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Saturday, May 23, 2020

Breaking Views Update: Week of 17.05.20







Saturday May 23, 2020

News:
Gen Zero critical of council’s relationship with iwi

Generation Zero believes the Otago Regional Council have treated Kai Tahu like a stakeholder rather than a partner.

The national, youth-led climate organisation told ORC councillors during annual plan hearings conducted via video conferencing yesterday that local iwi’s voice had been diminished, among other stakeholders.

Otago regional council chairwoman Marian Hobbs asked the presenters, Jen Coatham and Pippa Chang, if iwi should be prioritised over other parties, including Fish & Game, to which they responded "yes".

"There is specific obligations on all of government under Te Tiriti o Waitangi to work in partnership," Ms Coatham said......
See full article HERE

Concerns govt lacks vision for Māori economy post Covid
Māori business advisors are concerned the government has given no clear direction for the future of the Māori economy.

Before Covid-19, the Māori economy was worth more than $50 billion.

But the pandemic has hurt many Māori businesses and some say the government should have a plan to support them by now.

In April, the government set aside $1 million to run an 0800 number for Māori businesses to access professional advice. By Tuesday, it had received 149 phone calls......
See full article HERE

Marlborough iwi fear council plan fails to protect 'potentially hundreds' of sacred sites
Potentially "hundreds" of historic Māori sites have been left unprotected in Marlborough's new environment plan, iwi say.

The Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan lists nine significant tangata whenua (local) iwi sites that cannot be demolished, removed or partially destroyed.

But the plan does not include or protect unregistered heritage sites, argue four iwi, who have each launched an appeal against the plan.

The iwi were Rangitāne o Wairau, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kuia, Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui Trust and Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu (Ngāi Tahu).....
See full article HERE

Taranaki backing for idea to hold public holiday to mark NZ land wars
The idea to introduce a new public holiday to mark the New Zealand Land Wars is being backed in Taranaki, a region heavily shaped by its own civil conflicts.

On Friday, Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon urged Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to introduce a public holiday to commemorate the nation's land wars, which took place across the country from the mid-to-late 1800s.....
See full article HERE

New sculpture from Kereama Taepa to be installed at Maclean Park
Installation of a long-awaited sculpture at Te Uruhi/Maclean Park in Paraparaumu is set to begin next week.

Designed by internationally-renowned New Zealand artist Kereama Taepa of Te Arawa and Te Āti Awa iwi, Tohorā, will be a nearly 10m long sculpture symbolising the journey of whales and other travellers through the Te Rau o te Rangi waters – the strait between Kāpiti Island and the mainland.
See full article HERE

Propaganda:
New Zealand's 'shame': BBC puts Jacinda Ardern's govt under spotlight

This Breaking Views Update monitors race relations in the media on a weekly basis. A summary of new material being added is emailed out during the week - to subscribe (or unsubscribe) to the mailout, please use the form at the top of the Breaking Views sidebar. If you would like to send Letters to the Editor in response to any of these articles, most media addresses can be found HERE.

Friday May 22, 2020

News:
People 'taking the mickey' as unpaid rates rise to $3.5m in Ōpōtiki region
Ōpōtiki ratepayers owe $3.5 million in unpaid rates, with some who can pay simply refusing to do so.
Over 80 per cent of this debt comes from Maori-owned land, in particular properties up the coast from Te Kaha to the Cape.

Four per cent of this written-off debt applied to general properties and 96 per cent to Māori land.
See full article HERE

Māori Land Court rules in favour of activists in fight over polluted Lake Horowhenua
Two activists in a long-running fight over badly polluted Lake Horowhenua have had a big win in court.

The Māori Land Court has ruled in favour of Phil Taueki and Charles Rudd.

The two have battled the lake's trustees elected to represent other beneficiary owners, and Taueki has had high-profile clashes with the district council.

Now the judge, in a 100-page ruling, says the trust could have got on with projects to try to protect the lake, if it had properly followed its own rules, but it did not.

Rudd's lawyer Linda Thornton said it was a landmark on a long road.

"Ultimately there were issues about protecting wāhi tapu and significant sites ... and my client was concerned about how decisions were being made.

"In the Māori land law, Te Ture Whenua Māori, there is a provision that talks about the role of the court in protecting an oppressed minority against an unreasonable majority and vice versa.......
See full article HERE

Bros for Change receives funding boost for ‘Real work, real talk, real change’
Bros for Change, has been recognised with a significant funding announcement from Ministers Hon Shane Jones and Hon Willie Jackson.

