October 20, 2004

Councillors welcomed with powhiri

History was made when the new North Shore City Council was welcomed with a powhiri (Maori greeting) from Tangata Whenua and members of the Maori community to mark the start of its 2004-07 term.

In a first for North Shore City, Mayor George Wood solemnly took the oath of office in both Maori and English before a packed, multi-cultural audience.

Local Kaumatua Arnold Wilson from Awataha Marae led Mayor Wood and councillors into the council chamber where they were greeted by Tangata Whenua and iwi from throughout North Shore City (Te Raki Pae Whenua) and the Auckland region (Tamaki Makaurau).

George Wood hailed the ceremony as a new beginning in the relationship between Council and Maori.

"Tonight we wrote a special chapter in North Shore City's history and I look forward, with confidence, to a very bright future for our community," he says.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>