Waatea News Update

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

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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Friday, October 30, 2009

Time to turn back the tide

Maori Affairs minister Pita Sharples will take a bill repealing the Foreshore and Seabed Act to Cabinet on Monday.

Dr Sharples told an Anglican church hui in Auckland this afternoon the Maori Party struggled with some aspects of being in coalition, such as having to vote for tax cuts for the wealthy when it campaigned on lower taxes for poor people.

But he says that's outweighed by the opportunities it offers the party to deliver what it promised supporters.

“On Monday I’m taking to Parliament with the attorney general the bill to repeal the Foreshore and Seabed Act. It will be repealed shortly. It will get the go ahead at Cabinet on Monday. It’s just the way it is. You do what you can when you can,” Dr Sharples says.

ANGLICANS CONSIDER FUTURE OF CHURCH BOARDING SCHOOLS

Meanwhile, Maori Anglicans will this weekend consider the future of the church's Maori boarding schools.

John Gray, the Bishop of Te Waipounamu, says the biannual Runanganui at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre will hear reports on the prospects for reopening the two Auckland schools, Queen Victoria and St Stephens, which closed at the start of the decade.

They will also consider the future of Te Aute and Hukarere in the Hawkes Bay, which have been financially crippled by Glasgow leases imposed by the Crown which mean lands supposed to endow the schools has been leased out in perpetuity for peppercorn rents.

“They're looking for the vision to develop the school to 2035. There’s been a number of people engaged in looking at curriculum and how best this will serve not only Te Aute but also Hukarere into the future so it’s really future aspirations, future planning and what is the best way they can utilize the colleges to bring leadership out of them within Maoridom,” Bishop Gray says.

The Runanganui this morning was unable to reach a decision on whether same-sex orientation should be a barrier to ordination, with Bishop Grey telling the hui that while Destiny Church was declaring its leader Brian Tamaki a king, the Anglicans were arguing about keeping out queens.

MURIHIKU MITES HARNESS POWER OF KAPA HAKA

Kapa haka is changing hearts in minds in Murihiku, where Maori are relatively scarce.

Yesterday more than 600 children from 11 primary schools took part in Southland's largest Maori festival, Nga Putangitangi, while their parents clapped, cheered and stamped their feet in support.

Event organiser Rosina Shandley says children from many ethnic backgrounds are experiencing bi-culturalism first hand and their parents are gaining cultural understanding in the process.

KAITOKO WHANAU PUTS COMMUNITIES IN CHARGE OF SOCIAL WORK

Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples says a new advocacy service is aimed to break the dependency many Maori families have on government agencies.

The Kaitoko Whanau programme launched yesterday will fund 50 Maori service providers to hire workers who will help families in trouble interact with government agencies to find a coordinated solution to their problems.

Dr Sharples says the philosophy of empowement underpinning the scheme hark back to his own days as a Maori Affairs community officer.

“This is the old Tu Tangata programme, by Maori and for Maori, and that’s the whole beauty of it. It’s not unlike the old community officer except the officer belonged to a department, and while Te Puni Kokiri might have a role in administering the funds to them, these workers are entirely working with their whanau and their community organisations,” Dr Sharples says.

Kaitoko Whanau is a precursor to the wider whanau ora community development framework the Maori Party is trying to get the Government to adopt.

SHARP EYE FOR MAORI DARTS CAHMPIONSHIPS

A good eye, and a steady hand will be needed by the 140 Maori who are set to take part in the fifth Maori Darts champs in Porirua this weekend.

Kapi-Mana Darts Association secretary Paula Mascoe says darts are really popular with Maori.

She says the New Zealand scene is not as competitive or professional as the scene in the United Kingdom, where people make a living out of playing darts.

PRIMARY SCHOOL CULTURAL COMPETITION IN TAIRAWHITI

Te Tai Rawhiti hosts the primary school national kapa haka championships this weekend, giving it practice for running Te Matatini in 2011.

The 25 teams and supporters expected in Gisborne for the bi-annual event include King Tuheitia, whose daughter is part of the Rakaumangamanga team from Huntly.

Tairawhiti kapa haka identity Willie Te Aho says Poverty Bay's failure to make the NPC semi-finals meant organisers had more time to set up at Rugby Park.

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