Council's Environmental Hazards Group Manager, Ken Tarboton says the 35 year consent includes monitoring the environmental and cultural impacts of the Gates.

The community's voice will come from two Kaitiaki Groups and the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes Operational Liaison Group. 

The recreational forest access permits are issued by the Independent Security Consultants Ltd (ISCL), a company contracted by Timberlands Limited. Registration forms are availabe to download from the Timberlands Limited website and need to be completed and returned to ISCL by 13 April to be guaranteed a permit for the 5 May opening weekend.

All Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust registered members who meet the criteria will be entitled to receive a waiver on the ISCL administration fee (normally charged at $50 per person).

To be eligible, members will need to complete a Verified Land Owner form and have it signed by one of the Delegated Iwi Representatives; Fay Rawson, Kenneth Raureti or Tiipene Marr. All three delegates can be reached at our office on 07 3222 245. 

More than 1000 people took part in the four-day games which were run at Rotorua Lakes High School.

Te Papa Takaro o Te Arawa general manager Paora Te Hurihanganui said the games went really well.

"It was heaps bigger with double the participants and quadruple the number of spectators. In my experience this has been the best games we've had."

He was impressed with the win by Ngati Rangitihi who he said were extremely well organised.

"They hire buses, use texts, Facebook, emails and whatever to get their teams organised and to the games."

Mr Te Hurihanganui said the aim of the games was to strengthen the ties between tribal members and their marae.

"The games are about strengthening our marae using sport as a vehicle ... Getting the young ones connecting to their marae in a positive fun way."

Mr Te Hurihanganui said he was blown away by the response by rangatahi.

Participation was also an important factor and Mr Te Hurihanganui said iwi had to field a whanau team before they could field a competitive side.

"The whanau teams had koeke [adults], young children and adults playing."

T he X-factor was extremely popular with no shortage of participants getting up to dance and sing. Another addition was the speech competition with the topic being "What does it mean to be Te Arawa?"

There was plenty of traffic on Ngati Rangitihi's Facebook page with a big shout out to their organiser Donna Semmens for her tiresome work in "arranging teams, re-arranging teams, and re-re-arranging teams".

Ngati Rangiwewehi was second, Waitaha from Te Puke third, Ngati Kearoa Ngati Tuara fourth and Ngati Rongomai fifth.  

The report, of about 20 pages, will set out facts of the accident that have been able to be verified to date but will not contain analysis of why events happened as they did or say what could change to help prevent a recurrence.  These matters will be covered in the Commission’s final inquiry report.

The Commission’s inquiry is completely independent of Maritime New Zealand’s regulatory action, environmental enforcement action, or financial claims relating to the grounding.  In order to encourage co-operation from accident participants the Commission’s reports, which are intended to help improve transport safety rather than to lay blame, may not be used in criminal or civil proceedings.

The interim report will be available on the Commission’s website www.taic.org.nz from shortly after 9.30am on Thursday (8 March 2012).

District Council Events Co-ordinator, Lee Barton is hoping for some top paddling action starting from Waterhouse Reserve.

He says all the elite paddlers have been over in Australia for the Oceanic Champs and selection races there.

He explains Kawerau will be their first race back home, before heading down to the South Island for Nationals at Easter.

Mr Barton says this is the last time to see all the best paddlers, including Olympic hopefuls Luuka Jones and Mike Dawson.

He's hoping the Tarawera river will once again prove itself the ideal venue for top watersports events.

He says many of the rafting companies and competitive rafters are coming from the Bay of Plenty region - with both the Western Bay and Rotorua having a good stronghold of youngsters coming through.

Mr Barton says it's not only a good central location for competitors but it's good for judges being able to just park up on the reserve, without having to traipse miles into the bush.

He explains this is often the case with other venues.

“These scholarships have been established to support Maori to enter into health related fields of study, while also recognising their contribution to their community,” said Hon. Turia

“They are funded through the Maori Provider Development Scheme to achieve greater participation by Maori in the health and disability workforce, ensuring the delivery of health services relevant and culturally appropriate for Maori.”

Students can apply under one of the eleven categories; Community Health Workers, Dieticians, Dentistry, Health Management, Medicine, Midwifery, Nursing, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Postgraduate and Undergraduate.

"Our Maori health workforce is facing great pressure and I am pleased that this new putea will help to start meeting the demand" said Hon. Turia

“As part of the Hauora Māori Scholarships, one Excellence Award is granted in each category and two scholarships for each of the John McLeod and Te Apa Mareikura awards.”

Applications can be completed online via the Ministry’s Māori Health website (http://www.maorihealth.govt.nz) from 28 February to 6 April 2012.

The Ministry of Health receives over 800 applications each year for the Hauora Māori Scholarships.  The scholarships are open to any student who: