The fight to save Ihumātao has been raging for years. Now, with the arrival of the Fletcher diggers imminent, the kaitiaki are staying true to their peaceful, positive protest approach. On a sunny day out in south Auckland, the handful of people at Ihumātao are stuck into work early, painting chairs, stacking firewood and cleaning … Read more
For Auckland is a new Spinoff podcast of civic conversations with people working to create and sustain a better Auckland for all. In episode three, host Timothy Giles speaks to Pania Newton about the fight for Ihumātao. So much of New Zealand history is defined by our conflict over land. In Māngere, south Auckland, the … Read more
Māori are looking to the Wellbeing Budget to increase targeted funding for initiatives like Whānau Ora, a system that, according to its architect, still hasn’t reached its potential. Whānau Ora was one of the Māori party’s flagship policies. In 2010, a partnership with the Key government secured its implementation. Over nearly a decade, it has been … Read more
Last week Hannah Tamaki, Destiny Church co-founder and wife of controversial church leader Brian Tamaki, was announced as the leader of Coalition NZ, a new conservative Christian political party seeking election in 2020. Otago University senior law lecturer Simon Connell remembers another equally controversial leadership bid. In 2011, Hannah Tamaki was nominated for the presidency … Read more
The annual national Race Unity Speech awards happened in Auckland on Saturday, where six of New Zealand’s best high school speakers addressed how we can improve race relations. Year 13 Mount Albert Grammar School student Takunda Muzondiwa spoke about struggling to stay connected to her home in Zimbabwe, while trying to create a new home in … Read more
In government departments, Pākehā are the norm and Māori are optional extras. Fixing that requires fundamental change. In not so shocking news, some government departments are devoid of Māori staff. Or close to it, anyway. The State Services Commission has a bunch of roles including supporting government agencies with workforce and talent management. In December last … Read more
The United Nations Secretary General has given a nod to indigenous rangatahi in their fight for climate justice. Yesterday morning, rangatahi Māori activists made their way to Auckland Museum’s event centre for an unusual meeting. Te Ara Whatu, Aotearoa’s first indigenous youth delegation to the United Nations, joined climate minister James Shaw and other climate … Read more
In response to a tough decade for the people of Christchurch, Mike Rehu proposes a name change. Headlines scream around the world: The Christchurch earthquakes. The Christchurch shooting massacre. The largest city in the South Island has had a rough decade. It has been a literal rocky road that has scoured the emotions of residents. … Read more
Professor Leonie Pihama on the unique values and perspective filmmaker Merata Mita brought to the screen, and how it changed how we see ourselves. “The way I see it, if you’re a Māori woman and that’s all you are, that alone will put you on a collision course with, that society and its expectations. And … Read more
A movement to boycott this year’s Tuia – Encounters 250 commemorations of the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook’s landing at Tūranganui-a-Kiwa is gaining strength, writes RNZ’s Leigh-Marama McLachlan. More than $20 million is being spent on events and resources to mark the anniversary of Cook’s landing in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, later named Gisborne, in 1769. Indigenous … Read more
Thanks to research and innovation hub Wai-Atamai, Recovery First is helping vulnerable people channel their energy into native plants. Te Atatu local Hone Pene is pretty chuffed about his collection of plants. In the crisp, morning autumn sun, the 63-year-old points out the rows of potted baby puriri, mānuka and kōwhai trees at the front of … Read more
Haratua/May is the 12th lunar month in the Māori year, a time to prepare for winter and Matariki. Learn more about the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, here. In recent years we have seen more activities around June to celebrate Matariki, the Māori New Year. Haratua has also become a time to prepare for this. Haratua … Read more
Willie Jackson’s comment last week that Paula Bennett wasn’t Māori enough may have been just the usual petty parliamentary barbs, but risks hurting a vulnerable group of Māori struggling with their identity, writes Graham Cameron. I was seventh form (year 13 if you prefer) when the Iwi Transitional Agency visited my high school in Christchurch. … Read more
Merata Mita created groundbreaking films during some of the most divisive moments in New Zealand history, earning her a reputation as a pioneer overseas and a trouble maker at home. Nine years after her death, her son Hepi Mita has made a documentary about the immense legacy she left behind. Hepi Mita (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāi … Read more
