Family tells of smoking death pain

Posted by karere under Maori News

The parliamentary committee probing the tobacco industry got personal in Auckland yesterday with the family of a Maori smoking victim describing the impact of his addiction and death. The Te Kiri whanau of Hamilton wept as they told MPs of the pain tobacco smoking inflicted on their father before killing him in mid-life. They are among many families and organisations to tell the tobacco inquiry of how the smoking rate of more than 40 per cent among Maori and the associated premature deaths have deprived them of their elders.

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Joyce moves to soothe Maori Party

Posted by karere under Maori News

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce has headed off a row with the Maori Party over planned changes to higher education. Party co-leader Pita Sharples had said he feared wananga courses would be axed. Mr Joyce had to smooth ruffled feathers in National’s support partner yesterday after Dr Sharples, who is associate education minister, said he had not been consulted. Dr Sharples said he had grave fears the plans, which include cutting the number of qualifications and reducing funding to courses with high failure and non-completion rates, would be unfair to wananga and hit Maori hardest.

[full article]

Maori to help draw up Wellington regional plan

Posted by karere under Maori News

Greater Wellington regional council has co-opted the services of seven Maori representatives to help decide a new 10-year regional plan. The powerful committee, co-chaired by regional council chairwoman Fran Wilde and Raukawa iwi chairman Te Waari Carkeek, met for the first time publicly at the council offices in Wellington yesterday. Seven regional councillors are also represented on the committee. Under the Resource Management Act, councils are not allowed to give decision-making powers away to non-elected representatives.

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Marae youth courts reshape attitudes, Govt says

Posted by karere under Maori News

Seventy-five youths, mostly Maori, have had their Youth Court hearings in a marae and there is anecdotal evidence that it is helping to reshape attitudes, the Justice Ministry says. Prime Minister John Key opened the Hoani Waititi Rangatahi Court yesterday in Waitakere, with Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples and Courts Minister Georgina te Heuheu.

[full article]

Farmers say fight for compo ‘like Maori struggle’

Posted by karere under Maori News

The farmers’ fight for compensation over power pylons on their land has been likened to Maori land claims by a group blocking Transpower from their properties. But Maori commentators say the farmers’ struggle pales in comparison to that faced by Maori.

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Roa new casualty of Tainui unrest

Posted by karere under Maori News

One of Tainui’s top men has resigned as tension within the tribe and the kingitanga continues to grow. Tom Roa, who was the chairman of the tribe’s parliament, Te Kauhanganui, tendered his resignation citing personal reasons at a meeting this week. When contacted by the Waikato Times Mr Roa said he did not want to comment until he had talked to tribal members first. Mr Roa’s decision to stand down followed a tumultuous Te Kauhanganui meeting last month at which the Maori king, Tuheitia Paki, stood and spoke about his frustration and anger regarding the behaviour of some of the tribe. It was during this speech that tribal sources allege King Tuheitia said he might “withdraw as paramount chief of the tribe and King of the tribe” if members did not fall back into line. The claim about the threat was disputed by a spokesperson for the king, who said King Tuheitia would never threaten to abdicate.

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Maori Party wants trapping over poison

Posted by karere under Maori News

 
The Maori Party is calling for a moratorium on use of 1080 for poisoning possums. The Prime Minister says there is no other way to rid some areas of the Australian native. But the party’s conservation spokesman Te Ururoa Flavell disagrees. He says more research needs to be done on the effect of 1080 on waterways. Mr Flavell says the government should run a large scale trapping programme using the unemployed.

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Select committee tobacco inquiry starts

Posted by karere under Maori News

The Maori Affairs Select Committee kicked off its inquiry into the tobacco industry with a hearing in Rotorua today. The inquiry is chaired by Nation’s Tau Henare, but it came about through pressure from Maori Party MP Hone Harawira. The Tai Tokerau MP says he has mixed emotions about the inquiry into an industry that leads to the death of more than 600 Maori a year. “I’d rather have all of our people alive rather than have to go through this exercise but the tobacco giants don’t care that our people die from their products. They just want money. Someone’s got to do it and I’m glad it’s us, the Maori Affairs Select Committee. I’m looking forward to it,” Mr Harawira says. He sees the inquiry as a step towards banning the sale of tobacco in New Zealand.

