'Tiki tacky' tourist attraction annoys Maori

3.00pm


Television personality Suzanne Paul has been told she cannot merchandise Maori the way she can Natural Glow.

The warning comes as controversy erupts over Rawaka, her new "cabaret meets kapa haka" tourism venture in Auckland.

Ms Paul's project has been shunned by some Maori who describe it as "tiki tacky" and culturally questionable.

Rotorua's Temuera Morrison and his sister Zella have washed their hands of it after being approached by Ms Paul to come on board.

Ms Morrison said she and her brother backed out when Ms Paul and her team failed to heed their culturally appropriate suggestions.

The Morrisons are not the only ones to have backed out of the plan as a result of cultural concerns. Clive Raharuhi, a friend of the Morrisons, and Carol Tapsell, who was to manage the Rawaka souvenir shop, both quit, saying they felt culturally compromised.

Ms Morrison said she and her brother pulled out because they feared Ms Paul's venture would put their professional reputations at risk.

"She has a good heart but she's not in tune with the seriousness of what she is doing.

"Maori are not a product you can merchandise like Natural Glow."

Ms Morrison said the venture should have taken 18 months to build, but instead Ms Paul leaped in to the project in July and planned to open in December last year.

It is now scheduled to open on January 15.

"You need to go through the right protocols and channels.

"The information we passed on to her is to have the right cultural focus and when you are building a venue like that, it takes time.

"We attempted to pass the right information on but it was not taken on board seriously."

Mike Tamaki of Rotorua-based Tamaki Tours has also given friendly advice to Ms Paul to be careful not to tar Maori culture with a tacky brush.

He has suggested Ms Paul visit the Tamaki Maori Village to experience how it should be done.

Mr Tamaki said new tourism operators often made the mistake of rushing into projects without taking authenticity into account.

"There is a drive for the standards of cultural tourism to be raised.

"What people are failing to see is we are dealing with a far more educated market now. We have come a long way since the plastic tikis and plastic performances."

Rawaka, based at Fisherman's Wharf on the northern side of Auckland's Harbour Bridge, offers a Maori village depicting traditional Maori life and a hangi meal accompanied by a cultural show.

Ms Paul has described the venture as "kapa haka meets cabaret".

She said any criticism was a case of sour grapes. "They are people who are wanting to open their own cultural show on Bastion Point," she told the Sunday Star-Times referring to the Te Pa project on Auckland's Bastion Point which is awaiting council approval.

Ms Paul said advice was taken on the placement of the bar and staff were told it would be okay under the stage if it closed during performances.

She said the level of Maori consultation had been significant, and local urban marae Awataha had been helpful and supportive.

"I've done everything they've asked of me."

Tickets are to cost $125 and include transfers to the Northcote Point venue, the village tour, a meal cooked in a hangi-style oven, and a show organised by urban Maori performer Mika.

The dinner show would open with Maori music and a warrior emerging from the stairwell shrouded in dry ice.

Ms Paul's fiance, Duncan Wilson, built the village's whare and carved the animals dotted around the set out of polystyrene.

The venture has come under fire from Auckland iwi and Tourism Auckland is unsure if it will promote it.


- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)