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Indigenous adolescent health in Aotearoa New Zealand:

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How young is too young to be charged

If a 12-year-old is accused of killing someone in New Zealand, they will go to court.Even if their childhood has been miserable, and one long punishment for no reason - if they're found guilty, they'll be punished again - even though neuro-scientific research says a person that age doesn't have the brain development to consider the consequences of what they're doing, are very strongly influenced by peer pressure and their sense of empathy hasn't fully evolved."These are children, some of whom ar...

'Colonisers are so lame':

The Daily Show on Comedy Central, hosted by South African comedian Trevor Noah poked fun at Aotearoa's current official name - New Zealand. "I think we can all be honest, they didn't put a lot of thought into naming it New Zealand in the first place."He added "colonisers are so lame" pointing to the common use of 'New' when naming places like New Zealand, New England and New York. "Zero effort," he said while his audience erupted into laughter,"That's like Pete Davidson calling his nex...

Two Kiwis connected through Big Buddy

Big buddy Shane Brown and little buddy Isaac Afoa have a special bond and friendship.Isaac was just six years old when he was orphaned. His mum died suddenly, and then, just five weeks later, his dad passed away from aggressive throat cancer."What I remember of dad is he was big, he was a bear, he was kind and never yelled. Mum, she was caring," he said.His grandma, Shirley Afoa, said his parents were his world."For any child at that age, they are their world, and especially watching his dad bei...

Salvation of New Zealand's dying Kauri trees: Roots Māori wisdom

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Mongrel Mob confronts state care abuse -

In recent years the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care has probed these state and faith-based set-ups. But there is a sense gang members have been reluctant to engage. That is something the Waikato chapter of the Mongrel Mob is out to change.On Friday evening Paul Zentveld, a former patient of the child and adolescent unit at the notorious Lake Alice psychiatric hospital, spoke to a room full of Mongrel Mob members and their families. He told them about his experiences there in the 1...

Te Tapatoru:

ABSTRACT Whanaungatanga (nurturing of relationships) is at the heart of wellbeing for rangatahi (Māori youth), yet little research has considered how rangatahi understand and experience whanaungatanga. Furthermore, policy makers, organisations and practitioners have had limited guidance to reflect on whanaungatanga with young Māori in ways that support rangatahi wellbeing and aspirations. As part of a broader photo-elicitation project on whanaungatanga with young Māori, we describe Te Ta...

Parents starving themselves to feed children

There's been more bad news on Friday, with food price data showing a 7.4 percent jump last month compared to July 2021. That's driven in part by a 10 percent increase in fruit and vegetables."Grocery prices are climbing too high - too dear for families," one person told Newshub."Absolutely ridiculous, people can't survive on that," another added.It's driving more and more families to seek help.Two years ago Kokiri Marae Pātaka Kai was feeding 200 families a week - now it's 350.Link to video and...

Māori forest owners hopeful exotic trees

Two months ago, iwi which rely on the industry were threatening legal action and a Waitangi Tribunal claim over the proposal.But it appears a compromise may be reached after a series of recent meetings.With an estimated $7 billion in future earnings at stake for iwi forestry owners, it looked like the plan to cut pine trees from the Emissions Trading Scheme was heading to court.The first indication the government was softening its stance came in a letter to submitters last month, signed by Clima...

Ara Institute of Canterbury

The project, a level 3 automotive engineering course, was triggered by a former kura kaupapa student who raised concerns about English-based assessments for those who come from Māori-medium schools."Not only was the learner's first language an official language, but Ara [Institute of Canterbury] has a policy that it must consider opportunities for learners to be assessed in Māori if a competent translator and assessor can be found," academic quality assurance manager Julie McIlwraith said."Whe...

Guitar case and surfboard bag

Anna Hayes’ ideal art piece is something that is practical and can bring an art form to life.The Rotorua-based artist and kaiwhatu (weaver) uses traditional raranga (Māori weaving) techniques and sustainable materials like harakeke (New Zealand native flax), tī kōuka (New Zealand cabbage tree) and possum fur to create modern-day accessories.“Every culture has woven for necessity,” said Hayes (Pākehā, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa, Ngāti Rakaipaaka). “It just dep...

The new Taranaki principal

The newly-appointed principal of New Plymouth’s only Catholic girls’ high school says she has big plans to introduce more Te Reo Māori.Barb Costelloe has been acting principal of Sacred Heart Girls’ College since the start of the year, and has now moved into the job permanently.“It was a natural process that I was asked to do the role and I jumped at it, I was delighted,” she said. “I had short-term goals, but now I can have longer-term goals.”And at the top of her list is integra...

Māori and Pacific students battle racism and tokenism

The paper, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, was based off responses of 43 Māori and Pacific students in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) subjects.Many of the respondents detailed being made to feel out of place, having their place at university questioned, or being made a token representative for funding applications.In one instance, one Māori student's name was added to a funding application by the faculty despite them expressly saying "no"."My n...

Five kapa haka covers to wet your whistle

A recent performance by kapa haka rōpū, Angitū, and their soloist Awatea Wihongi has recently gone viral after their te reo Māori rendition of Adele’s Easy On Me.Tāmaki Herenga Waka, Herenga Tāngata HAKAngahau was the first major live kapa haka event to hit Auckland in two years and left spectators abuzz with excitement for next year’s Te Matatini Festival in Tāmaki Makaurau.The cover has made the rounds in Māori social media circles and has led to a resurgence in other gre...

