Waatea News Update

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

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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Indigenous top level domain sought

The Maori Internet Society is pushing for a new top level Internet domain space for indigenous peoples.

Chairperson Karaitiana Taiuru says it will join other indigenous groups in asking Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, to create dot-indigi as an alternative to addresses like dot com or dot nz.

He says the moderated space will make it harder for cyber-squatters to exploit indigenous groups who want their own piece of the world wide web.

“Individual or a company will register specific indigenous domain names and then offer them back for sale, sometimes for millions of dollars. The dot indigi name space will eliminate all theft and intellectual property issues by only allowing certain indigenous groups to create their own name space within dot indigi,” Mr Taiuru says.

The Maori Internet Society is also working on allowing the dot nz name space to accommodate macrons.

To mark Maori language week, Domain registrar iWantMyName has launched a service providing macronised domain names in the dot net, dot org and dot com spaces.

MAORI GOVERNANCE LEADS TO MAORI SUCCESS

A pioneer of Maori tertiary education says participation at governance level is critical to Maori success.

The national association for institutes of technology and polytechnics has warned members Tertiary Education Minister Anne Tolley plans to cull employer, Maori, union and other community representatives from polytech councils.

Turoa Royal says his experience setting up Whitireia Community Polytechnic and as head of sector group Te Tahuhu o Nga Wananga showed him the importance of Maori representation.

“Young Maori people will go where there are Maori people either on the staff or on the council. They provide a role model for a lot of our younger people and they also are good contacts for parents of young people,” Dr Royal says.

Having Maori on their councils allows polytechnics to be more responsive to the needs of the communities they serve.

DOLPHIN SUPPLIES FAMILY LUNCH

Mahia's resident dolphin has been looking for friends.

Moko received worldwide fame in 2008 after rescuing two stranded pygmy sperm whales.

Now he has directed his attention towards humans.

Gisborne resident Linda Coulston and her son Te Wai were at the beach this week with her son Te Wai when the dolphin decided to surprise them.

“And this particular day Te Wai decided he would go and just stand in the water and along came moko with a beautiful fat kahawai which in turn we smoked for lunch and he just played and played and he just wanted contact,” Ms Coulston says.

People need to remember Moko is a wild animal and they need to be careful around him.

BRIDGE BRINGS HOPE OF RIVER CLEAN UP

The chair of the Hauraki Maori Trust Board's kaumatua kaunihera hopes work on the new Kopu bridge will lead to a clean-up of the river it spans.

The first sod was turned yesterday for the new bridge into Thames and the Coromandel Peninsula.

Jim Nichols says the bridge will increase traffic into area and help to build industry.

It should also raise attention to the state of the Waihou and the rivers that feed into it.

“The Waihou, Piako and Ohinemuri rivers need to be improved. The quality of the environment needs to be taken care of. We hope the relationship that is building with the government and the local body councils will allow us to focus on that,” Mr Nichols says.

The quality of water coming down the river affects Hauraki's aquaculture ventures in Tikapa Moana, the Firth of Thames.

CITIZENSHIP NOW FOR SALE

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei says National has put New Zealand citizenship up for sale ... to the inevitable detriment of Maori.

In a bid to entice wealthy Asian investors, the government's new Investor Plus category fast tracks entry for migrants with $10 million to spend, and eliminates age and language requirements for them.

Ms Turei says the new rules mean migrants don't need to show any commitment to their new country.

“This policy of National’s goes way beyond the English language and the fact that just $10 million will buy you citizenship and relieve you of all other obligations whether it is language obligations or long term stay or family or any of the other obligations is an absolute selling of our citizenship,” Ms Turei says.

She says it's time for Maori to have a say in immigration policy.

STORYTELLER REMEMBERS EARLY EXPERIENCES

A champion of the Maori language revival is crediting her whangai and biological parents for giving her a love of storytelling.

Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira was this week honoured by the UNESCO backed Linguapax Institute for her contribution to linguistic diversity and multilingual education.

As one of 13 children of Raniera and Erana Harrison, she was whangai'd to whanau in Tokomaru Bay who only spoke te reo Maori.

“He too was a storyteller. His name was Eru Potaka. He used to carry me round on his horse. He was just a farm labourer. And he would tell me the stories about the landscape, the hills, the awa, and all of that. I went home to my natural parents when I was 10 and it turned out my dad was also a storyteller, and you know in those days no tv,” Mrs Mataira says.

In the late 1970s Katerina Mataira helped develop Te Atarangi language teaching, and she has also written and illustrated numerous children's books in Maori and English.

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