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Marae under attack from smoking, inquiry told

Posted by karere under Maori News

Maori told the parliamentary tobacco inquiry today that their marae were being undermined by tobacco smoking and the associated early death of their elders. “Our marae are under attack,” said Kiri Potaka-Dewes, the chairwoman of Te Roopu Hauora o Te Arawa – the Te Arawa health board. “Many marae are bereft of kaumatua that should be there leading by good role models for our young. But they die prematurely from heart problems, diabetes, all sorts. It can all be related back to the impact of tobacco. “Tobacco smoking has invaded the life of the marae.” Mrs Potaka-Dewes was addressing the Maori affairs select committee, which is investigating the historical actions of the tobacco industry to promote tobacco use among Maori, the effects of smoking on Maori individuals and society, and what new tobacco control measures could be considered.

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Maori Battalion survivors meet for last big hui

Posted by karere under Maori News

The remaining members of the World War II Maori Battalion were in Auckland at the weekend for what was expected to be the last big reunion of its kind.

About 50 men aged between 84 and 101 who fought in the 28th Maori Battalion were welcomed on to Orakei Marae on Friday for the 30th reunion.

But the gathering was tipped to be the last big hui of its kind to honour the men. Organisers are planning to introduce a more intimate yearly meeting.

The president of the Maori Battalion Auckland Association, Brian How, said that although it was not yet confirmed, this year’s reunion was expected to be the last of its kind.

Organisers thought it best if the men were brought together…

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‘Sorry we offended,’ rock art tourist says

Posted by karere under Maori News

The German tourist who took pictures of her friend breaking into a sacred Maori rock art site in South Canterbury has apologised after being bombarded with criticism from angry Kiwis in comments posted on her travel website. The Ngai Tahu guardians of the Maerewhenua Maori rock art site near Duntroon reacted angrily when it was revealed on Wednesday the tourists had broken into the site and then posted pictures on the internet. The tourist, Yvonne Just, took pictures of her travelmate climbing past the protective wire cage around the rock drawings and then inside the site.

On Wednesday she was unrepentant, saying that she had just bent some wire and saying there were more important things to worry about. Since then Just has been vilified online with close to 100 comments mostly venting disgust at her actions, and only a handful in support. The blog and pictures have since been removed. Just said yesterday: “I am truly sorry we offended people. It never was our intention. “We never destroyed anything,” she said. She also apologised to Maori for any upset she had caused.

Mrs Windsor wouldn’t miss our outpost colony

Posted by karere under Maori News

Matt McCarten on the Monarchy

When will we stop pretending we are a South Pacific outpost of the Windsor family who reside in London? Betty Windsor is the Queen of England. She’s still ours, too.

When her parents ruled us, one fourth of the world was part of their empire. Now Britain ranks barely equal to France and Germany in influence.

Globally, it’s content to being the erstwhile deputy sheriff to the United States. How absurd is it that our head of state dons her English regalia and sends off her subjects to be slaughtered in an Iraq invasion whilst the loyal government she heads, in New Zealand, opposes it?

Do we suffer some deep grained inferiority complex that we want some old English…

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Battalion veterans gather at Orakei

Posted by karere under Maori News

The voices were a little weaker as the “Maori Battalion” song rang out across Orakei Marae this morning. Only 50 frail ancient warriors now remain of the 28th Maori Battalion, a legendary unit that in World War II fought across Greece, Crete, North Africa and through Italy. Their oldest, a 101 year old veteran, was not there, but two men who signed up in 1939 were. “While the number of battalion veterans, like all those who served in the Second World War, grows thinner with each passing year, the memory of their service lives on,” Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand told the gathering. “Sergeant” Tautini Glover, of C Company, smiled at the thought it might be the last reunion. “We’ll get together, in ones and twos, and share memories and beer, as long as we are able to,” he told Stuff. Some, he said, wanted to end formal reunions, but he wanted to keep coming.

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Tarawera River Accord with Iwi

Posted by karere under Maori News

Bay of Plenty iwi have all but ended their decades-long argument with the paper mill that turned their river into the Black Drain.

