Bob Edlin
AN APOLOGY FROM THE CROWN BUT NOT FROM THE MAORI PARTY
In a political week distinguished by Stuff’s apology to Maoridom, the Crown was in the business of apologising to Maori, too, while the Maori Party pressed for even more apologies.
One Maori party co-leader – in his maiden speech to Parliament – pledged to be an unapologetic Maori voice while the other railed against early New Zealand governments as “monsters, murderers and rapists” and projected herself as a survivor of a “holocaust”.
A “holocaust”?
That same powerful word was bandied by the party’s founder, Dame Tariana Turia, some 20 years ago. She later apologised for using it to describe the experience of Maori. ......
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2020/12/bob-edlin-apology-from-crown-but-not.html
STUFF AND MORE NONSENSE – THE PERTURBING CASE OF POLITICAL ADVERTS BEING REJECTED
The writers at Breaking Views should brace for further outrage, now that Stuff apparently has opted to take one side of the debate about the treaty and the application of treaty principles to the way we are administered and governed while– in Northland at least – it silences champions of the other side.
The lofty principle that is being nudged aside is the principle of free speech (although not altogether free in the case of paid advertising).
Stuff presumably now places greater importance on “treaty principles”, ALTHOUGH THESE HAVE BEEN PERTURBINGLY PLIABLE SINCE THE TREATY WAS SIGNED IN 1840.
Lord Normanby, Secretary of State for the Colonies when the British relationship with New Zealand was being finalised, approved the annexation of New Zealand to Britain and approved Captain William Hobson as the first Lieutenant-Governor.
In his final instructions to Hobson, Normanby called for him to gain “the free and intelligent consent of the Natives according to their customary usages” for “the recognition of Her Majesty’s sovereign authority over the whole or any part of those islands which they may be willing to place under Her Majesty’s dominion”.
Just three principles were to be included in a treaty: Justice, Fairness and Good Faith.
The principles of participation, partnership and protection (which Stuff and increasing numbers of other authorities find compelling) ARE MODERN POLITICAL-SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS.
But they are potent constructs, often invoked without challenge to change the way we are governed and administered.
Now (in the absence of a Stuff denial) they are being invoked by an influential component of our free press to suppress an expression of opinion.
Muzzling opinions because they conflict with the opinions of editorial managers would be perturbing at the best of times. Muzzling them when democratic governance arrangements are the critical matter at issue is shameful......
THE CASE FOR STABILITY AND SECURITY WHEN DECIDING A CHILD’S BEST INTERESTS
The inexorable march to separatism – manifest in the political clamour to have Maori children removed from the protection of state welfare agencies – raises questions which most commentators have overlooked or prefer not to tackle.
Lindsay Mitchell is not so coy. She asks if the future of a child with a modicum of Maori blood should be decided solely by Maori members of a family and raises the matter of the rights and claims of non-Maori family members.
Rights were brought smack-bang into the issue when the Human Rights Commission threw its support behind calls by the Children’s Commissioner for urgent action to keep at-risk Māori children with their wider family.
In effect, these authorities are telling us the rights of Maori family members outweigh the rights of non-Maori family members.......
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2020/11/bob-edlin-case-for-stability-and.html
TE REO RISKS
Firms wanting to use te reo in their branding should check with Te Hamua Nikora as well as IPONZ.
Learning Māori is first and foremost about having fun, according to Precious Clark, director of Maurea Consulting LTD, in a Newshub report on learning te reo Maori and embracing tikanga.
“It’s about giving people the tools so they can pronounce our words correctly and it’s about giving them the confidence to give it a go,” she said.
But getting it right isn’t always easy, Newshub’s Mike McRoberts pointed out.
His report recalled the recent experience of a Canadian brewery which apologised after making a beer with New Zealand hops which it called the Pale Ale Huruhuru.
“The strict translation means feather, but it’s more commonly used to describe pubic hair.
“After being called out by language watchdog Te Hamua Nikora, the brewery apologised.”
The beer company wasn’t alone. A leather shop in Wellington apologised, too, after coming under fire for unwittingly taking its name from the Māori word “huruhuru”.
Continue reading Bob Edlin’s NZCPR guest commentary here > https://www.nzcpr.com/te-reo-risks/#more-33159
YES, YOU CAN WIN IPONZ APPROVAL FOR YOUR BRANDING BUT IT’S BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD IF SOME MĀORI MOUNT AN OFFENSIVE AGAINST YOU
The makers of the gin once branded “indiginous” announced early in June they were back in business and their product – now known as “imagination” – was available again, in stores and online.
Since then their Facebook page has recorded that whatever it’s called, the hand-crafted gin they make in the Reikorangi Valley, near Waikanae, has gone down a treat with the experts. They were awarded a silver medal and the highest score for a New Zealand gin at the London Spirits Competition; a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the New Zealand Spirits Awards; and a bronze medal at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in the UK.
The most recent post, on August 18, advised:
“A very satisfying way to end the medal season! We won our very first medal with our very first gin at the 2019 SIP Awards in the USA, and we’ve gone back to back with another Gold medal for our Triple Distilled Dry Gin for 2020.”
Another of their gins picked up Silver.
But it has been a harrowing year.
Their “indiginous” gin had been on sale for more than a year when – early in March – they were targeted in a social media campaign of abuse and threats by people professing to have been offended by a Māori tattoo-inspired label, by the brand name, and by “cultural appropriation”.
New branding was developed during the trading hiatus for the hospitality sector caused by the Covid-19 lockdown. Company director Gavin Bradley says it maintains as many cues as possible from the old brand, but without Māori visual cues.
Fair to say, the social media campaign – or rather, the wider media publicity it generated – did sales no harm.
“We had record sales immediately after the hit,” Bradley told Point of Order.
But rebranding has cost several thousand dollars.
The company’s Facebook page records what happened.......
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HOW THE TREATY AND INDIGENOUS RIGHTS ARE BEING BROUGHT INTO THE RESPONSE TO COVID-19
A news item by Māni Dunlop, Māori News Director, has been posted on the RNZ website under the heading Government urged to put Māori at forefront of Covid-19 planning.
“Forefront” means the position of greatest importance or prominence.
One implication to be drawn from the headline, therefore. is that Māori should be promoted to take over from whomsoever now is heading the Covid-19 planning response team.
Another is that the planners should make Māori people their top priority.
Perhaps the headline writer misconstrued what the reporter was told. Let’s see.
According to the report beneath the headline, RNZ had uncovered some Māori health professionals who were saying the government’s response to Covid-19 has serious shortfalls and blindspots for Māori.
The same doubtless could be said of other ethnic groups in this country – but only one group, so far as we know, is being privileged with race-targeted funding.
The Ministry of Health has made $56m available to Māori communities to respond to Covid-19, $30m of it specifically for health, $470,000 for iwi response plans through Te Arawhiti, and $10m through Te Puni Kōkiri for outreach to Māori communities.
The remaining $15m is for Whānau Ora, which the Minister for Whānau Ora, Peeni Henare, said had already been distributed to the Whānau Ora commissioning agencies.
More than 100,000 care packages are being co-ordinated by commissioning agencies, 11,300 of these already delivered by last Friday and 30,000 expected to be delivered within a day or so.......
Read on here > https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2020/04/09/how-the-treaty-and-indigenous-rights-are-being-brought-into-the-response-to-covid-19/