The programme will be based in Kaikōura and has been awarded $510,000 from He Poutama Rangatahi, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s youth training and employment pathway fund, as part of the recent jobs, training and education budget announcement.

Bros for Change uses a strong sense of culture and identity to form the basis of its programme. By using the protocols of Te Ao Māori.....
See full article HERE

Call For Public Holiday To Mark The New Zealand Land Wars
The Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon has encouraged the Prime Minister to mark the New Zealand Land Wars with a public holiday.

‘I was excited at the prospect that New Zealand may hold public holidays as a response to COVID and believes it’s the right time to mark these historical events. The New Zealand Wars are not currently marked with an official public holiday.’......
See full article HERE

Propaganda:
What should the future of NZ look like beyond COVID-19?

Thursday May 21, 2020

News:
Revealed: Covid-19 funding for GPs is race based
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that COVID-19 support funding for general practice clinics was allocated significantly on the basis of enrolled patients’ ethnicities.
Information obtained under the Official Information Act 1982 showed that organisations received $4.50 in funding per Māori or Pacific patient with any other ethnicities worth only $1.50 – only a third of the amount.

Elderly and individuals from low socio-economic areas were valued at the increased Māori/Pacific amount.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Jordan Williams says, “So much for the Government’s slogan ‘we’re all in this together’. Skin colour shouldn’t be the proxy for how much money the Government allocates for healthcare.”
See full article HERE

NZMACI mandate protected with Government fund
Sir Āpirana Ngata’s vision of ensuring the protection and perpetuation of Māori art and craft will live on – despite the impact of COVID-19 – thanks to a $7.6 million Government contribution for the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute (NZMACI), located at Te Puia in Rotorua.

The $7.6 million contribution – to be paid over two years – is part of the Government’s Rebuilding Together Budget. Minister Nanaia Mahuta confirmed the details during a site visit to Te Puia | NZMACI today.......
See full article HERE

Local job initiatives supported
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson have announced almost $15 million to support skills training and education that can help regional recovery from COVID-19.

Mr Jones says it will go to organisations in some of the most vulnerable communities, covering projects in Canterbury, Manawatū-Whanganui, Hawke’s Bay, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Te Tai Tokerau.....
See full article HERE

Crown seeks feedback on Taihape treaty mandate
The Crown is taking an extra step to make sure Taihape iwi can agree who will negotiate their Treaty of Waitangi claims.

The Mokai Patea Waitangi Claims Trust (MPWCT) held hui and voting last year to see whether it had the mandate to represent tribes in the Taihape Inquiry Area. When votes were counted in July the trust was supported by 80 per cent of about 1000 eligible voters.....
See full article HERE

Research To Address Inequities In Maternal Health Services For Māori Receives NSC Funding
New research by the University of Waikato aims to address inequities in maternal health services for Māori by using Māori knowledge and tikanga to empower Māori families.

Dr Waikaremoana Waitoki is leading the research project funded by ‘A Better Start E Tipu e Rea’ National Science Challenge, which will receive nearly $1 million over two years. Professor Wayne Cutfield is the Director of the A Better Start National Science Challenge.....
See full article HERE

Maori wardens better option for COVID response
A leading Māori lawyer says the Government could have saved itself a fight if it had remembered the Māori wardens.

Annette Sykes says the idea of allowing police to go on to marae without a warrant to enforce COVID-19 restrictions may have been well intentioned, but it ignored the sensitivity Māori have about the tapu of the marae, and the historical context.

She says Māori wardens already have statutory power to operate in similar ways to police in some cases, and they have the trust of the people......
See full article HERE

Tourists still barred from Cape Reinga despite drop to Alert Level 2
Despite dropping to Alert Level 2, one of the country's top tourism spots in Northland remains blocked off by iwi.

Dozens of tourists are being turned away from Cape Reinga by local iwi, despite tourism and hospitality in the region trying to encourage visitors to the area.

Northland MP Matt King made a video of a confrontation that took place with iwi as he tried to access the location.

“It's my customary rights and I’m prepared to knock you out if you pass that gate,” a person blocking access says in the video.

“Northland is a beautiful place with beautiful people in it and we've got a lot to offer and I just want to see the roadblocks taken down and us just getting back to business,” Mr King says.

Ngāti Kuri says that is what it wants too, but first the sacred site must be cleansed.

Māori tradition holds that after death spirits travel there to depart.