A hui at the University of Auckland today revealed the tip of the iceberg of the institute’s problem with racism and discrimination. Update 02.05.19: Vice Chancellor Stuart McCutcheon has responded to The Spinoff’s request for comment. His response is below. The University of Auckland’s vice-chancellor was absent from a hui addressing harassment and discrimination at … Read more
Another day, another flagrant rip-off of Māori taonga and intellectual property, this time in a middling video game. Don Rowe reports. When the developers of the world’s most popular strategy game decided to bring a fleshed-out Māori race into Civ IV, they consulted, among others, with the Māori New Zealand Arts & Crafts Institute, a … Read more
This week Statistics NZ released its update on last year’s disastrous census, also confirming that iwi data was too low to release at a time when Māori need it most. Our census is the flagship of the official statistics system and is essential both to functions that underpin democracy and core government services. But we’ve known … Read more
Traditional local council structures are shutting out indigenous voices. Māori wards were supposed to be the answer – so why are so few being created? Local government elections occur every three years, and are a chance to decide who we want to represent us in our local councils. But year after year, proposals to establish … Read more
Russell Brown travels to Rotorua, Whakatāne and Gisborne to see what data is doing in the regions. For 650 years, people have been hushed by the sunsets of Ohinemutu. The hills to the west of Rotorua, as if gently parted by hand, let the light stay longer and lower here. It sends a blush up … Read more
A lot of knowledge has been lost about traditional Māori attitudes to menstruation, but some extraordinary Māori women are making sure it’s not lost forever, writes Leonie Hayden Like a bolt of lightning out of the blue it sometimes occurs to me that a thing I’m doing, or feeling, is a product of colonisation. When … Read more
Indigenous people have always had ecological perspectives on health, which have only recently entered ‘mainstream’ discourse, and the scope now is planetary health, writes Rebekah Jaung. Good intentions pave the road to inequity in health systems around the world. Whether it’s healthy eating guidelines that would require poor families to spend almost all their income … Read more
Yesterday, Wallabies player Israel Folau was issued with a “high level” breach notice by Rugby Australia, bringing him closer to the termination of his contract over a social media post in which he claimed “homosexuals” and others would go to hell. For a gay, Pasifika man, it’s not necessarily something to celebrate, writes Patrick Thomsen. … Read more
One of New Zealand’s most successful tennis players has fallen through the cracks of sporting history. Madeleine Chapman tells the story of Ruia Morrison, Wimbledon quarter finalist. Ruia Morrison is standing on her back porch, whacking her neighbour’s overgrown hedge with a tennis racquet. She’s employing a forehand overhead volley technique and it’s working. Satisfied, … Read more
Six days after the terror attack in Christchurch, the University of Otago launched its participation in the Give Nothing to Racism campaign. At the launch, Tuari Potiki (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha) the director of the Office of Māori Development spoke of the history of racism he, his whānau and marae have faced. Here is … Read more
Film is a powerful influence in our lives that shapes how we see the world, and how we see ourselves. So it’s pretty important that we see people that look like us up on the big screen. New Zealand has an incredible film history – dark, funny, innovative, evocative of our past and peculiar worldview. … Read more
Documentary The Heart Dances is about the process of a European choreographer recreating The Piano as a ballet, but its real story lies in the exploration of what can happen when Māori culture meets European art. The exploration of Māori culture within European art can be contentious. New Zealand artist Gordon Walters was criticised for … Read more
Introducing Scratched, an original web series that finds and celebrates the lost sporting legends of Aotearoa. There are many sportspeople whose names are uttered regularly by New Zealanders, and whose stories have been told over and over again. But what about the athletes whose lives and careers have faded from the national memory? New … Read more
Activist, actor and advocate Anzac Wallace has passed away yesterday at the age of 74. Anzac Wallace (Ngāpuhi) is lying in state at Ngā Whare Waatea marae in Māngere, the urban marae he helped build in the 1980s. Ngā Whare Waatea chairman, Minister Willie Jackson paid tribute to Matua Zac Wallace last night, describing him … Read more
In cinemas now, Vai tells the story of one woman’s life through eight ten-minute shorts, directed by nine Pacific women. At the Auckland premiere of Vai at Sylvia Park, dozens of attendees line up at the candy bar to buy a drink for the film. After paying, they then continued into the theatre where they discovered … Read more