Former ski champ on Maori list

Former Olympic skiing rep Simon Wi Rutene has won the No 4 ranking on the Maori Party list.

Lawyer and former diplomat Atareta Poananga, treaty practitioner and author Robert Consedine and former Waitangi Tribunal director Morrie Love have also won high places.

Of the seven electorate seat candidates, only Te Tai Tokerau's Hone Harawira is not on the list.

Mr Harawira could not be contacted yesterday, but a spokeswoman for co-leader Tariana Turia said he had indicated for some time he did not want to stand on the list.

The party is polling at about 2 per cent, but as Mrs Turia is set to hold her Tai Hauauru electorate, it is guaranteed some seats in Parliament.

The latest Marae-DigiPoll survey, which has a high margin of error, found the party would win five of the seven Maori seats. Unless its party vote increases, such a result would create an overhang - a Parliament with more than 120 seats.

Mr Wi Rutene represented New Zealand in alpine ski racing at four Winter Olympics and reigned as the national champion from 1986 to 1995. His No 4 ranking puts him ahead of some of the constituency candidates.

Gisborne environmentalist and educationist Glenis Philip-Barbara has won the No 5 spot.

Mrs Turia said yesterday the pair were among five of the top 40 list candidates under the age of 40 and marked a recognition of the importance of rangatahi (youth) within the party.

President Whatarangi Winiata, whose son Pakake Winiata has won the No 7 ranking, said the list included tangata whenua, Pakeha, Pasifika peoples and Chinese.

Co-leader Pita Sharples said it included people with a broad range of skills including company directors as well as former Maori Women's Welfare League president Aroha Reriti-Crofts and a former chief adviser on Maori health, Dr Tony Ruakere.

The Maori Party Top 20

1. Tariana Turia
2. Pita Sharples
3. Atareta Poananga
4. Simon Wi Rutene
5. Glenis Philip-Barbara
6. Robert Consedine
7. Pakake Winiata
8. Morrie Love
9. Angeline Greensill
10. Te Ururoa Flavell
11. Billy Maea
12. Monte Ohia
13. Te Orohi Paul
14. Bronwyn Yates
15. Charles Joe
16. Mama Tere Strickland
17. Malcolm Peri
18. Tony Ruakere
19. Hori Awa
20. Brett Cowan