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Exclusive: Te Reo Marama and Maori smoking – Troughing 101

by Whaleoil on November 3, 2009

This is a Whale Oil Beef Hooked Exclusive series and will be running for the next few days. The reason I can’t run this story in one post is simply because it is too big. I have obtained under the OIA a large box of papers about one organisation purporting to be at the forefront of stopping Maori smoking. The only problem is that the organisation isn’t. It isn’t in the forefront of anything other than the self promotion of its principal Shane Kawenata Bradbrook and is spending up large on the taxpayer with little observable results.

On top of that WOBH has obtained an 88 page audit report (the full report and extracts will be published in subsequent posts) of the performance of Te Reo Marama which damning to say the least. Despite this the previous government kept on funding Te Reo Marama and its egregious troughing from the public purse for an additional two years.

This post serves as a preface if you will to the coming posts on Te Reo Marama and the huge wastage of public monies that have simply been used to enrich the life of Shane Kawenata Bradbrook. One other thing should be noted, whenever Shane Kawenata Bradbrook or Te Reo Marama comes under the microscope Shane Kawenata Bradbrook resorts to threats and intimidation, this blogger is used to such threats and will not be stopped from telling this story. Shane Kawenata Bradbrook also likes to say that he is mates with Pita Sharples and Tariana Turi and so “can’t be touched”. Well we will see about that shall we?

Just by way of example Te Reo Marama was established to combat Maori Smoking yet somehow Shane Kawenata Bradbrook saw fit to expend some $77,000 on international travel in the space of just three years. These figures are obtained from the OIA documents. Not only that over the past nine years under Labour Shane Kawenata Bradbrook has visited Chicago, USA in June 2000, Helsinki, Finland in August 2003, Hawaii, USA in November 2005, New York in April 2006, Washington DC in July 2006, Cairns, Australia in November 2006, Bangkok, Thailand in July 2007, Hawai again in Oct 2007, Broome, Australia in Nov 2007, Hawaii again!!! in May 2008, and Melbourne and Tuvalu in the same month, Durban South Africa in Nov 2008, Mumbai, India in March 2009, Perth, Australia in May 2009 and finally Darwin just recently in October 2009.

He has been quite the gad-about going to all those amazing places all in the name of stopping Maori smoking. All paid for by the taxpayer. Not only that Shane Kawenata Bradbrook claims all sorts of positions that there is no evidence to suggest he even holds such as being on the Executive Committee of the World Conference on Tobacco or Health. Even a Google search cannot find any evidence of such a claim.

Clearly Shane Kawenata Bradbrook thinks travelling to New York, Helsinki, India and other exotic places  must come before the good of the people. Speaking of the people let’s look at some of the statistics that Shane Kawenata Bradbrook is supposed to be trying to affect.

46% of Maori are regular smokers compared to 21% of non-Maori
The median age of Maori smoking initiation is 11.6 years
Maori of all age groups have higher smoking rates than non-Maori
Maori smoking prevalence is 50% in low socio-economic areas compared to 26% in high socio-economic areas
Maori women have the highest smoking prevalence of any ethnic group at 49%
The smoking rate of Maori females aged 25-29 is almost 4x that of non-Maori females in this age group
73% of Maori smokers use Roll your own
50% of Maori youth have smoking mothers and 48% smoking fathers

But wait there’s more…

Mortality rate for cancers overall for Maori was 77% higher than that for non-Maori during the years 2000-2004
Lung cancer is responsible for over 31% of Maori cancer deaths compared with 17% for non-Maori cancer deaths
Cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke) death rates were 2.3x higher for Maori during 2000-2004.

Source: data from the New Zealand tobacco use survey as listed in the Ministry of Health Report on Maori smoking for the Maori Affairs Select Committee 12 June 2009.

It is clear as the nose on my face that millions of dollars of taxpayers money are being wasted on organisations like Te Reo Marama and the likes of blatant fraudsters like  Shane Kawenata Bradbrook. This blog over the next few days will expose just how wasteful that spending is and has become with a particular focus on Te Reo Marama.

