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There are no easy fixes

We need to recognise truancy as a complex problem that requires complex policy solutionsOpinion: As schools open their doors after the summer break, how many students won’t turn up?Truancy has emerged as one of New Zealand’s more significant education problems. While student absenteeism increased sharply after Covid-19 hit, there is evidence of a much longer, steady decline in attendance.Our schools have lower student attendance than many other countries – and the rate of wagging is g...

Disabled people concerned over accessibility

Residents of a Kāinga Ora housing complex in Auckland are “heartbroken” their days could be numbered in the area.Although a decision has not been made over whether the area will be redeveloped, some residents are concerned about accessibility and if a redevelopment would cater to their mobility needs.Allyson Hamblett has lived in her Kāinga Ora home for 23 years; she has cerebral palsy and uses a walking frame.Around 18 years ago, Kāinga Ora renovated her bathroom with a wet area shower a...

First stage of Ngāi Tahu's

The first apartment block in Ngāi Tahu Property’s 350-home Queenstown development Te Pā Tāhuna is complete.The name “Takiwai” was bestowed on the building at a dawn ceremony on Thursday morning.Ngāi Tahu Property general manager Blair Forgie said the development would help increase the housing supply in Tāhuna Queenstown.Queenstown is in the midst of a housing crisis that is forcing much-needed workers to leave town or sleep in cars or at backpackers because they cannot find anywhere ...

Expert weighs in on how to help boys and men as research reveals

The results are in. Years of research show a big decline in achievement levels for boys and men, and it's happening all across the developed world.Men are falling way behind, in test scores, in the workforce, and in family life.For women, the hard-won right to higher education was an economic game-changer and proved a positive boost for society. But women haven't just caught up, they've surged ahead.The gender gap for tertiary graduates is now wider than it was in the 1970s, just the other way a...

Seymour believes Māori chiefs who signed te Tiriti would be ACT supporters -

ACT party leader David Seymour gave his supporters a history lesson on Tuesday, claiming the Māori chiefs who signed te Tiriti would be ACT supporters.But the idea was swiftly laughed off by Te Pāti Māori.The speech was billed as the "Road to Real Change", but it seems the road started way back."Once upon a time rulers placed little or no value in a person... Galileo looked through his telescope and saw Jupiter's moons… the Enlightenment changed all that."Throughout the speech, Seymour move...

NZ facing 'cost of learning crisis' - experts

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David Seymour warns universal rights

Act leader David Seymour said New Zealand risks turning its back on centuries of enlightenment values like reason and universal human rights.In his first big speech of the year, Seymour said that “we live under new doctrines that look like life pre-enlightenment”.“It is more important to follow the new doctrines of privacy, health and safety, and the principles of the Treaty than it is to apply your own judgement and take responsibility for a situation,” he said.Seymour alleged the curre...

28 Māori Battalion flag raised

For the first time ever a flag bearing the full battle honours of the 28 Māori Battalion has been publicly displayed.The award of 42 Campaign and Battle Honours was presented by the New Zealand Army, to be recognised for the first time in 76 years.The formal award meant the battalion could now display its battle and military traditions.And the flag bearing the honours was raised this morning by the last remaining member of the battalion, Tā Robert 'Bom' Gillies at Ōhinemutu, on the shores of ...

New Waitangi dawn service 'a wonderful experience' - Hipkins post

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Rotorua brings cultures together

The bringing together of all cultures to work in harmony is what Waitangi Day in Rotorua is about.But Waiariki MP Rawiri Waititi reminded those who attended the special gathering at Ōhinemutu, it shouldn’t just happen on February 6.For the more than 5000 people who poured through Ōhinemutu Village for the Waitangi Day celebration in Rotorua - Mō te Aroha o te Iwi, For the Love of the People - they got to experience the warmth of not only Māori culture but every culture that makes Rotorua s...

The war in Tauranga,

Vincent O’Malley reviews a history of the battle of Gate Pā.First published February 5, 2019Head up Cameron Road, one of Tauranga’s main arterial routes, a few kilometres out of the city centre and you drive over one of New Zealand’s most important historical sites. The road, named after Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron, commander of British forces in New Zealand between 1861-65, was one of many built over former pā used during the New Zealand Wars. Ōrākau, Rangiriri and other importa...

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer:

It concerns me that the narrative around Waitangi Day assumes that Te Tiriti was our tupuna’s first and only effort to resist colonisation. It wasn’t. Like many indigenous peoples, we had traversed the world long before others arrived at our shores. We were voyagers, international traders and the last indigenous nation to be colonised by the British Empire.Our tupuna were not just waiting to be found. They foresaw the taniwha that was coming:He taniwha kei te haere mai, ona niho he hiriwa he...

‘A long way to go yet’:

Hawke’s Bay’s celebration of Waitangi Day drew big and respectful crowds and started important conversations about how the region should grapple with the nation’s founding document in the future.“There’s a long way to go yet,” said Napier MP Stuart Nash of the journey ahead.As an MP for 12 of the last 15 years and a Cabinet Minister for the last five and a half, Nash says he’s worked closely with Māori leaders in his portfolio responsibilities of Revenue, Fisheries, Tourism, Econo...

