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Wellington's tangata whenua

Wellington iwi leaders say the protesters occupying Parliament grounds should respect their land mana whenua and leave, noting that the organisers of the Convoy 2022 failed to contact tangata whenua before arriving and taking over streets around Parliament.“Leaders from Te Ātiawa in Wellington are totally distraught to see their treatment of our whenua,” said Liz Mellish, chairwoman of Te Raukura Wharewaka o Pōneke and a former trustee of Taranaki Whānui.Te Ātiawa tū...

Principals cry foul over schools' exclusion

Schools have been told they generally won't be part of that scheme, although exceptions will be made if they don't have enough staff able to be on site, to look after children who cannot learn from home.The scheme does include some staff in boarding school hostels.Secondary Principals Association president Vaughan Couillault told Morning Report teachers should be recognised as critical workers and included in the scheme."I realise it's not necessarily an education decision, it's a heal...

Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrakei

What makes this housing initiative special is the collaboration between architect and owner, catering to their needs."We didn't really want carpets, we wanted floorboards which are easy to maintain when we get older and we can't push the vacuum cleaner, things like that," says Poko.Architect Madeline Sharpe helped draw up the plans for Poko's whare and says the homes aren't just for kaumātua, but for their whānau in the future."They all believe that they are building whare not for themselves b...

Three decades later, Australia gets the green light

On Waitangi Day two countries and their cultures, Māori and Aboriginal, came together on sacred Aboriginal land.It's a 30-year, 15 hectares and $4 million dream - the Ngā Uri o Rāhiri Marae."When we first saw it, the majority of the board - we had to turn away we had a little bit of a cry," says Kiri Barber, from the Sydney Marae Alliance.Link to video and article: Three decades later, Australia gets the green light to build first-ever marae (msn.com)...

Auckland Uni study links paracetamol use

A new study conducted by the University of Auckland showed a “small but significant” link between paracetamol use during pregnancy and childhood depression.Professor Karen Waldie and her team analysed data from Growing up in New Zealand, which involved 3925 eight-year-olds and their mothers, 67 per cent of whom had taken paracetamol while pregnant.The team collected the data by quizzing mothers during pregnancy and, eight years later, quizzing children on signs such as low mood, lo...

Te Karere, New Zealand's first Māori language television show

When Scotty Morrison began fronting Te Karere back in 2002, it was still being broadcast with almost as minimal a setup as the show’s very first episodes, produced and presented by Derek Fox 20 years earlier in 1982.“I would go into the studio, there would be one camera sitting in front of me and a desk about the size of the old school desks with a felt carpet top and a microphone sticking out,” remembers Morrison.“That’s where I would present from – sit down in the chair a...

Kura kaupapa founders go to Waitangi Tribunal

A leader of the reo Māori revitalisation movement, Dr Cathy Dewes, is heading a Waitangi Tribunal claim calling for an autonomous Māori Education Authority.Dewes, who is part of an organisation behind 63 kura and 6500 students around New Zealand, Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori, claims the Ministry of Education and the Crown have failed to honour the principles by which Māori kura should be run, and have sabotaged decades of efforts to improve kura around t...

Ancestors' dream of Māori education

The ancestors of a Horowhenua iwi will have their dream come to fruition with the establishment of a new kura in Levin.Education minister Chris Hipkins last week announced a new school, designed to extend Māori education in Levin, would be built.The kura will cater for years 1 to 13 and will open in three years’ time.Named Te Pā Wānanga o Tuteremoana, the school will cater for up to 250 tamariki, and mean children don’t have to travel to Ōtaki to attend a Māori medium school.Link to art...

'Underlying, deep foundational harm':

The Greens released a new discussion document on Monday titled Hoki Whenua Mai, which suggests the creation of a new law aimed at helping Māori get ownership of dispossessed land back."Returning land to tangata whenua is the right thing to do to address the ongoing injustice that Māori experience," Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said."Nearly two centuries of land dispossession - much of which has been enabled by Crown policy - has caused an underlying, deep, foundational harm that ...

