A Children’s Commission report released this week shows that entrenched attitudes at Oranga Tamariki are still endangering whānau Māori. This is what colonisation looks like, writes former Oranga Tamariki employee Luke Fitzmaurice. Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft yesterday released the first of two reports into the removal of Māori babies by the Ministry for Children … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Health minister David Clark suffers major demotion, government launches mental health tools, and more outline given on decision to leave lockdown. In breaking news, health minister David Clark has been severely demoted by the Prime Minister. Last week, a story came out about him driving to … Read more
Findings of the Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki highlight the trauma and heavy-handed state approach behind New Zealand’s appalling child care and protection statistics. Teuila Fuatai looks at the key findings and reaction to it. Dame Naida Glavish: ‘The treatment of Māori women has been inhumane’ Dame Naida Glavish led the governance group which oversaw … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Response to coronavirus ramps up, PM and Māori leaders agree to meet, and Labour launches their political year at retreat. A pandemic response plan has been triggered by the government around the Wuhan coronavirus. The NZ Herald reports an incident management team has been established, and information is … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: What the UN climate refugee ruling means, Whānau Ora funding battle escalates, and what’s going on with Ihumātao? A United Nations ruling on an i-Kiribati man who sought asylum as a climate refugee in New Zealand could have global implications. Ioane Teitiota was denied asylum and deported in … Read more
A group of Māori leaders have made an urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim on behalf of the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, and issued a biting rebuke to Jacinda Ardern and Peeni Henare. What’s this ‘no confidence’ about, then? Some of Aotearoa’s most powerful wāhine have had enough. A statement from the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency (WOCA) … Read more
A new programme replacing woodwork at two Hamilton intermediate schools is helping young Māori connect through the art of whakairo. Outside the wharenui bearing his carvings, Matua Rei Mihaere drives his closed fist through the air. Thirteen pairs of eyes look up at him as he asks, “If you see this at home or anywhere, … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: False alarm sparks tsunami alert concerns, new development in story haunting NZ First, and unaffordable housing problem getting worse. A false alarm tsunami alert has resulted in changes to fix mistakes in the warning systems. Radio NZ reports a siren sounded on the Bay of Plenty coast, … Read more
Grandparents Mere and Ngaro Pita spent decades in a run-down home. A West Auckland programme for elderly residents helped fix that. Mere and Ngaro Pita’s West Auckland home is literally a labour of love. The proud grandparents live about five minutes’ walk from Kelston Boys’ High School with their four mokopuna. Originally from the Far … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: School holiday fears of measles spread, pressure on Northland public health system, and logger who criticised Shane Jones goes public. The measles outbreak is approaching a potentially dangerous phase, with school holidays underway. Warnings were issued last week that cases could spread further around the country, as the … Read more
Ātea editor Leonie Hayden headed out to the hui for a Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry for Children, and found a unified Māori force that has decided enough is enough. When first announced, Saturday’s Oranga Tamariki hui was to be hosted at Ngā Whare Waatea marae in Māngere. When four times the projected … Read more
Labour’s Māori MPs should count their lucky stars Te Ururoa Flavell is busy doing other things, writes māui street‘s Morgan Godfery. It’s a mug’s game making a call about the general election more than a year out from polling day. If an election were held tomorrow Labour would almost certainly return with its seven-seat monopoly … 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
While we’re learning to listen to the younger generations on other things, it’s time to prioritise tamariki voices about our smokefree future too. In a traditional whānau unit, kaumātua and grandparents hold the greatest responsibility for the learning and development of our young. In talking to one kaumātua recently, he shared that mokopuna, when broken … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Major reforms proposed for governance of schools, mediation coming in bid to stave off Air NZ strikes, and announcement likely on ministerial transparency. A major review of how the school system is governed has recommended sweeping changes. The key proposals are covered by Education Central, and the core … Read more
Whānau Ora is under review, with the findings being released this month. Dr Chris Tooley speculates on what the future holds. Whānau Ora was set up by the Māori Party in 2010. It is an intensive intervention programme aimed at and defined by whānau, delivered upon kaupapa Māori frameworks. Kaiārahi (navigators) work with whānau to … Read more
For three weeks in October, the Waitangi Tribunal started its long task of hearing claims that are part of Wai 2575 – the Kaupapa Inquiry into health services and outcomes for Māori. Gabrielle Baker reports. This is not intended to be newsy analysis, nor is it an insightful history essay. I’m simply not qualified to … Read more
Medical student Kera Sherwood-O’Regan on what the student loan extension means for Māori studying medicine. “Have you seen the news?!” There’s nothing like waking up to dozens of messages and tweets to jolt you out of bed with a deep sense of dread. I tried to keep a lid on the panic as I wondered … Read more
What lies beyond the new Labour government’s ‘first 100 days’ for health policy and outcomes for Māori? In the final installment of our series on the future of Māori health, former Ministry of Health advisor and policy analyst Gabrielle Baker sums up the core values needed to make big changes to our health system. When … Read more
What lies beyond the new Labour government’s ‘first 100 days’ for health policy and outcomes for Māori? In part five of our series on the future of Māori health, former Ministry of Health advisor and policy analyst Gabrielle Baker looks at what we should expect from Māori health providers and how to get them where … Read more
In part four of our series on the future of Māori health, former Ministry of Health advisor and policy analyst Gabrielle Baker looks at where social investment and health intersect and asks if we’re spending money on the right services. In previous weeks I’ve talked about equity, inequality and Māori involvement in decision making. These … Read more
What lies beyond the new Labour government’s ‘first 100 days’ for health policy and outcomes for Māori? In part three of our series on the future of Māori health, former Ministry of Health advisor and policy analyst Gabrielle Baker asks how we can be better Treaty partners in the quest to achieve equity. Last week … Read more
Graham Cameron uses his background in public service to look at how the dominant model in health and education is selling us all short. The Minister of Social Development announced this week that they will repeal the part of the Social Security Act that requires sole parents to identify the other parent or face benefit … Read more
Scrapping of the “three-strikes” law will have a huge impact on Māori prisoners, and is just one new government policy which will have a positive impact on te iwi Māori, writes Mihingarangi Forbes. This post originally appeared on RNZ. Labour confirmed on Wednesday that the government would scrap the “three-strikes” law – which mandates increasingly harsh … Read more
Practitioner Donna Kerridge introduces the core philosophy behind Aotearoa’s oldest medical practice. “If modern society is to have a future, what we need above all is a renewed respect for nature and reverences for the life of all created things” – Jurger Moltmann The essence of rongoā Māori and many other indigenous health practices is … Read more
Joshua Hitchcock looks at the Māori Party initiatives most at risk from a new government: the Whānau Ora health programme and the Māori land law reforms. The votes are in, negotiations are underway, and while we enjoy the peaceful interregnum between the election and the formation of a new government, the election results have sent … Read more