Praise where praise is due

Ok, so if you haven’t guessed I’m not the sort of blogger who can produce a post every day or even every couple of days. I’ve tried but finding time and space or even the inclination is sometimes a little tougher than I thought it would be but boy have there been some interesting issues concerning Maori in the media over the past couple of weeks.

Well really it is just one issue that has been constantly evolving. It is the thing that everyone is talking about, I’m sure, and every major media outlet has produced at least one story about the water rights issue since it was announced that the Maori Council had requested an urgent hearing with the Waitangi Tribunal. It is, to borrow the words from a cousin, the hot topic of this time.

However I have already discussed this issue on this blog and, as I’ve already said, the story is constantly moving forward so I wanted to dedicate this post to another subject.

So I came across this story reading through my google alerts and I couldn’t help but think wow.

The story is about a $1million fund set up by the Primary Industries ministry that will be used in co-investment in projects by Maori. The story got me to thinking about something that an old man once said to me.

Somewhere in my travels I was told that Maori land, which is collectively owned by a Maori grouping, makes up only 5 per cent of the country but that at least 95 per cent of that land is underutilised. Bear in mind that I have not researched this information but simply quoting something that the old man said to me, but even so that seems like heck of a lot of waste.

I know much of this land will not be prime farming acres but the prospect that there could be $1 million out there for people to use to get this resource producing something, anything sounds amazing.

However, and I know this sounds cynical, I’m almost sitting here waiting for some media outlet to pick up this story and try the (non-Maori) outrage angle.

I can just see another Louis Crimp or Phil Foster being trotted out to criticise the fund as unfair towards non-Maori.

But here’s the thing Radio New Zealand, because of its focus and nature, simply just state the facts. Very rarely is opinion allowed within the online snaps and I really enjoy this in a world of sensationalism and biased reporting.

Radio New Zealand is often the source which has the most diverse Maori news and it should be commended for its work. I’m not a big radio listener preferring to listen to my own music most of the time but I am glad that I am able to get updates online. I only wish that their online presence was a little bit smoother so that I could feel as though there was a human behind the updates.

Speak up, I say

Wow, it’s been awhile.

Anyhow... I liked this story. That is not to say l liked the subject but I thought the reporter, Tim Donoghue, did a good job with it.

I thought he presented a clear and balanced story with comment mostly left for those he had interviewed rather than allowing his own opinion to colour the story. The sidebar was also a good backgrounder for the story.

However the lack of comment from one of the key players got me to thinking.

The story is about how a Wainuiomata kohanga reo could be forced to charge higher prices after being taken to court by its Maori trust landowner.

Pukeatua Kohanga Reo currently charges parents $188.50 a week for each child but a dispute with the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust, over its annual rent, could force it to charge up to $230.

In the article, Trust manager Aroha Thorpe said the kohanga reo had agreed in 2009 to a “fair market rental” being determined and signed an agreement to that effect but, as yet, no rent has been paid. As a result the trust has taken the kohanga to court in a bid to force payment of the full rent.

However this is not a clear cut case of tenant vs landlord.

The story notes that this “dispute appears to be the latest battle in a feud between Te Atiawa factions in Wellington and Lower Hutt. It follows arguments over ownership of a ceremonial waka and Waiwhetu Maori raising concerns about the settlement trust's finances”.

The feud stems from the transfer of ownership of the land and buildings of the former Wainuiomata College to the trust as part of the 2009 Port Nicholson Trust settlement.

While Thorpe commented on the issue with the kohanga it was noted that Trust chairman Sir Ngatata Love was unavailable for comment.
Which is a shame, the accusations levelled at the trust by the kohanga and in the backgrounder have serious undertones of disharmony and it would have been nice to hear from Sir Ngatata on the subject again.

As a Maori Affairs reporter I was often left feeling frustrated when tribal leaders either were not available for comment or simply declined. Too often my only option was to use the “not available for comment” or “declined to comment when contacted”. Which is weak, really.

I am a firm believer that tribal leaders should be accountable to their people and I think that this means commenting to the media when they have to. What do you think?

"The common curse of mankind, - folly and ignorance."

News Trade Minister Tim Groser is calling for Maori to be compulsory in schools should be trumpeted from the hill tops.

Instead I found replications of press releases on four websites, two stories on the TV3 site and one on MSN - hardly an overwhelming media response.

Speaking on TV3’s The Nation programme Groser said, in his personal view; he believed Maori should be taught to every five year old.

"This is turning the usual Pakeha argument on its head, because what I think should happen is that you introduce very young children from New Zealand to the idea of biculturalism and more than one language, and then they will be able to learn other languages as their personal circumstances fit, ” he said.

Groser said children who become familiar with te reo at an early age could then master Chinese, Mandarin and any language they want in a move that could open doors for travel and work.

He acknowledged that it was not a conventional view of the Maori language issue but said “there's a whole lot of research to back this view up”.

Last year ahead of the election the Maori Party's policy was for te reo to be compulsory available in schools by 2015, however former ACT Party leader Don Brash said making te reo compulsory was pointless.

Yesterday New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said it would never work because parents wouldn't buy into it and there are more important languages for children to learn.

So the question that needs to be asked by the public should be: is te reo Maori worth investing in as a nation?

No one can deny that Te Reo Maori is a beautiful language, unique to New Zealand it sets us apart from the rest of the world. It is one of only two official languages in New Zealand ( the other is sign language) and full of poetry and imagery.

Pioneers such as Dame Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira and Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi fought to bring the language back from extinction. It was a long fight and one that will never end.

At this stage the battle is being won with things like a portrayal of the Shakespearean play Troilus and Cressida in te reo opening the World Shakespeare festival at the Globe in London last week (receiving positive reviews in The Guardian) but is teaching the language to all five-years something that New Zealand taxpayers would be happy to invest in?

I was disappointed that there weren’t more stories about Groser’s comments out there this morning; shouldn’t our media be encouraging the debate? Granted it is Monday and many of the country’s journalists sometimes get weekends off to enjoy their lives but I am hoping that this story will grow legs and develop over the next couple of days because I think that it is a subject that could do with a little more time in the sun.

After all it was Shakespeare himself who said: "The common curse of mankind, - folly and ignorance."

Thoughts?