This is a significant development in international climate policy making. However, we must throw caution to the winds noting that similar pledges in the past, such as those made under the Kyoto Protocol, did not result in real global emissions reductions. Pene Lefale.

The international profile of the Pacific has never been higher at the United Nations. But will that translate into currency for climate change mitigation and sustainable development initiatives after the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA), and Ban Ki Moon’s two-day Climate Summit last week?

There is optimism that the corner has changed and the Pacific is in line to finally gain real support come the Paris 2015 climate meeting.

Optimism last week came from various climate groups and independent experts that after 11 gruelling hours of announcements, pledges and promises in the UN’s New York headquarters, the wheels on the climate change bandwagon had finally been set in motion.

They said that investments geared towards greener and blue economies, low carbon pathways, deforestation will be stopped, and the most vulnerable communities and poorer nations will be supported in their efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change effects. But the questions remain about how much will all that mean in terms of emissions cuts and slowing down global climate changes remain.

But there were areas of clarity that augurs well for positive climate change going forward and the lot for Pacific nations.

According to Catherine Brahic reporting for New Scientist, “What is clear is that the emissions cuts that governments have so far committed to add up to around 3.5^oC of global warming, well above the internationally agreed target of 2^oC. What is not clear is whether the promises made in New York are merely a means to meet existing government pledges, or something extra on top.”

David Waskow of the World Resources Institute in Washington DC said, “It’s critically important that we do the accounting.” He points out that there is now a new range of actors – the private sector.

“It’s very exciting but we need to figure out how all the pieces fit together.”

From a Pacific perspective this is a move in the right direction according to Penehuro Lefale, one of the New Zealand scientists that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Now the International Climate and Policy Analyst at Bodeker Scientific based in Wellington, Mr Lefale told Pacific Guardians, “This is a significant development in international climate policy making.”

However, he cautions about such positive developments noting that similar pledges in the past, such as those made under the Kyoto Protocol, did not result in real global emissions reductions. He points to the fact that global emissions continued to increase since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.

Said Lefale, “For example, global emissions jumped 2.3 per cent in 2013 to record levels, according to latest figures released by the Global Carbon Project and published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

“However, the 2013 emissions growth was a bit slower than the average growth rate of 2.5 percent over the past decade. Much of the dip was caused by an economic slowdown in China, which is now the world’s single largest source of emissions.”

Lefale also observed that June 2014 marked the first time that the average levels of carbon dioxide were about 400 parts per million for three months in a row, according to the American Meteorological Society (AMS). The AMS predicts those levels are likely to reach an average of 405 parts per million within a few years.

But last week was quite possibly the best ever profiling and promotion of the Pacific at the United Nations.

The raised Pacific familiarity at the UN rests on three Pacific words that became part of mainstream conversations at the UN General Assembly, and at Ban Ki Moon’s two-day Climate Summit.

The words were “Samoa” and “Matafele Peinem”. The three appeared in UN titles and presentations; were highlighted, endorsed and embedded in concept, conference and official papers; and spoken through lips and sign-language of interpreters and translators speaking the UN’s six official languages simultaneously.

Samoa because that was the Pacific nation where 115 of the UN’s 192 members spent five-days just three weeks ago. The first time the conference on Small Island States (SIDS2014) was held in the Pacific region.

And one of its most enduring image would be of Secretary General ban ki Moon accepting the Samoan high chief title of Tupua from the village of Saleapaga.

It was in Samoa that UN members signed onto the SAMOA (Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action) Pathway. A formal outcome document that now includes a registry of nearly 300 partnerships involving 166 countries, 85 international organization and 1,200 major groups all focused on ways to boost the capacity of small island states to achieve sustainable development.

Collectively the Samoa Pathway will mobilize more than USD$1.9 billion, “Many of the initiatives announced are looking at the unique position of small island developing states as an opportunity to accelerate advancements on renewable energy, disaster preparedness and sustainable food systems, to name just a few key areas,” Mr Wu Hongbo, the SIDS2014 Conference Secretary General said.

It is to date, the most expensive and logistically, the most complex conference ever undertaken by a Pacific nation. But according to Samoa Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Naioti Malielegoai, it was well worth it.

“…the outcome justified the effort. You have to come here and you have to appreciate our reality,” he said at the conference closing ceremony.

‘Matafele Peinem’ is a poem by Marshall Islands poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner. Selected from 544 others in a global UN search to find a voice representing civil society, Matafele Peinem became that clarion call at Ban Ki Moon’s Summit.

Kathy captivated world leaders as she testified to the stark reality of climate change and its impacts not only in the Pacific, but other vulnerable nations around the world.

The two-day UN climate change summit drew speeches of warnings and proposals from business and world leaders, including President Obama.

UN officials also submitted ambitious programs in agriculture, forestry, energy, transportation and finance, to fight the greenhouse gasses blamed for contributing to climate change.

All of this is being geared to the climate change conference in Paris next year, aimed to produce a new international agreement on climate change to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. It will be hosted by the French government, who said on Tuesday [23 September] that it will lead by example. It pledged $1 billion to the Green Climate Fund, matching a pledge made by Germany last summer.

A few other countries also pledged to support the fund, which will channel funding from rich nations to poor ones to help them prepare for global warming. By the end of the day, $2.3 billion had been promised, all of which was new money except for Germany’s contribution.

But the politics of climate change are toxic according to many climate change political experts.

One of them, Doreen Stabinsky, a professor at the College of the Atlantic explained, “It’s hard to step into the international space when many countries, like the U.S., have trouble agreeing at home on what to do.”

This is the situation mirrored in New Zealand as well.

Prof Stabinsky added that making a strong commitment to climate change efforts is difficult for many nations because they would have to admit responsibility for climate change, something she said many countries are loath to do.

It is not lost that this ‘toxic political’ environment has killed off recent efforts, such as 2009′s meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, leaving behind broken promises and documents unsigned, raise questions on how much will actually get done and why any meaningful outcomes have eluded vulnerable nations like Samoa and the Marshall Islands to the much needed financial help to protect them from the impacts of climate change.

But since last week’s UN meetings, there is an increase in real hope that Paris 2015 will be the real deal.

And it desperately needs to be so as already parts of Kiribati are submerged, those parts of their heritage and history joining the mythical city of Atlantis. There are many others with similar threats to existence.

Even some positive news earlier this year of a Tuvalu family that found a legal way through humanitarian grounds in which climate change featured and were granted permanent residence in New Zealand may be short-lived. Without doubt, the judge in that case hinted that hole could well be stitched up rather than open up.

In other small island region’s the tale is the same.

Grenada’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nickolas Steele, told the UN that climate shocks are amongst the “most terrifying” for his country and other small islands around the world and because of those risks, island states must be granted concessionary financing.

Due to high import costs of fossil fuels, electricity in Grenada costs 4 to 5 times higher than in developed countries. He said Grenada cannot educate its people, if its school children have no access to electricity. Islands like Grenada come to the climate table, “not like hapless victims with cap-in-hand”. Renewables must be implemented in the Islands with zero subsidies.

It is these realities that were at the heart of Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Naioti’s fight to bring the UN to his small Pacific nation of Samoa in September 2014.

A monumental hosting event where the entire country was turned into one conference hall with villages becoming conference wings for the various multilevel meetings taking place.

An ingenious strategy that allowed as many of the 115 UN members and their delegations to see as much of Samoa and its vulnerabilities to the impacts climate change as much as possible.

But that achievement was not enough for Samoa’s indomitable leader’s quest to catalyse developed countries into climate change action.

He showed Samoa was not prepared to rest on the success of the SIDS2014 conference by bringing that as a feather to its cap as its report to the UN General Assembly 17 days later – no that wouldn’t do.

Tuilaepa raised the bar further for such a small nation with minimal greenhouse gas emissions by using the UNGA to announce a new energy transformation initiative.

In his concluding remarks Tuilaepa announced, “I am therefore pleased to launch today [23 September] the SIDS Lighthouses initiative. A joint effort by SIDS and partners, and supported by the International Renewable Energy Agency, the Lighthouses initiative provides a framework for action to move away from a piecemeal approach and transform our energy systems through a structured, holistic and sustainable approach, taking into account medium and long-term requirements and impacts, and ensures that the requisite institutional and human capacity is in place.

“Our commitment to energy transformation through deployment of renewable energy is evident. In just three months, 22 SIDS have joined the Lighthouses initiative. We are heartened by the fact that 12 development partners have committed to support us in this effort and we invite you all to join us in this journey.

“The success of the SIDS Lighthouses will not be measured by giga-tons of reduced emissions.   It will be measured by the commitment of all of us to act in the effort to transform the SIDS’ energy systems. Renewable energy holds the key to stabilizing the climate system and we are ready to lead the way in the transition to a sustainable future because, for many SIDS, this is not only a matter of development and prosperity, but also survival.”

Actions speak louder than words, and there is hope from all small island developing states that their big actions will form the backbone of positive global warming actions by the big developed nations in a 2015 Paris Treaty.

A recent (repeat) migrant, also voted for Annette King because after an absence of 25 years, had to rely on the advice of a cousin who said she was a good MP and after reading a column by Sir Bob Jones who listed her qualities in suggesting she should take over as leader for Labour weeks before the elections.

By Alan Ah Mu

It’s important to vote so go vote.

That was the message which popped up before the screening of Lucy in the movie theatre, a newspaper, on Samoa Capital Radio and Tuifa’asisina Meaole Keil’s articles in Pacific Guardians – to go with greater appreciation of how society works and the need to take part in it that comes with advancing age.

The word is too few Pacific Islanders vote but since too much is at stake and influenced by the reminders mentioned, we did it.  We voted.

Labour would lose badly the polls said and so it proved, despite the two in our household we gave them their electorate and party votes.

One, a casual worker in the service industry, voted for Annette King and couldn’t decide which party to go for so ticked Labour on impulse.

The choice of party wasn’t pre-planned unlike the choice of candidate.

