Back to Blog

Homeless services struggle

Wellington's City Missioner says there is unprecedented demand for its emergency and transitional housing right now. Wellington missioner Murray Edridge said on the ground the situation was dire. "We're very full in our services, and we've got a cohort of people that are harder off than they've ever been. "Our staff are stretched, it's not a disaster yet but we're doing the best we can in what are really difficult circumstances."Link to article: Homeless services struggle under unpreced...

Deadly drug with 'potency greater than fentanyl'

A dangerous opioid linked to drug-related deaths in North America has been detected in New Zealand for the first time. The organisation High Alert said metonitazene has been found in a yellow powder, probably from crushed tablets and could be in circulation nationwide. It says the drug acts quickly to produce a strong sedative and depressant effect. The substance could be selling as isotonitazene, oxycodone or an unspecified opioid. Sarah Helm from the Drug Foundation said it is causin...

Country's biculturalism

American universities increasingly see New Zealand as a good place to send students to study diversity and indigenous issues, Education New Zealand says. The organisation's director of engagement, North America, DuBois Jennings said New Zealand's reputation in the US had changed in recent years and there was scope for growth as this country reopened its borders to foreign students. Jennings said, prior to the pandemic, attempts to promote New Zealand as a study destination were often met by the ...

A digital divide in how children use devices

A study reveals the average 8-year-old is spending too much time on devices, with concern most are passively using them for entertainment instead of education. Sarah Catherall reports. Five-year-olds are turning up to school speaking with American accents. When the teachers ask them if they’ve been overseas, that’s not the case: they’ve watched so much Netflix or YouTube that they’ve started talking with an American drawl. It’s one of the consequences of primary school-aged kids being ...

The NZ Proud Boys say they're just 'friends',

The NZ Proud Boys say they're just 'friends', but an undercover investigation has revealed how they’re picking up the mantle from their terrorist counterparts in America. Stuff Circuit’s Louisa Cleave and Paula Penfold report. In the frenzy around the visit to New Zealand of far-right activists Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux in 2018, a disturbing threat emerged: “In a fist fight, we Proud Boys of NZ will f... you c...s up. That b.... needs to suck out of a straw for a month ...

Kiwi Tiktoker shares

A Kiwi TikTok creator has gone viral after sharing how a simple mixup with te reo Māori led to a friend making a very intimate offer, with hilarious results. Aroha begins the video by telling her followers that she received “the most random” txt message from a friend, clarifying that the friend is Pākehā (this will become crucial later, stick with us).Link to video and article: Kiwi Tiktoker shares awkward te reo Māori mistake - NZ Herald...

Challenges ahead as interest

As more and more Māori reclaim their language, many are growing curious about the rangi or dialect of their own iwi, but for some, this is proving challenging. Iwi from different regions often have their own distinct sounds and phrases. Take Ngāi Tahu, who drop the 'ng' sound for a 'k': Aoraki, not Aorangi. Or Tūhoe, with wānana, not wānanga. Jeremy Tātere MacLeod (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne) recently finished a PhD on dialectology. "A lot of people get caught up on words, [but] dialect ...

Northland rangatahi to benefit

It’s been touted as the way of the future and now students in Te Tai Tokerau are set to learn more about science, technology, engineering, mathematics and mātauranga (STEMM). The Pūhoro STEMM Academy, which currently operates in nine regions throughout the country has today expanded into Northland. Associate Education Minister, Kelvin Davis, said it was an important step for Māori who were currently under-represented in STEMM. “The Pūhoro way is a by Māori for Māori way,” he said in ...

Hundreds arrested, thousands of charges laid for youth offending

Hundreds of people have been arrested, with thousands of charges laid for youth offending in Auckland and Waikato over recent months.  In a statement, police said 205 people have been arrested a total of 307 times for ram-raid and smash-and-grab style offending in the Waikato, with some of those apprehended being repeat offenders. "Overall, those charged are facing, or have faced, a total of 1229 charges filed in the Youth Court," police said.The arrests and charges are from February 1 to t...

New NCEA tests could jeopardise Māori and Pacific students'

New literacy and numeracy tests could lower NCEA achievement rates among Māori and Pacific students. The warning comes from an independent evaluation of a trial-run of online tests in reading, writing and maths involving 16,000 mostly Year 10 students in July. A separate report advised it would take a concerted effort across all schools to raise achievement before the tests became a compulsory part of NCEA in 2024. The July trial had pass rates of 34 percent in writing, 56 percent in maths, and...

Research reveals Māori on the back foot

They are supposed to be the golden years, but new research has highlighted the difficult reality Māori face heading into retirement. A set of four papers released by Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission have revealed the widespread social and economic disparities Māori face during retirement. The in-depth research found the impacts of colonisation, land theft and inequality had caused ongoing hardship for tangata whenua in their later years. One of the papers described how lower life expect...

Only a third of students passed writing standard

Nearly two-thirds of students failed the writing standard in the latest NCEA literacy and numeracy pilot, according to results released on Friday morning. The highest pass rate was the reading standard, with 64% of students scoring an achieved or higher. That was followed by numeracy at 56%, writing at 34%, Te Reo Matatini (Māori language literacy) at 24% and Pāngarau (Māori language numeracy) at just 18%. Those pass rates were even lower than the results in 2021, which sp...

