Sunday 25 November 2012

New Maori claim to strike at heart of Auckland’s Queen Street.

One of the biggest commercial buildings in New Zealand – the Phillips Fox Tower in central Auckland – stands on ground that an iwi wants registered as a waahi tapu or sacred site, under the Resource Management Act.

In March 1842, the Ngapuhi chief Maketu was executed on the corner of Queen Street and Victoria Street West. “This was the first Maori executed by the British”, says Ngapuhi leader David Rankin. “He was a rangatira, or chief, and his execution at this spot makes it sacred to Maori – the spot where any rangatira is killed is extremely tapu”.

Mr Rankin will be seeking the support of the Auckland Council’s Maori Statutory Board in his application, to have the location officially designated as a waahi tapu. “This is about the recognition of a site that is of extreme historical importance to Ngapuhi”, says Mr Rankin, “and so we will be expecting the Council’s Maori Statutory Board to back us in our application. We will be contacting them this week”.

Mr Rankin says the implications of the designation of the site as a waahi tapu will not be dramatic. “We will want to talk with the owners and discus ideas for recognising its significance to Ngapuhi – dialogue instead of confrontation is what we want”. Ideas from Ngapuhi so far include a statue, a memorial plaque, and a multi-media display to inform Aucklanders about the history of the location.

© Scoop Media

Mighty River: 'Mum And Dad’ Investors Myth Busted

Green Party research, confirmed by Treasury, shows that half of the shares in Mighty River Power that National sold to retail investors went to just 13,000 people and that 10 percent of the retail shares went to just 400 wealthy people and organisations, Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said today.

The sale of Mighty River Power saw 113,000 retail investors, referred to as ‘mum and dad’ investors by the National Government, buy 26.9 percent of the company. Analysis by the Greens and Treasury shows that half of those shares were, in fact, purchased by fewer than 13,000 people who bought an average of nearly $35,000 worth of shares...

“The truth is that 98 percent of New Zealanders bought no shares at all. Half the retail shares went to just 0.3 percent of the population, and a tiny group of just 400 wealthy individuals and organisations got 10 percent of the retail shares. More>>