The other Labour voter is a schoolgirl who followed to the voting booth a fellow Samoan school mate whose sister was an election official of sorts who showed them how to vote.

Both the worker and student voters are recent migrants from Samoa.

A longer resident of New Zealand by two years in our household voted for the Greens both ways impressed by their stress on equality.

All bothered to register and vote because of my urgings to do so, based on the determination to take part, in turn prompted by a realisation that politicians won’t listen to you unless you vote – and the reminders mentioned above.

Even popped into King’s office and got the registration forms for all of us on a walk to the supermarket nearby.

The staffer who handed over the forms said something like, “Stand beside them and make sure they fill them in.”

Knew what she meant.

All manner of things can prevent the filling in of forms and voting.  Like tiredness from work and study, an emotional upset of some sort, a visitor, a programme on TV, a rugby game, etc., etc.

In anticipation of such possibilities got the group to vote on the Monday before deadline.

Anyway as a recent (repeat) migrant, also voted for King because after an absence of 25 years, had to rely on the advice of a cousin who said she was a good MP and after reading a column by Sir Bob Jones who listed her qualities in suggesting she should take over as leader for Labour weeks before the elections.

Certain National would win looked around for another party to vote for and settled on the Maori Party after listening to Te Ururoa Flavell on TV say their priority was Maori interests – and that they had to partner up with whoever is in Government to be listened to.

His practical approach appealed, and something Samoans and possibly other Pacific Islanders might want to follow; in other words form our own political party so our concerns aren’t lost in the list of other priorities in the other parties.

Felt no connection to the other parties and achieved only a slight understanding of what they all stood for.

A female relative did not say who she voted for – only shrieked a dislike and distrust of David Cunliffe because of the shape his face.

Distrust him for a different reason: he comes across as someone whose ambition to be leader seems stronger than a desire to serve.

In any case comments by a nephew who was a party official reinforced a belief that took hold years ago while a Wellington resident the first time – 1970s – late 90s – which is that Labour officials tend to tell you what is best for you and won’t listen when you try to tell them otherwise.

It is an arrogance that in another area, aid to Samoa, has seen millions upon millions of dollars wasted by donor countries like New Zealand.

The only citizens who did not abandon Labour these elections were Maori and Pacific Islanders, analyst Fa’amatuainu Tino Pereira said on Samoa Capital Radio.

Indeed a Samoan man told the station he has always voted Labour since he arrived from Samoa 45 years ago.

Other sources say such loyalty may be on the slide.

One man told Samoa Capital Radio his children voted for Conservatives.

On the other hand a friend in an Auckland electorate emailed to say, “Labour has to realise that they are no longer the party of choice for PIs. They have stuffed PIs for too long and (it’s) time for PIs to get organised and have their own Party.”

“For the Party vote I opted for NZ First ‘coz I believe PIs will get a better deal from Winston and (gave my) electorate vote for the Labour candidate.”

He says National has a “white is right” attitude.

Don’t know about that.

But it’s something to look out for in the days ahead.

Now that we’ve voted and seen the results, sad though they may be, the whole political thing has become more interesting.

“Human rights for citizens to dissent is a critical issue all over the world but it is particularly important in the Pacific and in Aotearoa that we maintain a strong stance on that.” Catherine Delahunty.

Returning Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty joined thousands across Australasia this week protesting against French and local journalists imprisoned by Indonesian authorities in West Papua.

Ms Delahunty told Pacific Guardians she’s protesting because “we believe in human rights and we believe that a genocide is taking place [in West Papua].”

But it’s also out of frustration as it was only in July this year, that all members of parliament, including the government, supported the Green Party’s motion to call on Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, to commit to genuine press freedom in West Papua.

Yet shortly after gaining the unanimous support of parliament, two French journalists, Thomas Dandois and Valentine Burrat, were arrested in West Papua by Indonesian police for allegedly illegally working when on tourist visas.

“The were arrested supposedly for ‘treason’ but we all know they were only trying to make a documentary about the real situation in West Papua. They were interrogated, are still in prison and being threatened with these ridiculous charges.”

Ms Delahunty has continued her call on the New Zealand government to step-in and use its diplomatic resources to advocate for the two French journalists.

But the lack of government response is frustrating.

“This is very frustrating because we have passed this motion for media freedom but the government will not give it teeth,” said Ms Delahunty.

“Without any journalists on the ground, the future for West Papuans and their human rights will continue to be very bleak.

“It is important for New Zealand and Australia to continue to advocate for not only for media freedom in West Papua but also hold Indonesia to account for numerous well documented human rights abuses in West Papua.”

The main push is for New Zealand to become a facilitator in helping West Papua gain its independence. The push therefore is to put pressure on the New Zealand government to put pressure on Indonesia.

She admitted that gaining greater New Zealand support for West Papua is tough going as awareness of West Papua and its situation gets very little coverage in New Zealand.

“It’s regrettable that we are still at the stage of trying to get New Zealanders to understand where this country is and what its history is. And why we, as neighbours, have a duty of respect to stand up for human rights,” said Ms Delahunty.

“Human rights for citizens to dissent is a critical issue all over the world but it is particularly important in the Pacific and in Aotearoa that we maintain a strong stance on that.”

The lack of awareness thus far caused her to vent in frustration at New Zealand’s mainstream media, with the exception of Radio New Zealand and Pacific Guardians.

“I’m disappointed that apart from a few of you, the majority of journalists in New Zealand act that this is a non story. And I find it disturbing that they spend a lot of time on celebrity politics and leadership spats rather than the fact that actually more people have died in recent weeks, being killed by the military [in West Papua].

“If it was Fiji there would be more coverage. So this kind of silence has to be broken and we’ve got a long way to go to break that silence around West Papua – just in terms of reporting here in New Zealand!”

With the low level of media coverage, Ms Delahunty’s fight will also be tougher this term in parliament with the loss of Hone Harawira and Maryanne Street who were her main supporters in the House.

However, the way forward remains clear, it is about building cross party consensus on West Papua. She is optimistic that some new MPs including new Pacific MPs could join her cause.

“I would say to them that this is an opportunity for solidarity. An opportunity not only to support West Papua but also the emerging groups of young people not only in Auckland but also in Wellington.

“In Auckland they have a group called Oceania Interrupted led by Leilani Salesa and others – so we are seeing the emergence of these youth support and it’s a great opportunity for these MPs to participate and support the work that I’m trying to lead in parliament. And I really hope they will help us put pressure on the government put pressure on Indonesia because that is the main avenue to support West Papua.”

But if that comes to nought, at least she gained some wins on Wednesday this week as the Pacific Student Council from Victoria University joined her protest.

“It was really impressive when I was standing outside of parliament thinking it was just going to be me. And then all these young Pacific people with their banners turned up,” she told Pacific Guardians.

“I was delighted they came down in strength with one of their lecturers Teresia Teaiwa. To me one of the exciting things happening in Aotearoa is the involvement of Pacific young people because for many years, its been a few non-government groups, the extraordinary leadership of Maire Leadbeater in Auckland, that when Pacific youth embrace that it will help grow the movement and put pressure on the government to act.”

The long game is about building a consciousness.

“If we can build up a Pacific consciousness about the West Papuan people, I believe it is really important for our region. There is a need to really support the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to show a lot more courage.

“What we’re up against is the Indonesians having the money to shut down some Melanesian countries who are supportive of West Papua, which is a very, very sad thing for West Papua. But it means we need to build that solidarity in every setting that we can.

“This issue cannot stay under the radar. We are making traction internationally but on the ground, the suffering continues.”

In a report from Radio New Zealand earlier today, Vanuatu’s West Papua Unification Committee has confirmed its conference in Port Vila on the 4th of December following the National Day and flag raising ceremony on 1 December.

The conference is to provide an avenue for the different groupings in West Papua to come to an agreement on a unified bid for membership in the MSG.

A formal membership application by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation was knocked back by the MSG earlier this year, whose leaders called for a more representative bid.

 

 

Yesterday, a 26 year old poet from the Marshall Islands gave voice to Pacific concerns on climate change at the highest global level.

Selected from over 544 civil society candidates in an open, global nomination process conducted by the UN, Kathy Jetnil-Kijinerspoke during the opening segment of the 2014 United Nations Climate Summit.

And in just over three minutes, Kathy captivated world leaders as she testified to the stark reality of climate change and its impacts not only in the Pacific, but to other vulnerable nations around the world.

“Those of us from Oceania are already experiencing it first hand,” she told world leaders. “We’ve seen waves crashing into our homes…We look at our children and wonder how they will know themselves or their culture should we lose our islands.”

She added, “We need a radical change of course. It means ending carbon pollution within my lifetime. It means supporting those of us most affected to prepare for unavoidable climate impacts. And it means taking responsibility for irreversible loss and damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

“I ask world leaders to take us all along on your ride. We won’t slow you down. We’ll help you win the most important race of all. The race to save humanity.”

To be selected from amongst 544 nominees globally is an honour. But it is not a surprise that a poet was given the task to voice the concerns of civil society.

Former US President John F. Kennedy proclaimed: “When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations,” he said. “When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.”

Kathy on her blog Iep Jeltok, writes her poetry focuses: “on raising awareness surrounding the issues and threats faced by my people. Nuclear testing conducted in our islands, militarism, the rising sea level as a result of climate change, forced migration, adaptation and racism in America.”

Her poem for the UN Summit “Dear Matafele Peinem”, is a new poem written to her daughter.

It starts: “Dear Matafele Peinem, you are a 7-month old sunrise of gummy smiles. You’re bald as an egg, and bald as the Buddha. You have thighs that are thunder, shrieks that are lightning. You are so excited for bananas, hugs and our morning walks along the lagoon.

“I want to tell you about that lagoon. That lucid, sleepy lagoon lounging against the sunrise. Men say, that one day, that lagoon will devour you.”

The poem outlines how the lagoon was empowered through climate change to rise up and proceed to devour the small islands of the Pacific.

But there is hope through collective actions according to the poem: “hands reaching out, fists raising up, banners unfurling, megaphones booming.

