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Mike King: 'I'm not brown enough

Mike King has opened up about “not being brown enough for his own people” as he and Simon Bridges discussed the challenges they face living in Māori and Pākehā worlds.The mental health advocate is the latest guest on Stuff’s Generally Famous podcast, where he and host Bridges discussed King’s battle with addiction, his transition from stand-up and cancel culture.At the start of the discussion, the two Māori men reflected on living in both Māori and Pākehā worlds.King says he feels...

Displaced families in Hawke’s Bay say

More than 1000 homes are still yellow and red-stickered following the cyclone, and local leaders are seeking clarity from Government agencies.The Waipatu Marae has become a refuge; a month on from Cyclone Gabrielle, there are still 25 whānau members living at the marae.Tane Tomoana has been assisting whānau with accommodation since the cyclone and said they lacked clear direction for the next steps.“We actually have struggled to pin down who actually is responsible for how we do move on from...

Te Matatini pōwhiri discussed during Tuurangawaewae poukai

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“Underpaid and undervalued” - teachers

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Wairoa: Iwi trust underwrites $2.5m

A Wairoa iwi trust has announced it will underwrite $2.5 million to enable urgent fixes to continue on hundreds of flood-damaged homes.Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa’s announcement coincided with a long-awaited visit from Prime Minister Chris Hipkins to the town, the first time since Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke’s Bay.Hipkins visited two Wairoa marae on Thursday with Napier MP Stuart Nash and Tairāwhiti MP Kiri Allan.Taihoa Marae was one of the first marae to take in whānau during and after the ...

Dawn ceremony to reopen wharekai

A special ceremony is planned to reopen the facility which provides manaakitanga to the many visitors who are welcomed onto a famed Taranaki marae.On Friday, March 17, a dawn ceremony will officially mark the re-opening of Ko Tamawahine, the kitchen and dining facilities of Waitara’s Owae Marae.The extensive redevelopment included the installation of a full commercial kitchen and chiller, increased storage space, and toilet and bathroom facilities at a cost of $4 million.Link to article: ...

Healthcare students don’t reflect

Māori, Pasifika and people from lower socioeconomic and rural backgrounds are “systemically underrepresented" in tertiary healthcare courses in Aotearoa, new research shows.National cross-sectional study of the sociodemographic characteristics of Aotearoa New Zealand’s regulated health workforce pre-registration students: a mirror on society? was released in the British Medical Journal on Tuesday.Researchers from University of Otago, AUT University and Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auck...

Te Matatini champions celebrate success at home

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Unredacted document reveals mega polytechnic Te Pūkenga

An error has revealed that mega polytechnic Te Pūkenga has asked the government for $330 million in this year's budget.The figure was among several paragraphs marked for deletion in a ministerial briefing from February published recently by the Ministry of Education.One of the undeleted sections said Te Pūkenga's work to combine polytechnic and work-based training would cost nearly $423m.It said the institute had asked for $330m, most of it for IT infrastructure crucial to its change programme...

'Slap in the face': Marae graduation

Having no marae graduation at the University of Waikato is a “slap in the face”, Māori student leaders say, and they’re worried it might not just be for this April.Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei.The university says the “break” from usual tradition is because of short notice that the new campus pā wouldn’t be finished in time – and there was a communication breakdown.The two groups are now in discus...

Teacher strike: Education Minister

The Education Minister was booed and told to do her job by striking teachers – an awkward position for the former principal and NZEI union board member, who spent years on the side of teachers during times of protest.Jan Tinetti acknowledge it was “probably pretty tough fronting up” to the protest on Thursday, “but it's something that I was absolutely determined to do because our teachers matter”.Teachers across the country called for better pay to meet the rising cost of living, as we...

The obligation

Denis O’Reilly’s community in Waiohiki, Hawke’s Bay, is one of many still reeling from Cyclone Gabrielle and the flooding. In this update, he writes about the continuing challenges, and why the census matters even in the midst of so much displacement.First up, thank you. I love this land Aotearoa and the people who inhabit it — tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti. Thank you all for the support.Come the day when you’re in need, as in the past, Waiohiki will be there for you, too. We under...

Kia ora e hoa:

New Zealanders will now see the common and casual te reo Māori greeting Kia ora e hoa! – meaning “hi mate” – in their Oxford English Dictionaries, as the institution moves to recognise the “profound and lasting impact” the Indigenous tongue has had on New Zealand’s language.E hoa, or friend, is one of 47 New Zealand English words or expressions added to the dictionary in its latest update – most of them in te reo Māori, which is an official language of New Zealand. The OED desc...

Northland the meth capital of New Zealand, wastewater tests show

KIA TŪPATO NGĀ WHAKAAHUA: Be careful of graphic picturesLink to video: Northland the meth capital of New Zealand, wastewater tests show - NZ Herald...

