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Rawiri Taonui:

OPINION: Earlier this month, Minister of Māori Development Willie Jackson announced a $15 million post-Cyclone Gabrielle Māori Relief Fund.Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking criticised the announcement as unjustified “special treatment race-based funding” saying that while extreme weather events impact geographic regions differently, the rain does not “fall differently on Māori” nor flooding inundate by “race”.Māori do not recover differently, use different recovery equipment, and hom...

Blockhouse Bay complex:

Residents in the Auckland suburb of Blockhouse Bay say a new Kāinga Ora complex is taking away a piece of land that was promised to pensioners.The land was donated in the 70s by a former resident of the area on the condition it provided housing to older citizens.However, a new social housing complex has seen 33 elderly residents re-homed and the community says Kāinga Ora's lack of communication is a kick in the guts.Link to article: Blockhouse Bay complex: Kāinga Ora plans social housing...

East Coast whānau wants to future-proof

An East Coast marae badly flooded during Cyclone Gabrielle is looking at ways of making sure it never happens again.Puketawai Marae trustee Victor Walker remembers dropping to his knees at the sight of the marae — just north of Uawa Tolaga Bay — under water after Cyclone Gabrielle released its fury on Tairawhiti.“I couldn’t believe it. I was so stunned. I was thinking there was no way this was our marae.”Walker said Puketawai had escaped unscathed during Cyclone Hale a few weeks earlie...

Child poverty rates unchanged from previous year

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Rita Ora

International pop star Rita Ora may have inadvertently created a new kīwaha or Māori saying/idiom after accidentally mispronouncing a Māori phrase in a recent UK radio interview. The British singer who is in a widely publicised relationship with acclaimed Māori film maker and actor Taika Waititi, explained in the interview with BBC 1 that she has been learning Māori words from her partner and said she plans to include a Māori phrase in the lyrics of a new song. Link to video...

Iwi would love portrait of rangatira,

Ngāti Kahungunu would love nothing more than to secure a Lindauer portrait of one of their rangatira, but with the impacts of Covid-19 and Cyclone Gabrielle there is no way it could justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a painting.Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei.Harawira Te Mahikai, chief of the Ngāti Kahungunu Tribe, and a signatory of the Treaty of Waitangi, was the last tattooed rangatira (chief...

From not knowing his iwi,

Ross Calman began his quest to learn te reo Māori after finding a manuscript about his tipuna Te Rauparaha when “going off task” in the Canterbury University library in the 1990s.Thirty years later, the same university is awarding Calman, one of the country’s leading Māori history scholars, an honorary degree in recognition for his work revitalising te reo Māori as a researcher, translator, writer and editor.Calman (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu) will receive an honorary doctor...

Fact checking Marama Davidson's 'white cis men' claims

What’s the issueGreen Party co-leader Marama Davidson has made headlines for a comment she made at a rally at the weekend: “I am a violence prevention minister and I know who causes violence in the world, it is white, cis men.”Davidson was among hundreds protesting British anti-transgender activist known as Posie Parker, who then cancelled planned events and left the country.The Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence made the comments when questioned by the host of a far...

Corrections' recruitment ads give 'harmful' stereotypes of Māori, Pasifika

Awatchdog has upheld complaints about two television ads for the Department of Corrections because the advertisements are "likely to be offensive and harmful".The first recruitment ad for Corrections included a young Māori boy speaking to the camera about how he "already knew dad went to prison". The boy, referring to a Corrections officer, goes on to say it was "all thanks to him that dad's got a good job now and so, yeah, [I] might become a Corrections officer one day too".A second complained...

Report reveals thousands meant for Kapa Haka trip

The Auditor-General has found two schools splashed out several thousand dollars on gifts and a leaving do for outgoing principals.The 2021 nationwide schools audit found Waiuku College spent $1527 on a gift and $6909 on leaving ceremonies to farewell its former principal.“The board also used funds that were originally raised for a kapa haka trip,” the report said.“The farewell gift exceeded the school’s gift policy, and the amount spent for the leaving ceremonies was relatively high for ...

Wayne Knox: National Māori Housing Conference

“We have come too far, not to go further. We have done too much, not to do more.”As we head into the seventh biennial National Māori Housing Conference tomorrow, these timeless words of Sir James Henare aptly describe where we are in our journey to address the housing crisis in Aotearoa. Although current efforts by the Māori housing sector and government are significant and headed in the right direction, they must be sustained to successfully turn the tide of this crisis.The first National...

The student with a plan to burn forestry slash

Student Karan Titus has an idea to create more of what we need – electricity – and less of what we don’t need: carbon dioxide and slash.Leaving slash on forestry blocks is increasingly risky as climate change unleashes wilder storms. His proposal would send the wood waste to geothermal power factories, where it would be burned to create electricity.The carbon dioxide produced from the flames would be mixed into the geothermal water and sent back underground, making the process “carbon ne...

