Waatea News Update

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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Turia open to Labour coalition

Maori party co-leader Tariana Turia is not ruling out working with Labour after the next election.

Mrs Turia says commentators who say she would never go into a coalition with Labour don’t understand politics.

She says the Maori Party has made gains with National in some areas but not in others, and it would be the same with Labour.

Mrs Turia says she was deeply hurt by some within Labour who labelled her a traitor when she quit in 2004 over the Foreshore and Seabed Act, but others understood what she was doing and remain friends.

HOROMIA KEEN TO GET THE NUMBERS

And former Maori Affairs minister Parekura Horomia says Labour's door would not be closed to the Maori Party.

The Ikaroa Rawhiti MP says he has a good relationship the party’s MPs, even as he has disagreed with many of the positions they have taken in their coalition with National.

He says it will come down to numbers after the election.

But National list MP Georgina Te Heuheu says National is more of a natural ally for the Maori Party than Labour.

She says that’s borne out by the gains made in the current coalition, such as the whanau ora policy.

WORLD CUP TEST FOR MAORI TELEVISION

Maori Television chief executive Jim Mather says 2011 will be a time of truth for the broadcaster.

As lead free to air broadcaster for the Rugby World Cup, the service goes head to head with TVNZ for the opening ceremony, then gets exclusive free to air live rights for the first four and a half weeks of the six week competition.

He says it’s the biggest challenge in Maori Television's 7-year history.

ELECTRONIC VOTING POPULAR IN NGATI POROU SETTLEMENT RATIFICATION

One of the organisers of Ngati Porou’s digital strategy says more than a third of votes on the tribe’s treaty settlement were made electronically.

Te Rau Kupenga says the East Coast tribe wanted its people to have a say wherever they are.

He says while older members preferred postal voting, younger ones embraced the text and digital options.

The vote closed last week, and the settlement is expected to be signed this week.

US SIGNS UP TO INDIGENOUS RIGHTS DECLARATION

One of the people who worked on drafting the UN Declaration of Indigenous Peoples Rights, Victoria University lecturer Aroha Mead says the signing of the agreement by the United States is welcome news to Maori.

Dr Mead says US president Barrack Obama's endorsement of declaration means that the four states which originally refused to sign ... New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the US ...have now agreed.

She says indigenous peoples around the world including Maori all said the excuses for not signing wouldn't hold up which has proved to be the case.

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