NEWSROOM: 14 October - 20 October 2007

New Zealand criticised over Tonga stance
20 October 2007 - Source: Radio New Zealand
 
The pro-democracy movement's leader, MP Akilisi Pohiva, says he is disappointed that Pacific leaders, including Prime Minister Helen Clark, failed to get the issue of political reform on the agenda at the Pacific Island Forum leaders' meeting.

Akilisi Pohiva says the Tongan government has indicated no political changes will take place until 2010, but he fears a repeat of last year's violence if there is no political reform; “It might happen again if the people continue to have that kind of feeling. It may only require a minor thing to spark the anger and frustration of the people.”

Pro-democracy riots last November destroyed much of the Tongan capital, Nuku'alofa's commercial district and left seven people dead.

The Prime Minister Helen Clark says she believes Tonga is moving towards a constitutional monarchy with a democratically elected government.

New Zealand is to donate $5 million to help rebuild the capital. Miss Clark says a lack of affordable finance for commercial businesses means reconstruction has been slow.
 

Immigration changes set new focus on family
19 October 2007 - Source: Department of Labour Press Release
 
New immigration policies announced recently by Immigration Minister David Cunliffe will make it easier for people to bring family members to New Zealand for visits.

"The changes recognise the importance of family support and make the immigration system more transparent," said Mr Cunliffe.

From November there will be a new multiple visit visa for parents and grandparents visiting family living in New Zealand. The new visa will allow parents or grandparents to make multiple visits over a three-year period without having to apply for a visa each time.

"Parents and grandparents play a key role in family life. The new policies will make it easier for family from offshore to visit," said Mr Cunliffe.

Mr Cunliffe also announced a number of other changes to sponsorship of parents, adult children and siblings in the family residence categories, including:
• Establishing quota places for the sponsorship of parents, adult children, and adult siblings to come to New Zealand as permanent residents
• The introduction of strengthened character criteria for people wishing to sponsor partners to come to New Zealand
• The introduction of a minimum income requirement of $29,897.92 for sponsors of parents
• The extension of the timeframe for sponsors to guarantee support for their parents from two years to five years (to come into effect with the passing and enactment of the Immigration Bill in 2008)
• The withdrawal of the existing Family Quota category.

There will be 3100 to 3400 places for parents, 250 to 350 places for adult children,
1100 to 1250 places for adult siblings in 2007/08, based on the actual numbers from previous years.

"The largest part of our residence programme will continue to be for skilled migrants and their immediate families. There will be no change to the current distribution of places with 60 per cent of residence places for skilled migrants, 30 per cent for family related places and 10 per cent for our international and humanitarian obligations."

Mr Cunliffe said the changes making it easier for people to bring family members to visit New Zealand are being balanced by tighter requirements in some instances.

"The family package recognises the important role extended families play in enhancing settlement outcomes for our valued migrants. While the existing share of the total residence programme has been preserved, enhanced character and sponsorship requirements ensure a transparent and sustainable family residence programme," said Mr Cunliffe.

The changes to family policy reflect this government's strong focus on achieving good settlement outcomes for migrants.
 

Young Pacific Leaders Network Evening
18 October 2007 - Source: South Seas Film and Television Press Release
 
Pacific Greetings to you all,

The network evening will be hosted by South Seas Film and Television School and documentary film student Olivia Muliaumasealii. The theme for this month ‘navigating pasifka communities, towards a digital future’ will explore ways to strengthen the development of Film and Television media, at grass roots level in our communities.

The South Seas FTV School, would like to support our navigational journey towards a digital future, with the plan to establish a Film and Television School in Manukau City, South Auckland.

You are invited to a visually creative evening with:
• Performance by Manurewa East Primary School Cultural Group
• YPLN Visual Presentation
• Show Reels of Pacific Island themes from South Seas students.
• Show Reels of archival stories.
• South Seas ‘Vision towards Manukau’.
• Industry Network representatives.

Refreshments will be provided during the evening.

“O le tele o sulu e maua ai ni figota. E mama se avega, pe a tatou amo faatasi”
My strength does not come from me alone, but from many.

Young Pacific Leaders Network Background:
The Young Pacific Leadership Network (YPLN) is a collective of Pasifika professionals between the ages of 20-40 years from the public, private, voluntary and community sectors in the Auckland region who are passionate about strengthening Pacific families and communities. The network meets monthly and is hosted by various organisations.

YOUNG PACIFIC LEADERS NETWORK EVENING
THEME: Navigating Pasifika Communities, towards a Digital Future.
VENUE: South Seas Film & Television School, Unit 3/75 Ellice Road, Glenfield
DATE: Tuesday 23rd October 2007
TIME: 6.30pm - 9.00pm

For more information, please contact Olivia Muliaumasealii by email: oliviam@southseas.co.nz, or mobile: (027) 376-2753.
 

