Waatea News Update

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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Friday, April 23, 2010

Declaration triumphant wallpaper for Harawira

Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira wants to see a copy of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the wall of every Maori family.

The Maori Party MP says he will ask Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples to if 500,000 copies can be run off for this purpose.

“You can look at your treaty on the wall and very soon we will have posters of the declaration up on the wall as well. I’ll talk to Pete about getting at least enough to spread around the county so we can look at it and go ‘that's us,’” Mr Harawira says.

He says like the treaty of Waitangi, the more people use the declaration the more it will become understood in courts and become part of the law.

WAKA CLUB SEEKING PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR HQ PLAN

Mangere's waka ama club is holding a public meeting tomorrow morning to calm fears about a two-storey clubhouse it wants to build beside Mangere Bridge.

Advisor James Papali'i says there has been opposition in the past from some residents, but any potential impact is minor compared with the disruption to the area in recent years caused by the enlargement of the bridge.

While nationally waka ama is a predominantly Maori sport, in south Auckland it has also attracted many Pacific Island and Pakeha paddlers.

Mr Papali'i says it’s a great way to see a harbour which is relatively lightly used for recreational purposes.

The waka ama club consultation meeting is at the Mangere Bridge extension depot at 11am tomorrow.

MAORI THEMES INCLUDED IN ANZAC STAMPS

Two Maori-themed stamps in this year's New Zealand Posts ANZAC stamp issue have personal significance for series coordinator James Te Puni from Ngati Porou.

The $1 stamp depicts the posthumous award ceremony for the Victoria Cross winner, second lieutenant Te Moananui a Kiwa Ngarimu, while the $2.80 stamp shows veteran Rei Rautahi visiting the cemetery in Sangro, Italy, the resting place for 2600 allied soldiers including 355 New Zealanders.

Mr Te Puni says working with the Returned Services Association on the ANZAC collection is an annual highlight for NZ Post's stamps division.

He says with two grandfathers who served in World War 2, one in the Maori Battalion, it becomes a very personal story.

The stamps are available now.

MELBOURNE STORM SCANDAL SHOCK TO FOUNDER MEMBER

A member of the first Melbourne Storm team says players and staff will be gutted by the events of the past 24 hours.

The National Rugby League stripped the club of two premierships and fined it for breaching salary caps over the past five years.

Tawera Nikau from Tainui, who won the 1999 premiership with the Storm, says the club is in for a rocky road as it tries to recover from the scandal.

He feels especially for assistant coach Steve Kearney, who also coaches the Kiwis, and Whangarei-raised Maori utility forward Adam Blair.

“A guy like Adam Blair who foregoes $100,000 a year to stay at the Storm and win a couple of premierships, although they’ve been imposed with these sanctions, fines and the stripping of their premierships, the players will feel gutted. All the hard work they’ve put in over the past four years, what has it been for,” Mr Nikau says.

He says the Storm controversy could throw preparations for the Anzac Test in Melbourne into disarray.

HARD PUSH TO GET RIGHTS DECLARATION CHANGE

Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell says the Maori party had to work extremely hard over the past year to get National to agree to sign up to the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Mr Flavell was at the United Nations in New York this week to support the announcement that New Zealand had changed its position on the declaration, which was adopted by the UN three years ago.

He says are recently as four weeks ago, the Maori Party did not know it would be able to win National over ... which made Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples's appearance at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues that much sweeter.

“Who would have thought that a Maori from Kahungunu, a Maori co-leader of a Maori Party, would make a statement at the world forum of the United Nations where so many world leaders have stood in the past and made declarations, who would have thought one year ago that would have taken place. I don’t think many people would have,” Mr Flavell says.

BATTALION SONGS REPRISED FOR ANZAC DAY

The music of the 28 Maori Battalion will be heard again in Kirikiriroa on Anzac day.

Boys from five Hamilton high schools will be performing the old waiata in the marae atea of Waikato Museum on Sunday morning.

Museum educator Jasmine Tunstall says the age range, from 15 to 19, isn't the only similarity the boys have with the battalion, and they are showing a great level of camaraderie.

The performance at 11am will be followed by other Anzac-related activities throughout the day.

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