By Poto Williams

The Labour Party Pacific caucus has welcomed Jenny Salesa of Manukau East and Carmel Sepuloni of Kelston, successful MP’s in the recent General Election and reflects the high calibre pacific candidates that contested including those who were unsuccessful, Jerome Mika, Lemalu Herman Retzlaff and Anahila Kanongata’a-Suisuiki

Salesa and Sepuloni join Poto Williams (Chch East), Kris Faafoi (Mana) and the head of the caucus Su’a William Sio (Māngere) that provides not only a good representation across Pacific nations but coverage across the country as well.

While final counts are yet to be confirmed, the National party only have 2 Pacific MP’s, Peseta Sam Lotu Iiga and Alfred Ngaro, while Fia Turner waits to see if she is successful on the list.

Sepuloni returns to Parliament where she can renew her commitment to improving educational and health outcomes for marginalised and vulnerable groups. Salesa brings a strong sense of advocacy for a fair and just society as well as opportunities for all New Zealanders with a wealth of public sector experience and a strong background in community contribution.

The head of the Pacific caucus Sua William Sio is excited with the team and its prospects. “its historic and it’s a step in the right direction. Its a new beginning which is a step towards achieving our ultimate dreams and aspirations. Making sure we have good people at the very top”.

The members of the 51^st Parliament will be sworn in 20^th October 2014.

Mana candidate Annette Te Imaima Sykes says Meri Mangakāhia has been the wahine toa guide throughout her career.

Much is made about New Zealand being the first nation to grant women the right to vote – and rightly so.

There is a lot of information available on this part of history but most of it tends to focus on Paheka women. What is less known is that Māori women also won the right to vote at the same time in September of 1893.

The most prominent of them was Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia, of Te Rarawa. Born in the Hokianga district, she grew up to marry Hamiora Mangakāhia of Hauraki, who was elected Premier of the Māori Kotahitanga parliament in 1892.

At a meeting of the parliament in Hawke’s Bay in 1893, Meri Te Tai presented a motion requesting that women participate in the selection of members. She later addressed the parliament on her motion – the first woman known to have done so.

During her speech, ‘So that women may receive the vote’, she urged that women should not only be allowed to vote, but also to sit in the Māori parliament as members. Many Māori women owned land in their own right and were entitled to have their say in decisions affecting them.

This is what she said, in Te Reo and in English.

E whakamoemiti atu ana ahau kinga honore mema e noho nei, kia ora koutou katoa, ko te take i motini atu ai ahan, ki te Tumuaki Honore, me nga mema honore, ka mahia he ture e tenei whare kia whakamana nga wahine ki te pooti mema mo ratou ki te Paremata Maori.

1. He nui nga wahine o Nui Tireni kua mate a ratou taane, a he whenua karati, papatupu o ratou.

2. He nui nga wahine o Nui Tireni kua mate o ratou matua, kaore o ratou tungane, he karati, he papatupu o ratou.

3. He nui nga wahine mohio o Nui Tireni kei te moe tane, kaore nga tane e mohio ki te whakahaere i o raua whenua.

4. He nui nga wahine kua koroheketia o ratou matua, he wahine mohio, he karati, he papatupu o ratou.

5. He nui nga tane Rangatira o te motu nei kua inoi ki te kuini, mo nga mate e pa ara kia tatou, a kaore tonu tatou i pa ki te ora i runga i ta ratou inoitanga.

Na reira ka inoi ahau ki tenei whare kia tu he mema wahine. Ma tenei pea e tika ai, a tera ka tika ki te tuku inoi nga mema wahine ki te kuini, mo nga mate kua pa nei kia tatou me o tatou whenua, a tera pea e whakaae mai a te kuini ki te inoi a ona hoa Wahine Maori i te mea he wahine ano hoki a te kuini.

In English

I exult the honourable members of this gathering. Greetings.

The reason I move this motion before the principle member and all honourable members so that a law may emerge from this parliament allowing women to vote and women to be accepted as members of the parliament.

Following are my reasons that present this motion so that women may receive the vote and that there be women members:

1. There are many women who have been widowed and own much land.

2. There are many women whose fathers have died and do not have brothers.

3. There are many women who are knowledgeable of the management of land where their husbands are not.

4. There are many women whose fathers are elderly, who are also knowledgeable of the management of land and own land.

5. There have been many male leaders who have petitioned the Queen concerning the many issues that affect us all, however, we have not yet been adequately compensated according to those petitions. Therefore I pray to this gathering that women members be appointed. Perhaps by this course of action we may be satisfied concerning the many issues affecting us and our land.

Perhaps the Queen may listen to the petitions if they are presented by her Maori sisters, since she is a woman as well.