"There is a responsibility and obligation and opportunity to move us through to Level 1 by having an appropriate opening so spirits can move toward te rerenga wairua,” Harry Burkhardt of Ngāti Kuri says.......
See full article HERE

Tribe hostile to Waikato water grab
Waikato Tainui wants Auckland to stop plundering its awa.

Te Arataura chair Rukumoana Schaafhausen says the Waikato River is already under stress from over allocation.

It shouldn’t be seen as the solution to Auckland’s latest water crisis.........
See full article HERE

Auckland DHB debates prioritising Māori and Pacific patients for elective surgeries
Auckland DHB members have debated prioritising Māori and Pacific patients for some elective surgeries after chairman Pat Snedden said disruption from Covid-19 represents a "Big Bang" opportunity to reset an unfair health system.

"Our current system privileges some groups already. Māori and Pasifika are not in that group usually. It is important to be explicit about this. Covid gives us a big-bang opportunity to reset," Snedden wrote in an extraordinary document put to the board today......
See full article HERE

Propaganda:
Māori and Pasifika must be part of planning New Zealand's Covid-19 recovery

Tuesday May 19, 2020

News:
Tribunal takes clippers to plant variety claim
The Waitangi Tribunal has knocked back a claim over the way plant variety rights will be managed.
The issue of the part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement claims, with claimants arguing the Crown’s process for engagement over whether New Zealand should adopt the 1991 International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants was inconsistent with its treaty obligations to Māori.

The tribunal says not only is the crown implementing the relevant findings and recommendations of the Tribunal’s 2011 Ko Aotearoa Tēnei report on the way government agencies deal with Māori, but it is also doing even more to recognise and protect the interests of kaitiaki in taonga species and in non-indigenous species of significance.....
See full article HERE

Waitangi Treaty Grounds trust welcomes first government funding
A $4 million government subsidy will help the Waitangi National Trust survive the effects of Covid-19.

It is believed to be the first time the trust has received government funding for its baseline operations since it was established in 1932. The funding comes from the Arts, Culture and Heritage Budget.....
See full article HERE

High Court hearing looms for $200m Mt Messenger bypass
A High Court hearing is pending regarding the future of the $200 million Mt Messenger bypass project.

The appellants taking the case to the High Court are Poutama Kaitiaki Charitable Trust and affected landowners Tony and Debbie Pascoe.

However, no final decision could be made by the court due to the uncertainty around the position of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Tama regarding its backing of the new road.

Rūnanga trustees have since unanimously voted to accept a compensation and mitigation package negotiated on its behalf with New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), which includes a $7.7m cash payment, but it has yet to put the matter to the wider iwi vote.....
See full article HERE

Sunday May 17, 2020

News:
Medical schools boosting Māori and Pasifika numbers
A four-fold increase in Māori and Pasifika studying medicine at Otago University has intensified competition for a dwindling number of places for other students.
In 2010, only about 10 per cent of medical students (not including international) at Otago were Māori or Pasifika.

Since then, more robust affirmative action policies have been introduced to make it easier for students from certain backgrounds to get into medical school. By 2016 Māori and Pasifika students took up 32 per cent of places offered to first year health sciences students.

This year, 79 Māori and Pasifika students, counting for 39 per cent of first year health sciences applicants, were accepted into first year medicine......
See full article HERE

Māori - Government Partnership Gives Whānau A New Housing Deal
The Government is investing $40 million in a partnership with Māori to get more whānau into warm, dry and secure accommodation, Associate Minister for Housing (Māori Housing) Hon Nanaia Mahuta says..

“We are partnering with Māori and iwi to respond to the growing housing crisis in the wake of COVID-19. Since the COVID-19 Alert Levels were put in place we’ve needed to stay home to save lives.

“Partnering with our people, applying Māori principles and solutions and drawing on the strengths of all the players across the system will provide us with the best opportunity to deliver better housing for Māori,” says Nanaia Mahuta......
See full article HERE

Propaganda:
Five Māori leaders on what Covid-19 has changed 

This Breaking Views Update monitors race relations in the media on a weekly basis. A summary of new material being added is emailed out during the week - to subscribe (or unsubscribe) to the mailout, please use the form at the top of the Breaking Views sidebar. If you would like to send Letters to the Editor in response to any of these articles, most media addresses can be found HERE

1 comment:

Max Ritchie said...

You couldn’t make this stuff up! Now the Treaty of Waitangi requires medical schools to have the same proportion of Maori students as that of the population? A strange interpretation of a very simple treaty. And it is not up to medical schools to decide our medical workforce policy; their job is to implement a government policy, not to make one.

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