20 September 2016 Coming up on Te Karere... Parents who have lost two children to a deadly disease speak out about awareness. Waitaha say schools with Nga Manu Korero contestants must enter reo Maori contestants if they are to compete in the English section. And the Paralympics come to a close with New Zealand's largest medal count. Due to the live nature of Te Karere, some segments will not be subtitled. Tena koutou katoa, and welcome to Te Karere. It's called mitochondrial disease. It's awareness week for the disease that affects blood cells. Te Okiwa McLean spoke to a whanau who lost two children to the disease and found they're campaigning to raise awareness about the condition. Grieving for her children who have passed. Paris Mataroa is Te Mira and Tai's eldest child of three. Two of whom were sadly taken by mitochondrial disease. Every 20 minutes a child is born who will develop mitochondrial disease by the age of 16. It tends to affect the cells where energy demand is greatest, namely the cells in the brain, heart, liver, skeletal muscles and kidneys. At present, there is no cure and treatment is limited. CrossFit is their saving grace. Their message to the country - So get on board so that the remedy to this is found to combat the disease. Te Okiwa McLean, Te Karere. The powhiri for Nga Manu Korero 2016 was held today in Whangarei. The speech competition was established more than 50 years ago to foster fluency in English amongst Maori. But half a century later, Waitaha believes it's te reo Maori that needs nurturing. They discovered schools were entering students into the English sections and not the Maori so they decided to do something about it. Hania Douglas reports. A regional rule to help see te reo Maori thrive in Waitaha. The event has been held in Waitaha for a long time, but schools began entering just one speaker, and they were only English speakers. Waitaha has established a new rule - if schools fail to enter students in the senior and junior Maori sections, they will be barred from entering students into the senior and junior English sections. Despite Bernard Fergusson's aspirations, the fact is that only a few Maori speakers were entering. Tihi Puanaki is a veteran Maori teacher in Waitaha. The Maori teachers of the region only implemented the rule recently when they saw the apathy of other educators to te reo Maori. It's only in the past four or five years. We teachers became concerned because in a group of 22 speakers, maybe two would be competing in the Maori sections. Some say there's a hint of racism in the new Manu Korero rules, but Tihi Puanaki says this is not true. That's just ignorant because the event was actually established with the korimako (senior English) section by Bernard Fergusson to encourage Maori secondary students to develop their English. It's just like the case with Maori rugby - Maori need to be allowed to use it as a platform for development. The first speakers of the Nga Manu Korero nationals in Whangarei kick off tomorrow. Whether other regions will implement this rule remains to be seen. Hania Douglas, Te Karere. New figures show that South Auckland has almost twice as many released sex offenders than any other part of the region. Mangere locals are up in arms at Corrections claiming they're using their community as a dumping ground. Peata Melbourne has more. Mangere locals banding together to have a convicted sex offender removed from their community Clinton Jacob Wilson is a high risk sex offender, originally from the South Island, yet was placed in South Auckland. He has no family ties here. The latest figures release show that currently 45 have been place in the West Auckland region, 46 in central, but twice as many in South Auckland. Phoebe lives right behind the offender with her kids. She says this community has been working twice as hard to have the offender relocated. Last night she, along with the rest of the Mangere community seen here were given the news that the offender is being relocated in October. Corrections applied for Wilson to be sent to a facility October just can't come soon enough for these South Auckland residents. Peata Melbourne, Te Karere. After the break, Rotorua principals want to crack down on children Time to canvass the hot political issues now. Earlier I spoke to Maori Party MP Marama Fox and began by asking the Maori Party co-leader about the vexed issue of the Kermadecs and asked, is the Maori Party prepared to withdraw its support of the Government if it presses ahead with the proposed sanctuary? We're unable to provide subtitles. John Key is in New York strongly urging America to commit to the TPP trade deal. However, the two presidential candidates don't support the accord. That's likely to give the many Maori against TPP some hope as it's claimed there's been little movement on government guarantees to protect treaty rights. Meeting England's new PM, however, it's the US who is largely on John Key's radar. John Key is imploring the US to sign the TPP in a bid to help fulfil NZ's economic ambitions. But back home what Maori want hasn't been settled. Ngati Kahungunu chair says in a similar vein to what the US presidential candidates have said, Maori don't want to support the crushing of rights and special interests of their own. Time to ratify the TPP is quickly passing by. If it isn't done soon, it's back to the drawing board. Irena Smith Te Karere After the break; The Paralympics come to a close with New Zealand s largest medal count. And we have the weather. To the weather now. For weather, see tvnz.co.nz. Let's take another look at today's top stories. Parents of two children who died of mitochondrial disease are on an awareness campaign about the disease and its effects on the cells of the body. Waitaha say schools with Nga Manu Korero contestants must enter reo Maori contestants if they are to compete in the English section. John Key is in New York encouraging US leaders to ratify the TPP. Finally to sports, most of our Paralympians are right now winging their way home after a successful campaign in Rio. The team has gone above and beyond its initial medal goal making NZ the most successful per capita team at the games. Tamati Rimene-Sproat has the wrap. A huge celebration at the closing ceremony, and a chance to reflect on the success of our NZ Paralympic Team. NZ went above and beyond at these Games. 21 medals were won including nine gold. Cameron Leslie, Emma Foy and Holly Robison - three of our Maori Paralympians also got in on the medals. Our athletes were also World Records breakers as well. One of the biggest stars to come out of the Games is sprinter Liam Malone. Who was also nominated as the flag bearer for the closing ceremony, a huge honour for the kid from Nelson. The focus is now on the future and the Tokyo Games in 2020 with the hope our athletes can go bigger and better there. Tamati Rimene-Sproat Te Karere That's all we have for today. Kia tau te mauri. Captions were made possible with funding from Te Mangai Paho. Copyright TVNZ 2016.