Unique online service for Polynesian artists
17 October 2007 - Source: Summertimemusic Press Release
 
Polynesian artists anywhere in the world can upload songs directly to a new website, sell songs, view sales for their personal account in real time and request payments directly from their account. Until today there was no known service catering specifically for Polynesian musicians, allowing them to upload their music directly to the Internet and sell it through a specialised Polynesian music website.

Summertimemusic International Ltd. Is a New Zealand company aiming to promote Polynesian music and culture to the worldwide audience and assist Polynesian musicians in selling their music.

We utilise Internet technology that allows for an artist, anywhere in the world, to have an account on our website where they can upload music and photographs and offer their songs for sale. The account allows musicians to see whether the songs are selling in real time. Artists can request payment of earnings generated from sales right from their account. The artists can publish news about their new releases, concerts and shows on the website for free.

The service, which was launched in September 2007, is located on the Internet at: www.summertimemusic.co.nz

More Information:
Polynesian musicians often suffer from unscrupulous and dishonest agents and distributors who often downplay sales of their music. The lack of transparency prevents musicians from being paid fairly. The service provided by Summertimemusic allows performers sell their music and view sales in real time, allowing them complete control over what is being sold and at what price.

Progressively, more and more music is being downloaded from the internet rather than bought on CD. The sales of CD fall on the average by 5-6% per year. US-based Forrester Research predicts that music downloads in 2007 will generate 17% of music sales worldwide. This will increase to 36% by 2011. Digital music consumption in 2007 has increased by 71% on the last year. 49% of 12 to 22 year olds downloaded music last month. 25% of 25-35 year olds download music from the Internet.

For Polynesian performers, being able to sell their music on the internet in the form of legal music downloads, means avoiding being ripped off and staying up to date with consumer demand.


What our visitors say:
…I think the site is great! I have recommended it to lots of people... C.R., Wellington

…You have a lot of good music… W.H.B., Auckland

…You have such a great site… I.G.,Radio, Australia

If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Leo Veniaminov, please contact Leo at (09) 534 4964 or email info@summertimemusic.co.nz
 

Samu Kautoga gets his big break against All Whites
16 October 2007 - Source: The Fiji Times
 
Centre back Samu Kautoga could get his big break against the New Zealand All Whites in the return leg of the 2010 Oceania World Cup qualifier at Churchill Park on Wednesday.

Kautoga was one of four players drafted in after Fiji's dismal performance at the recent South Pacific Games where the side settled for silver.

"All players deserve the opportunity to show what they are capable of at the international level and I think Samu needs that opportunity," national coach Carlos Buzzetti said of the former Fiji Under-20 player.

"He fits in well with my game plan and he is equally good off the bench. I think he deserves a chance."

Buzzetti said the inclusion of the new players, including goalkeeper Shamal Kumar, had brought a breath of fresh air to the squad.

"We knew we needed to bring in some new players after performance in Samoa. The inclusion of the new boys makes the team a little bit lighter and quicker," the South American said.

He said goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau would join the team after his application for a visa to New Zealand was turned down. This forced the soccer world governing body FIFA to cancel the match in New Zealand.

The team returned from New Zealand yesterday to prepare for the return leg.

New Zealand has included a few overseas-based players in their squad with Celtics player Chris Killen being the prolific of them all. But Buzzetti will be banking on fitness to earn his team the three points.

"We know they will be strong and will have more experience than us," he said. "We have to be very careful not to underestimate them and hopefully the players will still be fresh from the SPG stint."
"But we are confident that we have the fitness to match the New Zealanders."

Kick-off is at 4pm.
 

‘The Mystery Of The Lost Waka’ explores Solomons link
15 October 2007 - Source: Maori Television Press Release
 
The mysterious connection between Maori and the inhabitants of remote Polynesian islands thousands of kilometres west of Aoteaora is explored in THE LOST WAKA screening for the first time in Maori Television's New Zealand Documentary slot, Pakipumeka Aotearoa, on Wednesday October 31 at 8.30 PM.

The hour-long film follows former Maori Language Commissioner, Professor Patu Hohepa, and wife Erena as they travel to Rennell (Mu Ngiki) and Bellona (Mu Nggava) in search of the 'lost waka' - the link in the geneology, mythology and lapita design between Maori and the people of these islands.

According to producer Ingrid Leary from Pasifika Pictures, the islanders greet others with hongi, practice noa and tapu, and speak a language so similar to Maori that they can comfortably converse with the indigenous people of New Zealand.

Decades ago, a Danish researcher was the only outsider to study the language and culture and he found that the languages of Rennell and Bellona - although distinct - were both ethnographically just one degree different from Maori.

So exactly what is the relationship of the people of these two islands to the indigenous people of Aotearoa? Do they share a common ancestor? What is their whakapapa and where is the link to New Zealand Maori?

Professor Hohepa first came into contact with the languages of Rennell and Bellona through Samuel Elbert some 40 years ago while teaching in Hawaii and researching the 37 Polynesian languages.
THE LOST WAKA is his search for the link between New Zealand Maori and the two iwi which live in the remote islands off the Solomon Islands. Leary says no-one had made this particular journey before which was a "pioneering experience, academically but also spiritually".

