Spinoff cheat sheet: For four months from 3 April, Māori can choose whether they want to be on the Māori electoral roll or the general electoral roll. It’s an important decision that could influence the next election and the shape of our parliament. What’s all this then? Since 1975, Māori in New Zealand have been able … Read more
The success or failure of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into state welfare abuse will depend on how much attention it gives to Māori boys – and a change in New Zealand’s attitude, writes Aaron Smale. Years ago while reading Anne Else’s 1991 book A Question of Adoption, I came to a chapter that talked … Read more
When we think of berries we think of the delicious summer varieties – raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and more. But Aotearoa has an abundance of native autumn berries, if you know where to look. For some of us our childhood memories of berries might range from picking wild blackberries on our way to school or trekking … Read more
Essayist Nadine Anne Hura discovers a town alive with the voices of the past. There’s a way of looking, where, if you’re not paying attention, you won’t see anything at all. Nuhaka is a place like that. It came up so fast, it was already in my rear-view mirror by the time I realised I’d gone past. I did a u-turn and pulled up opposite the general … Read more
Tikanga and te reo Māori teacher Nicole Hawkins questions why non-Māori artists use Māori narratives and bodies in their work. I can recall as an early teen sitting in a crowded movie theatre watching an advertisement for Victoria University play on the big screen. At that time the series of ads posed a variety of … Read more
Ōtaki’s Māoriland Film Festival, which kicks off this week, features a documentary about Australia’s apology for the Stolen Generations – and what’s happened since. Aaron Smale spoke to director Larissa Behrendt. Larissa Behrendt’s father didn’t talk about it much. But one day he suddenly made an explicit reference to his time in a boys home. … Read more
After a fraught election, Labour’s Māori caucus is going head to head with the Iwi Chairs Forum. The change of government has signaled a profound change in iwi relationships with the Crown. In the past 17 years, the corporate iwi model was the power ascendent at the Iwi Chairs Forum, and has proven to be … Read more
Visitors to this weekend’s Womad festival in Taranaki will have the opportunity to brush up on their te reo and understanding of tikanga Māori, writes RNZ’s Taranaki correspondent Robin Martin. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa has come onboard as a programme partner and will be offering a virtual pōwhiri experience and has helped develop a “Teach Me … Read more
Hamilton mayor Andrew King has withdrawn his proposal to rename the council Kirikiriroa City Council after widespread opposition. Proud local Horiana Henderson looks at the history of the name and explains why it’s a missed opportunity. Hamilton city’s mayor, Andrew King, swayed attention from the contentious 10-year plan this week when he asked to explore … Read more
What’s in a name? Once again not much, if you’re an NRL commentator. The 2018 edition of the NRL kicked off last night, with a new look St George-Illawarra Dragons drawing a packed house for their clash with the Brisbane Broncos. Things have changed down in the land of the famed Red V, with a … Read more
How Māori women can find our way back to equity through the stories of the past. In 1993 a group of Māori women filed a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal, now known as the Mana Wahine Claim. The claimants included a list of dream dinner party guests – all of the Māori Women’s Welfare League, Lady … Read more
Journalist Mihingarangi Forbes was the MC of Wednesday’s launch of #Suffrage125 – the 125th anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage petition. There were oysters, cakes and many prominent New Zealand women. But there was an important voice missing. Why on International Women’s Day did I wake up feeling hōhā? My great-great-grandmother Jennie Lovell-Smith was part of … Read more
Essayist Nadine Anne Hura goes looking for one ancestor’s story, and asks what really lies underneath our monuments to war. Small towns have big stories. I go around reading the plaques on top of rocks and plinths, memorials to the chosen, trying to decipher the story beneath the story. As I read, I almost feel … Read more
We should promote everyone having a go at learning te reo Māori – but please think twice before you ask a Māori person to do the heavy lifting for you, writes Nadine Anne Hura. One thing I’ve noticed about being a te reo speaker is just how often people assume I can do translations. I’ve … Read more
Joshua Hitchcock is looking to Māori businesses to help solve the problem of Māori unemployment. In mid-February I travelled to Tauranga to attend Te Hekenga – The National Māori Business Networks and Māori Enterprises Conference. It was an uplifting experience. For two days we heard stories from successful Māori business men and women who have … Read more
