Waatea News Update

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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Rongowhakaata wants park back

The Gisborne District Council is arguing over whether it should make a city park available for return to Rongowhakaata.

The iwi wants the Office of Treaty Settlements to buy the land from the Council so it can be returned as part of the wider Turanga settlement.

The land was taken for a cemetery, but never used for that purpose, and is now the city's main soccer ground.

Kaumatua Darcy Ria says the council should do the right thing.

“My hapu, Ngei Tawhiri, were the original owners of that land. It was taken over by the council. Never approached the people. They went on their own bat and went ahead with the taking of it in the 1920s or later. I just want it back,” Mr Ria says.

MAORI-GREEN TIE-UP A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH

A Green MP says iwi need to learn to make better use of environmental groups.

Meteria Turei says the action taken against the Whangamata Marina shows how effective the partnership can be.

Hauraki iwi and environmentalists are occupying the marina site, because they says the discovery of a colony of rare moko skinks should stop the development.

Ms Turei says it's a model for other areas.

“By combining iwi and hapu interests both from the kaitiakitanga point of view but also from a rangatiratanga point of view, and then having the environmental lobby backing that up with the information they can generate through their communities as well, is what gives you the greatest strength to fight off developers who want to destroy the environment,” Ms Turei says.

The Whangamata Marina Society says it has all the proper consents, and the development will go ahead once the skins are moved to a new habitat.

ROSE LADY HENARE MOVED HOME FOR FUNERAL

In Taitokerau, the body of Rose Lady Henare is being moved about now from Otiria Marae to Motutau, where her funeral service is due to start about two this afternoon.

It's been a huge tangi, as iwi from the north and around the motu have passed through to pay their last respects to the leading kuia of Ngati Hine and Ngapuhi.

There have also been ope from organisations whe was a member or patron of, such as Kohanga Reo and the Maori language commission.

Bishop Kito Pikaahu says Lady Henare was held in high esteem within the region and the Anglican church, of which she was an active member at many levels.

“I found a great inspiration from her personally because of her experience of life and being the wife of our big chief, Sir James, there had been significant experience that would help anyone who listened to the stories and how that translates into contemporary society,” Bishop Pikaahu says.

TAPU AND NOA USEFUL CONCEPTS IN PUBLIC HEALTH

A far north public health specialist says Maori would do better in the health system if their personal tapu was respected.

Lisa Mc Nab from Te Hauora o te Hiku o te Ika says tapu and noa is the theme of this weeks's Public Health Association conference in Waitangi.

She says the idea of things being sacred and non-sacred could be used in codes of practice for Maori patients.

“Health practitioners across the board can be using tapu and noa as a health code because as we all know, tapu and noa is about safety, a risk management tool. How can we apply that to start making a difference in the quality of health that we as Maori are faced with on a daily basis,” Ms McNab says,

The 400 delegates will also discuss smoking among pregnant Maori women, sleep disorders and the continuing inequalities in health outcomes.

THESPIANS LOOKING FOR BOARDS TO TREAD IN TAMAKI

Maori playwrights, producers and actors are trying to find ways to spark a Maori theatre scene in Auckland.

Jenni Heka from Playmarket says there is a well established Maori theatre scene in Wellington, but the same conditions don't exist in Tamaki Makaurau.

But the attendance at a Playmarket Matariki forum in the city shows there is a hunger for something to happen.

“It's not like we aren’t telling stories. It’s just we aren’t telling stories in this way of putting it on stages, so I think it’s just getting the onus on people to say yes, I will produce your work, yes I will help you get it out there and yes I will find ways to get the funding to get it up,” Ms Heka says.

Playmarket workshopped plays by Ariki Spooner and Renae Maihi which are heading towards production.

PIONEERING EXPORTER GETS MEMORIAL BY TITICACA

A Maori woman exporter has been remembered with the opening of a village bank in Peru.

Judy Hawkins, who was from Taumaranui but married into Ngati Kahungunu, pioneered the export of squash to Japan, and did a lot of work pulling together uneconomic Maori land in the Hawkes Bay for contract growing.

Her friend Mavis Mullins says Mrs Hawkins' death last year came as a shock to the women she met through her participation in the APEC women leaders' forum.

At last month's forum in Peru, they found a way to honour her.

“They initiated a fund to open a microfinance bank in Peru up at Lake Titicaca. Just amazing that in a little tin shack up in that beautiful spot in the middle of nowhere is a photo of Judy Hawkins with the name of her bank there and a pounamu,” Mrs Mullins says.

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