Tomorrow: Troughing 102 – How to keep your funding despite a damning audit report.

Tagged: • • • •

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  • Naylor

    What the hell. So this fella has been cruising around the world on the taxpayer while these Maori smoking statistics continue in NZ.

    Would be very interested to see what Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia and even Health Minister Tony Ryall have to say about this!

  • Mediatruth

    Magnificent work.

  • DLMMackie

    WOW, so despite a damning audit report this guy continued to received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the taxpayer. Where to I get some of that $$$$$$$$$$$$$$?

  • Allan

    Just love your work Whale Oil, keep it up and show up all of these troughers who waste so much of our hard earned tax payer dollars.

  • DLMMackie

    Well done Whale. You seem to be the only one that actually realises that it's our money they're wasting (or in this case travelling around the world enjoying themselves) Shame on the Ministry (assuming it is the Ministry of Health) for allowing this to happen.

  • Hillary

    Te Reo Marama sounds like a complete rort. If there is a audit report that is scathing of the organisation, the how on earth did the Ministry allow funding to be continued for another couple of years? The SFO should be called in if this is as bad as it looks.

    And what about the governance of this organisation te Reo Marama. Who are the 'Directors' of this outfit? They need to be outed and named to ensure that they are held accountable.

  • Ben

    This sounds like a beat up. Shane Kawenata Bradbrook just received a medal for all his tobacco control efforts and has the support of other local public health groups, including ASH and the Smokefree Coalition.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Chiefsfan73 Chiefsfan73

      Having sucked back the taxpayer cash for years, these lobby groups have probably only achieved a tiny amount more than this guy. Is Kawenata maori for leech?

  • DONKEY

    just another f**king wanker rorting the public of NZ and worse his own people who dieing by the day – this guy needs to be stopped immediatley – when is all the tax payer funded BS going to stop – someone can roll for this. last time i looked most of the issues with maori start and end here in this country so why would you need to cruise the world???????? most of them are here for god sake!!!!!!!!!

  • Naylor

    Oh here we go. Ben you seem to have missed the point that by the looks of it, and on the basis of the documents Whale has, that this guy Shane Kawenata Bradbrook has been rorting the system for many many years – with very very little to show he's actually meeting his objectives.

    It would not be too far fetched to assume that the likes of ASH and the Smokefree Coalition and others have been on the pigs back for many many years as well. Lets hope that this Government actually brings some accountability to what has been Labour's secret funding to special interest groups.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/The_Grizz The_Grizz

    Labour have been employing behind the scenes racial discrimination by stealth over the last 9 or 10 years. They wanted to be seen to be dealing with Maori smoking, but secretly wanted more Maori to take up smoking and die early. This reduces their population and takes them away from the voting cohort. (Weaken's the influence of the Maori Party). Furthermore it is more cost beneficial. Think of the old age pensions and aged care costs that they save. Reality is it far outweighs the costs of smoking related illnesses.

    To be seen to be doing something, they fund this Bradbook guy under the guise of some constructive anti-smoking group, only to allow, even want, him to waste it on arduous pointless foreign travel.

    Whaleoil, by exposing this trougher and the racist regime of his funding you are reversing the hidden underbelly of racial discrimination created by, or at least propogated by, the last labour government designed to keep Maori weak, dependent and immature.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/peterwn peterwn

    Some years ago, a researcher could not even get $5,000 towards a study on gout in Maori men (no laughing matter despite all the gout jokes) while at the same time Peter Davis got about $50,000 (from memory) to do a historical survey of health board changes (IMO the main purpose of the study was to provide bullets for Labour to fire at National). Golly, what Bradbook's outfit got would have funded dozens of such illness projects.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Chiefsfan73 Chiefsfan73

      utterly amazing. Labour have always equalled rot and corruption it seems

  • Guest

    Great work Whale. but onto more important matters- how did you do in the Targa?