Exactly 121 years today, Mana candidate Annette Te Imaima Sykes says Meri has been the wahine toa guide throughout her career.

Annette who is ranked third on the joint Internet Mana list is a well known Rotorua activist and lawyer who fights for the rights of Māori tribes to be self-governing.

“I will honour today the struggle of many Maori suffragists like Meri to find empowerment after the tumultuous times of the New Zealand Land Wars.  Maori women had to support each other out of necessity to protect themselves and their hapu,” said Annette.

“And today’s Maori women have to do it again.”

Women’s Affairs Minister Jo Goodhew celebrated the 121st anniversary  with an event recognising women leaders in innovation.

The event is part of the Leading Edge series that was  held at Wellington’s National Library. The series looks at New Zealand, both past and present, through the lens of innovation.

“In celebrating our women leaders in innovation, I acknowledge the women and men in 1893 that were innovative in their struggle to give women voting rights,” Mrs Goodhew said.

“We are all proud that New Zealand was the first nation in the world to grant women the vote on September 19^th, 1893.

“However, we should never be complacent about that right.  Rights are only secured by using them. I urge all New Zealand women to exercise that right by voting on Saturday.

“As Kate Sheppard said, ‘Do not think your single vote does not matter much. The rain that refreshes the parched ground is made up of single drops’.”

The Green Party’s Women’s spokesperson Ms Jan Logie decided a while ago that she would cast her vote to commemorate suffrage day, and she did.

She said the achievement by women like Meri Mangakāhia and Kate Sheppard cannot be measured.

“We are here because of them,” said Ms Logie. “It was not an easy battle back then for the suffragists—24 years, 31 petitions, seven failed bills, and decades of ridicule, abuse, and antagonism. But they kept fighting, not just for the right to vote but for the right to improve the status of women and children.”

In regards to Maori, “We are proud to stand alongside all the wāhine Māori working to reclaim tino rangatiratanga,” she said.

Labour’s Women’s Affairs spokesperson Ms Carol Beaumont said in a statement that women have come a long way in 121 years, but there is still more to be done.

Under a Labour government, she promised they will make their lives better by, “extending paid parental leave to 26 weeks, raise the minimum wage by $2 an hour to help address the gender pay gap, provide a $60 a week Best Start payment to new parents and give pregnant women free dental care.”

And they will adopt a collaborative, long-term action plan in consultation with other parties to stop the epidemic levels of violence against women and children.

 

Internet MANA is floating the idea for the new government to consider granting safe passage and residency in New Zealand for global surveillance whistle blower Edward Snowden.

This has been ridiculed by both National and Labour.

John Key says the suggestion is ridiculous and shows just how mad Internet Mana are.

“Do we really want Edward Snowden hanging out in New Zealand? He might want to come to New Zealand, but no thanks.”

While Labour Leader David Cunliffe says it’s out of the question, he won’t allow it, and there’s no case for it.

“Case against it is that he’s arguably somebody who’s acted against the law in a friendly country.”

But Internet MANA Leaders Hone Harawira and Laila Harré say Mr Snowden had made enormous personal sacrifice to tell the world about the shocking global surveillance spiderweb that is the Five Eyes network in which New Zealand is an active participant.

“Edward Snowden was motivated by a deep ethical concern with the systematic misrepresentation by governments of their surveillance activities to their own populations. His actions have revealed multiple breaches of national and international law and privacy intrusion on a massive scale.

“We know that Edward Snowden wants to return home to the United States. However, until his safety there can be guaranteed he should be offered the option of moving to a democratic English-speaking country. That is what we want the new government to enable. We are sure that New Zealanders would want to see him protected while he pursues all his options for returning to the United States.”

 

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

The next Labour Government will work with Porirua City Council to develop a site to build over 50 homes as part of its KiwiBuild programme, Labour Leader David Cunliffe says.

“Labour’s KiwiBuild policy will build 100,000 affordable homes over ten years. We want to work closely with local government to find the right locations and free up land for development.

“Porirua City Council and its Mayor Nick Leggett have already come to the party. KiwiBuild fits nicely with the council’s City Centre Revitalisation Plan.

“When Labour leads the next Government the Council has set aside land on Heriot Drive that would accommodate 52 two-bedroom townhouses.

“Labour MP for Mana Kris Faafoi has been working closely with Nick Leggett for some time on the issue to ensure there are affordable homes for the community and to help the Porirua City Council’s City Revitalisation Plan attract more economic activity to the heart of the city. Labour’s Kiwibuild policy met both needs.

“It’s great to see Porirua Council and Nick Leggett can see the opportunities that KiwiBuild provides to develop quality affordable housing for Kiwis.

“I look forward to working with them in the next Labour Government,” David Cunliffe said.

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.

