Happy Australia Day :-)





http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/f...r-operator-in-
trouble/story-e6frfq80-1225823217789


http://tinyurl.com/yezd793


'Fake Maori' lands tour operator in trouble



WRITING "fake Maori" on their faces with marker pen tattoos to attract
tourists has landed a Kiwi tour operator in hot water.

The venture, called Discovery Heritage Centre, has admitted hiring
Europeans, including French and Israelis, to dress in traditional Maori
outfits and poke their tongues out in Maori war dance custom to lure
tourists from cruise ships.

The director of the company has added fuel to the fire by saying she's
only employing the "fakes" because Maori people in the North Island New
Zealand town of Tauranga are too lazy to work.

"Some of our Maori are too slack to promote themselves. Some of our
Maori are too lazy to get out of bed to do that," Terina Puriri told the
Herald on Sunday.

"They don't turn up and it's a known thing for Tauranga Maori to do
that."

The company provides "cultural liaison" and on-board dance performances
for cruise ship tourists.

Performers include a few authentic part-indigenous people and at least
three foreigners dressed in feathered robes, holding traditional wooden
weapons and with pen marks scrawled on their faces.