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Chiefsfan73 Chiefsfan73

    We all know the quality of the Whales work. What I can't wait to see is how mediatart spins this.

  • coge

    Smoking causes statistics. These ones aren'y pretty. If the stats are not improving a fresh approach is needed. Also the taxpayer deserves a thorough explanation. Don't expect we will get one though.

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  • Anonymous

    Another question to be answer is does the guy actually smoke?

    You wouldn't put it past the cheeky prick to be taking all this money to assist Maori stopping smoking when he's a puffer himself.

  • ben

    Naylor, you may like to note that all groups that receive tax payer funding through various government ministries have to prepare reports on what they have achieved. There is accountability as they are signed off by ministry officials.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Whaleoil Whaleoil

      Thank you bben for leading into to tomorrows exciting installment of what we get for the millions paid to Te Reo Marama and the quality of the reposrts along with the audit of the like. And I am so glad you raised the medal and the other anti-smoking troughers as I have more than enough OIA documents to expose the whole lot of them on a daily basis for the next three weeks. Good of you to highlight that.

      Well done. Wait fopr tomorrows installment, it'll be interesting reading.

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/Chiefsfan73 Chiefsfan73

        What a tosser Ben. Under the labour administration for sure, these officials were paid to approve anything that met the fhurers plan. Any official who saw one of these reports and said it was shite, would probably have been publicly beheaded. Better to sign it off as all good nothing to see here and continue to live off the taxpayer funded six figure salary.

        You are a muppet

  • Naylor

    whoa, pull back on those horses there benji. Your conspiracy theory doesn't wash. The issue is that this guy has rorted the system to his own personal advantage while those he is claiming to assist haven't seen any benefit.

    I'm sure all the Maoris in Chicago, Helsinki, Hawaii, New York, Washington, Cairns, Bangkok, Hawaii (again), Broome, Hawaii (again), Melbourne, Tuvalu, Durban, Perth, Mumbai and Darwin have benefited from the arrival of Shane Kawenata Bradbrook.

    Glad you mentioned the reports because by the sounds of it Whale has these comprehensive and detailed reports about these trips. Can't wait to see them.

    • demigod1

      you are so far from the truth you stupid bitch…….whale oil has jack shit….nadda!!!! He is a fat shit stirring prick who should get a real job the fucker……..this guys gets off on dumb arses like you's who listen to his bullshit!!!!!get a fucken life stupid 'MOTHA FUCKA'S'………..

  • Chris C

    Do you know what happened in these locations on those particular dates? I can tell you that a few of them were international conferences on tobacco and health.

    And although your statpile is nice, you don't mention that Maori smoking rates have dropped 10% in three years, 70% of Maori have tried to quit smoking, that Maori are more likely to get advice on how to stop…

    …lots of good figures in those reports that you don't mention, and good arguments to say that the money spent is working well. Of course, we only have your word that the audit report is damning, and you've already demonstrated you're willing to cherry-pick from reports to substantiate your argument…

    …so post the report instead of trying to tease the audience like you're waiting for a fucking commercial break. By the way, we should make sure that Fidelity and Winz know how much good hard work and research you're doing while you're trying to bludge off them.

    • Naylor

      Typical response from another trougher… no doubt you're in donkey deep with funding from the government and all worried that it might be cut off. Go and get a real job wanker.

  • Scanner

    Whoops that's another one that slipped past the keeper, keep up the great work Cam, it looks like no one else wants to take on the job.
    Can't wait for the next gripping episode.

  • Anonymous

    Chris C

    And Whale has your IP address with that comment. I'm sure he would love to expose to your employer that you are spending company time on the internet.

    That's of course if you actually have a job and aren't another pro-Maori smoking bludger.

    Why does this guy have to attend these conferences on behalf of Maori if they are indeed conferences? It's plainly ridiculous. If 70% of Maori have tried to quit smoking then clearly they aren't very bloody good at it. Everyone I know who smokes has "tried" to quit.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Whaleoil Whaleoil

      It can't be that hard to stop smoking I know people who have done it hundreds of times

    • Chris C

      I'm self employed. I reported myself to me, and I called myself into my office and gave me a real dressing down. But I'm very valuable to my operations, so I've got a hold over myself.

