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Saturday, July 9, 2022

Breaking Views Update: Week of 3.7.22







Saturday July 9, 2022 

News:
Tairawhiti spin put on teacher reo programme

Its Taitawhiti Campus has taken on the delivery of Te Ahu o te Reo Māori to 500 teachers in the region as part of a national roll-oiut of the programme, which aims to impove the capacity and confidence of teachers to use te reo Maori in the classroom.

Campus director Tracey Tangihaere says EIT is working with mana whenua so it can pass on reo, pūrākau and tikanga which are specific to iwi in Tūranga.

More than 6000 teachers around the country have so far been through Te Ahu o te Reo Māori......
See full article HERE

Sport NZ to fund mau rākau school
Te Whare Tū Taua o Aotearoa has received backing from Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa to deliver its traditional Māori weaponry training curriculum nationally over the next three years.

The school was founded by Sir Pita Sharples in 1983 to teach mau rākau as well as physical fitness, Māori history, confidence, leadership skills, and self-discipline.

It has 2000 members throughout Aotearoa, with branches in London, Australia, Hawai’i and Abu Dabi.

Ihi Aotearoa chief executive Raelene Castle says the funding will enable Māori to participate in physical activity that is for and by Māori......
See full article HERE

Culture lessons in way of Māori health change
Former New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says the new Māori Health Authority needs to drop political rhetoric and focus of finding ways to improve Māori health outcomes if it is to survive past the election.

But it needs to step away from the identity politics and ideology that have marked its launch.

“We want to know how will this authority in our regions or indeed in any hospital lead to better outcomes. I don’t want anyone in public telling me what its Māori name is. I don’t want anyone telling me about Tane, about Mareikura, about whatukura. Often when ideology and Māori political speak loom large, it’s designed to disguise an absence of content,” Mr Jones says.....
See full article HERE

Hikurangi Swamp scheme trust gets thumbs down from iwi, interest groups
Iwi in the Whangārei area is concerned about the continued degradation of the Hikurangi swamp caused by farming.

Last month Whangārei District councillors voted in favour of the setting up of a trust, run by farmers, to helm the $50m Whangārei District Council drainage scheme which covers 5,600 hectares. But local iwi oppose the proposal.....
See full article HERE

Kākā Hill transfer to Ngāti Koata begins
Kākā Hill, a site of significant cultural and historic value in Nelson, is being transferred into Ngāti Koata ownership.

A memorandum of understanding between current owners of the maunga and the Te Tauihu iwi was signed on Monday, beginning the process of transferring a parcel of land, including the hill, back into tangata whenua ownership.....
See full article HERE

Ngāti Tukorehe concerns about world-class Ōhau golf course design remain
The decision on whether a proposal to build a $50 million world-class golf course near Ōhau has resource consent is expected on Monday with one iwi still voicing concern.

Ngati Tukorehe remains opposed, identifying an area of the proposed site as wāhi tapu, while also criticising the consultation process in its latest submission to Horizons.....
See full article HERE

Articles:
Bruce Moon responds to ‘Joe Descartes’ 

This Breaking Views Update monitors race relations in the media on a weekly basis. New material is added regularly. If you would like to send Letters to the Editor in response to any of these articles, most media addresses can be found HERE

Thursday July 7, 2022 

News: 
New era begins for Iwi-Māori Partnership Board 
The Board will consist of one iwi appointed representative from: Ngati Koata, Ngati Apa, Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama, Te Atiawa, Rangitane, Ngati Kuia and Ngati Toa Rangatira and two independent appointed representatives to represent the Māori community and health profession.

The Board will play a vital role in working closely with Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority and Te Whatu Ora, Health NZ, in the design and delivery of local health services in Te Tauihu which includes the current boundaries of the Nelson Marlborough District. Locality commissioning from assessing the health needs of whānau, identifying priorities and monitoring the services provided are also core functions of the Board.....
See full article HERE

Law scholarship recipient to focus on recognition of tikanga Māori
Josie says New Zealand’s legal system is currently on the cusp of a significant transformation.