Historians and language experts agree that the original meaning of the word Pākehā is most likely to be ‘pale, imaginary beings resembling men’, referring to a sea-dwelling, godlike people in Māori mythology. It has been used to describe Europeans, and then New Zealanders of European descent since before 1815. So why do some people object … Read more
There’s a lot of confusion from media and commentators this week about the cultural identity of newly minted National Party leader Simon Bridges and deputy Paula Bennett. Here’s a handy guide to tell if you, or some you know, might have a touch of the Māori. Do you have a Māori ancestor? Yes? Congratulations, you’re … Read more
Rent Week 2018: Māori and Pacific kids are sick of cold, damp, crowded houses. So when are we going to start treating poor quality housing as the health crisis it is, asks general practitioner Bryn Jones. This week Simon Bridges acknowledged that the National government might not have “shown it was doing enough on housing” … Read more
An app that gives parents important information and rewards them for attending appointments is being tested on the East Coast. Rural New Zealand gets the sharp end of a lot of our worst stats – suicide, poverty, unemployment, health and wellbeing. Nowhere more so than the East Coast of the North Island, which includes the … Read more
On some scores, the National Party is streets ahead on Māori representation. But, asks Morgan Godfery, is it progress? Every politician keeps a list of regrets, and Labour politicians keep lists longer than most: they were the neoliberals, the foreshore and seabed thieves, and the slowpokes. If things were right and proper Simon Bridges would … Read more
Keagan Carr Fransch is a New Zealand-Zimbabwean actress studying in London. She writes about the breathtaking moments representation on screen can create for African diaspora. *Contains spoilers for the film Black Panther. Since whisperings began of Black Panther joining the Marvel cinematic universe in late 2015, the African diaspora was abuzz with excitement. As promo … Read more
This weekend saw thousands converge on Wellington’s watefront for Kupe, a tribute to Polynesian explorers Kupe and Kuramarotini’s discovery of Aotearoa and first landing of the waka Matahorua in the harbour. Meriana Johnsen reviews the show. Weaving the past and the present, contemporary expression and ancient artforms, the welcoming of the waka hourua into Wellington harbour … Read more
Rent Week 2018: Two tales from a small Tauranga community illustrate the challenges solo mums still face in the renting market. It was reported in January that Tauranga now outranks Auckland as New Zealand’s most unaffordable city and in the city’s pressured rental market, landlords these days have their pick of tenants and of rental … Read more
In the past three years the Pacific Island nations have experienced the three most intense tropical cyclones on record. It’s our duty as tangata whenua and whanaunga to take a stand on climate change, for their sake, argues Graham Cameron. As our Pacific Islands cousins face the unprecendented impacts of climate change, they are looking … Read more
Finally, the most electrifying sports entertainment programme on earth has come back to Aotearoa. This Saturday marks the first episode of WWE Raw to screen free-to-air in New Zealand in over a decade. WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) has a new tag team partner in Māori Television, bringing a devastating combination of English and te reo … Read more
Opinion: The announcement of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the abuse of children in state care has been met with praise and relief, but survivors may be worse off if the historic claims unit within the Ministry of Social Development is allowed to continue. The announcement of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse … Read more
Yesterday Auckland Council voted unanimously to endorse the rāhui placed by local iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki on the Waitākere Regional Park, and close all walking tracks to help fight the spread of the deadly kauri dieback disease. Edward Ashby, the executive manager of Te Kawerau ā Maki, explains what it’s all for. New Zealand … Read more
Opinion: Some would have you believe that charter schools are the only ones transforming education for Māori and Pasifika children. That’s just not true, argues Laures Park. Success for all tamariki is the aim of education. It’s what their parents, their whānau, their teachers and their communities all want. But claims that charter schools are … Read more
Literally tens of people lined the streets of Vermont to watch the opening ceremony of The Bachelor Winter Games, which debuted in the US on Valentine’s Day. And then New Zealand appeared. It’s not news that as a nation we’re particularly fascinated by how the rest of the world sees us. I’ve died inside more … Read more