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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Friday, December 14, 2007

Restrained joy at deal

Wellington treaty claimants are keen to nail down their settlement before the next election.

Descendants of the four Taranaki iwi who lived around Port Nicholson when New Zealand Company settlers arrived in 1940 signed an agreement in principle to settle their claims yesterday.

The deal involves cash, return of 17 cultural sites including Pipitea Marae, and the right to buy Crown properties including Archives New Zealand where the Treaty of Waitangi is held, the High Court and former defence land at Shelly Bay.

A negotiator, Ngatata Love, says there was a small celebration after the signing at Parliament, as the kaumatua looked forward to the work ahead.

“They are a very quiet grouping of people who are quite satisfied with a cup of tea and a muffin and getting ready for the next round, because one of the things we have suggested in the final speeches is that although it has taken us a long long time to get to this point, the next step should be achieved in very short time,” Professor Love says.

The agreement will be taken out to the 17,000 beneficiaries and a settlement document prepared to be put before Parliament.

MAORI WILLBENEFIT FROM MILK PAY OUT

The Maori dairy sector is set to benefit from a jump in milk payouts.

Dairy giant Fonterra boosted its forecast to $6.90, with speculation it could hit $7 by the end of the season.

Roger Pikia, a Federation of Maori Authorities executive member, says Maori make up the biggest single group of Fonterra shareholders.

As long term players in the sector, they have learned to ride the good times and the bad.

“It has its spikes and dips but generally speaking over the last 20 years the growth has been significant, so just from the dairy sector alone it’s probably been the highest performing sector within New Zealand’s total economy,” Mr Pikia says.

He expects most Maori dairy farmers will invest the higher payout in infrastructure, or reduce debt.

CARVERS NEED ENDORSEMENT FROM COMMUNITY

The national carving school is reviewing its processes to ensure carvers contribute back to their iwi.

Te Wananga Whakairo o Aotearoa is celebrating its 40th year this weekend at the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute - Te Puia - in Rotorua.

Ngarepo Eparaima, the operations manager, says the school is concerned graduates might be lured by the money they can make from souvenirs, rather than maintaining and growing the traditional arts based around the marae.

“Once your marae committee knows that you are a carver then, instead of coming to us to do your work, that we’re actually putting it back in the hands of the carvers who are leaving here or have left here over the last 40 years, because it is only their own people that can lift them to the status of tohunga whakairo or master carver in their areas. We can't do that here,” Mr Eparaima says.

Almost 60 graduates are expected back at Te Puia this weekend.

WINDFARM PLANS BLOWN AWAY BY COURT

Hawkes Bay iwi hope a High Court judgment will spell the end for attempts to build a windfarm overlooking their marae.

The court this week upheld an Environment Court decision to deny Unison Networks resource consent for a 37-turbine firm at Te Waka on the Napier Taupo Road.

Jolene Patuawa, the lawyer for Ngati Hinerua and the Maungaharuru-Tangitu Marae, says Unison has submitted an alternate application for a 34 turbine farm on the same site.

She says the strength of the judgment should encourage Hastings District Council to throw out the new application as an abuse of process.

“The court made a two pronged finding: firstly that the area was an outstanding landscape; and secondly that it was of immense spiritual significance to the tangata whenua. So the judge was saying those two aspects combined tipped the balance in favour of rejecting the proposal,” Ms Patuawa says.

Unison may still appeal the decision.

TE ROOPU TAURIMA GETS QUALITY TICK

One of the largest kaupapa Maori service providers has won accreditation from standards body Quality Health New Zealand.

Te Roopu Taurima O Manukau Trust provides supervised whanau housing for about 250 people with intellectual disabilities.

John Marsden, the trust's chairperson, says it's an endorsement for Te Roopu Taurima's unique approach.

“To provide care to what we call our mokopuna, our turoro, and our mission is to achieve tino rangatiratanga for each and every one of them, to embellish their own beings, taking them out of their institutions, having more one on one care for them and being able to care for them in a very whanau orientated environment,” Mr Marsden says.

The accreditation should give gives assurance and comfort to mokopuna, friends and whanau.

TE HEUHEU PORTRAIT UNVEILED FOR SHOW

Two previously unseen images from Tuwharetoa will go on show in Rotorua tomorrow.

They are part of a travelling show called Te Huringa or Turning Points, which explores Pakeha colonisation and Maori empowerment through the eyes of Maaori and Pakeha artists.

Peter Shaw, the co-curator, says the two portraits by Robert Atkinson should be of particular interest to Maori visitors to the Rotorua Museum of Art and History

“In 1889 he went to the Tuwharetoa area where he painted te Heuheu Tukino, called Horonuku, and maybe even more memorably he painted a beautiful large watercolour of his granddaughter, Te Wira te Heuheu, and these paintings have never been seen in public until this exhibition,” Mr Shaw says.

Te Huringa aims to give viewers an historical context to the works of art, which often represent romanticised versions of Maori life.

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