“The courts are becoming increasingly willing to recognise and enforce tikanga Māori both as an independent source of law and as part of the values of our common law. In parallel, the constitutional significance of the Treaty of Waitangi continues to grow, with major legal implications for the Crown and for Māori.

“This period of transformation raises a number of important questions for Māori and for the nation. How can our constitutional arrangements create space for indigenous self-determination, while at the same time developing a legal system that draws on both English and Māori traditions? How can the integrity of tikanga be maintained if it is to be interpreted and applied by existing, largely non-Māori institutions?”.....
See full article HERE

Invercargill City Council administration building to undergo name change
The Invercargill City Council’s civic administration building will soon have a new name.

The Waihōpai Rūnaka has gifted the name Te Hīnaki to the council to use for its administration building in Esk St.

In August the building will be renamed “Te Hīnaki - Civic Building”.

The move to change the name is part of the council’s Te Reo o Te Puni - E Tipu Te Waerenga - Maori Language Plan.......
See full article HERE

Articles:
Denis Hall: Was it colonisation - or civilisation - and the answer is vital to New Zealand's future

Michael Bassettt: Beware of snake oil merchants: they’re bad for your health

Propaganda:
Learning te reo could be key in improving wellbeing for Māori

Analysis: It's time for New Zealand to face up to environmental damage from colonisation 

Wednesday July 6, 2022 

News: 
New Ahiparapara cultural gateway revealed at the weekend 
The standing waka are a nod to the ancient ancestral practice of placing upright waka in the ground to mark the passing of a rangatira (leader) or ariki (chief) and to commemorate their life and sacredness within the region.

The new cultural gateway cost approximately $100,000 and took around four months to complete.

The gateway forms part of the Te Hiku Open Spaces Revitalisation Project, which will feature a range of cultural artworks at the gateway entrances to various Te Hiku townships.

Each of the five Te Hiku iwi will provide the artwork features and plaques within the open spaces, streetscapes, and along the shared pathways across the region to tell the stories and history of each local iwi.

Far North District councillor Felicity Foy said the works would be undertaken within FNDC-owned or administered land and included investment and revitalisation of green open spaces within key sites inside the Te Hiku town centres......
See full article HERE

Government introduces new Reserve Bank board
Retained from the board’s previous iteration are Prof. Neil Quigley and Susan Paterson.

The new board members are:

Rodger Finlay, who previously chaired NZ Post Ltd and PGG Wrightson and is a director of Ngāi Tahu Holdings Ltd.

Jeremy Banks (Rangitāne, Ngāti Kuia) He is a director of Wakatū Incorporation. He is also a director of Crown company Network for Learning, vice chair of Ngāti Rārua Ātiawa Iwi Trust.

Prof. Rawinia Higgins (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Ruapani ki Waikaremoana, Ngāti Kahungunu) is the deputy vice-chancellor (Māori) at Victoria University of Wellington,

Byron Pepper is an experienced advisor to boards, management teams and investors across business and insurance sectors.

Hinerangi Raumati-Tu’ua (Ngāti Mutunga, Tainui) is the chair of Tainui Group Holdings and a director at Genesis Energy and Watercare Services.....
See full article HERE

MBIE grant to fund Waitangi Regional Park upgrade
The Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has granted $400,000 to Hawke’s Bay Regional Council for a facilities upgrade at Waitangi Regional Park.

“Matariki is an event where Māori mātauranga gets the recognition it deserves, and we can pass down stories and knowledge to the next generation. This funding means Matariki and other events can be scaled up,” Mr Smith said.

Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated Chief Executive, Chrissie Hape says the facilities will enable whānau to spend longer, enjoy and learn more about the history of Iwi and the hapū of this rohe.

“Waitangi Park Reserve is a significant place within the history of Ngāti Kahungunu ; it is where the Takitimu waka first landed in Heretaunga and where several Heretaunga chiefs including Te Hapuku signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840,” she said.....
See full article HERE

Articles:
David Round: The Conservation Issue

Chris Trotter: Willie Jackson's Problem.

