NGATI KAHU, NGATI WHATUA & MAORI NEWS NEW ZEALAND – 16.8.12

In brainy Maoris News: Prof. Margaret Mutu of the Ngāti Kahu iwi (Maori tribe) said some stuff recently. Watch.

Te Karere News reported: “Ngāti Kahu has asked the Waitangi Tribunal to invoke rarely-used powers and order the Crown to buy back private land under claim and return it to the tribe. But Treaty Minister Chris Finlayson says the Crown will oppose the move.”

I think these debates are important when New Zealand reaches the point where tsunami impacts of immigration due to climate change’s effects on the lush land of Aotearoa NZ, become more evident.

Unless The Crown were to consider Maori leaders’ views like Prof. Mutu’s on such matters, then NZ would run the risk of burying Maori even further under new layers of pressure, that The Crown may not be giving due consideration to, or planning as robustly against as it should be.

At the moment in NZ, the mindset of The Crown is favoring construction companies efforts to earthquake-proof all NZ’s buildings. No one disagrees that should happen in time. Yet earthquake concerns a one of many that must be weighed up in conjunction with just treatment of Maori Iwi and Maori peoples equal access to prime economic real estate, lands, opportunities and resources too.

Tax write-offs in this important earthquake-proofing project all of NZ is committed to as one people, will ensure The Crown (or government) assists the project.

In such a move, The Crown clearly favors property owners interests over all otherrs, to ensure this kind of safety, while the NZ economy writes off some of the costs. Yet at whose expense are our rebuild efforts really being incurred by?

For Maori the same robustness of thought to guard Maori Iwi against ‘economic erosion, implosion’ pitted against Maori society – needs to be given the same kind of consideration to by The Crown (and NZ government). Perhaps why I appreciated Prof. Mutu’s thoughts offering an intelligent leadership opinion in her capacity as a smart Iwi leader today, most of NZ recognizes is more intelligent than most of us.

Zooming right out of that topic then (a domain for politicians, lawyers, judges and Maori too - who now make up the quantums deciding entity known as “The Crown” and the just economic flows such an entitiy should exist to ensure observing the purposive constructivist approach of equality outlined in NZ’s founding document as a spirit of good faith in operation).

So. TK News also covered the following topics off:

Cyber Bullying and teen suicide – new laws around safeguarding teens; Very important: The Tamaki iwi collective is due to vote this Friday on whether it’ll accept the Crown’s Treaty settlement offer. It includes Hauraki Gulf Islands, Auckland’s volcanic cones and first right of refusal on Crown properties. [Added: What about the agricultural growing flat lands of the city, prime lands near clean waterways -for agricultural, farming, vitner purposes, or lands in The South and The West for city planning and building too?]. If these aren’t factored into Ngati Whatua’s provision in settlement from The Crown, than Australian private property developers are given more ‘special powers’ than Maori are on their own ancestral lands. That should change. In addition, it’s not only wealthy white people in NZ, who can benefit as of right at the expense of Iwi always sacrificing, assets, resources either. So that too needs to be acknowledged and changed in the culture of how The Crown has chosen in the past to direct such economic flows to.

Anyway, Ngāti Whātua spokesman, Tame Te Rangi, gave his opinions on this matter. We love high places (like our maunga). They are spiritual sites, Maori know how to manage for the good of everyone – yet can such sites grow a billion litres of wine for Chinese middle-classes each year? So The Crown needs to give Maori such opportunity to be quality exporters just like our American billionaire best buddies in the Wairarapa for example have become accustomed to enjoying lately as Kiwi dwelling and producing entrepreneurs from land, water, good sunlight and oxygen here.

In addition: The Pacific Islands Forum is taking place in Rarotonga soon and Maori delegats will be attending – woot!; Filmmaker Reina Webster appeared at an important Tuhoe Iwi art gallery auction as did Wairere Iti and Hollywood actor Manu Bennett doing some good. And women on board the waka sailing to Rapanui reminds us of our founding mothers who sailed the ocean waters to discover NZ and to be merchant traders throughout the South Pacific for us. Read it all here.

The Ngati Whatua case will be interesting to see what the brains of the tribe have decided on The Crown’s offer. Sites of cultural significance need to be mediated with the realities of prime real estate for tribal development and exports markets for the tribe too. Good luck! It’s going to be exciting! As NZ comes into our own as a strong and quality exports market economy in the years to come. :)

~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aoteroa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 16.8.12~