 

Hekia Parata’s claim on Radio NZ’s Morning Report this morning that vulnerable kids attending state schools are more likely to end up in jail has been called “disgraceful”.

“Hekia Parata claimed on Morning Report this morning that the alternative to at-risk kids attending failing charter schools was jail,” Labour’s Education spokesperson Chris Hipkins says.

“It is an absolute indictment on her own performance as Minister and the policies of the current National government.”

Mrs Parata was on Radio NZ defending charter schools where figures show that three out of five charter schools are failing to meet minimum enrolment targets.

She told Radio New Zealand it was still early in the year and figures might improve.

“These schools are maybe five students below their guaranteed minimum in their first year and we are only just half way through the year.

”Two of the schools are over their guaranteed minimum but no-one’s implying to them that they are a failure.”

She said from the outset this model of school was always meant to be small and “niche”.

However, an Education Review Office report into Northland charter school Te Kura Hourua ki Whangaruru that opened in February showed it was plagued with problems, RNZ reported. These included student drug and alcohol use, absenteeism, staff resignations and tensions, poor planning and weak governance.

Documents from the Education Review Office show Te Kura Hourua ki Whangaruru cost taxpayers $2.4 million in its first six months, but almost immediately a governor had to step in to address its failings. The school is located on a remote farm property south of Russell in Northland.

The Government spent $1.3 million on the coastal farm property and is funding its 56 pupils and seven teachers at a rate of $1.5 million a year. Principals in Northland say that is about the same amount they are getting for low decile schools with 360 pupils.

The NZEI said yesterday the Government has thrown $2.4 million away on a dysfunctional, ideological experiment when public schools are being starved of funding.

But Ms Parata told RNZ today it was still early days.

She said students from the school were on the margin, but the school’s purpose was to re-engage them in education.

“These are kids who have had drug problems, these are kids who have been absent from schools, these are kids who are on the margin.

“But what’s the alternative? To have these kids become another statistic in the justice system, or in the social welfare system?”

But Mr Hipkins lambasted her for having little faith in the public school system.

“It speaks volumes that the current Minister of Education has so little faith in our state schools she thinks the only way to cater for the most at-risk kids is to take them out of the school system and put them into an environment where they’ve been found to be constantly absent, where they’re smoking cannabis, and where heading out surfing is a regular part of the school day,” says Mr Hipkins.

“As the wheels spin off the charter schools experiment, Hekia Parata is desperately trying to justify their existence by claiming that they are some sort of magical solution for kids who are otherwise struggling in state schools.

“The reality is if those very state schools were given the level of funding and support these charter schools are getting, they could do amazing things for those kids.

“The charter schools experiment is failing, and it’s robbing hundreds of kids of their chance at a proper education. It’s time to draw a line under it and move on. That’s what an incoming Labour government will do.”

 

National must explain why its candidate for Māngere Misa Fia Turner appears to be using a Matai title she is not entitled to, Labour’s MP for Māngere and Pacific Islands Affairs spokesperson Su’a William Sio says.

A Matai title is a legally-recognised chiefly title bestowed as an honour by Samoan families and their villages.

“The Samoan Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration says it has no one registered under the name of ‘Misa Fia Turner’,” Su’a William Sio says.

“The Ministry also says that under Samoa’s Lands and Titles Act 1981, ‘the use of an unregistered Matai title is illegal as it is considered an offence to wrongfully use such a Matai title’.

“Under Samoan law the ‘rightful holder’ is a person ‘who has been appointed in accordance with the customs and usage of the Samoan people’ which includes being recognised through a court judgment.

“The rightful holder also has to have had a traditional appointment in the village to which that name or title belongs.

“If National’s candidate is using a title she has not had, that is an affront to the people of Samoa and the Samoan community in New Zealand.

“The National Party must investigate the discrepancy between Misa Fia Turner’s title and the view of the Samoan Government,” Su’a William Sio says.

 

Labour is immensely concerned that members of an Auckland Pacific Pentecostal Church are being signed up as National Party members without their full understanding, Labour’s Pacific Affairs spokesperson Su’a William Sio says.

“Congregation members are being approached by a person claiming to represent National who is convincing them to sign forms they don’t fully comprehend.

“They are then being sent letters addressed to them personally saying they are now members of National and must now vote for them

“I have been urged by a junior pastor of the church involved – who wishes to remain anonymous – to warn Pasifika people about this.

“People whose first language is not English are particularly vulnerable when it comes to this sort of underhand tactic as they are often too embarrassed to admit they can’t read the form.

“This is dirty politics at its worst. I call on National to investigate who is behind this and to take action. It would be obvious to Party officials if someone is signing up large numbers of new Pasifika members.

 

“I also want to assure any of the people affected that they are under no obligation to vote for National. They should vote for the party they want,” Su’a William Sio says.