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Hawke's Bay heirlooms and heroes

A pā site interpretation project in Central Hawke's Bay was the supreme winner at the inaugural 2022 Hawke's Bay Heritage Awards. On Wednesday night people gathered from across the region to attend the awards at Hastings Assembly Ballroom where praise was heaped on the winner, Ngā Ara Tipuna, Waipukurau-Takapau. Ngā Ara Tipuna is a pā site interpretation project which showcases the network of seven historic pā sites located In the Waipukurau-Takapau area of Tamatea/Central Hawkes Bay. A cu...

'Very strange story':

In a temperature-controlled warehouse somewhere in the middle of Arkansas sit more than a million photographs from New Zealand newspapers.  After almost being lost, they're now up for sale and there is a push to get one photo album of our modern history home somehow. They're black and white and undeniably Kiwi all over, so how did more than a million of our historic images end up in an Arkansas warehouse in the hands of an American?Link to video and article: 'Very strange story': ...

More Kiwis missing school

The Education Review Office launched an investigation into why New Zealand is falling behind other countries in school attendance rates. It found that although Covid-19 badly disrupted attendance, there were serious issues even before the pandemic. "Between 2015 and 2019, the percent of learners regularly attending school dropped from 70% to 58%," head of ERO's education evaluation centre Ruth Shinoda said. This put New Zealand far behind countries like Australia at 73% and the UK at 87%.Lin...

Moana appeal dismissed:

A Pākehā couple who adopted a young Māori girl can continue to care for her after the High Court dismissed an appeal made by the girl’s mother, which was supported by Oranga Tamariki. Justice Helen Cull delivered her decision on the ‘Moana’ case appeal on Wednesday after a hearing in the High Court at Wellington in May. For four years, the girl, who is now 7 years old and has been called “Moana” in Stuff’s stories about the case, has been living with the couple in a...

Auckland suburb to fly 300 pride flags

The community of Auckland's Hobsonville Point will rally together and fly 300 pride flags around its suburb in response to recent anti-LGBTQIA+  incidents.  The event, Hobby Pride, will see the pride flags flown around Hobsonville Point between November 18 and 27.It follows a complaint about a pride flag being flown at Hobsonville Point Secondary School during its 'Lil Gay Out', which was an event to help make rainbow students feel safe at school. Link to article: Auckland su...

Embracing the inbetween cultures

Balancing the Puerto Rican culture she grew up with and the Māori and Pākehā cultures her kids also inherited has been a parenting challenge for Elisa Rivera – but she’s learning to find the beauty in that balance. What’s more important for my kids – their Spanish heritage or their Māori heritage?  This is the question I struggled with since my son Milo was born in 2017. I was naturally overwhelmed, as most parents are, with the arrival of a cute chubby potato with huge adorable...

University researchers guide that lifts Māori students’ performance

The University of Canterbury Council has awarded its innovation medal to education researchers helping teachers with tikanga and cultural skills. The group, Te Kāhui A Te Rūrangahau, created a user-friendly guide for teachers to use called the Hikairo Schema Book Series, with the goal of fostering cultural responsiveness and inclusive teaching methods. The medal recognises the way the group – made up of Professor Angus Hikairo Macfarlane (Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Whakaue), Dr Matiu Tai Rā...

High Court shuts down hut burning

The High Court has ordered an immediate halt to the burning and destruction of the hut network throughout Te Urewera. In an interim ruling released by the High Court in Rotorua on Wednesday, Justice Mark Woolford said the Te Urewera Board and the Trustees of Tūhoe – Te Uru Taumatua, their employees and contractors, must “immediately cease their programme to demolish or remove the huts”. Justice Woolford also said the Trustees of Tūhoe – Te Uru Taumatua must “file and serve ...

Māori world view

Businesses are looking to improve their overall performance, strengthening community relationships by embracing te ao Māori – the Māori world – especially around sustainability and production, say ASB specialists Anthony Ririnui and Krissi Holtz. Ririnui, ASB General Manager of Māori Business (Kaihautu Te Waka Whaihua), says businesses are increasingly adopting the Māori world view of kaitiakitanga - taking care of the land. "The real convergence is among larger organisations which have ...

Homeowner complains to Ombudsman

An Auckland homeowner who says she was advised to sell up and move out to get away from unruly Kāinga Ora neighbours has taken a complaint to the Ombudsman. After enduring five years of illegal drag racing, loud parties and street fighting, the woman said she was horrified when a Kāinga Ora representative suggested she move because there was little the housing agency could do to help her. Kāinga Ora denies its staff advised her to move. The woman, who RNZ has agreed not to identify, said prob...

Combining passions for te reo

Writing her first cookbook has been a labour of love for former South Otago woman Naomi Toilalo,  as she takes her passion for learning te reo and baking another step, she tells  Rebecca Fox. A pizza night in the woolshed on the South Otago farm she grew up on is just one of the ways Naomi Toilalo wanted to acknowledge her whānau and where she came from in her cookbook. ‘‘I gathered up all the whānau out on the farm for a shoot, my nieces made pizza. It was important to me to sha...

Sky News host calls out Six60 for te reo on poster,

Six60 has hit out at a Sky News presenter who highlighted the band’s use of te reo Māori in tour posters. Australian broadcaster Rowan Dean said on Sky News that in New Zealand "there's been a big push to be more inclusive of the Māori, the Māori language, the so-called 'iwi' at the moment".Dean said a lot of "new language" was coming in, before showing a poster he claimed was sent to him by pop group "Sixty Sixty...or whatever". "It's all in Māori, there's not a word of English anywhere i...