“And we are canoes blocking coal ships. We are the radiance of solar villages. We are the rich clean soil of the farmer’s past. We are petitions blooming from teenage fingertips.

“We are families biking, recycling, reusing, engineers dreaming, designing, building, artists painting, dancing, writing.

“We are spreading the word. And there are thousands out on the street, marching with signs, hand in hand chanting for change NOW.”

The poem ends with little Matafele Peinem sound asleep on her mother’s whispered promise: “Baby we wont let you down”.

At its conclusion, the UN summit rose to give Kathy and her family a standing ovation. A fair number wiping tears from their eyes.

Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner was born in the Marshall Islands, a nation of 22 low-lying atolls in the northern Pacific. She studied in Hawaii and California before returning to teach at the College of the Marshall Islands in Majuro.

She is a spoken word artist and co-founder of the environmental NGO in the Marshall Islands called Jo-JiKuM. An organization focusing on empowering youth by educating them on the importance of environmentalism and mobilizing them to work toward solutions to climate change issues.

She told the UK Guardian that she started Jo-JiKum with her cousins.

“Together with my cousins, I’ve started this non-profit organisation for youth and the environment. We’re getting young people involved in the climate change movement and getting people aware of it,” she said.

“We’re the ones who are getting affected, but sometimes it’s very frustrating, because it feels like no one is listening.”

She was one of only 38 civil society representatives chosen to present at the UN Summit.

 

 

 

“The environment and workers’ rights are seriously threatened by these two pieces of legislation, which is why National couldn’t get them passed in the last parliamentary term,” Mrs Turei.

The Green Party’s campaign machine hasn’t missed a beat as it ramps up efforts to defend both the environment and workers from National plans to bring in changes to two laws.

The campaign this time seem to aim at securing the lead Opposition party to the 2017 elections status. With Labour soul searching in one of its worst elections and bracing for the upcoming leadership battle, the united Greens march onwards. This time heading the fight against National’s move to make changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) and the Employment Relations Act (ERA) laws.

Green co-Leader Metiria Turei, said National has signalled it will attempt to get planned changes to the RMA and ERA passed as quickly as possible, “in order to please its big business backers,” she said in a statement today.

“The environment and workers’ rights are seriously threatened by these two pieces of legislation, which is why National couldn’t get them passed in the last parliamentary term,” Mrs Turei said.

To be fair, the only reason why changes to Part 6A of the ERA didn’t go through last parliamentary term was John Banks. His vote would have been enough to pass it, but he had to resign when found guilty of filing a false electoral return.

Mrs Turei emphasised the importance that these two laws must not pass if New Zealand is to stay a fair and clean place to live.

“National’s proposed changes to the RMA will remove vital legal protections for the environment, and fundamentally change the Act’s sustainable management purpose to put the interest of business ahead of the environment,” she said.

“The Employment Relations Amendment Bill is designed to weaken workers’ rights, making it much harder to negotiate for better conditions, even removing workers’ automatic right to a break.

“These two Bills show National’s true colours as the party that puts the interests of the few ahead of everything else.

“John Key should honour the respect and love that New Zealanders have for their environment, and honour our workers by abandoning these regressive law changes immediately,” Mrs Turei said.

She pointed examples of how shows of public action were effective in the past, such as forcing changes to proposed mining legislation.

“Alongside political leadership from the Green Party there will need to be more, much stronger public opposition to prevent National passing these and other damaging laws in the future,” she stated.

 

 

 

Hundreds marched to parliament mid-day today protesting against epidemic levels of domestic and sexual violence committed against women and children.

They rallied behind a 2-meter tall statue of suffrage champion Kate Sheppard, the woman who led the movement that won women the right to vote on 19 September 1893.

The statue, made from layers of Perspex glass, which have messages against domestic violence inscribed on it, is intended as a gift to symbolize the on-going advancement of women’s rights in New Zealand that includes the epidemic levels of domestic and sexual violence against them.

Speaker David Carter had agreed for the statue to be erected and displayed at parliament for three months but then changed his mind just two days before today’s march.

Women’s Refuge spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin says they went last Wednesday to view the area where the statue would be housed.

But by Friday they received a letter from Speaker David Carter which said: “After careful consideration I have declined the request for the statue to be placed on display or housed at Parliament.

“This is a busy time at Parliament and space constraints, future requirements and use of the space in public and function areas cannot be overlooked.”

Ms Hannifin told the TVNZ Breakfast Show earlier today, the letter came after they requested the sculpture be moved to a location in Parliament where there would be more foot traffic, and said she believed that is why the Speaker changed his mind.

However, she felt the Government u-turn and saying “no” is a real indictment to their attitude towards domestic violence.

Rattling off a few statistics, Ms Hannifin revealed her organization, Women’s Refuge, gets a crisis call once every seven or eight minutes.

“The situation is getting worse. Last year the Police told us they attended 95,000 family violence investigations which is up 8,000 from 2012,” she said.

It is why the government’s rejection of Kate Sheppard’s statue is disappointing and “embarrassing for the people that marched today because she’s no longer being taken inside.”

Women’s Refuge is still deciding where to display the sculpture. Te Papa museum is one option.

Greens Co-Leader Metiria Turei called for a change in government saying the solution lay in “This National Government being voted out”.

Later she added that after the election, she will work with parties to get the statue into Parliament.

“If Women’s Refuge want Kate in this building [Parliament] then that’s where she will be.”

Labour’s Women’s Affairs spokesperson Ms Carol Beaumont said National’s u-turn on Kate Sheppard’s statue is because they are embarrassed.

“The National Party is so embarrassed about its failure to address the high level of violence against our women and children, it refused to accept a statue of Kate Sheppard from the Women’s Refuge.”

Ms Beaumont said if Labour wins the election this weekend, it will take decisive action and not run and hide.

“Labour takes this issue of domestic and sexual violence seriously. We won’t run and hide from it,” said Ms Beaumont.

“Labour will adopt an Action Plan to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Children.

“We also will provide $60 million over four years for family and sexual violence to support front-line services, primary prevention and education.

“Labour will reform the justice system to provide real justice to survivors while upholding the right to be presumed innocent. And we will review prosecution guidelines and the operation of protection orders.

“A Labour Government will ensure there is a unified effort across government agencies and NGOs towards addressing violence against our women and children. That’s why our action plan will be led from within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.”

STATISTICS

-More than half of all reported violent crime in New Zealand is family violence

-Police estimate only 18% of domestic violence incidents are reported

-On average 14 women, six men and 10 children are killed by a member of their family every year

-Up to one in five women will experience sexual assault as an adult

-One in three girls will be subject to an unwanted sexual experience by the age of 16 years

-In the United Nations Report on the Status of Women published in 2011, New Zealand was ranked worst of all OECD countries in rates of sexual violence

Wellington Samoa Rugby Union (WSRU) scored a coup when All Black coaches Steve Hansen and Ian Foster agreed to be guest speakers at their fundraising event – along with Manu Samoa assistant coaches Namulauulu Alama Ieremia and Tom Coventry.

By Alan Ah Mu, Wellington Samoa Rugby Union

It was Thursday evening. It turned out be a grand night.

Guests at the Wellington Samoa Rugby Union (WSRU) fundraiser dinner Thursday night left with cheeks aching from having laughed so much.

WSRU scored a coup when All Black coaches Steve Hansen and Ian Foster agreed to be guest speakers at the event – along with Manu Samoa assistant coaches Namulauulu Alama Ieremia and Tom Coventry.

Such was the keenness to attend the dinner that the 20 tables on offer grew to 25 and a waiting list built up.

WSRU patrons, Tiatia Ieti Tiatia (life and founding member) and Leasi Tommy Scanlan (High Commissioner of Samoa), attended.

Tofiga Fepulea’i of Laughing Samoans was MC and at one stage discussed defence strategies.

Tofiga asked Namulauulu how the Manu Samoa assistant coach would tackle the lady streaker at the All Blacks – Puma test last week.

“Would you go down or up?” the comedian wanted to know.

And would Namulauulu have taken off his jersey to undertake the job? he further asked.

Known for his strong defence as a second five eighth for the Manu and later the All Blacks, Namulauulu kept his strategy for such a situation to himself.

But it was he who as executive advisor of WSRU asked Hansen to attend the fundraiser at the Marist St Pat’s clubrooms at Hataitai.

In Wellington for the All Blacks test against the Springboks this weekend, Hansen impressed with his generosity to take time out from his busy schedule to help WSRU – and humbleness and respectfulness on the night.

One reason he agreed to attend was the presence of the parents of two All Blacks, he said.

He referred to Tiatia, father of Filo, and WSRU president, To’omata Frank Collins, father of Jerry.

The night included an auction presided over by Tofiga who sold off a Hurricanes jersey Tana Umaga wore, a Manu Samoa jersey and a Chiefs jersey – “a hankyChief” – then the All Blacks coach offered a signed 2014 All Black jersey to help.

The jersey fetched the highest price of the night of $2500.

It wasn’t easy for Hansen to agree to attend, “Because I’m quite a shy guy.”

He worried: “What am I going to say?”

As it turned out the All Black coach did alright, telling the guests about the routine of the players in the week of a test and making them laugh with amongst other things, thoughts about Sonny Bill Williams.

In an interview before the guests of the four coaches by WSRU host Fauono Ken Laban, Hansen said, “I think many palagi ladies love him,” Hansen said.

His wife, who he pointed out is a palagi, asked him for the player’s phone number, he said.

Hansen referred to Gareth Thomas, the Welsh and British Isles back, who he coached in Wales and who later came out as a gay.

He expressed the hope Sonny Bill, who he has also coached, doesn’t do the same.

A sua was presented  to Hansen as is Samoan custom to acknowledge honoured guests. Foster, Coventry and Namuauulu were presented with tofa/lafo, food basket and wine.   

“It’s always humbling when you enter into the home of another culture,” Hansen said.

