Super Rugby team the Crusaders has decided to retain its name, despite it invoking a history of violence towards Muslims. The decision made researcher Luke Fitzmaurice angry, so he emailed the CEO of the Crusaders to tell him. To his surprise, he replied. In June 2019, the Crusaders rugby team announced a comprehensive review of … Read more
Law expert Khylee Quince explains how racism plays a big part in the way current cannabis laws are applied – and why it’s time for reform. On October 17, New Zealanders will vote on whether they think recreational use of cannabis should be legal. It’s a non-binding referendum, which means that even if more than … Read more
Annie Te One explains why embedding Māori representation in local government shouldn’t be such a big deal. After the next local elections, Tauranga City Council will join Wairoa District Council and Bay of Plenty and Waikato Regional Councils in being the only local governments with designated Māori wards. Debates over Māori representation in local government, … Read more
Whoever is successful on October 17, there is urgent work that needs doing to meet obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Laura O’Connell Rapira offers five to begin with. In 1840, Māori rangatira and representatives of the British Crown signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Māori text, which is the version of the Treaty recognised … Read more
Nadine Anne Hura’s brother was different, like Māui. Equal parts curious, reckless, determined and brave, he couldn’t leave things alone. He needed to know. I found my brother in a crowd of 60,000 people under the stars. It was 1993 and U2 was on tour at Mt Smart Stadium. If I said I remembered the … Read more
A public health professor at the University of Otago says a debate about capping Māori and Pasifika medical school admissions has come ‘out of the blue’. Te Aniwa Hurihanganui reports for RNZ. Pressure is mounting on the University of Otago Medical School to front up to Māori and Pasifika about a proposal to cap admissions … Read more
Major reports published in the New Zealand Medical Journal today highlight ongoing inequity for Māori in health. Two papers published today, written by a combined 16 Māori and non-Māori academics and researchers, uphold what is known to be true by many: that Māori and Pasefika experience different health outcomes to everyone else. The first, a … Read more
Mahuru/September marks the beginning of spring as well as the summer phases. It’s time to get planting! September is known as Mahuru, the start of spring. The name Mahuru is a shortened version of ‘Te ahunga o uruao’ which means the new generation of whitebait. Guess what the tohu is this month? The whitebait which … Read more
The Tahitian leader has refused to stop fighting against nuclear testing and its effects on his people. New Zealanders must do the same, writes Jenny Te Paa-Daniels. For those with memories of Mururoa, the name Oscar Temaru ought to be synonymous with the atoll and the protest against French nuclear testing in the Pacific. For … Read more
The Aotearoa-born, Los Angeles-based producer of What We Do in the Shadows and Jojo Rabbit is back home to direct her own film – and reconnect with the culture that made her, she tells Stacey Morrison. This story first appeared in Ensemble magazine Styling by Karen Inderbitzen-Waller Photography by Karen Inderbitzen-Waller and Delphine Avril Planqueel … Read more
The two week jail sentence handed out to the woman who breached isolation with her grieving children is an abomination, writes Leonie Hayden. In a week where New Zealanders are celebrating the prison sentence of a monster who murdered 51 people, we all need to think hard about what we’re celebrating. I choose to leave … Read more
More than a year after justice minister Andrew Little described New Zealand’s hate speech laws as ‘woefully inadequate’, nothing has come of the legislative reform that was promised. Warning: contains descriptions of racism, racist violence and racist images. Yesterday, the white supremacist terrorist who carried out the Christchurch mosque attacks was sentenced to life imprisonment … Read more
Michael Steedman and Hirini Kaa on the layers of pain behind a new memorial on University of Auckland grounds – but also of hope, from Auckland to Christchurch to Parihaka, Our University of Auckland community gathered early in the morning for the unveiling of a memorial. Following Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei tikanga we gathered before light … Read more
It is a scandal in plain sight: our education system is racist and the outcomes people get vary substantially depending on ethnicity, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira. Avondale rapper Tom Scott recently took to Instagram to point out that the real conspiracy in this country is that education is for the rich. “Rich kids get private … Read more
Director Emma Calveley tells the story behind her new Loading Docs short documentary film Wahine Warrior. Pania Tepaiho-Marsh (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa) began hunting for her own mental health. Now she teaches other women to hunt free of charge, giving them skills to feed their children. I discovered Pania through her viral Facebook videos encouraging women … Read more