Bryce Edwards: Government appointments under scrutiny

Barrie Saunders: $100 billion nationalisation but where is the business media?  

Tuesday July 5, 2022 

News: 
Open Letter To Increase Te Matatini Funding Delivered To Government 
Te Pāti Māori have today delivered an open letter to the Associate Minister for Arts, Culture & Heritage Hon Kiritapu Allen, calling to immediately increase funding to Te Matatini which was yet again underfunded in this year’s Budget.

After receiving a $1million annual increase, Te Matatini will now see $2.9 million per year. Compare this to the Royal New Zealand Ballet, who will receive $8.1m per year, or the Symphony Orchestra who will be given $19.7 million in tax dollars per year, and the inequities become very clear.

Everywhere we look, the numbers do not add up. On every measure, Te Matatini has been valued less than the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Royal New Zealand Ballet and it is unacceptable. Te Pāti Māori stand with Te Matatini and all other kapa haka rōpū across the motu who are fed up with the continued second class treatment of Māori arts.....
See full article HERE

Maori Council National Secretary on distancing themselves from Matthew Tukaki
The Maori Council are distancing themselves from Matthew Tukaki.

They say that back in 2019 and 2020, some of their members expressed concern with the way that he represented the organisation.

It comes after 1 News says that his CV wasn't checked before he was appointed to a key Government role with Oranga Tamariki......
See full article HERE

Māori authority welcomes health system reform as important first step
Winiata said the creation of the new authority dedicated to indigenous health is an important first step.

But she said it's vital that the new entity has the ability to make its own decisions and help support Māori self-determination.....
See full article HERE

The GRS welcomes Associate Professor Diane Ruwhiu as its first Deputy Dean
The Graduate Research School’s first Deputy Dean Diane Ruwhiu is looking forward to sharing her knowledge on Te Ao Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, but also to learning about the GRS community.

Her research focuses on elements of Māori economic development, specifically understanding the modes of economy within which Māori enterprise operate and considering success factors for Māori business. Current research also includes, indigenising business education, enabling vision mātauranga in science sector research and future of work.....
See full article HERE

Propaganda:
Racism in police poll: 72 pct of Māori say police are racist in some way 

Monday July 4, 2022

News:
Kelvin Davis: Aotearoa 'not ready' for compulsory te reo Māori

The minister responsible for Māori education fears there would be a “backlash” should the Government make te reo Māori a compulsory part of the curriculum.

The Government has committed about $200 million to Māori education in this year’s Budget, which includes further funding towards helping mainstream teachers develop their reo.

However, the Labour Party has no specific plans to make te reo Māori part of the core curriculum, as it has done with the teaching of New Zealand history......
See full article HERE

Victoria Māori academics win grants to improve whānau healthcare
Professor Bev Lawton (Ngāti Porou) and the team from Te Tātai Hauora o Hine—the National Centre for Women’s Health Research Aotearoa were granted the $5 million for a five-year programme of research work with the ultimate goal of providing culturally safe and responsive maternity and child health care services.

The programme aims to inform health delivery practice and system changes. Overall this programme will fill in the knowledge gaps and intervene to reduce avoidable harm and death for Māori pēpi, māmā, and whānau.

Dr Clive Aspin (Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Whanaunga and Ngāti Tamaterā) and his colleagues from the University’s School of Health ­Te Kura Tātai Hauora have received close to $1.2 million dollars for research into coronial processes to improve suicide prevention strategies for rangatahi, who have very high rates of suicide......
See full article HERE

Crown appoints its representatives to the rōpu to decide on the future of Ihumātao
The government has announced who will represent the Crown on the Rōpu Whakahaere, a committee tasked with deciding the future of the contested land at Ihumātao in Auckland.

Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson announced this week that Dr Charlotte Severne and Bernie O’Donnell join the four others members of the committee, which has at least another three and a half years to come to a decision on the land’s use.