Language Matters:

OPINION: It is no secret that much of our success in what we do in school and at work is determined by how well we can explain our thoughts – whether it be through essays, speeches, meetings, or even talk between peers.However, recent research has changed people’s understandings of why this might be.In a 1995 study that became quite famous, Betty Hart and Todd Risley examined the parent-child interaction of 42 families in Kansas and concluded that families from higher socioeconomic backgroun...

Bigger, better (and warmer):

As the sun shone on the Ngāi Tahu Treaty Festival on the Otago Peninsula, the hundreds who attended were reminded of how different that would have been in 1840.That’s because when the treaty was signed at Ōtākou it was done so in the middle of winter, on June 13, Ōtākou Rūnaka upoko Edward Ellison said.“It is much better to have a gathering in the summer like this.’’The iwi established a festival held at the three marae closest to where Te Tiriti was signed. This year it was the tu...

Waitangi bridge proves partnerships

In the small town of Waitangi, there is a bridge that closes the gap between Te Tii Marae and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.Just before dawn on Monday morning, two ceremonies began either side of the bridge, one to a small crowd of 100 by phone light at Te Tou Rangatira near Te Tii Marae, and the other at Te Whare Rūnanga at the Treaty Grounds attracting hundreds, including leaders from across the motu, dignitaries, as well as the cameras.While one plays to a national audience, the other talks di...

Albanese says Indigenous voice next step in reconciliation

Anthony Albanese will pitch this year’s voice to parliament referendum as a gesture of trust in the Australian people at a time when increasing polarisation and misinformation means democracy needs to be “nourished, protected, cared for, treated with respect”.Referencing the 2021 Capitol insurrection in Washington and the recent uprising in Brazil – violence triggered because people “had fallen headlong into poisonous conspiracy theories” – Albanese will tell a thinktank on Sunday ...

Looking back to move forward:

As Waitangi Day dawns, Stuff Pou Tiaki reporter Maxine Jacobs reflects on her journey to Waitangi, what it means to her, and where her reconnection kaupapa will take her next.I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t know Waitangi Day was February 6, 1840, until a few years ago.Call it negligence on my part or a lack of emphasis put on Te Tiriti o Waitangi from general New Zealand but, to me, it was a day that rolled around that I had to work – even though it was a public holiday.I grew up in the 20...

Over 30 international waka paddlers

More than 30 waka paddlers from around the world will be taking part in this year's Waitangi Day celebrations.A handful are regulars, but for most it will be their first time.For more than 40 years, Joe Conrad has been involved with Ngātokimatawhaorua, a waka built in 1940 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi.He said sharing our culture with the world and connection to the ocean means everything."It's important that the world sees te ao Māori in its full capacity. And to hav...

On the Māori cannibalism

The bestselling novel Kāwai: For Such a Time as This by Monty Soutar  feels like the story Matua Monty has been working toward telling his entire life. It aims for the loftiest mountain peak in a valiant attempt at the fabled Great New Zealand Novel, that to this reader, falls just short of greatness.Kāwai is the first novel in a planned trilogy by Soutar, a respected historian. It's a hugely ambitious and largely successful work of historical fiction. Epic in scope, it spans upward of ei...

Ten post-settlement iwi have $8.1b assets -

The biggest post-settlement iwi have a growing asset base, now estimated to be worth around $8.1 billion, but property revaluations are no longer boosting the balance sheets of the 10 as they were.A new report out today from Wellington-headquartered consultants TDB Advisory assessed the assets of Ngāi Tahu, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pāhauwera, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Raukawa, Tūhoe and Waikato-Tainui.Aotearoa’s wealthiest iwi which has settled with the Crown un...

Live: Waitangi Day 2023:

Ata mārie, Aotearoa New Zealand, and welcome to the New Zealand Herald’s live coverage of Waitangi Day.It is 183 years today since the first signatures were placed on what became our country’s founding document. Events are planned across the country to mark the anniversary.The dawn ceremony: Leaders call for unity; 82yo protestor removedAbout 2000 people have braved the morning’s changeable weather and gathered on the Waitangi treaty grounds for the dawn service outside of Te Whare Rūnan...

Ranginui Walker:

Three decades ago one of the giants of New Zealand thinking and writing, Ranginui Walker, published Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou, Struggle Without End. The book, originally released in 1990 and revised in 2004, is a history of Aotearoa from a Māori perspective. It had a profound influence and today remains as piercing and illuminating as ever. Below, an excerpt from the chapter headed ‘Tauiwi’.First published February 6, 2021In 1831, under missionary guidance, 13 leading chiefs in the North petit...

Ngāi Tūāhuriri says AUT misused te reo Māori

Ngāi Tūāhuriri has expressed concern that Auckland University of Technology (AUT) did not build a relationship with the Canterbury hapū before announcing its plans to establish a satellite campus in Christchurch.On Tuesday, AUT announced it would open a satellite campus for health sciences in the central city.Ngāi Tūāhuriri Rūnanga upoko (head), Te Maire Tau, said Ngāi Tūāhuriri had received no correspondence from AUT and no relationship had been established before the announcement.�...

What should our country's name be?

Political leaders were welcomed at Waitangi on Sunday in what was supposed to be a peaceful politics-free procession.But it wasn't without controversy, with National's Christopher Luxon under fire for referring to the Treaty as a "little experiment".While many of the leaders gave te reo Māori their best shot on the marae, the major parties aren't willing to enter a debate on whether our native language should form part of our official name.With a wero and a welcome, the politicians took to the ...