BULBS ARE BURIED TREASURE Bury Them Now in Your Garden Or Pots for a Stunning Spring Display
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Moths Three men’s Andrew London Hosts take Whiti buzz in river on song nines to memories tournament Te Horo p4 p6 p23 p32 otakitoday.com ŌTAKI TODAY • MAEHE MARCH 2021 Ngā Kōrero o Ōtaki Putting in Ōtaki It’s a simple idea that local artist Hohepa (Hori) Thompson hopes will catch on – let’s speak some basic te reo Māori in our shops and businesses to reinforce Ōtaki’s point of difference. Hori and collaborator Hape ki Tūārangi Cook say it would make a huge difference for people to hear te reo greetings and see te reo signage when they visit Ōtaki. “It’s easy, right?” Hori says. “We can all say ‘kia ora’ or ‘kā kite’. We can have our brand name in te reo and English, as well as garment labels and menus. “Wouldn’t it be great if every time someone came into a store they were met with a greeting in Māori? We want to put a bit of ‘chur’ in Ōtaki and have some fun with our reo so when people come through they leave with a smile on their face, and hopefully a bit more knowledge of our culture.” Hori says visitors would start talking about the town that truly embraces te reo, not just giving it lip service. “If we did this and it really caught on, it could be a kind of wero [challenge] for other towns, too. Let them see if they can do better than us.” Hori (Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Kahungunu, Kai Tahu) and Hape ((Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Whātua, Kai Tahu)are adamant they’re not trying to force the idea on anyone – “It’s just an idea.” And it’s not coming up with something new. CHUR: Hape Cook, left, and Hori Thompson at one of Hori’s outdoor art installations on the highway in Ōtaki. They are keen to have more people using “Ōtaki is already a bi-lingual town. We would te reo Māori throughout the town. Photo Ian Carson just like to see more people – Māori and Pākehā The concept is not something about which It doesn’t mean they’re not serious about it, A hui at Hori’s main highway art gallery – using te reo more often. It’s not difficult, but it the two men have canvassed the community however. Hape, who has worked previously on planned for 5.30pm on Wednesday, March 17. could make a huge difference for visitors.” or other organisations. They say it’s simply an the website for Te Wānanga o Raukawa, has “It would be an opportunity to come in and Although Hori is based at the highway shops, idea, and they don’t want it to be bogged down built a new website to back the idea. Found at kōrero about what they think about the idea, he says business people throughout Ōtaki could with bureacracy that can become too formal churotaki.co.nz the site is a place where people and get some tips about how they can do this.” be part of it, too. and stifle creativity. They want it to have a life of can sign up for the concept, learn some basic te Hori wants to continue the meetings to “This is for everyone. I hope it will become its own, developing simply because it’s the right reo, get tips about how to implement the idea encourage business people and see what works. the norm in every part of Ōtaki.” thing to do. and share their own ideas. n See churotaki.co.nz BULBS ARE BURIED TREASURE Bury them now in your garden or pots for a stunning Spring display. It's time to plant Anemones, Scented Hyacinths, Ranunculas, Gladioli Nanus, Anemone Blanda, Crocus, Grape 23 Peka Peka Road Hyacinths, Freesias, Daffodils now! To Peka Peka • Waikanae get the very best from your bulbs, 04 293 5437 take care of the basics. harrisons.co.nz They like a well-drained, sunny position. For an abundant display of 50/C Riverbank Rd, Ōtaki blooms it helps to mix in Bulb Food before planting, and again 0800 OTK TOW (0800 685 869) Harrison’s when the first green tips appear. This really is important as it 06 364-6111 Gardenworld encourages maximum flowering. 027 337 3436 owner If you're planting into pots, use Bulb Mix for best results. paulbranchautomotive.co.nz Lance Bills. OPEN: Monday-Friday 8am-5pm Such a welcome sight at the end of Winter. PITOPITO KŌRERO/POLITICS I Ōtaki Today, Maehe March 2021 whika page 2 Middle NZ voters pose challenge to Labour The Ardern Government has a sensitive views are at odds with those of POLITICS recommendations will not go The difficulty for National and ACT lies in political undertone that might prove to be its their communities.” unchallenged. taking issue with Labour while not provoking the biggest obstacle to a third term in office. • Encouragement for the creation Proposals for “hate speech” polarisation and divisions for which the electorate It comprises a mix of policy settings that