Waatea News Update

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

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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Government moves to close aquaculture loophole

A change to aquaculture laws comes in the nick of time.

Environment Minister David Benson-Pope says the law will be clarified to ensure all marine farming applications conform with the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act, which gives Maori 20 percent of all new marine farming space.

Three top of top South Island iwi are due in the High Court next week to support Tasman District Council in its case against the Golden Bay Marine Farmers Consortium.

The consortium claims its application covers existing rather than new space, so the 20 percent rule doesn't apply.

Ngati Tamai chairperson Te Miha says the case revealed the flaws in the settlement Act, which was rushed to compensate Maori for some of what was taken by the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

“They hurried it through and prepared it and made it in three weeks and there was a lot of bloody holes in it you could drive a truck through, and one of those groups from Golden Bay found those holes and tried to cut Maori out or iwi out of their 20 percent,” Mr Te Miha says.

He says the amended law needs to do a better job of getting Maori into the marine farming industry, rather than having to wait until 2015 as is likely under the existing Act.

BAIN CASE DRAWS PARALLELS WITH TAMIHERE

Former Labour MP John Tamihere says applying the Privy Council's test on David Bain, his brother should have been given another trial.

David Tamihere is still serving a life sentence for the murder of Swedish tourists Heidi Paakkonen and Urban Hoglin, despite key prosecution evidence being discredited when Mr Hoglin's body was found several years after the trial.

John Tamihere says there are close parallels between Bain's case and his brother's.

“Our Court of appeal stitched them up real bad you know. It did exactly what Bain’s Court of Appeal did. His Court of Appeal said whatever new evidence you come up with, the jury would still have found them guilty. What the Privy Council said is ‘No no, you can’t say that, if it’s good enough evidence, put it in front of another jury and give him another trial.’ That’s what they’ve said in Bain,” Mr Tamihere says.

He says the family is trying to get David Tamihere out on parole.

WORKFORCE PRIORITY FOR MENTAL HEALTH HEAD

The new head of the National Centre for Mental Health Research says her priority is improving the way mental health workers interact with Maori.

Arawhetu Peretini of Ngati Kahungunu says there are unique challenges dealing with Maori patients and their whanau which many health workers don't appreciate.

Ms Peretini says those are the sorts of challenges seh will be putting before the centre.

“How do we work with district health boards to support them to ensure that their workforce know how to work with whanau. Sounds simple, hard to do. It’s how to ensure that all staff have some kind of really good basic competency, so they’ve got in their own kete some things that actually stand them in good stead,” Ms Peretini says.

NGATI KOATA TAKES TO THE AIR

Nelson iwi Ngati Koata has applied to the Civil Aviation Authority for permission to run its own airline.

Chief executive Caron Paul says it will charter two 18-seat Jetstream 31 planes to use for freight and charter services.

The planes were previously flown by Origin Pacific, which collapsed last year.

Ms Paul says the iwi intends to keep the service small.

“Last year we looked at a complete passenger service and freight and charters, but when we were researching it and doing our feasibility studies we found this was a more sensitive and conservative approach to enter the industry, and this way it’s a very safe way of doing it,” Ms Paul says.

The airline will employ about seven people.

MAORI VIEWS SOUGHT BY SENTENCING LOBBY

The Sensible Sentencing Trust's new Maori researcher wants to hear from Maori hapu and whanau on their views about crime.

Kelly Te Heuheu says Maori share many of the views of wider society about crime, but they also have different perspectives because they are more likely to be victims of crime and violence.

Ms Te Heuheu says the trust's aim is to make communities safer, so it needs to know it is advocating the right solutions.

“To make those things effective and decrease the crime, it has to be more effective. It’s giving a voice out there to Maori and a voice out there to offenders. I mean, a lot of gang members have whanau, but that doesn’t mean they have the support of their whanau,” Ms Te Heuheu says.

MUTTONBIRDING NOW A SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY

Muttonbirders on the Titi Islands maintain the annual harvest for the cultural and spiritual experience rather than the money.

That's the view of Robert Coote, the chairperson of the Rakiura Treaty Committee, which oversees cultural harvests on Stewart Island and the Titi group.

He says many birding whanau use the trip to give their young people an appreciation of nature and keep alive the practices that have sustained their tupuna for generations.

“People don't go down there to thrash the birds any more. They just see it as more a spiritual thing. There are still those who see it as a fair part of their annual income, but all in all I think, season to season, if the birds are plentiful people will do reasonably well. If the birds aren’t plentiful, people will scale down accordingly,” Mr Coote says,

Good weather before the season started means this year's muttonbird catch is one of the best in recent times.

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