"The tipuna (ancestors) guide him and the crew throughout the journey to discover significant common ancestors, and to document whakapapa, common history and mythology from the days of the great Pacific migrations.

"For the first time ever, the blood connection is traced. But more significant is the instant, immediate and undisputable aroha (love) and spiritual connection between the Maori crew and the people of these two remote islands.

"This important documentary is a historical landmark. It is a beginning, not an end, and the journey forward for all concerned will mean going back even further to another lost waka from the very distant past."
 

Oscar Kightley says bro'Town tells it like it is
14 October 2007 - Source: The Age
 
Oscar Kightley is a big man who favours serious sneakers, slogan T-shirts and baseball caps. His formal wear might include a lava-lava and matching shirt. He drives a Mercedes with a personalised number plate. One might assume he is someone who enjoys public attention.

His career seems to bear this out: he's one of the creators of bro' Town, an anarchic animated sitcom screening around the world. He's a comedian, TV presenter, actor, award-winning playwright and director. He co-wrote and starred in the film Sione's Wedding (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding with Samoans). And he's been appointed to the Arts Council of Creative New Zealand in recognition of having brought Samoan culture into the mainstream. It would seem Kightley has arrived.

But when he does arrive, slipping quietly around a corner of the Auckland office of Firehorse Films, makers of bro'Town, it's a different story. Here is someone who is chronically shy. Someone for whom an interview is a huge ask but who is too nice to refuse.

Then my tape recorder gives up. Kightley tinkers with it throughout the interview. He's an ex-journalist so he knows how annoying dodgy technology can be, but it means we don't have to eyeball each other, either.

For his part, Kightley is still chuffed that the quirky adult cartoon he created in 2004 with his mates and fellow comedians The Naked Samoans has gone global. bro'Town is, he says, "The Simpsons mating with South Park in the South Pacific". Audiences thrill to the inane fart jokes — and worse — of a group of 14-year-old Maori and Polynesian schoolboys. They probably also puzzle over the hard-hitting subject matter and racist stereotypes. It's a mix of high-brow cultural references and obscure lingo.

In an Auckland suburb, Vale and Valea's solo father is a porn-addicted, Shakespeare-spouting alcoholic. Their mate Jeff da Maori lives in a broken-down car in his front yard while his mum and eight dads have the house. There's often no breakfast but the boys can count on a "hiding" for misdemeanours. Kightley calls the series "twisted moral tales". A group of local Polynesian and Maori academics claim it perpetuates the worst racist stereotypes. They're taking it out of context, Kightley says. "I think we undermine those stereotypes by using them."

He points out that everyone is a target. Take the Canadian backpacker who counts "tantric sex and disenfranchised indigenous people" among her interests. Morningside High even has an international exchange student, Abo, but more on him later.

"We're trying to be real about what life is like for 14-year-olds, we don't pretend it's all pimple problems … this is a low-decile (socio-economic ranking) school, the authority figures in the boys' lives are less than on to it. Adults forget that 14-year-olds are very aware of the world they live in. I knew from a young age what bad stuff was going on. Comedy is one of the last few truthful mediums there are. We don't talk about what's happening, we just show it. It's black humour — or brown humour. Laughter is almost a shock reaction — when people laugh then they realise it happens, they know the truth."

When writers David Fane, Shimpal Lelisi, Mario Gaoa and Kightley, plus producer Elizabeth Mitchell, work on a script, "our own lives come into it".

Kightley has had his share of frustration, growing up Samoan in New Zealand. He tells the story of the laminated card he keeps in his glovebox to show the constabulary. Yes, he is the registered owner of the vehicle. No, he has not been drinking, and no, he is not aware of any recent burglaries. Saves time.

Kightley, 38, was born in Samoa but emigrated to New Zealand with his mother when he was four, after his father died. She left him with an uncle and aunt, hoping the new country would provide opportunities. "It took me a while to adjust," he says with typical understatement. "I felt alone at school."

His class practised earthquake drills, and when the teacher gave a signal the children were to shelter under their desks. Six-year-old Kightley wasn't listening one day. He ran to his chair instead and sat up. "All the kids laughed. It felt good. Comedy meant I was accepted and also kept the world at bay; they got to know the funny side of me but not the real me."

Kightley's early career featured political plays. Dawn Raids exposed the way the immigration service mistreated Polynesian overstayers. "Even the serious bits had funny bits in them."
Humour, as he says, is the way through. Which brings us to that international exchange student, Abercrombie Cornelius Smith III. He stands on one leg a lot and has a pet kangaroo. The bro'Town boys fall about with boredom when he performs a traditional dance.

John Howard might be allowed a guest appearance on bro'Town, Kightley says, given that Prince Charles and Helen Clark have featured. But only if he says sorry. This series has an Australian episode with Skippy, Rove McManus and John Clarke. "I look forward to more paranoid responses from Australian academics," says Kightley.
 

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