Part of his sua was a complete box of corned beef, which Tofiga suggested might not be for the All Blacks for dietary reasons so should be placed under his care.

“I’m not an elite athlete so it doesn’t matter,” he said.

The beauty of being All Black coach was the chance to represent your country and to put a smile on peoples’ faces, Hansen said.

In New Zealand where there are many cultures, rugby was one of the few things that make us come together, he said.

Fauono pointed out that a key factor in finalising the All Blacks – Manu Samoa test scheduled for July next year was Hanson’s OK as coach.

Hansen said he looks forward to the test.

He’s never been to Samoa before.

Namulauulu said New Zealanders probably don’t realise the significance of the occasion to Samoa.

All Black assistant coach, Ian Foster, said the high expectation from the public that they win is used by the players to generate higher expectations of themselves – to play to the best of their abilities.

Meanwhile the Manu Samoa management has started to assess players around the globe to assemble a team for their campaign at the end of the year which starts with a test against Italy.

And of course with a view to the historic test against the All Blacks next July.

“Yep challenges, but nice challenges,” said Tom Coventry.

Last night Namulauulu said it was going to be a pity for the All Blacks to go such a long way to Apia to lose.

“I’ll make sure I mention that to the boys Alama,” said Hansen, who referred to the Manu coaches as “the other two.”

“It sounds like the game has started already,” said Tofiga.

It sure sounds like it.

For WRSU it’ll be a challenge to hold another fundraiser as awesome as the one last night.

Revelations of ‘dirty politics’ tactics and allegations of fraudulent misuse of Samoan chiefly titles to deceive Samoan voters in the Mangere electorate have angered a number of Samoa’s community leaders.

Earlier this week, sitting MP for Mangere Su’a William Sio sought and gained proof that National’s candidate, Misa Fia Turner’s use of the Matai (Chief) title Misa has not been registered in Samoa; therefore she is not a Matai.

In a TV3 news interview, Misa Fia Turner told the reporter it’s none of their [Land and Titles Court] business.

Misa Fia’s disrespectful tirade at Samoa’s Matai system is noted by community leaders, but it is the manner of how Su’a sought verification of Misa’s title that is of greater concern. In the process of getting the verification, Su’a has breached a number of key protocols in Samoa’s ancient customary Matai system.

Protocol dictates Su’a should have contacted Misa Fia in the first instance to discuss the subject matter face to face before taking up other measures. Misa Fia has since confirmed to Pacific Guardians, “No, he [Su’a] did not contact me first before taking other measures.”

However, the most serious breach of protocol in this instance is Su’a writing direct to the Lands and Titles Court seeking verification of Misa’s title.

This breach of protocol is one of the worst kinds in the faaSamoa [Samoan way of life] according to Tuifa’asisina Mea’ole Keil.

“This is a huge transgression because Su’a’s query sent to Samoa’s Lands and Titles was not made by Misa Fia’s family or a Matai from her village of Falelatai. What we have here is an outsider interfering with a family and a village’s sacred lineage and title, their very identity. This outside interference is a no, no in Samoan society, and the gravity of it is viewed in the past as justifiable homicide. A point Su’a himself made to the TV3 news reporter.”

The public spat using Samoa’s Matai system as a vehicle for vote getting have reduced their campaigns to a mud-slinging contest and the reason why Tuifa’asisina and a number of Samoan community and religious leaders in other New Zealand centres are calling on Su’a and Misa Fia to stop.

“With child poverty, high unemployment, low wages, poor health, substandard housing and so forth, Su’a and Misa have now taken Pacific Island issues to the gutter, that is not how we behave in public and it is making a mockery of our Matai system,” said Tuifa’asisina.

“This is not the way Samoan chiefs as heads of families and ambassadors of Samoa behave. It is not how our Matai system operates.”

The public behavior and etiquette for Samoan Matai are defined by Samoa’s Head of State, Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi in a speech he made in honour of Samoan and Tongan victims of the 2009 Tsunami. Interestingly, Tui Atua’s address is located on Su’a’s website.

“The ideals of family in the Samoan context are shaped by respect for each person’s mental, physical, social and spiritual wellbeing.  It is the responsibility of the family, especially the heads of families, to make sure that each person in the family is happy,” Tui Atua said.

“In my Samoan indigenous reference, each member of the family has an inheritance, including individual gifts and talents that are bestowed from God, nurtured within the family and shared with the community.  Individual talents are used for the benefit of the whole.  Ensuring that the good of the whole is always just requires competent and vigilant family heads, capable of commanding authority or pule on the one hand, and demonstrating grace and personal integrity on the other.”

How a Matai acts and interacts with other Matai, and different levels of Samoan society is enshrined in the Samoan proverb, Manao i le i’a, ae manumanu i le upega (When you are fishing, ensure the net is preserved.) added Tuifa’asisina.

“The message in the proverb, which Samoan leaders constantly give their descendants is a reminder on how to behave in public is a reminder that we must always care for our family, care for the village, and care for our country. We must never appear divided in public and that we must always remember who we are. We must always come out united and demonstrate the best of Samoa for the world to see.”

The same proverb provides the cornerstone for Samoa’s informal national anthem “We Are Samoa” composed by Jerome Grey.

Tuifa’asisina re-emphasised why Su’a and Misa’s public Matai mud-slinging must stop.

“They are risking turning our Matai system into a circus. It’s a path that will dilute the prestige and mana of our Matai system that was built on the blood and valour of our ancestors through the ages. Also what sort of lesson are we setting for the young ones, our leaders of the future.

“The public fight between Su’a and Misa mean they have forgotten the message in that ancient proverb,” added Tuifa’asisina.

“As a result of that, they have brought shame to us all.”

He warned the two major parties they should be concerned about the antics of their candidates. It could influence how Samoan communities up and down the country cast their votes in this general election and in the future.

To the executives of the National and Labour parties, Tuifa’asisina urges them not to judge the Samoan community based on Su’a and Misa’s performance.

“For us, it is a great honour that the two largest parties selected them, as Samoans, to be their political candidates. It is a shame they have not reciprocated the respect and honour endowed on them.”

It is not lost on Tuifa’asisina that the Mangere electorate was also the electorate where the first New Zealand parliamentarian to be tried, convicted and jailed, Taito Phillip Field hailed from.

“With the disappointing performance and display by Su’a and Misa, plus the lingering fallout on the electorate from Taito Phillip saga, Samoans in Mangere and national should rightly feel aggrieved about the caliber of the people who are representing them at leaders.

“It is why I tip my hat to the Green Party’s Mangere candidate, Rev Mua Strickland and James Papali’i, an untitled Samoan, representing Internet Mana. They have quietly gone about their campaigns holding the Samoan flag high in Mangere for party votes.”

For non-Samoans interested in the Samoan psyche about family, kin and relationship to the environment and cosmos, included below is the full text of H.H. Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi’s address to give you an idea.

And if a reader asks, why is Tuifa’asisina Mea’ole being invited to comment on Samoa’s Matai system? You need to be a Samoan to understand, because his second name says it all.

H.H. Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi address

Dedicated to the victims of the 2009 Tonga and Samoa Tsunami

Published 6 Nov 2009

O lē e lave i tiga, o le ivi, le toto, ma le aano

He who rallies in my hour of need is my kin

When I think of the idea of family, I think of the relationships of kin and belonging and of the ties that sustain us as social and spiritual beings.  As I have said elsewhere,

“I am not an individual; I am an integral part of the cosmos.  I share divinity with my ancestors, the land, the seas and the skies.  I am not an individual, because I share my tofi (an inheritance) with my family, my village and my nation.  I belong to my family and my family belongs to me.  I belong to my village and my village belongs to me.  I belong to my nation and my nation belongs to me.  This is the essence of my belonging”.[1]

A lot has been said about the strengths and challenges of Pasifika families.  Questions about what constitutes a Pasifika or Samoan family are important to ask.  Determining what kinds of help to give families, which families need more help and why, are fundamental to the good of society.

When I say that I am not an individual, I do not mean that my individual happiness is not important.  The ideals of family in the Samoan context are shaped by respect for each person’s mental, physical, social and spiritual wellbeing.  It is the responsibility of the family, especially the heads of families, to make sure that each person in the family is happy.

In my Samoan indigenous reference, each member of the family has an inheritance, including individual gifts and talents that are bestowed from God, nurtured within the family and shared with the community.  Individual talents are used for the benefit of the whole.  Ensuring that the good of the whole is always just requires competent and vigilant family heads, capable of commanding authority or pule on the one hand, and demonstrating grace and personal integrity on the other.

When preparing for this address I kept thinking about what it is that holds families together and keeps them well despite the turbulences of life?  How have the values of a Samoan family survived such turbulences?  How have we named and captured these values?  How do we celebrate the joys of family?  How do we cope with its challenges, paradoxes, ironies and riddles?

Sometimes the best way to provide an answer to hard questions is by telling a story.  I want to share some stories told to me by some of the survivors and counsellors of Samoa’s recent tsunami to help illustrate the point about the power and fragility of family and of the importance of understanding and nurturing what is best in families.

Family as source of love

A few days after the tsunami, my wife and I went to visit the hospital where some of the survivors were and I was told a profoundly moving story by a grandmother who was grieving for the loss of her grandson.  Her family lived close to the sea in Saleapaga, one of the worst affected areas of the tsunami tragedy.  In the early morning, as was usual for their family, she and her grandchildren would wake and then go about their morning rituals.  This morning was no different.  She recalled how she had given some coins to her grandchildren to get some goodies at the local store.  She remembers them going to the store, playing on the way.  The next thing she recalls was the emergency warning for all to go to higher ground.

