15 March 2019
Police commitment to Pasifika community announced at ASB Polyfest
The ASB Polyfest welcomes some special guests to the Manukau Sports Bowl this morning for a special function from
10:30am – 12noon at the ASB Activation Area. Special guests include the Governor General of New Zealand: Dame Patsy
Reddy, the Minister for Youth: Hon Peeni Henare and the Acting Minister for Pacific Peoples: Hon Carmel Sepuloni.
The function also features an announcement in relation to the Police’s commitment to the Pasifika community from the
District Commander for Counties Manukau, Superintendent Jill Rogers.
The dignitaries will address media and key stakeholders, prior to the Police announcement. They will then do a walkabout
of the festival, seeing some of the 234 groups which are on the festival’s six stages this year.
The official party will experience the festival in full swing today with the six stages alive with Maori & Pacific Island colour and culture. Each stage has a surrounding village with the food and craft stalls from the
respective culture.
Te Whare Wanaga o Awanuiarangi Maori Stage features the Division 2 kapa haka competition from 8:30am – 4pm, with twelve schools vying to be promoted to Division 1
next year.
The University of Auckland Samoan Stage has nineteen groups on stage from 9am – 6pm, while the drums will be beating on the AUT Cook Islands Stage with six groups on stage from 9am – 1:30pm.
The Massey University Tongan Stage features 35 traditional Tongan dances such as the Ma’ulu’ulu and Kailao from 8:30am – 4pm.
The M.I.T. Niue Stage runs from 10:00am – 3pm today and has seven groups on stage.
The Unitec Diversity Stage, heads into its second day of performance today with 31 groups on stage from cultures such as Indian, Fijian, Korean and
Vietnamese.
Interesting entrants on the Unitec Diversity Stage today include a Spanish group from One Tree Hill College at 12:20pm, a Hawaiian Group from One Tree Hill College at 1:20pm, and Kiribati groups from Pukekohe High School at 3:50pm, and Manurewa High School at 4:15pm.
ASB Polyfest 2019 takes place at the Manukau Sports Bowl from Wednesday 13 March to Saturday, 16 March. Entry is $5,
with pre-school children free of charge. This year you can book online at nz.iticket.io/asb-polyfest-2019 to “avoid the queues”
The overall theme for this year’s festival is –
The blood of the ocean flows through me
My sustenance, my nest of higher learning, my navigator
I am the living essence of the ocean
the living essence of the ocean is me”
ends