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The Whānau experience of suicide loss

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Dr Rangi Te Kanawa:

As a child Rangi Te Kanawa was surrounded by weaving. Both her mother, Diggeress Te Kanawa, and grandmother, Dame Rangimārie Hetet, were lauded Māori weavers. Te Kanawa's formative experiences immersed in the world of harakeke are undoubtedly what led to her current work as a textile conservator and researcher.Of particular interest to Te Kanawa are customary Māori clothing dyes, which involved using an iron-tannate dyeing process that saw textiles submerged in iron-rich mud to inst...

‘Tsunami of cultural change’:

The culture wars have long raged across the Australian media and arts landscape, but the battle appears to have been won by progressives inside the nation’s museums.As the world’s museum directors prepare to make another attempt to come up with the definition of a museum, after years of controversy between conservatives and reformers, the heads of Australia’s museums have chosen their side.Seb Chan, president of the Australian Museums and Galleries Association, says choosing what to collec...

Councils ignore Māori advice

Last year it was the Matariki Fireworks Spectacular at New Brighton Pier, this year it will be the Winter Fireworks Spectacular.Māori experts advised that using fireworks was unsuitable as a way of celebrating the inaugural Matariki public holiday, but some councils ignored the recommendations.A group set up to ensure that Māori mātauranga (knowledge) was at the forefront of decisions warned fireworks caused pollution, waste and were at odds with the idea of remembrance.Māori astronomers war...

Call for govt to help Māori out of unhealthy homes:

The government needs to prioritise getting Māori into their own warm, dry, affordable homes as they continue to be disproportionately impacted by the housing crisis, a public health expert says.It comes following criticism that red tape and barriers at the bank are preventing whānau building houses on their own land.Massey University professor of public health Chris Cunningham said while most Māori tamariki were born healthy, too many were born into a risky home environment.He said ...

Hey, Siri:

Opinion: I orea te tuatara ka puta ki waho. This whakataukī translates as: "A problem is solved by continuing to find solutions." It refers to the need for creative thinking, adaptability and perseverance. To solve a problem, you need to have all of these.It is easy, when we are interacting with voice assistants on digital devices or customer services phone lines, to feel we are wrong in how we speak and understand languages. But the problem lies with the inability of speech technology to ...

$28m fund to safeguard

Associate Minister of Māori Development Nanaia Mahuta has announced almost $28 million to help enact the recommendations of Wai 262 across legislation and the public service as part of Budget spending.Wai 262 calls for protection and authority over indigenous species, traditional knowledge, Māori symbols, designs, and other cultural property.It was the first contemporary claim filed with the Waitangi Tribunal in 1991. That set off off a 20-year inquiry during which several of the original clai...

Watch: The Hui meets 20yo dying of heart disease -

This livestream has finished. Watch this episode here or in the embedded link below.Tonight, The Hui meets a 20-year-old wahine from Whangārei dying of heart disease - the same condition that killed her twin brother.With heart disease the number one killer of Māori, The Hui also looks at a new trial being launched in Waikato taking heart healthcare into homes.Then, Ōtaki artist Hohepa Thompson - currently known as Hori - is on a mission to make the name Aotearoa official.And later, ...

Rituraj Sapkota: RNZ, te reo Māori, Joe Bennett column -

I had just flown from Kathmandu to Dubai and my connecting flight to Auckland would have a stop in Kuala Lumpur. Not the shortest trajectory but quite similar to the social media maze I had to navigate to get to this piece. Someone on Facebook had shared a Spinoff article which had a link to a Twitter thread, which had an image of a newspaper cutting of this article in the Otago Daily Times. The Twitter thread belonged to the radio journalist this columnist was taking a shot at, and the piece ha...

Auckland singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter Apera Woodfine (Te Ātiawa) was fluent in te reo as a child. As a young kura kaupapa Māori student from Devonport, Auckland, he was “totally immersed” in the culture."Back at that time I only spoke Māori at school, you weren’t allowed to speak English,” the 28-year-old said."After I moved away from that school I basically lost the language because I was speaking English every day."Link to video and article: Auckland singer-songwriter rediscovers te reo Māori thr...

Te reo lunchtime class

Nelsonians pressed for time are now learning te reo Māori during their lunchtimes at NMIT.The institute offers free mātauranga Māori classes in te reo and tikanga Māori in a weekly one-hour lunchtime session.NMIT curriculum manager and head of Te Toki Pakohe Misty Ormsby said incorporating te reo Māori into our vocabularies would be of “huge benefit” in future, so it was important to make learning more accessible.The course, Te Reo Māori me ngā tikanga o Te Tauihu, is descri...

Young mum couldn't find baby clothes with Māori designs –

When Georgia Taiapa (Ngāti Porou) found out she was pregnant last year, she was “shocked” and disappointed by the lack of affordable clothing featuring Māori designs for her soon-to-be born daughter.“I would spend hours looking at baby products online. I’d always wanted my children to wear traditional Māori clothing but there just wasn’t anything.“I realised I’d have to come up with something myself.”Link to article: Young mum couldn't find baby clothes with Māori design...

