Sheep may roam over culturally sensitive land but athletes must not run there

Mind where you put your feet…

 

The administrators of Auckland’s  public parks, sensitive to the sensitivities of indigenous persons, have cancelled a popular junior running race at a public park.

According to the NZ Herald, the reason for the cancellation is that local iwi raised concerns about events on “sensitive land”.

It’s not the first time these sensitivities have constrained activities in the park.

An Auckland Council spokesman said the council was taking a consistent approach on the issue and three such running or orienteering events had been affected in the past three months.

The snag seems to be that this sort of activity involves people running over the land, presumably causing extreme cultural discomfort to the indigenous persons of the city, although sheep run across the same land,  even though they are not indigenous creatures and are not too fussy about where they pee and crap.

One of Pita’s pet projects – it’s a $2 million waka that nobody wants to keep after the Rugby World Cup

Dunno if it’s offensive to white elephants, but Alf is tempted to regard “white elephant” as an apt description for a waka designed to promote Maori culture during the Rugby World Cup.

The Weekend Herald today is saying the $2 million waka could be sent to the scrapheap soon after it stars as a Government-backed tourist attraction during the tournament.

Taxpayers will avoid a capital farce by putting ownership of a plastic waka directly into Maori hands

If they built a waka similar to this, which end would be the bow?

The Herald today is headlining a story about another handout to hapu.

The opening paragraph of the report says the Government’s gift of almost $2 million to the hapu to build a plastic waka for the Rugby World Cup has drawn outrage from some MPs.

But outrage, or any response of a critical nature, is bound to be the stuff of sour-grapes politicking from pissed off Opposition MPs who wish they had thought of it first.

The money being extracted from your pockets and mine, dear constituent, is going to a good cause.

Would a bit of lolly break the brown boycott?

Oh dear, what a shame – but (on second thoughts) who exactly gives a toss?

That’s Alf’s response to the mana whenua groups reported to be considering boycotting Auckland supercity’s proposed Maori statutory board.

Pathetic.