In the chaos of trying to locate her grandchildren she remembers the roaring sound of the wave, screeching towards them with driving rage, as if belching from the bowels of hell, whistling eerily, taunting death and destruction.  This grandmother tells of how she yelled to her grandchildren who were nearby to run for their lives.  Being a big lady she knew she would slow them down if they were to run together.  As she tried to move herself along as quickly as possible, she was horrified to see her young seven year old grandson come back for her.  He grabbed her hand tightly and pleaded, “Sau, ta o” (Come with me).  Realising that the young boy was not going to leave her, she stood up, held his hand tightly and tried to move quickly.  When the wave reached them, the sheer force and magnitude of it caused their hands to be ripped apart.  When she recovered from the force of the wave she realised that she was no longer holding his hand and that the wave had taken him.

Amidst tears she told me of how she still sees his face, feels his hands gripping hers, hears his voice firmly telling her to hurry along.  And, despite her loss and grief she decides that she owed it to him, to the strength of his love and his gesture, to keep living and be thankful for the gift of her life.  In a barely audible whisper she says, “E oo mai nei e le’i maua se tala i si au tama.  Toe fia vaai tasi iai (Up till now I have not heard whether or not his body has been recovered.  I would like to see him once more)”.

There is poignancy here about the arresting power of love and the fragility of life.  In most families there is a close bond between grandparents and grandchildren.  Theirs is a special relationship.  The elderly grandmother and the young grandchild in this story represent the most vulnerable of family members.  Yet the nature of their love demonstrates what is most compelling and strong of family.  Here life and love is no less enduring because it is fragile and mortal.  The physical power of the tsunami can not overwhelm the strength of true family loving, if anything it underlines it.

In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami there are many images of the strength of family, of the pain of parents who have lost children and children who have lost parents.  But nothing as heart-wrenchingly raw and vivid as the sight of a mother, at the call of a new body being found, rushing over to see if it is hers and on realising that it is, oblivious to the stench of the rotting body, hugs and kisses it as if it were newborn.  The depth of the bond between mother and child is captured here.  For me watching this scene, both grotesque and beautiful, my stomach turns, my heart breaks, my legs go weak but in my mind’s eye I see the strength of the pute (or umbilical cord), the vae vae manava (sharing of body and life), that links mother and child.

On deeper reflection the tsunami not only caused death and destruction, unexpectedly it also gave opportunity for a reappraisal of family and societal values and a cleansing, if you like, of that which, in the light of so much pain and grief, became peripheral, nonsensical, vain and excessive.

Let me turn to the issue of family faalavelave or to the culture of reciprocal obligations and the social stigma that is sometimes associated with it.

Family faalavelave and social stigma

In Samoan the word faalavelave literally means an interruption.  It speaks of an interruption to the family’s usual schedule.  Families would have to reorganise their day or week in order to rally family members for enough resources to meet their faalavelave obligations.  In earlier times faalavelave made it possible for the burden of resourcing large family events to be shared.  The belief was that participating in faalavelave were acts of reciprocity.  In the ideal these acts were manifestations and demonstrations of family love and bonding.  They personified the best of family loving.

Samoan custom and usage finds the quid pro quo principle relevant in this context.  There is a common saying – ‘A e iloa a’u i Togamau, ou te iloa foi oe i Siulepa (literally meaning, if you do me a good deed in Togamau, I will reciprocate in Siulepa)’.  The reciprocal performance of the custom or duty implicit in the cultural imperatives of faalavelave is not to be motivated only by what one can receive in return.  Rather it should be motivated by the knowledge that if performed with the best possible motives then it will be reciprocated in kind.

The disparaging comments too often associated with faalavelave today are cries for reappraisal.  This is implicit in the discussion between a chief or matai of my family and his sister.  This matai, who lives in Wellington, rang up his sister, and said gently: “the faalavelave is now over; I suppose you had forgotten about your contribution?” She responded: “Look here dear brother, one of my principal prayers is: Dear God, call us to heaven before our children spurn what we ask for because there are too many faalavelave!”

The tsunami has created the ideal context for reassessing faalavelave.  For years now our funeral culture has been the target of fierce criticism and discussion.  The focus has been on corruption, exploitation and abuse, said to be motivated by vanity and greed.  In one fell swoop the tsunami imposed a context, forum and environment within which to re-examine the core values of the Samoan funeral culture.[2]

Sorting through the scale of destruction and the number of dead, dying and injured preoccupied the community so much after the tsunami that funerals of the deceased victims became very simple affairs.  The sheer number of decomposing bodies requiring immediate burial dictated the imperatives of when to hold the funeral, how, where and who should attend.  When driving past these funerals the absence of the village congregating in the falelauasi [funeral house] and of the Greek chorus which usually accompanied the procession to the church then to the gravesite, was poignantly conspicuous.  The paraphernalia that we have become accustomed to seeing at a Samoan funeral, especially one held in the villages, was so scaled down that one could not help but ask: how much of it do we really need? Will our funerals and their cultural imperatives lose meaning and substance if we gave to the grieving and demanded nothing or only accepted the bare minimum in return?  Would the dignity of the deceased and his or her family be undermined by simple but true gestures of reciprocity?

Funerals are meant to provide relief (financially and emotionally) and do justice, i.e. dignify the memory and legacy of the deceased.  Instead Samoan funerals have become very expensive and stressful, with some families getting into grave debt financially, mentally and spiritually by the end of it.  The social stigma of losing face if family resources are found wanting is so great that family heads are willing to do almost anything to avoid it, including creating inter-generational debt.

The seeming ordinariness of the tsunami funerals, with the minimum fuss and bother that surrounded them, did not, however, lose any face by their simplicity.  Instead they gained in that they reminded us of what really mattered.  In this instance, rather than raging menace the tsunami chastened and cleansed.  We might say that it forced us to front up to our vanities and cupidity, violently shaking and unmasking us of the façade and exploitations that befalls status at funerals and making profane anything other than what is fundamental to the act of celebrating life and providing relief from sorrow and pain.  In a nutshell, the tsunami has forced us to ask – Are our families suffering because of our own misplaced and inflated expectations?  If the answer is yes, then we must take pause to sort out why this is so.

Humour as coping mechanism

In the Pacific context humour is often used to deflect, if only for a moment, the deadening weight of pain or rejection.  In the opening quote of this text, I stated that I am not an individual because I share divinity with my ancestors, the land, the seas and the skies.  For indigenous Samoans the sea is kin.  For those who lived near the sea before the tsunami, the sea was their friend, their provider; it was family.  The trauma of the tsunami was not only felt in terms of the devastation impacted by a life-threatening force, but also in terms of the pain of being rejected and chastised by kin.

In dealing with family trauma humour offers natural relief.  The ability to laugh at one-self is healthy.  This applies whatever the crisis.  Status and social stigma take on fresh meaning when viewed from different front seats.

In a story told by and involving a catechist – a Catholic feasoasoni – the idiosyncrasies of Samoan humour as coping mechanism is exposed. Taking full advantage of the opportunity to make a point to his wife, a very large Samoan woman, the feasoasoani becomes infectiously alive as he forgivingly exaggerates his story; delighting all in his audience, except of course his wife.  The feasoasoani shares that in seeing the wave coming towards him he runs for his life, as he passes his house he sees his wife, he turns and nonchalantly says to her, as if going on an ordinary run, ‘fa’ [see you].  He then climbs up a nearby breadfruit tree and looks back towards her, she is now screaming at him to come and help her.  Clinging onto his breadfruit tree trunk, he calls out to her, ‘pii mau [hold on tight]’.  Then he see’s the highest ranked chief in his village, Ale,  being swirled around by the wave, he looks over at him and waves to him.  He yells, ‘fa, Ale’ [good-bye Ale].  There is insight here not only into how our people are coping with the trauma of what they experienced, but also how they make their points about social roles and status and poke fun at the fragilities of our humanity.

When such natural disasters take place, worrying about social etiquette just seems silly.  In sharing stories, a group of men told of how the wave took one of them, twisting and twirling him towards the sky. In the process this man, who is of significant status and mana in his village, lost the lavalava or sarong he was wearing and that morning he did not have any undergarments.  In an uproar of laughter they explained how two of them were below, looking up at their chief swirling around in the sky, naked from his waist down, his private parts fully exposed and dancing all on their own – one part going one way, the other parts going another.  In those moments one could not care less about the stigmas of society.

New times, new sources for family power and wealth, each create opportunity for shifting old norms and/or boundaries.  Where Pacific household heads in the past could control and regulate change through stringent appeals to precedence, history, custom or tradition, today the forces of change are too great.  What Pacific household heads can do is to appeal to ideals and values, those that are life-affirming, love-affirming and faith-affirming.

This does not mean we deliberately ignore the depressing challenges, negative contradictions and recurring problems that also face many Pacific families. It means that hope for a positive way out is better generated when leadership approaches are based on strengths-based rather than deficit-based models.

My final comment reflects on the stigma of single-families and the issues of Pacific fathering.  I do not pretend to be an expert in this area, far from it.  But this is one of the hard issues that we as Pacific leaders must tackle if we are to keep our young men meaningfully employed and out of prison.

Fathering and single-parenting

I am told that in New Zealand the proportion of single-parent Pacific families has been increasing over the last 25 years.  The ideals of a Samoan family find the concept of single parenting a misnomer.  Samoan households are extended family settings.  Kin should always be on hand to share in parenting responsibilities.  In the ideal, fathers should always play a role in the care of their children.  Male role models for fathers, husbands and brothers are important.

The emotional strength of men, if I may say, is sometimes underestimated.  In my household it is true that women are the real power, I would dare not say otherwise.  But in searching for what is best of male culture, I was struck by the physical and emotional strength of a young man in Vailoa, Aleipata, another of the villages struck by the tsunami, who battled the elements and the odds to save his family.  His young wife was and still is heavily pregnant, his parents are elderly.  His parents and other siblings lived in the family home right on the seashore.  When the call came to go to higher ground his mother was in the village women’s committee house and his wife and father were in their respective homes.  When the wave hit he searched for his wife and parents.  He saw that his wife and his father had been swept away by the wave.  He swam for his wife and unborn child, then for his father and brought them all back to shore and onto higher ground.  Without a second thought he then went straight back into the fury of the wave to find his mother.  He risked his life but the old lady was not to be found.  Such bravery takes more than just physical strength; it takes an emotional courage that is just as much a part of being male as physical prowess.