No Māori Allowed:

The rural town of Pukekohe, south of Auckland, has a bleak history of racial segregation that has, for the most part, gone untold.  The new TVNZ documentary No Māori Allowed sheds light on the town’s dark past and gives voice to kaumātua who've never before told their stories. Pukekohe's history of segregation was first unearthed by American academic Robert Bartholomew in his 2020 book of the same name. It was more established in the township than...

The hidden and hard to treat disorder

For many people, the term "eating disorder" will bring to mind its two most familiar forms – anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. What they may not realise, however, is that "binge eating disorder" is more common than the other two combined and can significantly reduce quality of life. More than just eating too much, which most people will find themselves doing once in a while, binge eating reflects a recurrent behaviour pattern of losing control, bingeing food and feeling associate...

Come and Say G'day:

Tourism Australia has launched a major new campaign to attract international tourists to the country that prominently features Indigenous Australian culture.The 'Come and Say G'day' campaign stars an animated souvenir kangaroo called Ruby - voiced by Australian actress Rose Byrne - as its ambassador and features a remake of Men At Work classic 'Down Under' by King Stingray, who sing in both English and Yolŋu Matha, an indigenous language from Northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.Will...

New Plymouth family say unruly Kāinga Ora neighbours

ANew Plymouth family says Kāinga Ora tenants living next door to their elderly mother are making her life a misery and the agency just fobs off their complaints. The woman, who is about to turn 80, feels unsafe in her own home and the family has had to put her up in hotels to give her some respite from her neighbours.She has lived alone in the leafy inner-city street for about 10 years after down-sizing from the family home nearby. Her son - who asked they not be identified because they fear re...

'Should never happen again':

The National Party is calling for an inquiry into the Crown's handling of the Jayden Meyer rape case after an appeal of a sentence of home detention failed.Meanwhile, Justice Minister Kiri Allan has acknowledged the victims' bravery and highlighted the High Court found the sentence "wasn't what it should have been".Meyer was sentenced in July to nine months of home detention for raping four 15-year-old girls and indecently assaulting another when he was 16. The sentence set off protests in ...

Malachi Subecz death:

Te Pāti Māori has called for the state to be held legally liable for abuse in its care, after an investigation found a litany of failures in the run-up to a five year old's death. The Ombdusman this month said Oranga Tamariki failed to do the bare minimum before Malachi Subecz was killed by a caregiver last year, despite whānau pleas for the agency's intervention.The review found there were ample opportunities to intervene, and Malachi's death was ultimately preventable. Te Pāti M�...

Two more adults tried to save Malachi.

Oranga Tamariki did not act on at least two more reports from different people – including a probation officer - about concerns for Malachi Subecz’s safety during the months the five-year-old was being tortured to death in a remote cabin, his family say. Three members of Malachi's extended family say two representatives of OT visited them on October 11 to tell them concerns about Malachi’s safety in the care of murderer Michaela Barriball were reported to OT by two...

Mentally unwell man temporarily turfed out of motel

A mentally unwell man, subject to compulsory treatment, has lost his temporary motel spot to garden festivalgoers and faces life back on the streets, a court heard on Thursday. Tari Jamie Phillips, who is homeless, appeared in the New Plymouth District Court, where it was expected he would enter pleas to several charges, which include threats to kill and resisting police. However, defence lawyer Nathan Bourke advised the second mental health report required for his client had yet to be furnished...

Masterton/Whakaoriori artwork vandalised

An artist’s attempt to honour bicultural place names in the town she lives has been tarnished by vandalism. When Masterton-based visual artist Paula Coulthard was commissioned to paint a telecommunications box at the entrance to her North Island town eight years ago, she decided to do so in a style reminiscent of mid-century travel posters.  “Welcome to Whakaoriori”, the sign proudly proclaimed in brilliant cherry red paint atop a blue-ish scene of the Tararua Range, a fly fisher, a c...

How Māori scientists are helping

Tīkapa Moana, the Hauraki Gulf, is considered one of the great marine taonga of Aotearoa, but the 4000 square kilometre stretch of water is severely under stress. Overfished and over-harvested, quite simply, the gulf is in crisis, but all hope is not lost.  As kaitiaki, iwi are doing all they can to protect the gulf. Rāhui is in place and Māori scientists are at the forefront of research into how we can recover. "Māori have been custodians since time immemorial. And what we're...

Webb's auctions off nearly $125,000 worth of

Auction house Webb’s has sold $124,650 worth of repatriated Māori taonga to the highest bidders. In the three-hour auction on Monday night, Webbs auctioned off around 60 items that were originally from Aotearoa but had been taken away over the years, as well as some Māori and New Zealand contemporary art pieces. The pieces were auctioned off from as low as $75 and as much as $20,500. The repatriated taonga included heitiki (carved ornaments), kete and wood carvings, among...

Concern over safety, cost of fixing earthquake-

There's concern for the future of many marae buildings, with 70 percent of them likely to be considered earthquake-prone within the next 20 years. One expert is worried many people are unaware of the risk, while others are worried about how upgrades will be paid for. There are about 1300 marae across the motu, with many of the buildings on them more than half a century old. A new law for earthquake prone buildings, introduced five years ago, requires all structures to be surveyed by lo...

Cancelling Shakespeare:

OPINION: O brave new world that has no Shakespeare in it! Is William Shakespeare really in danger of being cancelled as the ultimate dead white male writer, wiped from the multicultural 21st century syllabus and condemned as a relic of an imperialist age? Must we have FBoy Island but not The Tempest? Not quite. But a recent, controversial funding decision from New Zealand’s national arts body has ignited a timely debate. One thing everyone can agree on is that the arts are underfunde...