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National, ACT take aim at Carmel Sepuloni

The Opposition has taken aim at the Social Development Minister for "bragging" about the Government's welfare record when there are more Kiwis on a benefit than when she took office.Carmel Sepuloni on Wednesday morning was talking up the Government's welfare response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how people were coming off the benefit faster than after the global financial crisis (GFC). A new report from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) found that across all main benefits there were ...

'A real beauty':

A rare Gottfried Lindauer​ painting is set to break records when it goes to market on March 29, with one art expert deeming it “the finest to ever come to market”.Lindauer was a man who, along with C F Goldie, excelled in painting important Māori subjects throughout his life, as well as depictions of Māori life during this time period.He also produced many pieces of little-known or ordinary Māori people, most of them wearing European dress, as would have been the case in their daily lif...

Whanganui hapū, iwi and community

The consent granted to Aquifer 182 Holding Company Ltd to extract water from a Whanganui bore is again being challenged by local iwi and hapū, community allies and rally groups.A hīkoi [march] organised by water kaitiaki group No Water No Future marched through central Whanganui to the Whanganui District Council building on Tuesday to contest the application and present a petition to Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe and district councillors.In September 2022, Aquifer 182 Holding Company was grante...

The wahine professor

Kura Paul-Burke is the first wahine Māori Professor of Marine Research at the University of Waikato – and is determined to not be the last.When a mussel restoration programme in Ōhiwa Harbour, in the Bay Of Plenty, began to ramp up installation, Paul-Burke had an idea. Mussel spat lines are typically made of composites, adding yet more plastic to the ocean as they disintegrate.Why not make the lines out of a natural fibre?Turning to traditional Māori practices, the project team made lines o...

Storybook helps author

Creating a storybook has been an important part of Robyn Te Paiho’s journey through grief.And now that the book has been published, she hopes it will help others who have lost a loved one.Robyn, who is a counsellor, has written and illustrated a 34-page storybook called The Sun and the Sad House.In June 2018, her husband Hirini (Sid), aged 56, died from a rare form of cancer, and then her father, John Malcolm, who hadn’t been well for a while, died in October at the age of 86.Link to ar...

Country music legends

Māori music legends Eddie Low and Denis Marsh are hitching up with Brendan Duggan and Gray Bartlett for one more national tour - dubbed the last hurrah.While most 79-year-olds are putting up their feet in retirement, Low said the four friends were looking forward to the national tour as a “last hurrah” and also his 80th birthday in May.Low says despite the advancing years he’s looking forward to performing with Bartlett, Duggan and Marsh as the New Zealand Highwaymen.Link to video and art...

Department of Internal Affairs says more than 1300 Kiwis' passport details

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) says more than 1300 New Zealanders have had their passport details stolen in a massive hack on money lender Latitude Financial. Tens of thousands of other Kiwis are believed to have had copies of their driver's licences taken too. Last week, Latitude Financial revealed the hack on its databases had impacted more than 328,000 customers in New Zealand and Australia. The company operates finance companies Genoapay and Gem Visa among others.Link to ...

Welfare commenter claims

A welfare commenter claims the government shouldn't be taking credit for declining Jobseeker levels.Data from Social Development, comparing June 2020 to June 2022, shows almost 25,000 fewer people are relying on Jobseeker.But researcher Lindsay Mitchell says benefit levels spiked during the pandemic, and the numbers reflect a move away from COVID restrictions.She told Mike Hosking other benefit numbers aren't declining.link to podcast and article: Welfare commenter claims the Govt shouldn't...

Is there such thing as

Debate about “Māori science” is often split between the claim that mātauranga Māori is a traditional indigenous form of science — and vehement opposition to that claim.It’s a debate that is more than simply academic jostling — the idea of “Maōri science” increasingly has real-world application in Aotearoa, especially in teaching.Here’s Georgina Tuari Stewart writing about why the arguments on either side aren’t clear-cut.Link to article: Is there such thing as Māori s...

NZ universities are not normal Crown institutions –

As part of its aspiration to be “Tiriti-led”, the University of Otago has embarked on a consultation process to re-brand. The proposed change involves a new logo and a new, deeply symbolic Māori name: Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.Universities occasionally change logos, names and marketing strategies. All New Zealand institutions have added te reo Māori to their original titles, often opting for a literal translation – “Te Whare Wānanga” – to describe their status as a university. But Ot...

World's first integrated Māori keyboard launched by Lenovo

Lenovo's latest product includes physical keys for macrons or tohutō, the little line used above some vowels in te reo Māori.It was launched at Auckland's Ngā Whare Waatea Marae today.The idea came about following a conversation the company's General Country Manager Libby Macgregor had with her son."My little boy came home from school one day, his name is Felix, and he asked me why there were no te reo Māori keys on the keyboard of the Lenova Think Pad I was using," she said.Link to video an...

Iwi collective Mōkai Pātea

Māori landowners who've been shut out of their whenua for more than a century are pressing the Crown to find a solution. At stake is more than 17,000 hectares of Māori land with no legal access. The land is inaccessible by car or by foot because it is surrounded by privately owned stations, Department of Conservation (DoC) land and Defence Force land at Waiouru.So if members of the iwi collective of Mōkai Pātea want to access their own land, they have to either plead their case or ...

Te Huhi Raupō: New renal unit

Taranaki Base Hospital's new $13 million renal unit has been gifted the name Te Huhi Raupō to Te Whatu Ora, on behalf of Ngā Iwi o Taranaki and Taumaruroa.It was opened by Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall today.Wharehoka Wano, Tumu Whakarito Te Kāhui o Taranaki told the opening ceremony raupō (also know as bullrush) was a resilient plant whose stalks grew tightly together for mutual support."It bends before the wind and rain before rising once more when the storm has passed. In the same ...

