Kiwis fret over giant canoe for World Cup
Source: Agencies |
April 7, 2011, Thursday
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A PLAN to build a million dollar giant plastic canoe to promote indigenous Maori culture and business at the rugby World Cup has been slammed by local politicians as a "joke" New Zealand can ill afford in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake.
The 60-meter cultural pavilion, modelled on a Maori "waka" (war canoe) and made of PVC, costing NZ$2 million (US$1.5 million), would "provide the cultural heart of the entertainment program on Auckland's waterfront," local media quoted Maori Affairs minister Pita Sharples as saying yesterday. "We will showcase the very best of Maori arts, culture, business and enterprise, right in the heart of the Rugby World Cup capital," Sharples said.
An opposition lawmaker described the canoe as "a last-minute, panic-stricken stunt" to include Maori in the September 9-October 23 tournament.
"It's a joke ... I think it's a very shallow, costly idea which should have actually gone out to tender," Labour Party member Shane Jones said. "If you want to get Maori in the World Cup, the best way to do it is to work with the young people, not actually come up with an inflatable stunt," he said.
Austere times
"We're living in austere times. I just think it's an absurd idea, and a type of indulgence that ... runs the risk of reducing Maori themselves to having a plastic identity through this plastic party in the middle of the World Cup. It's not good."
The 6.3 magnitude quake, which struck Christchurch in February, killed 166 people.
"Can we extravagantly spend that sort of money when (finance minister) Bill English is cutting essential services saying these are things that are just 'nice to have'?" said Labour leader Phil Goff.
"The World Cup is big but if you're going to have something cultural let's make it authentic not something that will become a white elephant afterwards and isn't really authentically Maori."
New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key threw his weight behind the canoe, however, which would be bequeathed to a local Maori tribe, while Sharples retorted that it was a small price to pay relative to the World Cup's overall budget.
"(It) pales into insignificance when you look at the whole budget of NZ$370-odd million," he said.
The 60-meter cultural pavilion, modelled on a Maori "waka" (war canoe) and made of PVC, costing NZ$2 million (US$1.5 million), would "provide the cultural heart of the entertainment program on Auckland's waterfront," local media quoted Maori Affairs minister Pita Sharples as saying yesterday. "We will showcase the very best of Maori arts, culture, business and enterprise, right in the heart of the Rugby World Cup capital," Sharples said.
An opposition lawmaker described the canoe as "a last-minute, panic-stricken stunt" to include Maori in the September 9-October 23 tournament.
"It's a joke ... I think it's a very shallow, costly idea which should have actually gone out to tender," Labour Party member Shane Jones said. "If you want to get Maori in the World Cup, the best way to do it is to work with the young people, not actually come up with an inflatable stunt," he said.
Austere times
"We're living in austere times. I just think it's an absurd idea, and a type of indulgence that ... runs the risk of reducing Maori themselves to having a plastic identity through this plastic party in the middle of the World Cup. It's not good."
The 6.3 magnitude quake, which struck Christchurch in February, killed 166 people.
"Can we extravagantly spend that sort of money when (finance minister) Bill English is cutting essential services saying these are things that are just 'nice to have'?" said Labour leader Phil Goff.
"The World Cup is big but if you're going to have something cultural let's make it authentic not something that will become a white elephant afterwards and isn't really authentically Maori."
New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key threw his weight behind the canoe, however, which would be bequeathed to a local Maori tribe, while Sharples retorted that it was a small price to pay relative to the World Cup's overall budget.
"(It) pales into insignificance when you look at the whole budget of NZ$370-odd million," he said.
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