Northland iwi and DoC upset after great white shark

A Kaipara iwi and the Department of Conservation (DoC) are reminding people of the rules surrounding marine life after a juvenile great white shark - believed to be an accidental by-catch - was left on a beach, and later butchered.Te Uri O Hau and DoC were informed recently of the dead great white being left at Tinopai."A call was received by our DOC HOT number on Sunday, May 15," DoC operations manager Stephen Soole said."By the time staff were able to respond, we were advised that only the tai...

A pocket-sized booklet

If one hand-crafted booklet could get her sister through a tough time, Ruby Gibbs wondered if a pocket-sized toolkit could help others struggling with mental health.It was around this time last year that the sister’s friends approached Gibbs with concerns about her wellbeing.She didn’t want to be overbearing, but the 30-year-old had a degree in psychology and wanted to help.Sitting down with some colouring pencils, she made a little booklet to remind her sister of some tips and tricks to hel...

Manu Kōkiri

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'Get them off the streets':

An Auckland councillor is calling for action as communities live in fear of being caught up in a turf war between the Killer Beez and Tribesmen gangs. Overnight police were called to seven shootings that are believed to be linked to the gangs. The first four took place last night in Ōtara, Papatoetoe, Flat Bush, Papakura, and Te Atatū. It's understood two further shootings happened early on Wednesday morning, with one on a street in Mt Albert and the second on Rathgar Road in Henderson.&n...

'Nasty class politics':

Minister Michael Wood has lashed out at NZME's talkback station's use of an inorganic collection day photo as the main image on a story about a new Kainga Ora development being built in New Plymouth.Newstalk ZB host Heather du Plessis-Allan shared a piece on-air and online about the new development, titled 'I don't think they are being judgemental. I think they're being realistic'.In du Plessis-Allan's piece, she said locals "have very good reason to oppose it and should continue to oppose it an...

Māori students earn opportunity of a lifetime

They have been awarded Te Ara a Kupe Beaton Scholarship, which aims to support tauira Māori to gain entrance into the world's most competitive tertiary education providers.Each student receives mentoring and education services up to $20,000 to help them gain entrance into their dream course at their dream university - helping them pave the way for more Māori representation within tertiary education on the word stage.Lytton High head prefect Rhiannon Kapa wants to use the scholarship to become ...

The Taranaki school melding

Mixing Māori traditions with the booming world of e-sports is one way a Taranaki college is weaving Te Tiriti o Waitangi into the fabric of student learning.A key focus at New Plymouth’s Spotswood College is digital fluency and finding ways to bridge the technology divide, which exists between home and school for some whānau.Principal Nicola Ngarewa said the Education and Training Act puts Te Tiriti o Waitangi at the forefront of learning and there was an expectation on schools to deliver cu...

It's taken 61 years,

At 61, Hari Rapata feels his te reo journey has only just begun, but it has already changed his life in the best of ways.It wasn't through receiving the strap at school after asking his teacher to pronounce his name correctly that prompted him. Nor was it his job as an adviser to former Māori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia.It was simply that he felt he was being called home.Link to video and article: It's taken 61 years, but Hari Rapata has found his Māoritanga | Stuff.co.nz...

Can they cope with

Some broadcasters on our publicly-funded national radio station have steadily increased their use of te reo Māori. This is excellent for Māori language enthusiasts and Māori-speaking audiences.Having more te reo through news media means that te reo is heard more often by the whole population, helping to achieve the goals of Māori language normalisation in a country that is heavily English-speaking.But while the Broadcasting Standards Authority no longer accepts complaints about the use of te...

$188m Māori Health Authority boost

A $579m Māori health and wellbeing package was revealed on Thursday as part of Budget 2022. Of that amount, $188.1 has been set down for the Māori Health Authority to commission services and develop iwi partnerships. Māori Health Minister Peeni Henare defended the amount during a media conference following the announcement, and said it was one he could be proud of.Link to video and article: $188m Māori Health Authority boost 'not enough' - experts (1news.co.nz)...

Sizing up the world:

Shairae Taepa has walked a path like no other.The 28-year-old wāhine toa from Wainuiomata, whose first language is te reo, has been working as a metrologist, a scientist who develops measurement systems, for the past four years.Now, she has been named as one of two inaugural “Emerging Metrologist of the Year” as part of World Metrology Day celebrations, the other being Annalyse Ryan from Auckland.Link to video and article: Sizing up the world: emerging wāhine Māori scientist win...

If New Zealanders won’t listen to Māori,

Anything that upholds mātauranga Māori as a solution to the many woes of the climate crisis is a positive, writes Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes. But the least the Duke of Sussex could’ve done was share his platform of influence with Māori.I think it’s fair to say that many Māori in my generation are ready to divorce the royal family, and would happily see the Queen removed as head of state. But concerns remain around how our founding documents, He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which...

ICOM apology prompted by renowned Māori curator

It follows reality TV star Kim Kardashian's appearance at the Met Gala in a dress famously worn by Marilyn Monroe while singing Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy in 1962.It sparked outrage online - with many arguing it should stay in a museum and not be used.It prompted the ICOM's Costume Committee to release a statement condemning it. "Historic garments should not be worn by anybody, public or private figures."Although the dress belongs to a private collection, the heritage must be un...