Waatea News Update

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

My Photo
Name:
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Friday, August 01, 2008

Tuhoe mana motuhake on the table

Ngai Tuhoe claimant Tame Iti says mana motuhake and sovereignty issues are definitely on the table in treaty talks with the Crown.

The activist and artist, who is currently on bail on firearms charges stemming from last October's police raids in the eastern Bay of Plenty, was at Parliament yesterday with other Tuhoe claimants to sign terms of negotiation.

He says the government must now face up to issues which he and others have tried to raise for years, such as ownership of the tribe's Urewera heartland and its distinct consitutional status.

"Not very long ago members of government were calling me and Tuhoe that we were in cuckoo-land to believe Tuhoe is able to get into a discussion about this issue about Tuhoe as a nation within a nation. That's not going to happen. He's dreaming. Yesterday, that is not a dream, it's a reality," Mr Iti says.

A taiaha he presented to Michael Cullen,  the Minister of Treaty Negotiations, was used at the battle of Gate Pa, and he expects it to come back when agreement is reached.
 
TE TAU IHU ADDING AQUACULTURE TO CLAIM WISH LIST

South Island iwi were meeting today to discuss what needs to go into an early settlement of their aquaculture claims.

Richard Bradley from Rangitane, the chair of the Kurahaupo cluster of iwi, says the Minister of Fisheries, Jim Anderton, has agreed to take an offer to Cabinet which would be included in a comprehensive Te Tau Ihu settlement.

He says under the 2004 Maori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement Act, the Crown has to make a cash offer in 2014 if it can't come up with marine space ... and there's no more space to be had in the top of the South Island.

"Justice delayed is justice denied. If there is no space, and there is unlikely to be any space in the foreseeable future, what are the chances of moving the cash-up option from 2014 to now, so Jim Anderton, he's been interested in that.
Mr Bradley says.

More than 80 percent of the country's developed marine farms are in the Marlborough Sounds and Tasman Bay, so any settlement could top $100 million.
 
PEOPLE GETTING COMPLACENT ABOUT LANGUAGE DEPTH

It's the 21st birthday of the Maori Language Act, but one of its promoters says there's not a lot of adult korero to heard.

Pita Sharples says when Hoani Waitit Marae was established in west Auckland, it would run programmes around what was then Maori language day to get mainstream schools to teach their pupuls some simple Maori.

The Maori Party co-leader says there has been a lot of progress since then, but complacency is setting in and much more needs to be done.

"We're getting a little complacent. We're far from out of the woods. Unless we can get really deep speaking, deep thinking people, language is a bit shallow at the moment, and while many Maori can converse conversationally, nevertheless you have to be able to talk about the combustion engine, Halley's Comet, all those things, in Maori, in order to feel safe," Dr Sharples says.

NEW RESERVE ON OLD NGATI TE ATA KAINGA

South Auckland's Ngati Te Ata people want to have a say about in a new reserve on their ancestral kainga.

The proposed reserve will cover the Matukuturua Stonefields and the remains of the volcanic cone Matukutureia, or McLaughlin's Mount, next to  Puhinui Reserve in Manukau City.

Nganeko Minhinnick, a Ngati te Ata elder, says it was the home of Te Ata i Rehia, who gave her name to the iwi.

She says despite the years of industrial use, there are still signs of the walls and gardens built by her ancestors.

"Poor old Matukutureia's been beaten up over the years, quarried big time, and the part that is going to be set aside is the remnants. It still brings a swlling in the heart when you think about it, when you go there," Mrs Minhinnick says.

The importance of the stonefields was the reason Ngati Te Ata tried to stop the Auckland Women's Prison being built on part of the land.
 
MAORI STAY AWAY FROM GANG PATCH BILL HEARING

New Zealand First's law and order spokesman says Maori are staying silent on Wanganui's plan to ban gang patches in the city.

Ron Mark says Parliament's law and order select committee has heard a range of submissions on a bill being put up on behalf of Wanganui District Council.

They range from people who see the measure as an attack on civil liberties, to those who see gangs as terrorists to be suppressed.

He says despite the bill's potential impact on the city's predominantly Maori gangs, Maori didn't turn up either to support or oppose the bill,

Mr Mark believes the Committee is likely to recommend Wanganui gets the powers it is seeking.
 
MAORI POLICY VACUUM EXPECTED AT NATIONAL PARTY CONFERENCE

It's the National Party conference in Wellington this weekend, but don't expect any Maori policy to come out of it.

Tau Henare, one of the party's Maori affairs spokespeople, says no presentations regarding te ao Maori are planned, and it's more of a chance for him to shoot the breeze with those Maori candidates and delegates who do turn up.

With the election only three months off, the party has other priorities than courting a group of voters who traditionally have been immune to its charms.

"We're not looking to release our Maori policy for a little bit now so we will use the opportunity this weekend to do some networking and seek some advice as well," Mr Henare says.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home