With so many of our Pacific young men in prison or youth correctional facilities and with family violence continuing to be an issue, understanding the ideals of Pacific fathering is important to the framing of appropriate solutions.

We shouldn’t be afraid of the hard questions because we see ourselves as weak or mortal failures.  The lessons we may draw from the stories of the Samoa tsunami survivors is that our imperfections as humans should not demean or diminish our search for what is true and good in family.  There are no perfect human beings and so no perfect families.  People and thus families can only strive for perfection, for those ideals we value and which will stand the test of time.

Conclusion

The purpose of this fono is to acknowledge Pasifika families’ research and to meaningfully discuss its findings.  The fono launches valuable research into changing Pasifika household compositions, into family wellbeing, parenting, the influence and importance of Pasifika cultural values and the resilience of Pasifika families and youth despite adversity.

Pasifika families are like flowers, they are both strong and fragile, they need constant love and tenderness to survive and grow to their blooming best.  We need to nurture our young, care for our old and sick, and affirm our strong.  Social stigma can stunt growth and cause disease and ill-health.  In Samoa the tsunami of September 29^th was potent not only for the death and destruction it caused, but also, as has been the case throughout history, for the invitation to reassess, cleanse and make anew.

Samoans will remember for some time the power of this tsunami.  We will remember this one not just for the paradoxes of its rage, but more poignantly for its rallying, reaffirming and cleansing of the ideals of family.  The essence of family I believe is its ability to come together in times of need.  The Pasifika family extends beyond the shores of the Pacific.  The love and support to Tonga and Samoa that poured in from countries all over the world demonstrates our shared humanity.

Today I want to acknowledge our kinship with New Zealand.  Samoa and New Zealand share so much.  We share history, culture and rugby players.  We share genealogy, faith, common environment and a future.

New Zealand and Samoan family values and ties have changed so markedly over the years that the response of New Zealanders to the September 29^th tragedy can only be described in terms of what would be the response of loving kin.  The same must be said of Australia.

The idea that we share and believe in our kinship bond is evidenced most vividly for me by the gestures of kindness shown by different communities all around New Zealand.  But for sheer impact factor, I have been most struck by the image of the young Whangarei pre-schoolers who together with their teachers and community rallied together to carry out a hikoi to raise funds for the tsunami victims.  Nothing offers as strong or as powerful a message of the heart of family as the purity of children in their gestures of love. And, nothing tests the strength and longevity of family as the legacy of Sir Maui Pomare and Sir Apirana Ngata, who fought on principle for Samoa’s behalf in the late 1920s.  Each of these acts continue to grip my heart and gives power and substance to the Samoan saying – ‘O le e lave i tiga, ole ivi, le toto ma le aano.  He who rallies in my hour of need is my kin.’

References

Tui Atua, T.T.E. 2009. Eulogy – Tuifeamalo Tuatagaloa Annandale. [See appendix].

Tui Atua, T.T.E. 2009. ‘More on meaning, nuance and metaphor’. In Suaalii-Sauni, T., Tuagalu, I., Kirifi-Alai, T.N., and Fuamatu, N. [eds]. Su’esu’e Manogi; In search of Fragrance, Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta’isi and the Samoan Indigenous Reference. Apia; National University of Samoa.

We are Samoa
performed by Jerome Grey

Our Samoa, The Greatest place of all
She is green and blue lush with beauty
And hearts are pure as gold
Touch someone with tears of joy
Touch someone with smiles of love
Oh! What happy feelings
From such happy people

We are Samoa
People from the sun
We are Samoa
And our heritage lives on
Teach world humanity and hospitality
We are Samoa
And we trust in Thee

Samoa, e pele oe I si ou fatu
O le a ea se mea e ao ona fai
E tautua ai mo oe
O sasae ma sisifo e tasi
O le viiga lea I le lagi
Aiga ma nuu taitasi
Tuu mai lou aao
Ta pepese faatasi

Uso Samoa
Fanau mai le la
Uso Samoa
Manumanu I le upega
A oo I nuu ese le loto alofa
Samoa mo oe
Samoa mo Le Atua

 

 

Earlier this week, thousands of teachers took to the streets protesting the government’s education policy. They want changes to the $359 million Investing in Educational Success (IES) initiative.

Prime Minister John Key hit back at the largest teacher union, NZEI, labelling its actions “politically motivated”.

“The union representing some of those teachers . . . in my view is very much running a programme that is political rather than what’s right for the kids,” he said. “I think there is very strong academic research that shows that what National is proposing is right.”

But then yesterday, the primary teachers’ union called the government’s charter school investment in Northland, a $2.1million waste of taxpayers money. Others called for the ‘Charter School Experiment to be canned.

This morning, education minister Mrs Parata defended charter schools. But in the process fell off the pan and into the fire with Labour’s education spokesperson, Chris Hipkins calling her a disgrace for saying “that the alternative to at-risk kids attending failing charter schools was jail.”

Together, what these latest public viewings of the education sector bring out is a minister and the sector in a state of friction and opposition.

The major concern from the unions, teachers, educators, researchers, parents and communities is that New Zealand’s world leading education system is being dismantled by the National government since it came into power.

Central to the discourse is the concern National is forcing its ideology on a system that was once a world leader, to one that is failing.

From the outside, Pacific islanders may not understand what the fuss is all about. As they toot their horns in support of protesting teachers on the roadsides, or watch the protests and commentary on television or hear it on the radio, it is good for them to know what the fuss is all about.

The best explanation of the issue is found on the blog, ‘local bodies’. It goes something like this:

“They (national government) will not be happy until they have complete ideological control and can shut down professional engagement completely. They are planning to do away with the current Teachers Council and replace it with a new authority (EDUCANZ) that will be led by those approved and appointed by the Minister only, with little professional input. The Education Amendment Bill (No2) is currently being progressed through parliament that will support the ongoing restructuring of the system. 

Hekia Parata is also considering wiping the current support for lower decile schools and shift extra funding to those schools that perform well in National Standards. The head of the EDUCANZ transition board John Morris has recently produced a paper that suggests teachers should be paid based on the attainment of their students. 

This government is destroying our amazing collaborative, holistic public education system that recently led the world. They are determined to implement systems that have failed spectacularly overseas. Professional knowledge based on evidence should lead education, not political ideology. What angers me the most is what is being denied to our most vulnerable children when they should be the real focus of spending and any systemic change.”

This is the view at the national front. But where is Pasifika as a group placed within this fight? And who out there is representing our interests? Are we on the Union table so our issues are heard?

It appears the Pasifika voice is lacking and we have a relatively low level of influence in the sector as highlighted by John MaCaffrey of Auckland University’s comments on Pacific Guardians today.

In terms of the importance of Pacific culture and languages to schools, we are not viewed as important according to reports by the Education Review Office (ERO) writes MacCaffrey.

“I am sorry to say that the claims for how great State schools currently are for Maori and Pasifika Schools is over rated by the actual research to say the least.

“The ERO has been reporting for at least the last five years that few schools value the languages, cultures, experiences and identities that they [Pasifika] bring to school and very few think our children’s languages have any place in schooling.

“This seems to be why they remain largely unconcerned about the forthcoming extinction of the languages of the Cook is Maori, Vagahau Niue and Gagana Tokelau and [unconcerned about] the clear research showing that valuing and including the languages of Samoan and Tongan children as tools for learning in the curriculum will produce greater academic achievements – that is bilingual education,” he wrote.

When that “unconcerned” attitude is coupled with the Ministry of Education constantly undermining Pasifika programs that do see the light of day, it points to a strategic push for Pasifika children to be taught in a monocultural, monolingual, monoliteracy system.

“Programmes we do have in schools are constantly undermined by Ministry of Education assessment policies and National Standards wanting to show Pasifika children who speak our languages as failures to meet the monolingual standards set by monolingual peoples with little or no knowledge of bi-lingualism or language and bi-literacy development of bilingual children,” said Mr MacCaffrey

At the same time, the lack of Pasifika representation on the executive of the country’s education union doesn’t help push Pasifika education issues onto the agenda.

“The NZEI still, it seems, does not have a National Komiti Pasifika to advise its Executive or a Pasifika position on its National Executive or any substantial action on its 2002 Policy Report calling for Pasifika Bilingual Education.

“Its time for Palagi NZ to acknowledge that the Pasifika Education Plans which has monolingual goals only for Pasifika students is a failure. It’s time to speak up and fight back with research and knowledge we have of our own families.”

However, to appreciate the changes and reformation the National government has brought in and the impacts they now have on the education sector and Pasifika specifically, it is important to understand where the education sector was before National won the 2008 election.

In 2008 New Zealand was internationally ranked in the top seven for educational achievement. When compared with other countries that were also culturally diverse, and experiencing growing inequality, New Zealand education was viewed as successful and on the cusp of something great as a lot of parallel strategies were being researched and developed at the time.

These included a new National curriculum and the complementary Maori curriculum Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. Teachers across the nation were excited about putting all their energies into the new ideas and approaches through these co-constructed documents that had taken around seven years to review and write. Evidence, research and practitioner input had created something that would prepare New Zealand children to be resilient and achievers in a rapidly changing world.

For Pasifika, the Tupu and Folauga series provided education resources that “were used by 33 Pacific bilingual units to provide bilingual education to about 1,300 primary students throughout New Zealand.”

More importantly, they provided visibility of our story in Aotearoa and our growing participation and influence within New Zealand. Language provided an anchor to sustain our identity and heritage, and at the same time, an asset to help raise New Zealand’s growing global profile as a tourist destination.

The Early Childhood sector, where Pasifika was making a huge contribution, had received a much overdue boost in funding from the Labour Government after being underfunded, as a percentage of GDP, compared to other OECD nations for years.

The sector was working towards a target of having 100% qualified teachers in all centres and a core part of funding allocation. More importantly, it was a direction that promised integration of Pasifika communities’ heritage through language into the formal education sector. It was a pathway to achieve long-term sustainability for maintenance and preservation of our languages, and a template for other ethnic groups to follow.