Slash is a human rights issue.

Paul Hunt is the Chief Human Rights Commissioner.OPINION: The Government’s two-month inquiry into forestry slash and sediment-related damage in Tairāwhiti and Wairoa is underway.Like the thousands who petitioned for the inquiry, I was shocked and angered to see the devastating scale and impact of wood debris and sediment unleashed by Cyclone Gabrielle.Many people have lost homes, livelihoods, livestock and, in some instances, family members.Link to video and article: Slash is a human rig...

Local Focus:

Pākaitore, also known as Moutoa Gardens, is a significant historic site in the Whanganui town centre. In the 1800s it was a trading post and fishing village for Whanganui iwi, later becoming a port for Pākehā settlers.In 1995, Pākaitore was in the news every night as protestors occupied Moutoa Gardens, sparking a 79-day occupation.The protests attracted a strong police presence and divided public opinion but were resolved peacefully after 79 days.Every year on February 28, Whanganui iwi retu...

One in five students from ethnic communities

Many New Zealand secondary and primary school students from ethnic communities are encountering widespread racism at school, new research finds.From mispronouncing names to bullying a child for what they bring for lunch, students are facing challenges based on their race - prompting calls to better identify and address racism in schools. Research from the Education Review Office (ERO), the Government's external evaluation agency, found one in five learners from ethnic communities said they ...

Full 'mega' strike to go ahead on Thursday

A full 'mega' strike of teachers will go ahead as planned on Thursday after a meeting between the Government and the union representing primary school teachers failed to reach an agreement.More than 800,000 students from preschool to Year 13 will be impacted but some schools have applied for exemptions.In 2019, more than 50,000 teachers went on strike. And there will be similar scenes on Thursday, as a similar number plan to take to the streets again.Parents and students are bracing for the disr...

Te Pūkenga tells academics not to say

The row over academic freedom at Te Pūkenga – the country’s largest tertiary provider – has rumbled on after it emerged staff have been issued with a list of words they should and should not use.The 30-page internal “style guide” was published in February, two months after Peter Winder became chief executive, to ensure its “written and verbal communication is uniform” and “in line with Te Pūkenga values and reflects the needs of our priority audiences”.The document was sent t...

Waihī architect Kyle Anaru

Architect Kyle Tiweka Anaru is the principal of the Tohu Workshop of Architecture, a small practice based in Waihī Beach. His Homunga Bay container house Rua Puoto, which simply means “two containers”, has been named a finalist in Home magazine’s house of the year, wowing the judges with its Māori cultural elements blended with design.The house was carefully designed to sit gently in the landscape looking over Homunga Bay while borrowing from the surrounding spaces - extending the sense ...

International student

An international student, inspired by her PhD research in education, has set up the first childcare centre based on Te-Whariki New Zealand Early Childhood Education Curriculum in Vietnam.Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei.Inspired by the Māori concept of ako, University of Auckland student Hoa Pham launched a kindergarten called Ako in her home country.With the slogan ‘where children are teachers’, Pham’s kinde...

Social housing has potential to lift Māori wellbeing,

Communal space, social activities, and community leadership can help lift the wellbeing of Māori social housing tenants, new research shows.Māori experiences of social housing in Ōtautahi Christchurch was released on Tuesday by Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online.Researchers interviewed 12 Māori tenants over a year and concluded social housing can do more than just house those in need.University of Otago teaching fellow and study author Els Russell said the effects of co...

Te Raina Ferris:

There’s often a moment just before a pōhiri when the question goes out: “Who will do the karanga?” Silence can hang dead in the air for what feels like hours, save for the sound of shuffling feet as wāhine edge backwards, trying to disappear.Karanga expert Te Raina Ferris knows that fear well, and how to overcome it. In this conversation with Siena Yates, she explains the mahi of karanga and why she’s made it her life’s work.Link to article: Te Raina Ferris: Karanga is the ...

Habitat for Humanity opens

Housing charity Habitat for Humanity has opened a 10-home development in central Kerikeri — its biggest community housing project to date in Northland.The development consists of nine two-bedroom homes, and one with three bedrooms, next door to the BP service station on Kerikeri Rd.While the $6 million-plus project is by far Habitat’s biggest investment to date in the North, it won’t be for long.The community housing provider has just started work on a 23-home, $12m development in the Whan...

Tūhoe tohunga Tā Pou Temara

When people think of a modern-day tohunga, or expert, Tā Pou Temara is usually high on the list.The Tūhoe educator is a trusted source of mātauranga on tikanga, te reo Māori and history - from universities around the world to the Waitangi TribunalHe's come a long way from his upbringing deep in the ngāhere (forest) of the Urewera ranges, but his latest book Te Rautakitahi O Tūhoe ki Ōrākau takes him on a journey through the history of his people.Link to video and article: Tūhoe toh...