Waatea News Update

News from Waatea 603 AM, Urban Maori radio, first with Maori news

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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

PM welcomes Sharples’ sharp turn

The Prime Minister has welcomed Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples' U-turn on Wayne Mapp's worker probation bill.

The switch means the bill, which would mean workers could be sacked without a reason given during the first 90 days on the job, would be lost 61-60 when it comes back from select committee.

Helen Clark says Dr Sharples took the view the bill should go to the select committee so he could see what the evidence was, and it appears he was persuaded by the evidence.

“It’s pretty clear that a bill like this would see a lot of peole just lose emplyment protectin rights, you wuld see a lot of short term workers just flicked over, so I really hope Pita and Hone wold now talk to ther other two colleagues and say this bill wouldn’t be good for Maori workers – it wouldn’t be good for any workers,” Clark said.

LACK OF SUPPORT ABUSE EXCUSE

Veteran Maori health worker Moe Milne says lack of support for young mothers is a factor in many child abuse cases.

Ms Milne says says young Maori mothers are far more isolated than they used to becasue of the break-down in whanau networks.

Reductions in the time mothers spend in hospital and the follow up they get after also has an impact.

Because of the new funding structure, the level of support for young mothers has been lessened. They don’t have as many visits for newborns as they used to. Also, the hauora Maori who have tamariki Maori contracts don’t get funded to provide the same level of support as in the past, so often after the first six weeks of visits, the mother and her baby are left alone,” Milne said.

DOZEN WIN WELL-BEING TRIP

Twelve young Maori from around the country are raising money to attend an indigenous well being hui in Edmonton, Canada in August.

Half the costs of the trip are being met by ALAC, the Alcohol Advisory Committee.

ALAC Youth project manager Te Rina Moke says the balance must come from iwi assistance or fundraising, with some rangatahi selling hangi and raffling buckets of titi or mutton birds to raise the fare.

Ms Moke says applicants for the six day "Healing Our Spirit Worldwide" conference had to meet strict criteria.

“You must be between the ages of 18 and 30, you must be willing to, and have and aptitude to speak and present in front of a lot of people, you must have a commitment to your whanau, hapu, so when you come back there will be plans for you to share what you have learnt, and you must be drug free,” Moke said.

The six day indigenous "healing our spirit worldwide" conference which will be held in the city of Edmonton, will embrace holistic healing experiences amongst indigenous peoples.

DOC SAYS STRIKE ABOUT MORE THAN HOURS

A young Maori doctor at Waikato Hospital, says the public is still unclear of the reasons behind the junior doctors strike which ended today.

Dr Lily Fraser says the long hours the doctors are expected to work, is only one of the issues on the table.

More important is the junior doctor's suspicion of a planned committee to oversee changes in workplace conditions.

Dr Fraser says the committee, which will have four representatives each from the District Health Board and the junior doctors, appears to be a device to sidestep the union.

“Through that, changes can be made to our original contract. That essentially means we have no more power as a union, we won’t be able to take industrial action and we will effectively end up with individual contracts, and they haven’t given us any information about what they will have the power to do,” Fraser said.

CLAIM DEADLINE AMPLE SAYS PM

Prime Minister Helen Clark says the deadline for settling historical treaty claims leaves plenty of time for every claim to be heard and settled.

The Maori Purposes Bill now before Parliament gives iwi until September 2008 to lodge claims with the Waitangi Tribunal.

Ms Clark denies suggestions the government was trying slip the change through.

Labour put it up front in its manifesto, it might even be on the pledge card, for all I know, to say that 2008 would be the cut off time for historic claims, There have been many years now to get the claims in, they are well known, and then when you have everything in the queue you can proceed to settle,” Clark said

Clark says the government believes once all the claims are in the queue, it is feasible to settle them by 2020.

WHALING SUPPORT POOR CHOICE

Green Party MP Meteria Turei says Maori shouldn't be surprised some Pacific Island neighbors sided with Japan to support the lifting of the moratorium on commercial whaling.

She say some of the small nations are vulnerable to economic incentives in exchange for their votes.

Ms Turei says Palau has oil reserves just off its coast, but not the money to exploit it.

The offer of cash for their vote on the International Whaling Commission may have been too hard to ignore.

In some ways it is a wake up call as to how poor our neighbors are on Moananui a Kiwa, how easy it is for them to get trapped into being manipulated and bribed by bigger countries with more money and better access to resources,” Turei said.

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