Severne is the Māori Trustee, appointed by Māori Land Court to administer some Māori freehold land and other assets on behalf of their owners. She has been appointed for two years.

O’Donnell is the chair of the Manukau Urban Maori Authority, and has been appointed for four years.....
See full article HERE

Pukekohe mural shining brightly for Mātauranga Māori
The Pukekohe town square has been adorned with a mural to honour te ao Māori and Mātauranga Māori’s place in the heart of the Franklin district.

The mural is the first of what is hoped to be a town-wide project, led by Pukekohe High School art teacher Catherine Tamihere.....
See full article HERE

How Māori use maramataka to care for mental health issues and how the practice will be incorporated into treatment by Māori Health Authority
Not so well known to non-Māori is their tradition of using the moon and stars to help treat mental health issues.

It's called maramataka and will be incorporated into treatment by the new Māori Health Authority.

"The maramataka helps you, helps us to predict when things are going to happen, to tell us when the fish are going to run, when the eels are going to run - all those sorts of things," he said......
See full article HERE


This Breaking Views Update monitors race relations in the media on a weekly basis. New material is added regularly. If you would like to send Letters to the Editor in response to any of these articles, most media addresses can be found HERE

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer's money on a totally useless language in the international world, no use for trade, diplomacy or even communication. To enrage the majority of the population by having Te Reo forced on us on TV, radio, every government department, school, signage plus bastardizing the English language. How the sheeple stand dumbly by and allow all of this crap to happen is astounding. Kiwialan.

Robert Arthur said...

Kelvin Davis has got one thing right.
The money tipped into stone age te reo is utterly absurd. It is investment in inefficency. The emphasis discourages from the profession the able objective sorts likely to be capable of correcting the abyssmal reading, maths and science achievements.

Robert Arthur said...

Hopefully Bob Jones will read the article about maori mental health and the moon.... It is ripe for his comment.

Anonymous said...

if it takes 100K to build this 'cultural gateway', the average price of 1M for a house seems like a bargain!!!

Robert Arthur said...


Presumably members of the Iwi Maori Partnership Board are paid a stipend, or is it maori time by the hour? Either way it seems a great lurk, especially as all outcome shortfalls will be blamed on the colonists anyway. Is there anything equivalent open to mediocre slow thinking pure colonists like me? Unfortunately there is no race based colonist buddy system with colonist self interest the sole driver.
And the legal profession seems eager to embrace tikanga. From my long observation the impression I gain is that attitude of the profession, law recommendations from them, and the outcome of legal cases can be predicted by applying the test "What will maximise work for lawyers?"

Anonymous said...

the claim about language and well-being is a bit rich.

one of the fundamentals of statistics is that 'correlation does not imply causation. yet, the article is entirely based on that false premise. feelings seem to be more important than facts or evidence!

worst part is the claim by stats nz (no less) about the sample validity despite reduced and inconsistent stratification simply because 'they thoroughly examined the samples'. if this is the condition of stats nz, one can only wonder about stats proficiency in the wider audience!

Robert Arthur said...

I wonder if Tairawhiti campus will be providing special training courses for teachers of those other hobby interests; maths, science, English, reading, writing.

And why is Sport NZ supporting what has all the appearances of a terrorist recruitment and training organisation. Just somewhat more subtle than the Urewera weapons training antics of a few years ago.

Shane Jones displays a one time refreshing and commendable maori characteristic; straight talk in plain English. Now sadly not discernible in the convoluted modern utterances of activists and apologists.

Is Kaka hill open to the public now and will it continue to be so...for free?

Whilst I like to see natural areas conserved, opposition to draining of the Hikuranga swamp is typical of the negative obstruction which with co involvement and extensive consultation will hugely complicate most future attempts to raise productivity and living standards overall.

Similarly I would personally rather see the Ohau coastal area remain as is than as a golf course. With future travel more restricted I wonder where the clientele will come from. Problems with maori land arose with the Waikanae bypass. A major influence in future motorways being planned through prime agriculture and market gardening land to the east instead of the low potential coastal sand soils.