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Whanau on Auckland’s North Shore want Auckland Council to help them build a marae so they don’t have to use garages and tents to host tangihanga.
Te Aniwa Tutara says there is no suitable marae to service the large Maori community in Beach Haven, Birkdale and Northcote.
She says Beach Haven has more than a dozen church, school and community halls, and now the Kaipatiki Local Board wants to build another one without considering the needs of Maori.
She says a recent tangi illustrated the problem.
"The whare kai was their garage. It rained all through that hui – it was during the weeks when we had heavy rain. It was freezing. We had old people out there having a cup of tea. No other community would put up with this. Like everybody we pay our rates. Our question is why has the council addressed the needs of eveybody else and not us," she says.
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