Ngati Awa, Ngati Rangitihi and Ngati Tuwharetoa have had a shaky relationship with the owners of the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill in Kawerau, which has been discharging effluent into the Tarawera River.

But yesterday, they aimed to turn over a new leaf, signing a memorandum of understanding with Carter Holt Harvey and Norske Skog to make a commitment to clean up the river together.

Ngati Rangitihi spokesman Henry Pryor said the tribes and the owners were the closest they had ever been in the 58 years the mill had been in operation, and expected real changes as the result…

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Hongi great levelling experience for archbishop

Posted by karere under Maori News

The hongi has captivated the Archbishop of York, who is visiting Taranaki for the consecration of St Mary’s Cathedral on Saturday. John Sentamu, the former Ugandan churchman who has risen to the second highest position in the Anglican church worldwide, has been swept away with the warmth of his welcome to Taranaki. Visits to marae at both Owae, in Waitara, and Parihaka have been overwhelming for the humble churchman, who was once a prisoner of dictator Idi Amin – particularly the Maori welcome of rubbing noses. “All that hongi business really blows your mind,” the archbishop told the Taranaki Daily News in a rare interview.

“There were quite a lot of children, little toddlers lined up,” he said of his visit to Owae on Tuesday. “The only way to do it was kneeling, because you lift them up, that’s never right, so you get to their level, which is most lovely. “It doesn’t matter how good, how great you are, you are all on the same level. That kind of levelling is amazing.”

[full article]

King did ‘not use those words’

Posted by karere under Maori News

The Maori King, Tuheitia Paki, didn’t use the word “abdicate” in his speech to the Waikato-Tainui tribe’s parliament Te Kauhanganui on Sunday, according to a spokesman for his office. The Waikato Times reported yesterday that King Tuheitia threatened to step down as King unless tribal members fell back into line. His comments appeared to stem from the fact that he was upset at criticism at his office’s use of tribal funds and attacks on the executive board Te Arataura. The Times headline yesterday was `I Will Abdicate’. “King Tuheitia did not use those words, nor would he ever use such language,” spokesman Rahui Papa said today.

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Lady Mahuta: Tribal changes needed

Posted by karere under Maori News

The Maori King’s representative on Waikato Tainui’s executive board says the tribe needs to change how it runs its affairs but says abdication was “not on the king’s mind.” In a press release, Raiha Lady Mahuta acknowledged divisions and other issues within the tribe but maintained that Maori King Tuheitia Paki did not threaten abdication. “For the record at the Te Kauhanganui meeting we were privy to an impassioned plea to change our behaviour especially in regards to the current bickering over internal employment matters as well as a trustee’s removal from board delegated responsibilities. Lady Mahuta is the widow of Sir Robert Mahuta and was co-negotiator for Tainui’s Waikato River settlement. Her reference to employment matters relates to Waikato-Tainui chief executive Hemi Rau’s unfair dismissal case which has resulted in an embarrassing Employment Relations Authority hearing.

[full article]

PM defends race relations from ACT harping

Posted by karere under Maori News

The Prime Minister is rejecting criticism from ACT that National’s relationship with the Maori Party has damaged race relations. ACT leader Rodney Hide has endorsed former MP Muriel Newman’s speech to ACT’s weekend conference that the Government was promoting Maori privilege and encouraging welfare dependency. John Key says ACT is off the mark. “One of the legacies of our government will be improved race relations and seeing more young Maori becoming successful in New Zealand and we have done a lot of things, whether it be advancing the treaty settlement process and hopefully getting to a more sensible outcome for the foreshore and seabed legislation to simple things like and not being afraid to raise a flag that shows on Waitangi Day Maori and the Crown are standing side by side like they did when they signed the treaty,” he says.

The Prime Minister says the government is getting overwhelming public support for its efforts to build a multi-cultural country based on a bi-cultural foundation.

[full article]

Abdication report ‘lies’

Posted by karere under Maori News

Kingitanga leaders say reports that King Tuheitia told tribal parliamentarians on Sunday that he would abdicate are “outright lies”. The King addressed Te Kauhanganui against a background of turmoil that resulted in a high-ranking chief executive, Hemi Rau, being fired for alleged media leaks. Yesterday the Waikato Times reported that the speech included a threat to abdicate. Tribal leaders say they are considering legal action against the newspaper.

