Waatea News Update

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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Friday, February 23, 2007

Rangiputa sale a mistake – Landcorp head

The new chair of Landcorp says the Office of Treaty Settlements may have made a mistake in allowing his state owned company to sell off land in the far north.

Tenders closed at noon for a beachfront stretch of Landcorp's Rangiputa Station on the Karikari Peninsula.

Jim Sutton, a former Labour cabinet minister, says Landcorp first offered the property to the Office of Treaty Settlements, and was told it was not needed to settle Ngati Kahu's treaty claims.

“I think there has been a mistake of judgment, not by Landcorp but by Office of Treaty Settlements, or at least, it would be claimed that by the hapu up there. As far as we’re concerned, we’ll just take this quietly now and see if there is a solution,” Mr Sutton says.

Jim Sutton says Landcorp is under no obligation to accept any of the tenders for the Rangiputa sections.

MAORI MIDWIFE COUNT SLOWLY RISING

The coordinator of Nga Maia, the national Maori midwives association, says it will be a challenge to reach the target of 1500 Maori midwives in 10 years.

Henare Kani says the demand for the services of Maori midwives far outweighs the resource available.

Mr Kani says the situation is slowly improving, but there is a long way to go.

“We've got 150 out to 2500. This year we’ve got another 20 starting their training at various places around the country. Twenty a year over the next 10 years will get us up 200, that’s looking up for us but there’s a lot of opportunity,” Mr Kani says.

He says the development of antenatal programmes for Maori women, such as the one launched this week in Hastings, should help raise the awareness of kaupapa Maori midwifery and could lead to more recruits.

KAPA HAKA CONTRIBUTORS HONOURED

Two of the major contributors to the ta Maori traditional performing arts scene were honoured at last night's inaugural Maori music awards in Palmerston North.

Organiser Tama Huata says Bub and Nen Wehi deserved acknowledgement for the decades they have spent tutoring kapa haka.
He says they set the standard for other groups.

“Over the years with Te Waka Huia, three time winners. When they led Waiherere, they were two time winners. In terms of the Te Matatini national festival, and before that the Polynesian festival, there’s no other record like it,” Mr Huata says.

Others acknowledged for their contributions to Maori music included Sir Howard Morrison, Prince Tui Teka, and Tommy Taurima.

MAORI VALUES MISSING FROM FERTILITY TREATMENT

Maori health researcher Marewa Glover says Maori need to find ways to bring
their cultural values to assisted human reproduction.

Dr Glover has been studying Maori views on fertility treatments, drawing information from hui and interviews with health workers, people who have used fertility services, and other community members.

She says there many respondents felt the cultural pressure on Maori to raise families meant some couples were prepared to go to extremes to conceive ... even if some of the procedures made them feel culturally uncomfortable or whakamaa.

“We deserve more than that. We deserve to be involved in setting policy and looking at how services are delivered, maybe even in delivery of some of these services,” Dr Glover says.

She says there is no one Maori viewpoint on assisted reproduction.

SUPERDAD TAU DEFENDS SMACKING

National Maori Affairs spokesperson Tau Henare says the anti smacking bill will criminalise parents.

Mr Henare says Green MP Sue Bradford's bill removing the defence of reasonable force to discipline a child is over the top.

He says the bill is too politically correct.

“I just don't think you need to criminalise the parents quite frankly. Leave the parents alone,. Let them get on with it. We should be helping the ones who can’t look after their kids. We shouldn’t be interfering in the lives of our parents who can look after our kids,” Mr Henare says.

He has no regrets about voting against the bill.

PAUA HATCHERY FOR GISBORNE

Te Runanga a Turanganui a Kiwa is establishing a paua hatchery in Gisborne.

A former Telecom garage has been stripped down to a bare shell and fitted out with tanks.

Aquaculture scientist Marc Ferris from Ngati Kanohi says the hatchery will use some innovative technology, including water recirculating systems first developed for the sewerage industry.

Mr Ferris says it's aiming to produce half a million spat a year from wild stock.

“So we basically produce paua babies, grow them until they’re about 10mm in length, and then we ship those off to on-growing faciilities which will grow the paua from 10mm up to the market size,” Mr Ferris said.

He says are a number of farms coming on stream over the next couple of years which will take the hatchery's production.

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