When writer Charlotte Muru-Lanning noticed her friend JP sharing conspiracy theories online, she challenged him on it. Here they continue that conversation. For Māori and Pasifika, using social media at the moment almost always means some type of interaction with conspiracy theories. The phenomenon has created widespread concern in our communities and we’ve seen an … Read more
The digital capture of our public and private lives is occurring in complex and often hidden ways. But who decides how that information is used? And how do Māori exercise their right to retain sovereignty over their data? Unplugging or opting out of digital data capture is hard, even for the tech savvy. Government agencies … Read more
A number of Māori and Pacific leaders are concerned that the government’s response to the resurgence of Covid-19 won’t be enough to protect their communities. Where the first Covid-19 outbreaks were predominantly among those who had travelled overseas, largely missing communities with high-density Māori and Pacific populations, the latest outbreak originating in South Auckland has … Read more
When the National Party talks about renewal, their East Coast candidate Tania Tapsell (Te Arawa) is a potent symbol. Alex Braae went to Whakatāne to find out what drives her to push so hard for political success. She was the youngest person in the room by far. Admittedly, that room was the Whakatāne Bridge Club … Read more
Māori are particularly vulnerable to conspiracy theories – especially ones that relate to the eradication of people – because that has been the reality for indigenous people. But if we’re going to protect our whānau from Covid-19, we need to engage, not block. If you’re Māori and on Facebook, chances are you woke up today … Read more
We do not have to roll along with the status quo. We are asking New Zealanders to choose help over handcuffs, prevention over prisons, and healing over punishment, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira. It is said that the first Pacific voyagers to sail to these lands visualised this place before they reached it. Wayfinders would imagine … Read more
The introduction of a $3,100 fee for returning New Zealanders will disadvantage Māori disproportionately, Phoebe Carr (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe) and Max Harris argue. The government has once again failed to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi by rushing through legislation to introduce exorbitant managed isolation fees for returning New Zealanders. This fee will have massive … Read more
She’s a lone wolf, a team player, a rebel, a leader and the nicest lady around. But what combination of those do you need to survive in government? On a cold July morning, I found myself driving around Tōtara Park in Manurewa in the dark. I had been invited to a dawn karakia to launch … Read more
Ngāti Tūwharetoa has just become the first iwi to be approved under the Resource Management Act to take over certain council duties. Here’s why that matters. In 1991, the Resource Management Act (RMA) allowed councils to transfer any of their functions to local iwi. Now, almost 30 years after that act was passed, the first … Read more
The Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into Oranga Tamariki kicked off in Wellington last week, while at the same time the agency released new data showing that perhaps it is doing better for Māori than many perceive. But do the numbers tell the full story? The first two days of the Waitangi Tribunal urgent inquiry into Oranga … Read more
When do we get a prime minister who looks like New Zealand, asks Laura O’Connell Rapira. I want a Māori prime minister. I want a trans Samoan deputy prime minister and I want a former refugee as speaker of the house. I want a Muslim mayor. I want a disabled deputy mayor and a late-life … Read more
Last month a group of wāhine Māori gathered in solidarity after a Māori woman reported she was racially abused on Ōwairaka in Auckland. Indigenous human rights experts Tina Ngata, Dr Arama Rata and Dilwin Santos outline the foundations of racism in Aotearoa, and the structural changes needed. Warning: the following article contains racist language. Under … Read more
In a week marred by parliamentarians and their neverending raru, the Alternative Aotearoa hui was a timely reminder that politics is more than what happens in the Beehive and that it is social movements that create real change, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira. On a sunny winter day in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, 150 or so researchers, advocates, union … Read more
A new sketch show on Comedy Central has heralded a new era for Pacific voices. But it’s not all big laughs and dick jokes – it’s much more sophisticated than that. The trailer for new comedy sketch show Sis, released in late June, is bloody funny. As a good trailer should, it takes some of … Read more