taken of designated Māori seats on laws do not escape the author’s over recent decades has demonstrated little taste. together make up a programme for social and city and district councils – a law notice: “Labour has vowed to In 1975 Rob Muldoon confronted Labour cultural change that does not sit well with many change that will not only give introduce tight controls on what with a passion and imagery that brought middle New Zealand voters whose allegiance Māori (or more correctly part- New Zealanders may legally say Labour to its knees. He played high-stakes to Labour at last year’s election produced the Maori) candidates a shortcut about matters of race and religion politics of confrontation. They swept National overwhelming majority it now enjoys in Parliament. to representation by enabling (and very likely gender and body to power because of the close identification by Earlier this month Wellington writer Karl du them to avoid the inconvenience shape, too).” regional electorates with his opposition to what Fresne, in an article in the Australian version of winning popular support, BRUCE KOHN He wrote that New Zealand communities saw as an overwhelming Labour of London’s Spectator magazine, wrote under but will result in the election “sometimes feels as if it’s in the liking for central planning and execution. the headline “New Zealand being transformed, of councillors responsible only to people who grip of a Year Zero cult similar in tone, if not in Labour’s strong support from the ranks but not in a good way”, of transformational claim Māori ancestry. scale, to that promoted by Pol Pot’s Kampuchea of publicly supported charities, community change under the Labour Government. While • A draft history curriculum “approved by (Cambodia) where everything that has gone fundraising groups and social organisations New Zealand daily media are quick to report educational bureaucrats that’s drenched in before was renounced.” that look to it for funding, as well as from trade news items praiseworthy of the country and its neo-Marxist identify politics and presents The perspective that du Fresne holds will not unions, the education lobby and academia, prime minister, this article received little, if any, the country’s past as one characterised by the be everyone’s cup of tea. But it is a perspective means it can look to these groupings for beating coverage in the author’s home country. oppressive effects of colonialism on Māori”. rarely canvassed in political and media columns back any National/ACT strategy. Subsidisation Du Fresne wrote that the Government was Du Fresne characterises the educational that will resonate in communities away from of daily media in straitened circumstances might “pursuing policies that will entrench racial bureaucrats as having taken advantage of “an the capital’s focus on the trends championed by also be a background factor, although any deal separatism, undermine democracy, turbocharge ideological tail-wind” after having shamefully those in power and those who have their ear. made for Facebook to compensate for use of the grievance culture and promote polarisation ignored New Zealand history in the past. Notably, however, Simon Bridges’ attack on content could take this factor out of play. and divisiveness”. He sees the Climate Change Commission’s the police commissioner for what he termed his Covid-19 skewed the ideological field in 2020. Among the policies and trends he singled out recommendations for tackling climate change “woke” approach to policing seemed a signal that Authority and clear direction were wanted for to justify this view were: in this transformational context. That former at least some National Party MPs have picked dealing with the pandemic. It’s unlikely to be a • “Inflammatory rhetoric from an ideologically Labour and ACT minister Richard Prebble has up on uneasiness in the regions at the trends and factor in 2023. n Bruce has been an economics and business editor, political and driven Human Rights Commission and a also slammed the recommendations as “a return policies mentioned by du Fresne. There are also foreign correspondent in Washington, London and Hong Kong. handful of vociferous immigrant activists whose to central planning” suggests the commission’s signs ACT is on a similar page. He recently retired as CEO of the Building Industry Federation. LOCAL EVENTS CARTOON OF THE MONTH By Jared Carson ŌTAKI PLAYERS SOCIETY 2021 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: Thursday March 18, 7pm at the Supper Room, Ōtaki Memorial Hall. All welcome. Will be followed by light refreshments. Come along and support your local theatre. ARTSCAPE EXHIBITION: ART WITH A TWIST Local emerging young artist Brian Harvey exhibits.