The timing for Pasifika to eventually be incorporated as a core curriculum component was perfect as New Zealand was also in the process of implementing a new National Curriculum and a complementary curriculum for Maori.

However, when National took over in 2008, they wanted to make changes. A number of those changes impacted negatively on Pasifika education at the policy level.

One of those impacts is disturbing according to Ms Catherine Delahunty, the Green Party’s education spokesperson. “It is disturbing to see the government focus to assimilate Pacific learners as quickly as possible into a monolingual, monocultural pakeha school system by putting together education polices that strip away their culture, their identity, and indeed their advantage for education success,” she told Pacific Guardians.

Su’a William Sio added that National’s system is stripping away the “personal, cultural and educational benefits of Pasifika languages … making those children monolingual in English by the time they leave schools.

“In other words, National’s treatment of Pasifika languages in education is really a road to nowhere for Pasifika communities.”

The other government policy change with major impacts on Pasifika was reducing the requirement for teachers to 80% qualified in the early childhood sector; it resulted in significant reduction of funding for Pacific providers. It had two profound impacts.

On the education and language preservation front, Pasifika was pioneering innovations through the sector. Milestones achieved were indicators toward incorporation of Pasifika languages into primary and secondary schools. It would have secured language continuation into the formal sector, and continued production of Pasifika educational resources. This would lead to increased employment for Pasifika, a more firm connection with educators in their home countries, and fertile grounds for Pasifika entrepreneurs to grow businesses off related services and needed support.

The second impact of that reduced funding meant less and less opportunities for higher qualifications and incomes for early childhood teachers. It impacted those individual Pasifika households where the deletion of opportunities, impacted their incomes and potential. It also meant a few, if any, Pasifika secondary school students would look at the sector as a career path.

In 2009, the government announced the removal of Pacific education resources the Tupu and Folauga series from publication.

The depth of this removal is significant when one considers these resources would form the backbone of Pacific digital education resources when New Zealand moves to action its digital roll-out to schools, and to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural, upper and lower decile schools, rich and poor households.

The strategic move to a monolingual, monoliteracy system for Pacific children took another step closer last year when Pasifika digital education resources were deleted from the 21^st learning environment and digital literacy framework on which the Network4Learning platform is based.

But what about the Pasifika Education Plan 2013-2017, doesn’t that cover Pasifika education and language needs? The quick and  simple answer is no but there are many inadequacies masked within the strategy.

These include the infrastructure set-up where only four staff mans the Pasifika Unit within the Ministry of Education. The methodology and consultation used to develop resource material. But more disturbing is that the goals for Pacific literacy, research were removed by the National government in 2009.

For Pacific voters heading to the polls, consider the following information about the three major parties view on education before casting your votes. Note: the list of National’s dismantling of New Zealand’s public education system is included at the end of this article.

NATIONAL

Education policy revolves around ‘Raising achievement in education.’

National says it is committed to raising achievement in schools by rewarding high-quality teachers and principals and sharing their practices across the system.

However, its fiscal plans announced this week show a different story.

National said it has set aside up to $2.1 billion over the next three years for new spending for health and education. However, analysis by independent economic consultancy BERL showed $3.6 billion is needed to maintain real spending over the next three years. If National is only allocating $2.1 billion then it will need to cut the education and health budgets by $1.5billion.

However, if we put the money issue aside, the major concern Pacific voters should worry about is the behavior and tactics used by John Key’s National party and senior ministers.

They are committed to their vision and in relation to education, as ‘local bodies’ wrote: “They (national government) will not be happy until they have complete ideological control [of the education system]…”

Why should we be worried? Because of the ‘Dirty Politics’ methods they use. A Pacific victim in the system has been named.

Kelvin Smythe of NetworkOnNet pointed to a paragraph on page 43 of Dirty Politics.

‘Other minister’s offices began feeding information to Slater, such as Gillon Carruthers, press secretary for Education Minister Anne Tolley. ”I got those stats out of Tolley’s office, seems Gillon has worked out that feeding the whale might help,” wrote Slater in early 2011. “Yes, they should have all worked it out now, “Lusk replied.’

“With that one example, Anne Tolley cannot flatly deny that no collusion with Whale Oil occurred. How much is the question,” wrote Mr Smythe.

Smythe points to a method for smear campaigns using Whale Oil and editorial offices of newspapers; plus government bullying of Principals on a ‘Hit List’ who stood against the introduction of National Standards.

One of them was Brent Godfery and Pembroke School in August 2011 losing a “fono on the education of Samoan children” for his schools stance against National Standards.

Writes Smythe, “As for the ministry and Whale Oil, there was an interesting convergence between Whale Oil and the ministry to do with Brent Godfery and Pembroke School, August, 2011. A fono on the education of Samoan children was taken away from Brent’s school (would you believe?) because of the school’s opposition to national standards. Whale Oil was on to it immediately in brutal fashion; but so was an ominous follow-up from the ministry. A pattern was about to unfold.

Pembroke had a commissioner landed on it. Brent and the board of trustees had already confirmed that with their protest stand against national standards made, they would now unreservedly comply with the regulations. But to no avail, years of unrelenting ministerial vindictiveness, financial cost, and disruption to the education of children followed. Even when the commissioner concerned said that all was good, it always had been, of course, the ministry refused to move.

The purpose of such state bullying was to cast a pall of fear over New Zealand primary schools.

The link was now established – get criticised by Whale Oil, and constructive dismissal, resignation would follow, or commissioners called in.

In late 2010 Tolley acted to get the State Services Commission to warn principals about speaking out against government policies and to make such speaking out unlawful. But Tolley suddenly changed position saying she had never intended any of that; clearly other ways were in the offing, and they were – under EDUCANZ principals will lose their right to speak out, reinforced by the bureaucratic hold over schools to be exerted by the IES.

What is incontrovertible is that unpleasant things happened, indeed, are still happening to certain principals, seeming to involve Whale Oil, editorial offices of newspapers, the ministry, and the education review office. The connection between these groups is supported by some evidence but more is needed for definite conclusions to be made.”

GREEN PARTY

In an exclusive to Pacific Guardians, Ms Catherine Delahunty said, “The big question is: will the next Government commit to Pasifika education based on the clear concerns and ideas of the people themselves, or favour assimilation and abandonment of the langauges and cultures?

“The Greens will commit to a national languages strategy that prioritises Te Reo and then the Pasifika languages and an education system with an effective plan to meet the needs of the Pasifika students.”

Ms Delahunty’s full response is as follows.

The Green Party wants to strengthen the Government commitment to a fairer society for Pasifika communities particularly in education.

We think the Pasifika Education Plan needs real strategies to implement its vague goals in order to create an education system that genuinely supports Pacific students to have their identity affirmed and their culture celebrated in ECE and schools.

The latest census shows that the languages of the Pacific nations are under threat and the Green Party believes the Government has a responsibility to support the languages in our education system rather than telling the communities they are on their own.

We believe the heritage languages are essential to learning and this must start in the first years of a child’s life.

The Greens support language based early childhood centres and models including programmes such as “E Tu Ao” in Porirua. We believe the quality home based programmes and centres need to be properly resourced and it’s very disappointing that the ECE inquiry into the role of languages failed to make concrete recommendations to strengthen the languages in education.

The Inquiry was also told that governance support is needed to help struggling Pacific ECE initiatives and we would require the School Trustees Assoc and the Ministry to make this a priority.

The school system needs attention and the Greens would require the Ministry of Education to create a recruitment plan for teachers who can speak Pacific languages so that schools can offer some language based classes and the transition to school is supported.

Currently schools are carrying all the costs for bilingual programmes and Government needs to provide some political commitment and resources. The Ministry needs to employ more staff dedicated to supporting educational strategies that work for Pacific students. These include the production of Pacific orientated digital resources and schoolbooks as well as initial teacher training and professional development for teachers so they are working appropriately with Pasifika students.

We would also support more scholarships for Pasifika teachers and local research on the education issues and solutions for Pasifika.

There are basic economic issues affecting most Pasifika communities which impact on educational success, such as poverty, housing issues, transience, low paid work and health issues. The Greens have policies to address these issues because education is only helpful to families if the basics are addressed.

The big question is: will the next Government commit to Pasifika education based on the clear concerns and ideas of the people themselves, or favour assimilation and abandonment of the langauges and cultures?

The Greens will commit to a national languages strategy that prioritises Te Reo and then the Pasifika languages and an education system with an effective plan to meet the needs of the Pasifika students.

The argument against this is that all of the many ethnicities will demand it but the Greens believe we are a Pacific nation and we should honour and invest in Te Reo Maori and then support Pasifika educational priorities.

The Government has chosen to fund Chinese languages in schools which would be fine if they were supporting the Pacific students heritage, but they are not.

The Green Party believes all children will thrive if given a good start via public quality education and this includes Pasifika communities having their language and culture reflected and respected at every level of the education system.

The whole country will benefit from this positive approach.

LABOUR

Labour will act to recognise the five main Pacific languages in New Zealand including through the education system, said Pacific Affairs spokesperson Su’a William Sio.

“In Labour’s Pacific Island policy, there must be a strong commitment to Pacific languages now and into the future. Labour will work alongside Pasifika communities to achieve their aspirations for the next generation of Pasifika people to thrive in New Zealand and to be smart, healthy and bilingual.

“Instead of seeing Pacific languages and cultures as barriers, we should see them as resources, as a gift to the nation and something that enriches all our lives. Unless New Zealand acts quickly and decisively will they cease to be living languages in the coming generations.”

Labour’s language policy has been hailed by former Pacific Advisor to Mrs Parata, Galumalemana Alfred Hunkin.

