Accessibility A A
Search Help
Search Site
Suggest a resource
Panui Issue 1 October 2001
Award: Wellington City Council received UNESCO NZ Digital Access Award for innovative endeavours in promoting empowerment, participation and access for all in the knowledge society.
The recipient of the inaugural Award has been selected by the New Zealand National Commission. The Award was presented by the Rt. Hon Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, on 1 August 2001 at the "Catching the Knowledge Wave" conference in Auckland.
Further awards will be presented during 2002. Wellington City Council (WCC) was one of the first local authorities to recognise the emerging knowledge economy and the importance of building a "digitally literate" community.
Discussion Document: Taxation of Maori authorities submissions close 19 October 2001. The Government is proposing to simplify and update the income tax rules applying to Maori organisations and businesses that manage Maori assets. It also proposes to clarify the definition of "Maori authority" and to change the requirements for charitable status in regard to entities that benefit people related by blood ties.
http://taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz/publications/index.php?catid=2
New Website: The Office of the Commissioner for Children was established to promote the welfare of children and young people.
http://www.occ.org.nz/ /Links/Link.htm?g={FD5DF21E-B37D-413A-BDCA-7DE309A14F8F}
Tip: Open in New Window
Do you get annoyed that when you follow a link from a CommunityNet Aotearoa web page to another organisation you then lose the CommunityNet page?
Try this: use Open in New Window to go to those websites. Instead of clicking on a link Mac users should hold down the Command (Apple) key and click on it. Windows users should hold down the Shift key and click on the link.
The link now opens into a new window. You can read what you want and when you're finished just close the window. Then you're right back at the CommunityNet page you started on.
Site: Child, Youth and Family website
This site is a focus for promoting the well-being and safety of children and supporting positive parenting. Child, Youth and Family is part of a network of agencies aiming to build an environment where child abuse is not tolerated.
You can access news and information about services and community partnerships, as well as advice and resources to support the vision of safe children, strong families and stronger communities. Other information includes organisation and structure, information about the Ministers of Social Services, a statement on new directions, the Annual Report and Business Plan, links to relevant legislation, consultation documents, complaints procedures, links to related sites, news and CYF vacancies
http://www.cyf.govt.nz/
Domain: .maori.nz
New Zealand Maori Internet Society (NZMIS) was established out of frustration at the lack of Maori 2nd Level domain addresses in the New Zealand domain system and the lack of a genuine Maori presence on the Internet. A brief history of the society can be found on our web sitehttp://www.nzmis.org.nz.
Currently there is one Maori 2nd level domain [.iwi.nz] which was created in consultation with Te Puni Kokiri and Internet NZ (formerly Internet Society of NZ - ISOCNZ) to accommodate Maori iwi. By definition this designation is limited to those groups that can legitimately be called iwi.
Some non Maori recommend we should just change the criteria for [.iwi.nz] so it will accommodate all Maori as [.maori.nz] would. That it would ensure the NZ domain name system would not grow too big. The obvious reason we declined that idea was the meaning of an "iwi" and that the current [.iwi.nz] name holders had that domain address to show they are a Maori Iwi.
If we deleted [.iwi.nz], it would cause financial hardship to the current [.iwi.nz] name holders. Deletion would decline to meet the needs of the growing community of interest in Maori domain groupings. It would further imply that the Internet in New Zealand does not have a place in all of the sections of the community.
We believe that the creation of .maori.nz will address the growing needs of Maori to assist them to obtain a genuine presence on the Internet. One major frustration faced by Maori organisations is they do not comfortably fit into the current domain system. An example is a Marae or a Hapu. Are they a .co.nz, a .net.nz or a .gen.nz or should they be a .maori.nz?
Our biggest and most frustrating struggle has been lack of time and lack of resources to be able to meet in person to thoroughly discuss the issues. Our current executive are spread from Wellington to the Whangarei. We estimate that two face to face hui would be sufficient.
Currently we have a strong membership of about 1200 individual members. Some are reporters and others wanting to see what is going on. But most of our membership is from genuine supporters.
When we manage to draft a clear proposal we will submit it to Internet NZ who will decide whether the application will proceed. Then it will go through a number of different stages.
Personally being the Chairman since the inception of the structured body it has been full of highs and lows and much criticism from non Maori. I hope the end result will be rewarding for all Maori and well worth the struggle each one of the current and past executives have faced.
I look forward to the day when Maori will have a right to have a genuine presence on the Internet with [.maori.nz] as an option.
More details and membership forms for NZ Maori Internet Society can be found at our site http://www.nzmis.org.nz. Membership is open to anyone.
Karaitiana Taiuru Chairman, NZ Maori Internet Society