[full article]

Tourists endanger rock art

Posted by karere under Maori News

Ngai Tahu is outraged that a German tourist has broken into a steel cage protecting ancient Maori rock wall paintings and then boasted about it online. Pictures have appeared online of a German tourist breaking into the Maerewhenua Maori rock art site near Duntroon. The woman is pictured climbing past the protective netting around the rock drawings and then inside the site. Alongside the pictures are the comments: “Well, since Layling is our most favourite little cat, she simply couldn’t resist going into everything her little head fits through.

“This cave was another perfect example, just like the oven in the Lord of the Rings setting, and I gotta admit she looked so cool in that cage. “The colours matched perfectly.” Ngai Tahu Maori Rock Art Trust curator Amanda Symon was outraged. “The rocks are caged for a reason.

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Niece tells of fight to save ‘best mate’

Posted by karere under Maori News

Covered in broken glass and with her “best mate” slumped unconscious beside her, Amiria Maihi had just two seconds to pull her dying uncle’s truck to the roadside. “People tell me it was brave, but it did not save him,” the 18-year-old said yesterday, after farewelling Taylor Schouwenaars at his tangi at Waikanae’s Whakarongotai Marae. Mr Schouwenaars, 36, was killed when a three-metre log came loose from a passing vehicle and hit his truck’s wing mirror, smashing it into the cab and hitting him in the head. Miss Maihi was sitting in the passenger seat when the accident happened on State Highway 1 near Porirua about 6.50am on Friday.

[full article]

Maori King threatens to abdicate

Posted by karere under Maori News

The Maori King has threatened to abdicate his title if tribal members do not fall back into line. According to several sources King Tuheitia turned up to a meeting of the tribe’s parliament, Te Kauhanganui, on Sunday and in a surprise move delivered an emotional speech.  The sources said during his speech the king blasted Te Kauhanganui members for questioning his use of tribal funds, which he called “his money”, and the appointment of John “Barna” Heremia and Taitimu Maipi as the directors of the company which receives money from the tribe to operate his office.

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Federation of Maori Authorities Job – CEO

Posted by karere under Maori News

For more details about this job contact Lyn Harrison, Director Atahaia Consultancy Ltd, PO Box 25 310, Wellington.
mobile 027 245 2477 | land 04 384 6597 | fax 04 385 9360
atahaia@actrix.co.nz
The closing date for applications is Friday 5 March and to apply potential applicants will need to send her a covering letter and CV by close of play on 5 March.
Role Title: Chief Executive
Purpose and Primary Goals of Role:
• To implement and oversee the strategic direction of FoMA in conjunction with the Executive Committee
• To uphold the principles and values of FoMA
• To provide high quality professional advice and best practice leadership to enable the effective and efficient management of the FoMA Executive…

[FOMA Website]

Maori Party vague on foreshore alternative

Posted by karere under Maori News

A meeting of the Maori Party’s national council in Wellington at the weekend agreed that MP Hone Harawira’s position on the foreshore and seabed should be an option for discussion at hui being held around the country. The first hui was held in Dargarville on Friday to be followed by at least 20 more. Party president Whatarangi Winiata says the Tai Tokerau MP’s position of Maori or tupuna title, no sale and access for all will be up for discussion at the hui but the National Council did not want the korero to be restricted to this option.

“That’s really important. We can’t be closing off options. This is their property. We can’t be dictating what it is that they should do. What we must try to achieve is give them maximum choice so that the legislation, the appropriate legislation is written,” Professor Winiata says. One of the questions the iwi may have differing views on is what is meant by tupuna title and whether this would allow for co-management with the Crown for example. He says the council and Mr Harawira’s position is not in contradiction to the view expressed by fellow Maori party MP Te Ururoa Flavell, who supports the Iwi Leaders Forum and Crown officials meeting to work out a proposal for Minister of Treaty Settlements Chris Finlayson to take to cabinet.

[full article]

Act plays the race card

Posted by karere under Maori News

Act backs itself as champion of ‘one law for all’…Act is championing itself as the only party backing “one law for all”, as leader Rodney Hide comes under pressure because of the party’s low polling and lack of a strong identity. MPs Heather Roy and Sir Roger Douglas challenged the party during its annual conference in Wellington at the weekend to be more than just an appendix to National, which they criticised as lacking the courage to make bolder and more radical economic reforms. To conference applause, former Act deputy leader Muriel Newman attacked National and its relationship with the Maori Party, saying they had damaged race relations “almost more than anyone else has ever done”. “Instead of promoting one law for all, which I used to think was National’s campaign pledge as well as Act’s, we are increasingly seeing them promoting Maori privilege.” Dr Newman highlighted issues including the Maori seats in Parliament, trying to get the same for the Auckland Super City, and Treaty of Waitangi principles used in legislation.

[full article]

MP in strife again

Posted by karere under Maori News

Controversial MP Hone Harawira has encouraged protesters to take “whatever action necessary” to make their voices heard – earning another stinging rebuke from party bosses. The outspoken Maori Party MP told members of the Kaipara Harbour community in Dargaville they should drop chains and anchors into the harbour to protest against a planned sea-turbine power project. And he suggested illegal action was sometimes necessary to get the message across, citing the case of a man who fired shots from a rifle at a fishing ship. “My view is that they [the community] have got to send very clear signals about their opposition to the proposed turbine,” Harawira said. “If people are not listened to then they should take the action they want to. If they do, it’s their business not mine. “What I think is between me and me. When people take action it’s between them and them. Yes I’m an MP now, and there will be suggestions that I should not be talking about this but I’m comfortable with my stand.” He said he could not directly advocate illegal action and refused to reiterate his comments about the man firing shots at a ship.

[full article]

Hone Harawira on Protesting

Posted by karere under Maori News

Controversial MP Hone Harawira has encouraged protesters to take “whatever action necessary” to make their voices heard – earning another stinging rebuke from party bosses.

The outspoken Maori Party MP told members of the Kaipara Harbour community in Dargaville they should drop chains and anchors into the harbour to protest against a planned sea-turbine power project.

And he suggested illegal action was sometimes necessary to get the message across, citing the case of a man who fired shots from a rifle at a fishing ship.

“My view is that they [the community] have got to send very clear signals about their opposition to the proposed turbine,” Harawira said.

[full article]

Maori news funding reviewed

Posted by karere under Maori News

A Government agency has raised the spectre of rationalising Maori broadcasting, which could see one of only two daily Maori language news programmes cut.

Funding agency Te Mangai Paho (TMP) asked a consultant last year to look at the wider broadcasting landscape.

Part of the review discussed the viability of a single news broadcaster.

The move has been criticised by some as a backwards step in promoting te reo Maori, while others say it’s an issue needing urgent assessment.

Te Mangai Paho funds two services – TVNZ’s Te Karere, with $2.25 million a year of a contestable pool, and Te Kaea, whose budget comes out of an operational grant which takes a share of $5 million meant for four news shows at Maori Television.

Te…

[full article]

TVNZ Te Karere vs MTS Te Kaea

Posted by karere under Maori News

A year on from its relaunch, Maori news programme Te Karere is enjoying impressive audience shares.

Te Karere moved to a full half-hour bulletin in February last year and is TVNZ’s flagship Maori news programme.

It screens at 4pm and has subtitled repeats, while Maori Television’s Te Kaea goes to air at 7.30pm and also has subtitled replays. Both have online presences.

[full article]

Foreshore law hui begin

Posted by karere under Maori News

Maori Party foreshore and seabed consultation begins today in Dargaville with the party at pains to point out that MP Hone Harawira’s solution isn’t a confirmed party policy. Prime Minister John Key has said the Foreshore and Seabed Act could be repealed but what could replace it, should that happen, was unclear.

In Parliament last week, Mr Harawira proposed new legislation, where Maori would be given title to the foreshore and seabed but could never sell the land, at the same time as access would be guaranteed for all. However, his views aren’t official Maori Party policy, which leaves a confused state of affairs after Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell said iwi leaders were the best people to sort out any new law. Yesterday, a party spokeswoman said the caucus had decided on Tuesday to go on the road for the next month. The 20 hui would be a chance for “ordinary” people to have an input into party policy, the spokeswoman said.

[full article]