Ko Hikurangi te Maunga Ko Waiapu te AwaKo Ngāti Porou te IwiKo Te Kaniā Takirau te Tangata
I am delighted to be here to see one ofthis country’s great leaders awarded this honorarydoctorate. It is both a privilege and a pleasure.
We all know that the chief is involved inmany things and that his leadership is widelyrecognised.
He wears this mantle passed down through along line of tūpuna with great humbleness. Yet he hasbuilt on the national authority and respect commanded byhis predecessors to extend Tuwharetoa’s – and thereinthis country’s - influence into the global arena.
Thete Heheu dynasty and its pan-tribal influence was no moreevident than in 1856 when Iwikau te Heuheu called triballeaders from across the country to Pukawa on the banks ofthis lake to elect a king who might unite the tribes.
The meeting which became known as “Hinana ki Uta,Hinana ki Tai (search the land search the sea) saw Iwikaudecline the kingship as did the great Ngāti Porou chief TeKani-a-Takirau.
Yet it was Iwikau’s desire tounite Māori against their loss of authority and land assymbolised by the hui Te Pukawatanga o Te Ahi o Rereao,which established his legacy.
Horonuku (Pātātai) teHeuheu Tukino IV the next paramount chief also left anindelible mark on the national consciousness when he giftedthe mountains to the south of Taupo to the government for anational park.
Those mountains –Tongariro. Ngaruahoe andRuapehu - were transferred to the Crown in 1887. Thesesacred mountains became the first national park in the worldto be gifted by a country’s indigenous people and are anenduring symbol of the generosity of Tuwharetoa.
Sir Hepite Heu Heu – Tumu’s father – was later to play a keyrole in uniting iwi again – both during the fiscalenvelope era and through his establishment of the NationalMāori Congress.
Tumu continued the work of what MasonDurie has described as “the promotion of the Māoriaccord.” Under Tumu’s guidance. Tuwharetoa hosted thevery first Hui Taumata Matauranga in 2001 which was designedto search for Māori agreement on educational policy - andsince then he has taken a keen interest and has been aconsistent force behind it.
That first Hui TaumataMatauranga began a journey towards more positive engagementand partnership between Māori and the Crown in regard toMaori educational achievement.
Tumu also sits on theWaitangi Trust Board and of course here at home he chairsthe Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board.
He has been a staunchand tireless advocate for ngā taonga tuku iho no ngātūpuna as chair of the Māori Heritage Council of the NewZealand Historic Places Trust.
Another strong and longheld passion is conservation. Through Ngā Whenua Rahui,which Tumu chairs. Māori landowners can apply for fundingto protect indigenous eco-systems. This unique fundallows Māori to retain ownership and control of the landswhich are protected for future generations at the same timerespecting their cultural and spiritual values. Thecommittee’s list of projects to date is impressive.
Itis Tumu’s work on heritage protection that has seenTuwharetoa exercise influence at an international level.
This peaked with his chairing of the UNESCO WorldHeritage Committee in Christchurch earlier this year –I’ll talk about that some more shortly.
Tumu led thecharge to have Tongariro National Park given the first everWorld Heritage listing as a cultural landscape. It is nowone of just a handful of sites in the world that has a dualWorld Heritage listing.
But even knowing all that; I havea strong suspicion that many of you gathered here todaydon’t fully appreciate just how highly respected this manis on the world stage when it comes to heritage andconservation matters.
I know one of the reasons youdon’t know this! Because he will never tell you! I knowbeing humble is a Tuwharetoa thing. But on this occasion Iwould like to share some things particularly with Tuwharetoawhanui about your chief.
As I said in July of this yearTumu te Heuheu chaired the 31st session of the WorldHeritage Committee in Christchurch.
As Tumu remindedus all at the opening ceremony the sessions are an amazingforum where people and cultures come together to share andexchange distinct views of natural and cultural heritagewith the rest of the world.
While the chief earned greatkudos for his chairing of the Christchurch event the workthat was done over the year leading up to that was even morespecial.
Throughout the year Tumu played a significantrole in advancing the interests of the Pacific.
Indeed amajor goal for Tumu within the World Heritage Committee hasbeen to “ensure that United Nations communities no longeroverlook the outstanding value of the Pacific and itscultures.”
He’s had great success with this playing akey role in maintaining momentum for the Pacific 2009 ActionPlan - a plan that was developed at Tongariro in 2004 andprogressed at the Pacific Island World Heritage Workshop inFebruary this year.
And at the July session an appeal waslaunched to establish a Pacific fund to which theinternational community will contribute financially. Thefund’s aim would be to advance the implementation of theWorld Heritage Convention in the Pacific.
While promotingthe South Pacific he did not forget any of the other nationsor their unique heritage issues.
During a key planningmeeting in Paris over the course of eight days he heldmeetings 17 meetings with Minister’s from countries allover the world.
This included a series of meetingsbackward and forward between the Arab delegates and theIsraeli delegates over a heritage site in Jerusalem; the endresult being some constructive kōrero on the issue.