Resident 'trapped by a giant hole'

An Auckland resident living in a suburb being redeveloped by Kāinga Ora says she has woken up multiple times to find her driveway dug up into a trench, trapping her at home. Mt Roskill’s Rincy Lawrance said she often wouldn’t realise – until she tried to leave for work – that there was a chasm or fences blocking her in. She’s an immigration adviser who sometimes has to drive to appointments for work, and the excuse of “a giant hole” has worn thin with her emplo...

'I consider myself a very useful Māori':

Earlier this year, Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson unleashed on Seymour after the ACT leader suggested policies to abolish the likes of the Ministry of Māori Development. Jackson said Seymour was "absolutely deliberately dog-whistling" and "perpetuates lies and myths". He went on to call Seymour a "useless Māori".At the time, Seymour said Jackson's comments showed why the Ministry of Māori Development needed to be disbanded. In a new interview with broadcaster Moana ...

Māori arrived in NZ between 1250 and 1275,

A new study has carbon-dated the arrival of Māori settlers to as early as the 13th century. Mātauranga histories and current archaeological work are estimates only - thought to be some time between the 12th and 14th centuries. Today's study, published in the journal PNAS, used updated radiocarbon technology at 436 archaeological sites in the North Island and 145 in the South.Link to video and article: Māori arrived in NZ between 1250 and 1275, new research shows (1news.co.nz) ...

Deep cultural significance

This event occurs when the moon, earth and sun are aligned, giving the moon a red tinge. Astro photographer and educator Josh Aoraki is hoping the weather clears up in time for the event. "I think a lot of us will be disappointed looking at the grey sky, but there seems to be quite a few places around the motu which are going to get clear skies tonight." Commonly known as a blood moon, the event holds great significance within te ao Māori. Speaking to Te Karere, Māori astronomer professor ...

New Waitara store helps cut corporate waste

A three-year vision to bring a kaupapa to Taranaki which focuses on cutting back corporate waste while building up communities has been realised. All Heart New Zealand, which was founded in Auckland by Joe Youssef in 2015, partners with corporate clients to redirect and repurpose unwanted, or out of date, office supplies which would otherwise be dumped. While cutting down waste, funds raised from the on-selling of furniture and chattels funded employment, training, and educational opportunities,...

Health Minister Andrew Little blames mental health woes

Health Minister Andrew Little says the reason mentally ill patients needing acute hospital care are facing long wait times is due to a lack of beds and community discharge placements. The Mental Health Foundation is blaming extended wait times of mentally ill patients in emergency departments on under-investment. ED staff at North Shore Hospital have laid a formal health and safety complaint to Te Whatu Ora, saying some people seeking urgent mental health support are being strande...

Abuse in Care Inquiry:

A survivor of abuse says churches have missed a golden opportunity to really reflect on how Aotearoa-New Zealand came to have such an appalling record of abuse of people in care. Faith-based organisations were given a chance to respond at the recent final public hearing of the Royal Commission in to Abuse in care. Jacinda Thompson suffered sexual harassment by her Anglican minister in the early 2000's, and she has given evidence to the inquiry. She said that while abuse itself was condemned, mos...

Research journey into ties between

University of Auckland lecturer Kiri Dell is embarking on a three-year project to see how Māori wellbeing is revitalising, alongside te reo. Dell’s research will look into the many aspects and implications for Aotearoa to become a te reo-speaking nation. She said her findings would be valuable in helping shape the ties between Māori and Pākehā through their connection with the language. “It’s important for Māori and Pākehā relationships, and the way those relationships are developed...

One Day You’ll Thank Me:

Welcome to the Herald’s parenting podcast: One Day You’ll Thank Me. Join parents and hosts Jenni Mortimer and Rebecca Haszard as they navigate the challenges and triumphs of parenting today with help from experts and well-known mums and dads from across Aotearoa.In the course of a child’s life, research shows it’s the early years that are the most crucial for developing positive outcomes when they reach adulthood. Early development is so important, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this week...

First of its kind:

Court cases are naturally expensive, with lawyer’s fees and court administration mounting quickly into the tens of thousands. But in a first for New Zealand a court has agreed to waive its fee for a case brought by two academics against the Attorney General, granting them a protective costs order (PCO). Sarah Gordon and Giles Newton-Howes from the University of Otago don’t want to wait for the Government to repeal and replace the Mental Health Act - they want clarification as soon as possibl...

Staff make formal complaint about

Mental health patients are sometimes stranded for days in North Shore Hospital's emergency department waiting for a bed on a ward, and other patients are not on heart monitors when they should be. The situation has prompted frustrated ED health staff, led by nurses, to make a formal health and safety complaint about the hospital on 26 October. They said the ED was at "critical overload" and unsafe, warning that patients and staff could be harmed if it was not urgently fixed. Their report outline...

Govt pledges $55 million for Māori land housing

Hinemoa Apetera's a good sort - the type you know has a spare pair of steel cap gumboots she'll happily lend. The 64-year-old's looking forward to her Supergold card next year, and she'll be able to access her KiwiSaver. Her modest dream? To be able to buy something to put on land at Rewarewa D. It's collectively owned Māori land right in Whāngarei. The 64 hectares are gorse forest and mānuka, hence the need for steel caps. She's already living here - in a rented cabin with her kurī (dog...

Educators concerned about student progress

Educators are concerned NCEA students have fallen behind as end-of-year exams begin on Monday amid a third year of Covid disruptions. Year 13 student Tahlia Jelicich​, 17, said she felt nervous heading into her exams without the same support as previous years. “It's more nerve-racking. We’ve been a little bit babysat through NCEA because of Covid and now this year we’ve been let go a little bit. It’s quite scary,” she said. Last year, students in Auckland, Northland and Wai...