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'We are entering a period

Where on the spectrum from tragedy to farce are we when we see the same images of upturned cars floating in floodwaters, of desperate people awaiting rescue on rooftops, in so many cities around the world?Comment: In 1936, as Hitler's Germany geared up for war, Winston Churchill railed against the comparatively poor state of the British military."The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place, we are enterin...

The dangerous false narrative

If we say misogynistic abuse led to former PM Jacinda Ardern’s resignation, we make a female leader look weak, and risk glorifying and empowering misogynistsOpinion: The Labour party had quite a poll bump after Chris Hipkins became Prime Minister. Is this turnaround in poll numbers the typical "novelty boost”, or does it validate the idea that misogyny is alive and too well in New Zealand?Maybe the latter, but the narrative that misogyny broke former prime minister Jacinda Ard...

Tikanga Māori approach for native plant and marine extracts

One of NZ’s fastest growing cosmetic ingredients exporters has launched a multi-million dollar global expansion programme to meet industry demand for sustainably harvested, native plant extracts.The move follows an approach by a $28bn US retailer looking to incorporate their bioactive ingredients into a new skincare line to supply 500+ North American stores.Andrea Taimana, founder and CSO of Organic Bioactives, which supplies ingredients to cosmetic manufacturers in over 24 countries, says New...

In Gisborne’s blackout,

Gisborne has been brutally hit by Cyclone Gabrielle, but the response by both its officials and tangata whenua has been admirable. Tairāwhiti has been ravaged by a natural disaster once again. As well as feeling the full force of Cyclone Gabrielle, a magnitude 4.4 earthquake shook the region on Monday night. But the cyclone has done most of the damage. Speaking to RNZ, MetService’s Lisa Murray said Cyclone Gabrielle pelted Gisborne with 400mm of rain in 24 hours. The Gisborne District Co...

Tina Ngata:

Tina Ngata has been reflecting on recent developments that threaten to derail our progress towards Tiriti justice — and in this piece, originally published on her blog, she focuses on performative gestures by the Crown, and the permissiveness of te ao Māori that allows it.If the New Zealand government really punches above its weight at anything, it’s performativity.Over recent decades, the Crown has refined, to a fine art, the practice of performative gestures that don’t really amount to ...

NRL: Calls for commentators to 'do better' with Māori pronunciation

Long-time broadcaster Hemana Waaka is calling out sports channels to "do better", and stop "bastardising" Māori and other indigenous languages.NRL player also say it's time to start pronoucning their names correctly.The NRL All Stars Games at Rotorua were watched by millions across the world, and shown by broadcasters internationally and at home, but getting commentators, particularly the Aussie ones, to properly pronounce the names of Māori players is still an uphill battle.Māori All Stars c...

Why the Māori way of doing the business

OPINION:Māori are finding success in business by honouring the past, tackling present challenges with kaha, and staying focused on the aspirations of future generations.Now estimated to be in the realm of $70 billion, the Māori economy is an example of astonishing resilience. Māori companies work hard to balance people, planet, and profit, and they do this by prioritising values such as kaitiakitanga, whānaungatanga and manaakitanga through proactive guardianship of land and resources, build...

Milly comes home

Joining this year’s intake of House Officers at Hawke’s Bay Hospital felt like coming home for Milly Bowen.Milly, of Rongomaiwahine (iwi), grew up on a farm on Te Mahia Peninsula and attended boarding school in Hawke’s Bay before heading south to study medicine at the University of Otago.But it was the whakawhanaungatanga (establishing relationships) gained from the Tuakana Teina Internship that truly made her new beginning feel like she was returning home.Milly, was one of the inaugural T...

Ngāti Rangi aiming to be part of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts,

Ngāti Rangi, the mana whenua of Mount Ruapehu, says it has not been consulted about the future of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, which operates the Whakapapa and Tūroa skifields in the central North Island but is now in voluntary administration after Covid-19 lockdowns and a poor ski season.The iwi’s chief executive, Helen Leahy, says it has been given some information more recently about Chateau Tongariro Hotel in Tongariro National Park, which was closed by its operator last Sunday because of unsaf...

Students gaining hands-on experience on

Five Māori university students are gaining first-hand experience on one of New Zealand’s largest infrastructure projects.It is thanks to a new partnership between student support programme Pūhoro STEMM Academy and Te Ahu a Turanga Manawatū Tararua Highway.The students, who are studying science, social work and arts through Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington, are working on various aspects of the $620 million, 11.5km highway, which will replace the now-closed road throug...

Victoria University's school of architecture and design

For the first time two Māori professors have been appointed at the same time at Victoria University of Wellington's school of architecture and design.Professor Rod Barnett will head the school and Derek Kawiti will be professor for Māori Designed environments.Deputy vice chancellor (Māori) Rawinia Higgins said having two more Māori faces among faculty will encourage more Māori students to take up professions in architecture and design."There is a saying that... if you can't see yourself som...

Five rules for navigating

A quick scroll through Instagram will have you believe that the next generation of children are doomed.Kids who are being raised by parents who document their every move on social media and compare them with other people’s children often overshare in the process.According to the Wall Street Journal, by the time your child turns 5 more than 1000 pictures of them have been posted on social media and 92 per cent of 2-year-olds have an online presence.Parents are creating a “digital footprint”...