Why we should embrace

In NZ the long shadow of colonial overlay is reflected in the endurance of names with little bearing to the land, its stories or peopleOpinion: Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa New Zealand Geographic Board (Pou Taunaha) has made decisions that were confirmed by the Minister for Land Information on seven names for new central and south Auckland railway stations. Notably Pou Taunaha officially altered Britomart Station to Waitematā Railway Station. Unsurprisingly, there have been mixed reactions.Peopl...

Homelessness, housing insecurity

Māori homelessness is firmly anchored in colonisation and the rapid alienation of Māori land, destruction of their economic base, among other things, a study has shown.The kaupapa Māori research by academic Dr Keri Rose Lawson-Te Aho found that homelessness and access to healthy, secure and affordable housing were systemic challenges faced by whānau across Aotearoa.The study also revealed that the demise of Māori worldviews and oppression of Māori during the colonial period of New Zealand�...

Auckland Council cancels venue for anti co-governance meeting

The meeting, organised by evangelist Julian Batchelor, was one of many scheduled around the country for the next five months.At least four venues have now been cancelled, derailing some of these planned events.Protesters have been turning up in droves over several weeks, claiming his talks are racist, hostile and full of misinformation.Batchelor has rejected the claims, saying on his website that co governance is "a plan by radical tribal representatives to take over New Zealand".Link to article...

Whānau releases letter

Editor's note: Former NZDF solider Kane Te Tai died last month while defending Ukraine against invasion from its easterly neighbour Russia. Various stories of Te Tai's heroism have emerged including him saving the life of a man who had  been starved and shot four times by Russian forces.His whānau have released the following letter penned by Kane before his death, explaining why he went to Ukraine.Not that I think that I'll be in the news, or worthy of being in the news, but...

Lawyer slams Oxford English Dictionary

A leading Māori intellectual property lawyer is criticising the inclusion of kupu Māori in the Oxford English Dictionary.The dictionary's publishers announced earlier this month they would include dozens of words in te reo Māori in its latest update.Koha (gift or offering), kōrero (conversation), and e hoa (friend) are among the words added because, the dictionary said, they are some of the te reo Māori words adopted by Kiwis and have had a "profound and lasting impact" on the way we s...

Drop in school-leavers receiving UE, high employment,

North Island universities are blaming high employment and a drop in school-leavers with University Entrance for a big fall in enrolments by New Zealand students.All five North Island universities told RNZ they had started the year with fewer full-time-equivalent domestic students than the same time last year.The drop was trivial at Waikato, but significant at the remaining four institutions.The two South Island institutions that shared their figures with RNZ, Canterbury and Lincoln, reported inc...

Law change aims to lift 14,000 children

The Government has introduced a law change that will see more child support passed onto solo parents rather than used to offset their benefits.Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is speaking about the change at his weekly post-Cabinet press conference, ahead of April 1, when other increases to benefits, superannuation and the minimum wage go ahead.About 1.4 million New Zealanders will have more money in their pockets in the coming weeks, including community nurses whose pay bump comes into force this w...

School's out: Term one a rough start for education

Most Kiwi schools were back by the first week of February, which coincided with the clean-up following flooding in Auckland and Northland.Ministry of Education data shows that on Tuesday February 7, attendance was at 87.7% in the Auckland education region."Attendance on this day may have been impacted by the severe flooding in Auckland the previous week," the ministry says.Following January's Auckland Anniversary weekend floods, the Education Ministry ordered all the city's schools, kura, early ...

Hawke’s Bay Stop Co-Governance meeting cancelled;

A Stop Co-Governance meeting has been cancelled after the chair of Ngāti Kahungunu sent an open letter urging the Havelock North Function Centre not to host the meeting of the controversial political movement it accuses of amplifying “hateful rhetoric” towards Māori.The Stop Co-Governance Tour, which has already been subject to protests and controversy at venues in other New Zealand cities, was due to convene at the centre on May 17.Another Hawke’s Bay meeting is pencilled in for May 15 ...

The Haka Party Incident Returns To Tāmaki Makaurau

Following its renowned sold-out premiere season in 2021 The Haka Party Incident is finally back by popular demand at Te Pou Theatre, Henderson from 8-11 June 2023, ahead of a 6-centre national tour.Provocative, resonant, and joyfully unforgettable, The Haka Party Incident innovatively combines documentary and Kapa Haka to thrilling effect. Awarded Best Play by a Māori Playwright as well as The Dean Parker Adaptation for Non-Fiction Award, (2021 Adam New Zealand) the production is a not-to-be-mi...

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...