivors of the punt are now dead, but Mr Paikea is still alive at 84, and the marae believes it's time his feat is more widely recognised.

A kohatu , or memorial stone will be unveiled at the marae tomorrow aknowledging the lives saved and lost in 1944.

Imprisonment rate internationally indefensible

As the Government looks at measures to lock up more people for longer sentences, the Race Relations Commissioner is warning the current imprisonment rate for Maori is putting New Zealand in a bad light internationally.

In his annual report released today, Joris de Bres highlights 50 percent of prison inmates are Maori.

He says it's a long term pattern which was raised at last year's United Nations periodical review and by the Committee on the Elimination of racial Discrimination, and it's likely to feature again this month in another UN review of New Zealand's civil and political rights.

“What this report is recommending that we do have long term targets and set specific targets to reduce that rate of imprisonment. It’s absolutely unsustainable. It’s internationally indefensible and we really do have to come to grips with it. We cannot sustain this,” Mr de Bres says.

The economic recession has increased the disparities between Maori and pacific workers and others, with 30 percent of young Maori now unemployed.

UNIVERSITY DOORS SHUT TO MAORI UNDER CHANGES

Greens co-leader Meteria Turei says Government changes to tertiary education will shut the university doors to Maori.

Ms Turei, who gained a law degree as an adult student, says the school system has failed many Maori and university is a way they can recover.

She says the changes will reduce the places for second chance students.

“So those of us like myself who failed at school will not be able to go to university unless we pass other courses first and try to get some sort of university entrance when we are adult students, and I think that is going to shut out hundreds if not thousands of Maori from university,” Ms Turei says.

She says the Government seems to want to keep the poor and Maori in their place at the bottom.

WAAHI TAAPU FIGHT IN KING COUNTRY ESCALATING

Marakopa Maori who were forced to stand by and watch power company contractors blow up a two-storey sacred stone are vowing to fight for other waahi tapu.

Clearwater Hydro, a subsidiary of Te Kuiti-based The Lines Company, removed Te Rongomai o Te Karaka at Te Anga to clear the way for a small hydro scheme.

Marae spokesperson Natasha Willison-Reardon says it's not the first sacred site destroyed by the developers.

“Blowing up one of our puna, our springs out there which is called Kimiora which was used to bless people. It comes from a waterfall called Tangiwai. They’re diverting those. There’s a whole lot of things we need to be working on now,” Mrs Willison-Reardon says.

The marae committee was contacted by the office of Maori Affairs minister Pita Sharples yesterday, and it hopes the government will step in to stop further desecration.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT CAUSE FOR RACE TENSION CONCERN

The Race Relations Commissioner says this year's local government elections will be a big test of how far the nation has come in finding a place for Maori.

In his annual report released today, Joris de Bres identifies political representation at local level, and in particular in the Auckland super city, as priority areas for action.

He says that applies especially to the Auckland super city, where there are still questions over how much of a voice Maori as well as Pacific and ethnic communities will have, and whether the new council will continue the relationships its predecessors have built up with iwi.

“These two issues of voice and of community programmes are vital ingredients in terms of the new super city and they have yet to be addressed adequately,” Mr de Bres says.

Other priorities include doing something to tackle the disproportionate number of Maori in jail, and the high rates of unemployment among Maori youth.

The report is being launched this morning in Henderson by Mr de Bres and Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey.

TAITOKERAU MARAE GRADUALLY GOING AUAHI KORE

A Northland anti-smoking campaigner says marae need to be the health centre for Maori people - and that's why they need to be smoke free.

Witi Ashby from the Patu Puauahi group says 19 marae in Tai Tokerau are now Auahi Kore, and the number is slowly rising as marae trustees are encouraged to enforce policies of smoke free environments.

But he says it means overcoming long standing practices and habits, especially from smokers who may be the engine room that drives a marae.

Mr Ashby will make a submission in Auckland today to the Maori Affairs select committee inquiry into the tobacco industry, about how the early deaths of smokers has affected the cultural life of Tai Tokerau tribes.

YOUTH COURT REALISATION OF DREAM FOR FORMER JUDGE

Yesterday's launch of youth court sittings on West Auckland's Hoani Waititi Marae was the realisation of a dream for a champion of marae-based courts.

Former youth court chief judge Mick Brown says when he promoted the idea 20 years ago, it was labeled separatist.

He says it's a sign of times have changed.

“Socially I think we are on the move. I’m pleased at some of the big claims being settled. There’s a new attitude out there and that please me greatly,” Judge Brown says.

Marae-based youth courts are a logical extension to the family group conferences he pioneered as a way to make offenders aware of how the effect their crime had on victims.