Waitangi Tribunal told of abuse against Māori deaf community

That was the experience of many growing up in the Māori Deaf community, who are now taking part in a landmark Waitangi Tribunal hearing this week in Auckland.Their claims are part of a wider inquiry into Crown breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi relating to Māori health.While being formally welcomed onto Papakura Marae this morning, a trilingual interpreter put the pōwhiri in their language.It's a rare service many Deaf Māori, or tāngata turi, still can't access.Link to video and article: ...

‘This is immense’: Puketotara farm leased to

A sprawling Bay of Islands farm has been leased to a Northland hapū ahead of its return as part of a future Treaty settlement.Members of Te Whiu, a central Bay of Islands hapū with close links to Hokianga, signed the lease on-site with Government representatives on Saturday.The agreement will see Te Whiu lease a 452-hectare Crown-owned farm at Puketotara, inland from Kerikeri, for a symbolic $1 a year for 10 years with a further 10-year right of renewal.The farm has been “land-banked” for ...

'Hardest decision of our lives':

The couple caring for “Moana” – a traumatised young girl placed with them five years ago – say they can no longer deal with the ongoing legal battle for her care and have made the painful call to return her to Oranga Tamariki.The couple, known as the Smiths, came to their decision after a High Court decision that went in their favour was appealed by Moana’s birth mother, who wants Moana placed in the care of a Wellington family – the Taipas – who are also caring for Moana’s broth...

'They're trying to erase us':

Alarge line of police separated protesters and attendees at an anti-co-governance meeting in Auckland to ensure everyone's safety.The meeting, organised by Julian Batchelor, was part of an anti-co-governance roadshow running across the country and was held at the Ōrewa Community Centre on Saturday afternoon.A protest against the meeting was attended mostly by local iwi Ngāti Manuhiri and members of Te Herenga Waka o Ōrewa Marae.Videos posted online show a tense atmosphere, with protesters dis...

Mike King on cancel culture's problem

Mental health advocate and former comedian Mike King says cancel culture reduces people’s ability to gain knowledge and think critically.On the latest episode of Stuff’s Generally Famous podcast, King explained to host Simon Bridges why he’s apologetic about his comedy career and whether revered Māori comedian Billy T James’ style would be successful in the present day.Towards the end of their hour-long discussion, Bridges asked King what defined Māori humour and entertainment.“Self ...

Māori dancer graces the Oscar’s stage

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He's the legal father of thousands:

Kevin Norquay is meeting CEOs all over the country, getting their stories. This week, the final week of the series, he talks to Oranga Tamariki's Chappie Te Kani.Being Oranga Tamariki chief executive is a tough gig; at one end a bad news cyclone, at the other a public wanting results. Yet Chappie Te Kani is all civil service with a smile as he evokes his past to move into the future.Te Kani (Ngāti Porou​, Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Tūhoe​, Ngāti Maniapoto​, Rongowhakaata​) rises from a des...

The infernal reo machine:

Joel Maxwell is a Pou Tiaki reporter at Stuff.ESSAY: The first stirs of worry came when the Bing chatbot penned the lyrics to a love song, to me, in the language of my tupuna. The sentiment was trite, maybe; cliched, for sure – but you could probably say the same about a lot of Ed Sheeran songs too. What struck me was that it was instantaneous, new, and made perfect sense in te reo Māori.No artificial intelligence had ever really cracked the Māori language before, and now here are at least t...

New mural in Glen Innes

A new portrait mural in Glen Innes, Auckland was revealed last week, but it has already run into trouble.It’s a collaboration between mural artist Owen Dippie and respected activist/artist Emily Karaka. It depicts Karaka with a list of some of her activities and connections.In an online post, Ngāti Whātua’s cultural adviser Joe Pihema claims the mural shows “blatant” disregard for the mana of Ngāti Pāoa.“It came about through a friend of mine, Benjamin Work, an artist who worked wi...

Column: Stative verbs can make translating

David Karena-Holmes is a Nelson-based writer and tutor of grammar in te reo Māori.COLUMN: In the last column the focus was on the verb particles. These are nine structural words, any one of which, when accompanying a verb, indicates exactly how the verb is to be interpreted.The short sentence Kia tūpato / kei hinga / koe. (“Be careful / lest fall / you” or “Take care you don’t fall”) illustrates this principle with two verb particles: kia, signifying that the speaker wishes something...

Language expert weighs in on Te Pūkenga's

A language expert has weighed in on Te Pūkenga's style guide, saying it's a "little bit too prescriptive" as staff push back on efforts by management to shape the words they can and can’t use.Te Pūkenga, Aotearoa's largest tertiary education provider, issued a style guide recommending words staff should and shouldn't use. It recommends not using the words "student" or "trainee", but instead using "ākonga" the Māori word for student or "learners" and instead of "staff", using "kaimahi"...

Tukoroirangi Morgan: Kiingitanga Tainui challenge

For many of those who attended the pōwhiri marking the beginning of Te Matatini last month, my speech in reply to the young kaikorero of Ngaati Whaatua was perhaps regarded as “entertaining”, maybe even “provocative”.For many others, however, that speech belies a widely held sense of frustration and anger at an increasingly avaricious hapuu intent on disrespecting, indeed dismissing, the mana whenua status of a number of Tainui and other iwi who occupied the Taamaki isthmus for centurie...