A weekend in Rotorua is a glimpse

For more than a hundred years Rotorua has been a bustling tourist destination for visitors from near and far. Charlotte Muru-Lanning takes a look at how the industry has both shaped and been shaped by local Māori – and how they’re adapting for the future.Shooting skyward through the gossamer of geothermal mist draping Rotorua, Waikite was once the pride of the city. The geyser’s 20 metre-high jets could be seen from the town centre, their waters spilling down the impressive sinter terrace...

Pepeha for

In essence, the pepeha is an introduction for any person and their affiliations in a Māori context for one purpose, to make connections. I’m emphasising this because most people mistakenly think that the pepeha is all about introducing yourself. The pepeha has developed out of a need, in an ever-expanding world, to connect with others of the same iwi, hapū, whānau or rohe, especially for those who weren’t brought up within their kinship groups. For many Māori people who are not...

New Zealand considers changing its name

As the people of New Zealand confront their nation's troubled past with colonization and denying the Maori people rights, a name change for the island nation is being considered as a part of its own reckoning.A petition that aims to change the Dutch anglicized name of New Zealand to its indigenous Maori designation of Aotearoa has collected more than 70,000 signatures, prompting a parliamentary committee to consider the idea.New Zealand member of parliament Debbie Ngarewa-Packer , co-leader of T...

Rotorua's Te Puia stops taking tourists

Te Puia is under fire for allowing tourists to swim in thermal pools local iwi regard as sacred taonga and off-limits.One local woman was so angry she warned: "Don't dip your balls in our waters.The anger erupted after a photo of overseas TV presenters swimming in The Blueys was posted on social media.Te Puia, the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua, said it had taken tourists to The Blueys and allowed them to swim there after the pandemic struck - but had now stopped doing t...

Waikato iwi secures $32 million

Waikato Tainui has secured $32.1 million from Oranga Tamariki to assist in a successful iwi-led support programme to help empower children and whānau in need.The funding will be distributed over the next five years towards the Mokopuna Ora programme, an initiative in which Waikato Tainui supports whānau to prevent mokopuna (grandchildren) going into the care of Oranga Tamariki.Mokopuna Ora also supports tamariki to be with whakapapa-whānau caregivers.Link to article: Waikato iwi secures ...

Motorway ramps closed as Tamaki-led anti-Govt demonstration

Police and Waka Kotahi are urging Aucklanders to prepare for traffic disruptions caused by protests at the Auckland Domain on Saturday. Brian Tamaki's Freedoms and Rights Coalition group, which shut down Auckland's Southern Motorway last month, are hosting another demonstration, while there was also a counter-protest taking place.Tamaki's anti-Government group gathered at Auckland Domain at 11am for a "patriots day and march".There was also a counter-protest called 'FARC off Brian'&nbs...

Kaupapa Māori provider facing unprecedented demand

It has nurses and clinicians, but also rangatahi and kaumātua who connect with whānau when times are tough, well before any clinical intervention.With the past two years of a pandemic, soaring cost of living and job uncertainty, its services are needed more than ever."The demand out there is huge," said Charley Koteka, one of the trust's kaimahi. "It's a matter of getting the kupu out there, getting the pānui out there, the tono."Another kaimahi, Stan Hune, said demand was unprecedented. So m...

The Hui duo Mihingarangi Forbes and Annabelle Lee-Mather

Two of Aotearoa's top Māori journalists have opened up on the backlash to their 2013 exposé of Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust - a story that would see them ostracised by other Māori and ultimately lead to them stepping away from their jobs.Mihingarangi Forbes and Annabelle Lee-Mather of Three's The Hui were at Māori Television's Native Affairs nine years ago when they started looking into complaints about Te Kōhanga Reo, a Māori immersion programme for preschool-age chi...

VIDEO OF KAPA HAKA GROUP'S TE REO RENDITION

Tāmaki Herenga Waka, Herenga Tāngata Hakangahau went down over the weekend, bringing together nine of our cities best and brightest kapa haka teams.Featuring acts such as Kura Tuarua and Kaumatua, to the top five groups who were looking to sharpen their bracket ahead of next year's Te Matatini competition.Local group 'Angitu' have been turning heads online ever since they performed a powerful kapa haka rendition of Adele's track 'Easy On Me' as their Whakawatea, which featured an incredible so...

Rangatahi Māori and Samoan people treated unfairly

A team of researchers, most of whom are based at the University of Auckland, are studying how rangatahi Māori and Samoan people experience the justice system, as well the experiences faced by their whānau and communities.For the critical reflections study, the team held a series of cultural kōrero and talanoa sessions with both individuals and whānau in Auckland, Taranaki, Tairāwhiti, Brisbane, Los Angeles and San Francisco.The initial Samoan data covered three themes: The importance of cul...

'Govt's taking away two fundamental functions':

The Bill is currently making its way through Parliament despite widespread opposition and the report authors are urging the Government to halt its progress, and listen to state care survivors."Thirty-nine young people took their own lives between 2017 and 2021 while in the care of the state," Ihorangi Reweti-Peters, a state care survivor, said during Youth Parliament last month.He got support from fellow youth MPs after calling for politicians to fix a system he said is failing young people like...