17 October 2014 Coming up on Te Karere... Due to the live nature of Te Karere, some segments will not be subtitled. Tena koutou katoa, and welcome to Te Karere. Murupara Area School was opened just last year being dogged by controversy surrounding the renaming of the school from Murupara Primary to Murupara Area School, followed by who would sit on the board of trustees and now the departure of Mandy Bird as principal who resigned and walked out after serving barely two years. Mandy Bird was barely two years in the top job of principal for the new Murupara Area School when she walked out under a dark cloud. She will be missed, according to this former board of trustees chairperson. Prior to the opening of the new Murupara Area School last year there seemed to be a lot of confusion. Perhaps the push for the school to be opened quickly was a contributing factor to the situation. Although Mandy Bird did not want to talk on camera today she has said previously she believes that where one door closes another opens elsewhere. Despite all the ups and downs Murupara Area School will remain open. Hinerangi Goodman, Te Karere. A world first for a Maori health provider; Te Whanau o Waipareira has just signed a MOU with ACC. So will this mean a decrease in work place injuries for Maori in high risk industries? Manawa Wright reports. A new step in preventing injury in our communities. Today a memorandum of understanding was signed between ACC and Te Whanau o Waipareira. Every year more than 183,000 claims are lodged by Maori to the ACC. The majority are from labour jobs such as fishing and forestry, followed by office jobs and sports costing more than $118m. First and foremost Waipareira will be assisting those who have sustained major injuries. This is the sixth agreement of this kind for Te Whanau o Waipareira and there are concerns that the agreement will be of no merit. A quarter of all Maori live in Auckland. The aim is to promote that Waipareira are here as a Maori support service when dealing with ACC. However the next 12 months will be the most telling for this agreement. Manawa Wright, Te Karere. Parliament opens again next Monday and all MPs are required to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen and Parliament. However, some Maori MPs prefer to pledge allegiance to the Treaty of Waitangi which could stir up some trouble. We're unable to provide subtitles. Irena Smith, Te Karere. Some of the Ngati Kahungunu delegates met with the main board of Te Matatini today to begin planning out how they will host Te Matatini 2017. The early bird gets the worm and the early Maori gets to Te Matatini. It is a huge privilege for us to host Te Matatini in 2017. We have an opportunity to showcase our beautiful landscape, to celebrate our histories and to join Takitimu waka, to all iwi throughout the land. This is the delegate from Ngati Kahungunu, preparing to fly out and present some of their plans for the 2017 Te Matatini festival. They have already been made the host, and the chair of Ngati Kahungunu feels many benefits will arise for the community. Even though it is about the Matatini Festival, we want to use this as an opportunity to revive and expand our papa kainga, our marae, the language on the marae, And for those visiting for the event, it is claimed that this is an ideal location. We have very hospitable hosts. We bombard our guests with food! Ngati Kahungunu last hosted Te Matatini in 1983. They have been waiting more than 30 years for the festival to return home. Going back all those years, Timoti Karetu has been an exponent of kapa haka for a long time. He feels it is right to return the festival to this region. The good things about this place is that the sun is always shinning The masses will descend here to the Hastings Sports Park for Te Matatini 2017. One of the benefits of having it here is that the neighbouring parks and fields can be utilized. Te Matatini 2015 will be hosted in Christchurch. Heta Gardiner, Te Karere. A hundred years ago today 500 volunteers came together to form the Maori contingent. They preceded the world-famous 28th Maori Battalion. But not everyone is familiar with their story which is why a leading Maori historian is on a mission to write our forgotten past. Before the 28th Maori Battalion there was the 500 known as the Maori Contingent. 100 years ago WW1 broke. But today is the most significant day for Maori as it was when the Maori Contingent formed in Auckland. It's a history Professor Soutar has been researching for two years from journals kindly donated by the families of those soldiers. This is one of the last photographs of one of the members It's Sir Turi Kara's unveiling in 1976. On the 15th of November a memorial event will be held for the Maori Contingent in Gisborne. It'll be the beginning of a tradition to remember them into the future. Oriini Tipene-Leach, Te Karere. After the break, three times Pirtek champions are disqualified from the competition for fielding unregistered players. Four time national defending rugby league champions, Akarana Falcons, have been disqualified from the final showdown tomorrow of the Pirtek National Premiership. In what has been a tumultuous 24 hours for the NZRL, the Falcons are not ruling out court action before the final tomorrow. Raniera Harrison has more. A fall from grace for four time champions, Akarana Falcons. Dissention has once again reigned on the NZRL. In the past hour, the NZRL decided twice against appeals by the four-time national champs Akarana Falcons who were docked two points, surrendering their finals berth. Now, according to NZRL CEO Phil Holden, there is a new contender. The Canterbury Bulls have been given mandate to play in the final following their protest against a NZ Warriors NSW Cup player taking the field in their match against Counties. That man was Albert Vete, who illegitimately played for Counties Manukau Stingrays, scoring three tries in their demolition of Canterbury. With two appeals from two different teams, the final two have been decided - the WaiCoa Bay Stallions and Canterbury Bulls, and this should serve as a warning to all teams across the land. And still there is talk of court action by the Akarana Falcons. Raniera Harrison, Te Karere. And now we talk sports with Jenny-May Coffin. Tena koe, Jenny-May. We're unable to provide subtitles. Jenny-May Coffin, thank you for your time. Now let's take a look at the Maori and Pacific Programmes TVNZ has to offer over the weekend. This week on Marae. Is Nanaia Mahuta ready to make history? Then an ocean of opportunity for the people of Opotiki. And Jack Waldron, action man. After the break, the finalists for the Vodafone Music Awards are announced with some Maori artists among them. To the weather now. For weather, see tvnz.co.nz. Finalists for the Vodafone Music Awards (VMA) have been announced. Last year the awards were dominated by the ladies. This year it's an all-male line up. Stan Walker is nominated for a second year in a row for People's Choice Award. He's also up for best solo artist. Benny Tipene's EP is up for Best Pop Album. The singer is rumoured to be performing to the crowds at the awards next month. The House of Shem trio, the first reggae group to debut at number one, will compete for title of Best Roots Album against multi-talented graduate of Manhattan Music School, Tama Waipara. Both of them will be up against kapa haka mogul Robert Ruha for best Maori album. The country's biggest music awards have been set for November 20. Peata Melbourne, Te Karere. That's all we have for today. Turou Hawaiki. Captions were made possible with funding from Te Mangai Paho. Copyright TVNZ 2014.