Butperhaps an area where Tumu ‘has had a significant impactin the World Heritage arena but which again is not so wellknown has been his articulate and patient assertions thatintangible heritage is as important as tangibleheritage.
An example of this is close by. The physical,volcanic features of Tongariro are recognised but so tooare the cultural and spiritual features - those featureswhich are such in integral part of every member ofTuwharetoa.
It was Tumu who encouraged the World HeritageCommittee add what is termed the “5th C” to itsstrategic objectives. The “5th C” - which will beknown internationally as a New Zealand achievement – was“community”.
Tumu wanted people the needs of humancommunities to be reconciled with heritage protection. Henoted that the other four heritage protection “Cs”:conservation capacity building credibility andcommunication were not achievable without communityinvolvement and commitment.
It is of no surprise to methat he led this charge. As another great Ngati Porou leadersaid “He aha te mea nui? He tangata he tangata hetangata.”
So it is that Tumu has recognised thecontribution the Māori world view can make to the globalcommunity.
He has also increasingly recognised and soughtto highlight just what the world community has to offer inreturn – and to encourage us as Māori to play a greaterrole within it.
Earlier in the year Māori and thenation beamed with pride when a young man called WillieApiata was awarded the highest military honour the VictoriaCross of New Zealand.
I can tell you one thingfor certain he sure as heck didn’t like all the fuss; hewas just a humble Māori fulla from the coast doing hisjob.
He was proud to have served his country well he washonoured to receive the award but the thing that reallymatters the most to him is that he saved his mate.
Tumu Iknow you won’t be that happy about the fuss being made ofyou today - but it is deserved.
I know you too willprobably continue to say like Willie. I was just doing myjob. However. I hope people now have a better understandingof just how well you have done your job. You have done yourpeople. Māoridom and the whole of Aotearoa/New Zealandproud.
To everyone else here. I note that for the last twoyears The Listener has named Tumu in the top 15 of mostinfluential New Zealanders.
We in Māoridom have beenlucky enough to know of his mana and influence for a lotlonger but it is pleasing that a mainstream magazine suchas The Listener now recognises it too and shares the goodnews with other New Zealanders.
But of course. MasseyUniversity’s recognition of Tumu today encompasses morethan just the last 12 months.
Significantly the HonoraryDoctorate is awarded to people who have made outstandingcontributions to the advancement of knowledge and to thebetterment of communities.
I can think of no better wayto end my brief address to you all today than with thoselast few words which encapsulate perfectly Tumu’sinfluence and impact — a man whose contributions advanceour collective knowledge and whose impact does indeed leadto better communities. Kiaora.
Helen Clark and a few diehards on the centre left still talk hopefully about the chances of a centre left grouping of Labour. Jim Anderton and the Greens being able to entice the Maori Party over to their side. Plus Winston Peters if he makes it back. Theoretically such a grouping is possible. The problem is such an outcome would kill MMP.
"Quite a few people were upset by the proposal and Council staff have also decided that the significant cost of an ongoing culling operation - and the prospect that it would not effectively reduce pigeon numbers - means it's not worthwhile. The best answer is for people to stop feeding them."
The Green Party says National Party blogger David Farrar is mischief-making over his attempts to link the Greens to the cocktail party recordings. "While it is true that the man who admits to having made the recordings is related to a Green Party staff member no one in the office including the taper's relative was aware of his plans to make the tape recordings," Co-Leaders Jeanette Fitzsimons and Russel Norman say.
Selected Scoop editorial images from the 2008 New Zealand election campaign by Lyndon Hood - from late 2007 to the present.
Gordon Campbell: 8.20pm Ok time to wrap this up for the night But first a recap and then some consideration of the parallels to New Zealand. First. George Bush made it nigh on impossible for John McCain to win this election. Essentially. McCain was faced with trying to get a mandate for a third term of Dubynomics - ie. Cronyism for Dummies - and for his failed foreign policy adventures...
1.1 Media Coverage of Leading Parties• Labour led National 37% to 35% in media coverage devoted to parties• Maori Party led Greens 9% to 8% amongst smaller parties1.2 Tone of Party Media Coverage• National received the most negative coverage at 43% of their total coverage followed by Labour at 35%• Green Party received the most positive media coverage at 32% of their total coverage followed by the Maori Party at 29%
Bill English’s recorded comments on TV3 tonight once again reveal the true face of National rather than the one their spin doctors have told them to show to the public. Defence Minister Phil Goff said today.
"Police have completed enquiries into the circumstances of the New Zealand First return of party donations for 2007 lodged on 16 May 2008. Having assessed a range of information from various sources and having considered the elements of the offence contained in s214G. Police are satisfied that no offence was committed."
This is crunch week for the US financial system and the Democrats need to play hardball and vote against the $700 billion bailout plan. Because (a) the plan probably won’t work (b) isn’t fixable and (c) will be politically suicidal in the presidential race in November if the Democrats end up owning it in Congress.
Forex Groups - Tips on Trading
Related article:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0711/S00498.htm
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|