      Your threats are nothing to me, "Anonymous", but I'm sure that Cameron would love to set a precedent by using information gained about his visitors for reasons of revenge because he's been slighted in the comments.

      But I doubt he's as petty or cowardly as you.

      • Spanishbride

        petty and cowardly???

        who said this?
        "By the way, we should make sure that Fidelity and Winz know how much good hard work and research you're doing while you're trying to bludge off them."

        Pot kettle black Chris off

        • Spanishbride

          And also while my blood is up. Owning a tip line where info is dropped in your lap. if that constitutes' hard work' where can I sign up please?

    • Spanishbride

      So Chris are you the reason why I had a nice chat 30 minutes ago with a very nice Policeman?
      Yet another complaint about this Blog.
      Things are never boring when you are married to the creator of WO

      • Cactus Kate

        Good stuff Spanish Bride. Keep up the good work!

        • http://intensedebate.com/people/Chiefsfan73 Chiefsfan73

          here here

      • Chris C

        Oh, nice. I got that email.

        Wasting police time.

        I'm sure my lawyer will be very interested in this.

  • petal

    Cam, this is the sort of stuff you're good at. Focus on this more, and on the name calling and silly ever repeating punnery ("plughead", "silent t", etc) less. IMHO, of course.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/billhicks billhicks

    Once again a……. OUR PEOPLE….. mooldy with a english name shane bradbrook http://www.4crests.com/bradbrook-coat-of-arms.htm… is tring to save HIS people by ripping them off.What was he doing so many times in hawaii…For a man who tries to stop smoking his passport is certainly smoking.On his facebook he has a nice picture of india outside the taj mahal………………

  • http://tobacco.health.usyd.edu.au/ Prof Simon Chapman

    The sub-text of this gutless, anonymous "revelation" is presumably that Maori health workers should stick to public transport, work locally, never internationally, and should "know their place" and not try and play the international advocacy stage. Shane has spent years publicising the very problems you describe. Tobacco control has to work internationally to effect globalised strategy agaist the tobacco transnationals who profit from the health problems you list. You don't do that effectively by just working locally.
    He has a huge reputation internationally. This is the very worst of small-mindedness. Perhaps you should ask the head of NZ BAT to show his travel bills over the same period, and how much of that was a tax deduction, and so a slug on the NZ taxpayer. What a nasty, undisguised piece of racism.

    • Carrot Top

      How is it "gutless" and "anonymous" when he is one of a minority of bloggers who make their real name readily available? Whaleoil even posted a google earth image of his house. As for the rest of your post, it is clearly just poorly-disguised racism against Whaleoil, purely because he was born in Fiji. This blog is no place for racism and I suggest you take your disgusting views where they belong – the BNP would seem a good fit.

    • Inventory2

      Prof Chapman – why don't we wait to see what the Audit Office had to say about Te Reo Marama before we shoot the messenger? And from what Cam is saying (you must be the only person who doesn't know WhaleOil's identity to be accusing him of a "gutless, anonymous" attack), we won't have to wait long.

    • petal

      You pull the Racism card on your first reply? Where are the facts Professori?

  • Gerrit

    Wonder how long it would be before the "racist" car was played. And from a prof as well !

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Chiefsfan73 Chiefsfan73

      Professor of what, I'm lead to ask. Monkey Spanking at Victoria Universities Cultural studies department

  • Gerrit

    card not car, duh.

  • hillary

    Typical… it's taken half a day for the supporters of this trougher to come to his defence. How pathetic. He is so far in the shit its not funny. Caught red handed. Whale is the only one prepared to take on these troughers and good luck to him.

