Updates

Kia ora tatau Te Wiwi Nati, We have just launched your own free Nati email address to help keep our whanaunga connected.

The Te Haeata website has undergone a facelift as part of the Committee's drive to get as many Natis involved in, and informed about the settlement negotiations. Natis can register for regular updates (in English or Maori) via email, mobile phone, and/or to their mailbox. The website will be updated constantly too as the negotiations progress, so that Natis everywhere are regularly informed of progress.

There will also be a major interactive component to the "new-look" website. There will be a multi-choice quiz to test your knowledge of Ngati Poroutanga; a weekly prizedraw with giveaways including Ngati Porou merchandise; and coming soon, free text messaging to your friends and whanau from the website. You will also have the opportunity to sign-up to your own Natimail.com email address, and a Nati-World programme, which will track and link Natis all over the globe, will soon be available too. Be sure to keep updated with the changes and visit www.tehaeata.co.nz for more information.

At the beginning of the year, Te Haeata committee members met with the new Minister for Treaty Negotiations, Chris Finlayson, and new Minister of Maori Affairs, Dr Peter Sharples, in Gisborne. The meeting was a great opportunity to discuss treaty claims settlement negotiations. The Ministers expressed a commitment to the High Level Agreement signed at the end of 2008 between the outgoing Labour Government and Te Haeata (for a copy of this Agreement go to www.tehaeata.co.nz). Minister Finlayson also expressed a commitment to reaching a settlement of all Ngati Porou historical Treaty claims, as agreed with the last Government.

Te Haeata held a cluster-based wananga at Pakirikiri Marae on Sunday 15 February 2009. Over 70 people attended what was a very positive and future-focussed hui. They looked at aspirations for Ngati Porou whanau and hapu, and what they would like to see in a potential settlement package to help meet their aspirations. The hui was very beneficial for Te Haeata, which will take guidance from the views expressed by those who attended. Over the next month there will be further similar hui held in Wellington and Auckland.

As part of the Waitangi commemorations, Te Haeata launched a number of television advertisements on TV One and Maori Television. The advertisements coincided with the Waitangi Day Special programmes that went to air on these stations. The ads featured a number of Ngati Porou personalities, such as Willy Jackson, John Tamihere, Te Hamua Nikora and Candice Davis. There were a couple of home-grown faces too, such as Cushla Tangaere-Manual and Te Rau Kupenga. The ads encouraged Natis everywhere to be informed and to get involved in what is happening with the negotiations. A copy of the ads can be seen on the Te Haeata website: www.tehaeata.co.nz.