Coming, ready - or not

Bill Clinton doesn't know it yet, but the people of Otara and Northland are coming to see him.

Mauri Pacific leader Tau Henare - sporting a new streamlined number one haircut - is still managing to stay staunch as he prepares to welcome the President of the United States and other world leaders to the glitzy Apec summit in Auckland today.

"I will be representing my people in Otara and in Northland, the two most impoverished places in New Zealand, during Apec," he said.

"I will be there to hear how this forum proposes to eradicate poverty and I will probably be one of the few there who has personally experienced poverty."

He said most Maori were employed in sectors such as forestry, fisheries and agriculture, where trade was critical.

"Apec to me holds the hope for more trade, more jobs and more money in the pocket for my people." - Andrew Laxon