We should be 'under no illusion' about what the Voice would 'inevitably' mean: Credlin

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Artist told to pay GST

The experience of a painter dealing with NZ Customs is a salutary lesson about engaging with bureaucracy – and getting your paperwork right. As Nikki Mandow reports, this story comes with a twist in the tail…In 2021, Jimmy James Kouratoras, a New Zealand-based artist with Māori and Greek heritage, was invited to send some works for a show at a gallery in Aspen, Colorado in the US. A local media report talked about “an exquisite exhibit at the McHugh Gallery of the New Zealand ar...

Tauranga park Rotary Park to be given dual name

Maungatapu School students understand the importance of a name more than most.For two years they have been working to change the name of a local park to recognise its Māori heritage.Now their mahi has paid off after Tauranga City Council commissioners approved the dual naming Rotary Park in Maungatapu at a meeting on Tuesday.It will now be named Ōpūpū – Rotary Park.Maungatapu School student Kaida-Miharo Weti, 10, told the meeting the local hapū knew the park as Ōpūpū named for the abun...

Whanganui River Māori

A delegation of Whanganui River Māori is travelling to the United States to support North American Indigenous leaders and tribes of the under threat Colorado River.The delegation to crisis talks in Arizona is representing Te Awa Tupua, the Whanganui River. It includes the two people appointed by the river tribes as Te Pou Tupua, the human face and voice of the Whanganui River.Over 10 days Keria Ponga, Turama Hawira and the rest of the delegation will meet with many of the 30 tribal nations who ...

Ngātokimatawhaorua:

E noho nei te waka nui rawa atu o te ao, te Ngātokimatawhaorua, ki Waitangi, engari he tokomaha tē mōhio nei ki ōna kōrero. He mea whakairoa te waka kia whakanuia ai te huringa rautau o te waitohungia o Te Tiriti o Waitangi, i te 1940. Āianei, e tōmene ana te Pou Tiaki i ngā hītori o te waka rangatira nei, me te whakaawenga i whakairohia ai ia.The world’s largest ceremonial waka, Ngātokimatawhaorua, resides at Waitangi, but many people know little about it. The waka was built to comm...

Watch: 'Be quiet' - Seymour,

ACT leader David Seymour and Te Pāti Māori's Rawiri Waititi have clashed in a tense debate about co-governance during what was supposed to be an interview about Labour's policy dump.It comes after Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on Wednesday put several unpopular policies on the burn pile including the RNZ-TVNZ merger, hate speech reforms and the income insurance scheme. The Government is also considering changes to the controversial Three Waters reforms.But the policy dump was met with more...

Students staying home from school

Families across New Zealand are struggling to afford basic back-to-school items for their children, leading many to delay starting education, teachers say.Leisha Byrnes​, the principal of Lincoln Heights School in West Auckland, has seen the need for support in her community skyrocket over the past year.“The cost of petrol, the cost of basic food. Milk, bread, eggs – that's really hit our families,” she said.With less money to purchase necessary items such as stationery and uniforms, Byr...

The Conversation:

OPINION:The first signs were the half-eaten lunches coming home from high school. This was in stark contrast to the primary school years, where the box looked as if a demolition team had run through it with only a few crumbs left.The problem was finally disclosed over a quiet chat before bedtime when we did our routine of “best, worst, funniest” thing that day. My child confided they really didn’t like their new maths class and because they were so anxious about it, they’d stopped eating...

Aotearoa's original art galleries: Māori rock art up to 1000 years old

They’ve been called Aotearoa's original art galleries - they're paintings on limestone caves that are up to 1000 years old. But few Kiwis even know about them. Deep in a leafy green gully, half an hour out of Timaru, you'll find a network of limestone caves. And if you hold your head the right way, some pictures will emerge."Start to look for the black pigment or red pigment. They start to appear out of the limestone canvas."There are 760 Māori rock art sites in the South Island alone, c...

Scotty Morrison: 'I think the language sought me out

It’s a public holiday in Auckland, the City of Sails is experiencing its worst flooding on record, and Scotty Morrison has just arrived home after a long journey from Hawaii, made even longer by a diversion to Christchurch that lasted two nights.Despite this trifecta of inconvenience, the Te Karere host is characteristically chipper over the phone.He even offers advice for any poor souls caught up in future weather events while travelling – don’t wait for the airline to find you a place to...

Meet the Māori makers gifted with taonga,

One of my oldest and most beautiful memories is, delicately rummaging through my nan and koro’s boxes of taonga, treasures or special items: a big box full of personal whānau treasures from more than 100 years of whakapapa.Photos, heirlooms, old gems, op-shop rings, 1930s vintage combs, bone heru, shells, necklaces, jewels, and pounamu from bygone eras that each hold a story. Storytelling is in itself a taonga, and each item in that box holds a whakapapa, a genealogy of its very mystic becomi...

Political expert Bryce Edwards says policy changes by Chris Hipkins

A political expert has heaped praise on Chris Hipkins for ditching a raft of unpopular Government policies on Wednesday, saying the new Prime Minister has listened to the public. Hipkins on Wednesday unveiled the first set of changes to the Government's policy agenda, including axing the TVNZ-RNZ merger, halting work on the social insurance scheme this term, putting the torch to the planned biofuels mandate and throwing hate speech legislation to the Law Commission.The changes were an ackno...

The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel Trailer

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