    This guy and his board should be investigated by the SFO and the Auditor General. Perhaps those people who have signed off his contracts should front up and apologise to the new zealand public for throwing away taxpayers hard earned money. The Director General of the MOH's public health directorate should resign.

  • http://www.puneetpuri.com Auditing Firms India

    Nice Article. You have good database of facts and records to prove your point.

  • Buggerlugs

    Oh dear. Simon has now stuck his head above the parapet. Hope he's got his helmet on…

  • Buggerlugs

    oh my good god..hope its not tax dollars paying for this…
    "Te Reo Mārama has been collecting various Māori related items from sites such as TradeMe over the past 2-3 years. It has been amazing to see what actually comes up for trade on these sites.
    They range from 1920-30s cigarette cards to highly ornate carved cigarette boxes. Obviously there is a link with the use of tobacco and the production of paraphenalia that goes with normalising the practise of tobacco use and addiction. Here are just some of the items that have been collected to date"

    • hillary

      he's probably paid for them with our bloody hard earned tax payer dollars. He has no shame what so ever and deserves investigating by the MOH (oh but they're the people who continued to give him $$$$$ despite a damning audit report)!

  • Buggerlugs

    and judging by simon's research, he's a trougher too…http://www.medfac.usyd.edu.au/people/academics/pr…
    $1.3m for News research? Piss off.

  • Naylor

    to the good professor chapman; you are defending a guy that has been in the trough for so long that he doesn’t know whether its day or night. You have obviously tangoed with him in one of the exotic locations around the world on a junket as well. Wonder how your taxpayer funds would look like?

    As usual you attack the person who is trying to bring accountability to the blatant waste of tax payer money. Shame on you. Go hide in a university with your other self proclaimed “researchers”. Tosser

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Chiefsfan73 Chiefsfan73

    Smoking may cause lung cancer. Bradbrook is a cancer in the pocket of every taxpayer. He must be removed immediately.

  • Tauhei Notts

    I would be grateful if any blogger could give us the name of the institution of tertiary education where that Professor Simon Chapman is employed.
    As an employer, that information will be valuable to me as I will never ever want to pay wages to anybody educated by a dork like him.
    Graduates from an institution that employs people like Simon Chapman will compain that there are no jobs available. Those graduates would be wise to consider the sort of idiocy that they have been subjected to in their studies.
    Then, and only then, I will be able to tell them;
    "Don't tell me your hard luck stories. I have enough of my own."
    Chapman's graduates will get employed if they are lucky enough to score a bludgers' job sucking off the taxpayers' tit. No taxpayer could employ such poorly educated so and soes and make a quid out of it.

    • DLMMackie

      University of Sydney. sigh why was that not expected…

  • Razork
  • Murray M

    A message to all do gooders, do good with your own money, keep your fucking greedy fingers off mine.

  • Sam

    like your work WOBH

  • Hurf Durf

    Yoohoo! Mediatwat! Where are you? Tell me this is a victory for Sue Bwadford or something. Come on!

  • Fox

    Prof Chapman is right. Subjecting a Maori official to the same level of scrutiny as is applied to evil Pakehas like Rodney Hide, is blatent racism.

    Shame on you WOBH.

    • Anonymous

      At least Mr Hide is producing something from his work. For the cost of his salary we are getting a Supercity restructure and millions saved to the public purse.

      Mr Shane Kawenata Bradbrook is troughing Rodney's entire salary and mroe per year and what is the return on that?

  • http://www.us-marlboro.com USNew

    How on earth did the Ministry allow funding to be continued for another couple of years? The SFO should be called in if this is as bad as it looks.
    And what about the governance of this organisation te Reo Marama. Who are the 'Directors' of this outfit? They need to be outed and named to ensure that they are held accountabl

  • Inventory2

    "Simon Chapman is Professor in Public Health. He is a sociologist with a PhD on the semiotics of cigarette advertising, author of 11 books and major government reports and 192 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

    Professor Chapman's main research interests are in tobacco control, media discourses on health and illness, and risk communication. He teaches annual courses in Public Health Advocacy and Tobacco Control in the University of Sydney's Master of Public Health program."

