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Managed retreat:

Overseas experts in managed retreat say the owners of the worst damaged properties in recent extreme storms in New Zealand must get a seat at the decision-making table about possible red zones.The government, the Cyclone Taskforce, insurers and local council officials are hashing out whether communities need to abandon some places after the catastrophic cyclone and Auckland Anniversary flooding.Read: RNZ's previous story speaking to Aotearoa managed retreat experts after the recent stormsLand sw...

Ngāti Pūkenga

Ngāti Pūkenga have launched a digital history of their iwi, from the first arrival of their tīpuna in Aotearoa, all the way through their Treaty Settlement to the present day.The stories were launched yesterday to coincide with the iwi's Hui Ahurei, and feature 27 videos and 10 podcasts showcasing the history of each Ngāti Pukenga kāinga.They are told through the kōrero of their descendants, and featuring interviews with iwi leaders and key members involved in treaty negotiations.The four ...

Iwi, hapū look to history for renaming

Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa and Ngāti Te Whiti hapū have revealed the new name and facade of a prominent New Plymouth building.For the past nine months the Atkinson Building on Devon Street West has been under wrap while it was strengthened and refurbished.Representatives of Te Atiawa and Ngāti Te Whiti hapū revealed the new name - Ngāmotu House - at a ceremony at the site this week.It recognises an old hapū which resided in the area before Ngāti Te Whiti of today.Link to article: Iwi...

Five years of Te Papa's Toi Art gallery:

Art and. That’s how Te Papa chief executive Courtney Johnston describes the holdings and role of the national museum.This year, its newest art gallery, Toi Art, turns five. Opened in 2018 by then prime minister Jacinda Ardern, the $8.4 million space, spanning two levels of the museum, was part of a major renewal of the museum’s exhibition spaces and offered 35% more floor space for art.The gallery and Te Papa more broadly had been driven by the motivation that “art is for everyone”, Arde...

Business working with Māori landowners

A company working with Māori landowners is using forestry as a way to create cash flow for farmers and help restore forests of native trees.Tāmata Hauhā works with Māori landowners all over New Zealand to plant trees on marginal country that is too steep or erosion prone for farming.It offers advice and pays for everything, including clearing land, pest control and seedlings, then shares the carbon net profit 50-50.The organisation held an opening for its new premises in Marton, Rangitīkei ...

The winding River Road

Residents of Whanganui and the surrounding districts from all walks of life set foot on the winding Whanganui River Road on Saturday to promote health and fitness.Ka Waewae Tātahi O Te Awa Tupua is an annual river relay hosted by Te Whawhaki Trust, a subsidiary of Te Ōranganui, a Whanganui iwi-led organisation that improves the access and service delivery of health services.The aim of Ka Waewae Tātahi O Te Awa Tupua is to provide awareness around health, staying fit and enjoying a day out wit...

Speak no Maori

Link to video: Speak no Maori | Māori Television (maoritelevision.com)...

WATCH: Welsh Guy Praised For Doing His Entire Citizenship

A Welsh man is being dubbed 'the man' for completing his citizenship ceremony fully in te reo Māori.The clip, posted to TikTok by his wife Katie, has amassed over 100k views since it was posted last month and a whole bunch of comments supporting one of Aotearoa’s newest citizens.“My partner did his citizenship ceremony in Te Reo!” Katie wrote in the caption. “I feel like he did excellent.”Link to video and article: WATCH: Welsh guy praised for doing his entire citizenship ceremon...

Newshub Nation: National polytechnic merger Te Pūkenga

There are serious concerns about the management of Te Pūkenga as it asks for more money for I.T. systems while course completions are plummeting and some enrolments are down.January 1st, 2023, marked the official start of Te Pūkenga, the new national polytech and institute of technology conglomerate. In 2019, then-Education Minister Chris Hipkins said the merger would be "transformational," but as it unfolded, it did not meet the Minister’s expectations.Link to video and article: N...

Gang fights and domestic disputes:

An Auckland grandmother knew she needed to get her grandchildren out of emergency housing when a mentally unwell woman threw a chair at her during a violent outburst. Kelly, not her real name, is currently living in an emergency housing motel in Auckland with her four grandchildren. The family has been living there for two years and eight months and while Kelly is grateful to have a roof over her head, she says it's tough. Link to video and article: Gang fights and domestic d...

Healing te taiao:

More than half of Aotearoa may need to be in native ngahere (bush) to merely blunt future worsening storms, but without such revolutionary change, Aotearoa could descend into a spiral of social, ecological, and economic damageMuch of our land is without any trees, or is without the right trees, the undergrowth and the spongy debris, leaf litter and humus that slows floods and erosion. The resulting catastrophic floods require radical responses now, unless we are willing to continually suffer eve...

How mental health advocate Sir John Kirwan

Sir John Kirwan may have shone a light onto mental health for most of his adult life, but five years ago, he decided he hadn’t done enough.The former All Black – a New Zealander of the Year 2023 nominee – said he “woke up one day and felt like I’d failed”.“I was the face of mental health and I had been doing all this work, but the stats were going the wrong way,” Kirwan said.Kirwan was referring to the number of suicides in New Zealand, which increased from 504 in 2009 to 643 in ...

