Waatea News Update

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

My Photo
Name:
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Alternatives to arrest sought

A police Maori stategic advisor wants his colleagues to think of alternatives before they arrest young Maori.

Huri Dennis says the upcoming National Responsiveness to Maori conference will ask how police should use the considerable amount of discretion they have.

He says it will take courage, but there are Maori options and services which can help offenders turn their lives around without exposing them to the full force of the criminal justice system.

"Te Houhanga Rongo, restorative justice type set-ups, things that Maori communities and iwi, hapu, marae, whanau are quite familiar with and we're asking our officers and our leaders to sort of make those decisions. Instead of putting our people before the courts, let's take the holistic view and get some results another way," Mr Dennis says.
 
MAORI INPUT WOULD MAKE IMMIGRATION POLICY MORE CARING

The Green's Maori affairs spokesperson says the country's immigration policies would be improved with Maori input.

Metiria Turei says talk of an Asian influx ignores the fact that most migrants are still from white English speaking countries.

She says Maori have no input into who settles here, and deserve a say on immigration policy.

"If the government had a system of any kind that Maori would have an involvement in that decision-making, it would make a big difference to the nature of the criteria so it was more socially focused rather than being focused on wealthier people coming into New Zealand, it would be better education and support for those people coming here, it would be more humanitarian, focused on indigenous peoples and supporting indigenous peoples from other countries," Ms Turei says.

Maori people should awhi other indigenous people who move to Aotearoa because of war or discrimination in their own country.
 
WHITEHEAD MELDING EUROPEAN ART MUSIC AND MAORI SONG

The life histories of six leading New Zealand composers are being collected as part of a new project for the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

Roger Smith is interviewing the composers for the Alexander Turnbull Library's Oral History Centre, including Gillian Karawe Whitehead.

He says Ms Whitehead carved out a distinguished career as a composer and teacher in Britain, Europe and Australia, but it's her work since she returned to this country a decade ago which is raising eyebrows.

"The way that she has been able to blend European art music with traditional Maori music, and she has taken a really leading role in that, and I think she deserves all the credit she gets for it," Mr Smith says.

The series also includes Jenny McLeod, Dorothy Buchannan, Ross Harris, John Rimmer and Jack Body.

BRAIN DRAIN LEAVING GAPS THAT NEED FILLNG WITH MIGRANTS

The Maori Party's immigration spokesperson says rather than looking at who is coming in, Maori should ask who is going out.

Hone Harawira says Maori are telling the party they are concerned about Asian immigation.

He says they should look at the bigger picture than get hung up about where people are coming from.

Mr Harawira says high tertiary fees mean graduates feel no loyalty to the country, which leads to skill shortages which need to be filled from somewhere.

"The simple answer to the equation is to simply change the way we manage our own country so that people are encouraged to stay here, and the more we keep here, the less we need to bring in. We're bringing in people to fill gaps that have been created by people leaving. It's really dumb, if you ask me, and we, Maori people are losing the cream of our youth to them going overseas," he says.

Mr Harawira says immigation has been a problem since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
 
NEW AUDIENCE FOR TRANS TASMAN NETBALL

The country's top Maori netball coach says the trans-Tasman championship has created a new audience for the code.

Noelene Taurua is at the helm of Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, which takes on the New South Wales Swifts this weekend in the first round oF play-offs.

Top of the table Magic is the only New Zealand franchise to make the finals, but Ms Taurua says the demands of intense week in week out competition mean they should be better prepared next year.

"I think it's exceeded everybody's expectations. i know with ours and the players, it pretty much feels form week to week that it's international test matches. The public awareness has increased, and I'm finding a lot of males who do watch a lot of rugby are switching over to watch an exciting game," Ms Taurua says.

The Rotorua based former Silver Fern has some off-court dramas as well - she is due to give birth to her 5th child.
 
MAORI RULES RUGBY PICKED UP IN US

An expert on Maori games says it's easier to get interest overseas than in Aotearoa.

Harko Brown gave a presentation on indigenous sports to the Physical Education New Zealand conference in Christchurch yesterday.

He says curriculum directors in the United States have seized on the pre-European rugby game ki o rahi as a way to get their students active.

"They found out about the game in January 2003. By the end of the year it was in 31,000 of their schools. And also the game mu torere is all over the world, especially in universities. Mu torere is a Maori board game and they use that at St Joseph's University in Philadelphia in their PhD programme," he says.

Harko Brown's new book, Nga Taonga Takaro, includes directs on playing more than 20 Maori sports and games.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home