    OK – so Prof Simon Chapman is a neutral commentator – yeah right!

    • hillary

      Typical. If anyone dares disagree with their way of thinking they are automatically seen as in the pocket of that evil tobacco industry. No doubt he thinks that man didn't land on the moon and 911 was actually done by Rumsfield and George W Bush in order to launch a war on Iraq and our Muslim brothers. Their thinking is so 1990s.

  • Inventory2

    From Webster's Online:

    "Semiotics
    Noun

    1. A philosophical theory of the functions of signs and symbols.

    Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved."

    I wonder if Prof Simon Chapman is merely an advocate for stopping smoking, or an anti-smoking zealot. I suspect the latter. Doubtless he is keen to preserve the reputation of one of his fellow zealots.

    As for me, I can't hardly wait for the "gutless, anonymous" Cam Slater to release the next installment in this fascinating saga, which more than anything, is a window into the way the former government dished out your money and mine to anyone with a "cause" that fitted Labour's social engineering agenda.

  • Naylor

    Bring on round two Whale! You've stirred up a real hornets nest. What's the bet that the good people at the Ministry of Health are in crisis mode trying to develop key messages and positions to defend their actions and the ignoring of a damning audit report into Shane Kawenata Bradbrook and Te Reo Marama. Their spin will be very interesting. Black is white, night is day…

  • Mikey

    This is the real facts of the matter.

    This is a NGO with interests similar to those in other countries across the globe. they have differing methods and best practices do need to be explored. Which is why Shane Bradbrook is also a member of the Frame Work Convention Alliance.

    The Framework Convention Alliance works to rid this world from the death and disease caused by tobacco. With a membership of more than 350 non-government organisations from over 100 countries, it is clear that civil society now occupies a position of strength in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) negotiations.

    There is in fact a conference next year: 14.03.2010 – 21.03.2010, Fourth INB on a Protocol on Illicit Trade in Tobacco Product, Centre International de Conférence, Genève. .. Shane Bradbrook will most likely be attending..

    In this context this effective press release by the vile and evil national party dirty tricks unit via the dead weight party hack that is whale oil appears to be a right stretch.

    Now why would the national party dirty tricks unit need to create a diversion and a very poor one at that?

    • Naylor

      Mickey, perhaps you are the mouthpiece for another trougher organisation as you seem to know a lot about this. Hell, so there are 350 NGOs involved – sounds like a massive industry to me. Perhaps this has become a lifestyle for you troughers. Go and get a real job in the real world instead of scabbing off the taxpayer.

      Good to see also that your defending Labour's rorting of the system by paying all sorts of dodgy NGOs and trying to blame the Nats for this. Reality check mate, this is corruption being exposed. You'll be the next one up against the wall.

    • Spanishbride

      A diversion? De facts are de facts are de facts are de facts.
      No diversion, no spin, just $$$$$$ going down the gurgler.
      And for the 1000th time WO does not and has never worked for or ever been paid a cent by the National party.
      If he was able to hold down a 9 to 5 job we would not now be in our 3rd month with no income and a legal battle in our future with an Insurance company that has ignored the medical opinions of not one but THREE doctors.

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  • Deborah

    Mikey's right, Shane has been an active member of the international coalition the Framework Convention Alliance working for a strong international treaty to tackle tobacco use. He played a key role in ensuring that the needs of indigenous peoples round the world were taken into account in the development of the Treaty and that includes Maoris too.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Whaleoil Whaleoil

      Oh look a defence from another trougher, this time from ASH. Just wait till I get started on you guys next week.

  • BRS

    Interesting list of international travel Whaleoil. You might have missed one though: a trip to Geneva in 2006 I think it might have been. He was over there at the same time as Cosgrove. Met them at the a Waitangi Day function at the NZ Mission. Probably something at the WHO. A few $$$ must have gone into that trip as Geneva is not a city to travel to on a backpacker's budget.