In a post on Su’a William Sio’s Faceboob he wrote: “The gift of Pacific languages…that God gave Pacific peoples are at last going to be recognised in a LABOUR PARTY POLICY! This is a VOTE WINNER for me. OUR CHURCH COMMUNITIES SHOULD GET TOGETHER TO THANK LABOUR FOR THIS. It would mean that the lobbying and hard work we have been working for is getting properly recognised! Malo Su’a.

In addidtion to Language recognition, Labour will also:

• work with the tertiary education sector to encourage and support research by Pacific researchers and academics into appropriate models and curricula that enhance Pacific language bilingual education at all levels of the education system. This will include teacher exchanges with Pacific countries.
• resume the publication of the Tupu and Folauga series of reading books and journals and other appropriate resources for teaching Pacific language bilingual education.
• reinstate the goals for Pacific literacy, research, and bilingualism in the Pacific Education Plan which were removed by the National Government in 2009.
• develop a Pacific Language Policy wrapping support around the Pacific community initiatives such as the Pacific language weeks and the organisations driving these initiatives.

As John MaCaffrey pointed out earlier, “Its time for Palagi NZ to acknowledge that the Pasifika Education Plans which has monolingual goals only for Pasifika students is a failure. It’s time to speak up and fight back with research and knowledge we have of our own families.”

List of National’s attack on New Zealand’s public education system compiled by Local Bodies:

1. $35 million gifted to private schools (4% of students). Elite private school Wanganui Collegiate (400 students) receives $3.9 million bail out despite Ministry advice not to.
2. $25 million slashed from the Education Ministry (according to assessments it is the worst performing ministry).
3. Introduction of new curriculum abandoned and National Standards implemented without trial, against advice and with limited consultation (legislated into law).
4. Cost of repairing leaky school buildings over $1.2 billion (after National’s de-regulation of building industry in 1991).
5. $400 million wiped from the early childhood budget and the target for qualified teachers dropped to 80% (many centres operating at 100% had massive budget cuts).
6. Curriculum narrowed to literacy and numeracy and all other advisors sacked (Science, Technology, Arts…).
7. The expectation that schools provide healthy food wiped to allow commercial interests into schools again to sell processed food and fruit in schools scheme slashed.
8. Funding for technology teachers in intermediates cut.
9. Class sizes over 1:27, 6 more than the OECD average
10. Health camps closed.
11. Pasifika immersion and bilingual community child care centres suffer funding cuts despite being a ‘priority’ group.
12. Residential schools for behavioural needs closed (one illegally).
13. Schools who questioned Standards were threatened with having boards and principals sacked and had PD withheld.
14. Christchurch school closures are poorly managed and questioned by an ombudsmen and found wanting by a court decision.
15. New Education Ministry head employed from UK with a background in Charter Schools and limited knowledge of New Zealand system.
16. Novopay signed off and implemented without a proper trial despite having 147 software faults. Schools are having to devote hours of time every week to deal with past and ongoing problems.
17. Charter Schools introduced despite no evidence of need and are given a financial advantage over public schools. The Civilian’s satirical take on Charter Schools is actually not far from the truth.
18. Private schools capture special needs funding over low decile schools.
19. Te Kotahitanga dumped despite being highly successful in lifting Maori achievement.
20. Disbandment of the Supplementary Learning Support tier of special education funding, putting an increased load on our already overworked Resource Teachers for Learning and behaviour (RTLB).
21. Hekia Parata remains in ministerial role despite poor performance and little respect from the public or the education sector.
22. After five years under National, New Zealand’s international ranking plummets to as low as 23rd.
23. Internationally regarded research reveals New Zealand schools are suffering serious harm under the National Standards regime.
24. Government pays $2.5 million in grants and subsidies to Kidicorp a corporate child care provider with a history of overcharging the Ministry ($1.6 million) by manipulating teacher numbers.
25. The Prime Minister announces that $359 million will be spent on Executive Principals and Teachers who are successful in raising achievement in National Standards. Many question why the money is supporting a corporate management system and isn’t being spent directly to help children with high needs.

 

Click to view slideshow.

Today, four years ago, the 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocked Christchurch. There was minimal damage then but it set in motion events that would lead to the tragedies of 22 February 2011.

Events littered with devastating memories and heroic deeds that served as poignant reminders to Pasifika Trades scholars, their families and guests including Ministers Steven Joyce and Tariana Turia, celebrating the Maori and Pasifika Trades scheme at Te Puna Wānaka earlier this week.

Events reminding everyone that the reason why there is a Pasifika Trades Training Scheme at all is because of the earthquake. It took 185 irreplaceable lives, but left behind opened grounds where new shoots would sprout.

“Out of the ruins of devastation and tragic loss of life, a new city was to be built,” Rev Fitifiti Luatua told the audience this week.

“This National government, through the Tertiary Education Commission in Wellington came up with the idea of Pasifika Trades Training as a result.”

Rev Fitifiti was there when the earthquake struck four years ago. He was there in February 2011 and vividly recalls the aftermath.

“We all remember the images of Ahsei Sopoaga, from Little River near Akaroa tossing slabs of concrete aside like pebbles to rescue two victims. His efforts were one amongst many heroic deeds in those days.

“Those were some of the images and emotions that strengthened many of our Maori and Pacific leaders to stand firm for Christchurch. To be the refuge that our people would need and seek.”

He was there when Pasifika Trades was discussed, developed and was amongst the group that ensured Pacific religious leaders became a core part of the scheme to ensure success for Pasifika.

In fact, he was the minister who conducted the service to officially launch the Christchurch scheme in late 2011.

“As I said at the launching of Pasifika Trades at the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (EFKS) Linwood, ‘This is God’s Blessing for our wider Pasifika Community in Christchurch.

“Why? I mean, who would have ever thought, would have ever dreamt that we will be part of the rebuilding of our Christchurch city in this very unique and special way?

“This is an opportunity that God has been given to us, not just to rebuild our city, but to also rebuild our sense of community, to rebuild our humanity.”

He highlighted the significant roles played by Tariana Turia and Steven Joyce to bring the political will and resources to make things happen.

“They became our champions not because they ended up bringing $40million dollars to Maori and Pasifika Trades Training, but because they knew that to get Pacific people to take part and stay committed, they needed Pacific churches on board,” Rev Fitifiti told Pacific Guardians.

The Canterbury leg of the Pasifika Trades Scheme has become the most successful in the country with participation and completions topping that of Wellington and Auckland.

When the scheme’s platform was changed to consortiums this year, Canterbury was at the forefront bringing on board corporate partner, Allied Work Force (AWF) to provide the bridge from classroom to employment and career paths.

Canterbury has become the standard bearer for the Maori and Pasifika Trade Scheme.

It was no surprise when last year, their female scholar, Joy Lalahi won the inaugural ‘Top Female Trade Student Award’. An award that recognises and celebrates the achievements of women taking up trade roles.

The Canterbury Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT), the other partner in the Canterbury consortium has launched a range of Women in Trades scholarships which opens the door to a greater number of tradeswomen.

These are the first fruits borne under the watch of Mrs Turia and Mr Joyce.

MRS TARIANA TURIA

Mrs Turia is standing in the final rays of her political career. She is retiring from politics but casts a long shadow over community policies that include the smokefree campaign, the Whanau Ora initiative, the Disability community, the Maori and Pasifika Trades to name a few.

A woman who believes that the one element that will allow Maori and Pasifika to succeed whatever the issue they face is that “family is always the answer”.

As Mrs Turia stood at the podium, she took time to look around and acknowledge the wharenui of Te Puna Wānaka.

“I always love coming here – the beauty, the majesty, the awesome feeling of being in this wharenui. I always think of the late great Monte Ohia and his passion for mātauranga Māori,” she said.

“And I love all the carvings of Tānenuiārangi – the poupou in front of this building reminding us of the journey of Tāne climbing to the heavens to gather the sacred baskets of knowledge – a story of perseverance and determination to overcome adversity – and dedication to learning.”

She looked at the audience, at the new 39 Pasifika scholars ready to embark on a new opportunity and dreams to take up crafts to benefit their families and country.

“What all of us realise here, is that the face of our future is increasingly yours – our fortunes as a nation will rely on the expertise and efforts of Māori, Pasifika and Asian,” she said.

“This training programme has been designed specifically to respond to the aspirations and priorities of young Māori and Pasifika students within the workforce.

“It is about providing a network of support and effective strategies to address the fact that for many of our young people the education system has not provided them with the opportunities they need to meet the demands of our market.”

As the heart of her speech, “What I like most about this trades training programme is that collaboration is at the heart of the programme. It’s about strong partnerships which have supported all our students, and which will also help to provide a strong platform for growth beyond the scope of today.”

That collaboration together with the pastoral care by the Christchurch Fraternal of Pacific church ministers, the expert training by CPIT and innovative business approach by AWF is to enable young Pasifika scholars to succeed in both education and employment.

“It is tailor-made for this city, it is tailor made for both the Pasifika trades students and the students from He Toki ki te Rika,” said Mrs Turia.

MR STEVEN JOYCE

Mr Joyce could very well be the next leader of the National Party.

However, that did not deter Rev Fitifiti from describing him as the personification of “innovation and perhaps the only parliamentarian capable of handling Economic Development, Tertiary Education, Science, Employment and Skills portfolios all at the same time.

“To me, all those portfolios are linked and can be a powerful tool in the hands of the right individual, with the right skill set to combine and unleash their potential without blowing themselves up,” Rev Fitifiti told Pacific Guardians.

“Mr Joyce’s use of portfolios is about unleashing the power of Innovation. If you talk to people about Mr Joyce, one of the common words that come up at the mention of his name is – Innovation. And it’s that innovative mindset that he’s brought to the mix. And I must say that the positive changes we’re seeing are the fruits from Mr Joyce and Mrs Turia’s efforts together with our Pacific communities and partners.”

Reverend Fitifiti says Pacific islanders should take the opportunity now available to them with both hands.

“The Christchurch rebuild gave us the Pasifika Trades scheme. Its not only an opportunity for economic wellbeing, it is an opportunity to be part of nation building. And that is something many people don’t get to be a part of in their lifetime.”