June 08, 2017
Protest planned over Awataha Marae exclusion
Protest planned over Awataha Marae exclusion
Te Raki Paewhenua Maori Committee plans to protest on Monday outside the entrance to Awataha Marae in Northcote about what it says is the exclusion of the community from the facility.
Co-chair Murray Painting says the last straw was the marae’s refusal to accept applications from 82 local Maori who applied to become members of the marae society.
The marae is under the Incorporated Societies Act rather than the Maori Community Development Act and it is tightly controlled by family members of the late Arnold Manaaki Wilson.
Mr Painting says it’s along-standing problem, with the marae refusing to take bookings for activities or hold tangi – which was one of the main reasons Maori in the 1960s and 70s pushed for a marae in the North Shore.
"I’ve got kaumatua who have aspirations to lie there before they go back to where they came from, so the local community can pay respects before they go back to their final resting place, and I think that's a typical story with a lot of people who have resided on the North Shore for a long time," he says.
FULL INTERVIEW MURRAY PAINTING
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