Scheme aims to improve housing

Keeping children well and out of hospital could start with a bucket of housekeeping tools and guidance on how to use them.It is part of the Kāinga Whakatipu scheme recently launched by Te Whatu Ora in MidCentral to help keep people, especially children, warm, dry and safe in their homes.Programme director Angela Rainham said the scheme had been extended from earlier successful versions of Healthy Homes in other districts.MidCentral had missed out on qualifying when the focus was on children at ...

Te Whiu one step closer to their whenua

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Concerns about rare $1.61m Goldie painting

A rare Charles Frederick Goldie painting depicting a Ngāpuhi chieftainess is going under the hammer in Australia, but a Māori rights expert has warned of the impact of the sale on the subject’s descendants.Reverie: Ena te Papatahi, a Ngapuhi Chieftainess (Ina Te Papatahi, Ngāpuhi), was completed in 1916 and depicts Te Papatahi seated upon a paepae (carved threshold) at the front of a wharenui (meeting house).Te Papatahi was an expert on tukutuku panels and weaving, and was the niece of Tām...

Housing development in Auckland’s newest suburb

The first big apartment blocks planned for a new Auckland suburb rising beside Mt Albert are closer to gaining building approval but are also facing opposition from the local council board.Thousands of homes are set to be built on about 40ha in the suburb, including land formerly part of Unitec’s Mt Albert Campus, which has since been transferred to Maori ownership.The six blocks currently seeking building approval include about 500 new apartments along Carrington Rd, with space for a new supe...

Housing market needs more whānau-centred

Replicating a housing culture from the United Kingdom and overlaying the indigenous culture, was not the solution for Aotearoa housing development, according to architectural designer Rau Hoskins (Ngāti Hau, Ngāpuhi)..The current housing market did not allow for whānau-centred building projects to arise, as regulations were mainly designed for nuclear families, he said.A director of Auckland-based designTRIBE architects Hoskins said public institutions should engage more with the “wider pro...

All the changes coming to your wallet

If your wallet has been struggling to keep up with the cost of living it could be getting some relief come April 1.About 1.4 million people will benefit from increased assistance to help with the cost of living.Here are the changes that take effect.Link to video and article: All the changes coming to your wallet to help ease cost of living pressure on April 1 | Stuff.co.nz...

Making the Grade: Ministry of Education

The first part of the much-anticipated common-practice model for teaching maths and English has had a mixed reaction.Education Minister Jan Tinetti announced in August last year the models were being developed as a way to make sure all teachers had the same understanding of how to teach the essential skills.At the time she acknowledged the topics were being taught differently between schools, and sometimes between different classrooms in the same school.Critics of the current education system sa...

Whanganui river hapū

Māori governance entity Ngā Tāngata Tiaki O Whanganui and Rānana Marae have hosted a river symposium at Rānana.The event last Friday gave Whanganui uri [descendants] the platform to showcase a range of examples and initiatives they use to support the health and wellbeing of the Whanganui River.Before the symposium commenced, Dr Rawiri Tinirau made reference to a whakataukī [tribal saying] coined by Morvin Te Anatipa Simon, which set the scene of the hui: “He pukenga wai, he nohoanga tān...

Fully prescribed curriculum

The school curriculum is not fit for purpose and too many students are being let down by the education system, a former teacher and education research expert says.The National Party says it will rewrite the school curriculum if is elected, with the aim of ensuring every child has basic skills in reading, writing, maths and science."What want to do with the curriculum is rather than it being presented in three-year bands, it's actually very definitive as to what knowledge needs to be taught in an...

Poachers used fake tangi and hui

Crayfish stocks around Mahia in Hawke’s Bay have been plundered by a man and daughter who obtained customary fishing permits by falsely claiming the kai was for tangi and hui.Martin Te Iwingaro Ernest Paul, 49, and his daughter, Whareake Tamaku Paul, 26, both of Kawerau, were sentenced in Whakatane District Court this week after admitting a charge of selling 1449 crayfish between September 2020 and August 2021 on the black market for a total of $43,140.The pair were caught following a major Fi...

Inside Hawke’s Bay emergency housing and the motel generation

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Marae ceremony back on at Waikato University

The University of Waikato has reinstated a marae graduation ceremony at its Hamilton campus after its initial removal sparked protests amongst students.Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei.A newly pencilled in marae graduation ceremony was set to take place at the campus marae – Te Kohinga Mārama on April 17.The university had initially planned to hold graduations at it’s new marae space The Pā, but was told in Fe...

National wants classes to get 'back to basics'.

Christopher Luxon is set to reveal his plan to turn around falling literacy and numeracy standards across the country, in a “back to basics” approach.The National Party leader will introduce part one of his party’s education policy on Thursday, focusing on primary schools’ teaching of numeracy, literacy and science. He wants clearer standards for each year level.The policy, titled “Teaching the Basics Brilliantly”, aimed to remove some of the ambiguity around whether a child at any a...