Omicron spreading in Pacific nations

The new variant is out of control in countries like Kiribati, which has low vaccination rates.Two weeks ago, the country was Covid-free. However, despite a nation-wide lockdown, there are nowmore than 1000 confirmed cases. Unofficially, numbers are believed to be as many as 10,000 as Omicron sweeps through one of the most densely populated areas in the world.Local journalist Rimon Rimon explained that larger families are adding to the high case numbers.Link to video and article: Omicro...

Artist brings colour and te reo Māori

With geometrical patterns, stylised whakataukī (proverbs), and animal designs, new artworks are bringing colour and te reo to Nelson’s urban landscape.The murals which have appeared under bridges, on overpasses, and in skate park bowls are the work of Māori-Welsh artist Nerys Ngaruhe.Her goal? To create fun and inviting places in the region for families to enjoy, while feeling encouraged to speak te reo Māori.Link to article: Artist brings colour and te reo Māori to urban Nelson | Stu...

Living on the faultline:

Our national story is complicated and messy. As we mark another Waitangi Day, Aaron Smale reflects on a lifetime of feeling caught between two worlds.I watched her intently as she perused the one-page document, her hair a cloud of white, her coat a deep pink.Then she looked up at me and shook her head gently. “Oh no dear, you’re not Māori,” she said in a tone of almost pity and bewilderment.In that awkward and devastating moment, I was caught between my two grandmothers as one unwittingly...

How we should be treating the Treaty:

“Nineteenth-century New Zealand, or English Tudors.”Graeme Ball recalls those as the two choices when it came to teaching history in the 1980s, noting how little emphasis there was on our own backyard.Ball, who chairs the New Zealand History Teachers’ Association, hopes to challenge and confront ill-informed narratives as the organisation pushes forward with kaupapa to recognise colonial history in the New Zealand curriculum.History teachers across the nation have informed the propose...

School to reinforce need for children

A primary school has hired someone to talk with parents who are hesitant about sending their children back to school due to COVID-19.Many schools start the year tomorrow.In Auckland, Glen Innes School principal Jono Hendricks said they have good ventilation and a system to separate the junior and senior school.He said one of the teacher aides will be a parent liaison."Working alongside her we should be able to touch base with those families who are still hesitant, talking through the concer...

Urewera reopens

Te Urewera will tentatively reopen over the next fortnight after six months' closure because of the Covid-19 pandemic.Its board says manuhiri (guests) and Tuhoe users will be welcomed back for recreational activity, including on Lake Waikaremoana, for which access will reopen next Sunday, Waitangi Day.All tracks, huts and camp grounds, including the Great Walk, will reopen on February 14, but a close watch will be kept on the developing Omicron situation and any risks for local communities.The f...

Māori win coastal title,

The third significant case in a row taken under the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act has seen Māori awarded customary marine title and protected rights, this time across a long stretch of Hawkes Bay coast.But a decades long fight by local Māori to regain control to protect the mouth of the Mohaka River did not succeed, because of a quirk in a coal mines law and a Supreme Court judgment that prevented the High Court granting Ngāti Pāhauwera marine title.The Hawkes Bay case comes af...

Start new year

There is nothing to be lost, and perhaps much to be gained, by frequently revisiting the most fundamental principles governing the construction of phrases and sentences in te reo.Words in te reo are considered in two broad categories: base words and particles. Base words – which may be nouns or verbs – are described as having “real” meaning. That is, they denote things in the world of our experiences. It might be protested that surely all words have meaning – so perhaps an example is n...

Push to 'save' Children's Commissioner

Concern is growing about plans to disestablish the Children’s Commissioner role and other changes to the oversight of the state care system, with children’s charities saying the reforms are being rushed through without sufficient scrutiny.The Oversight of the Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People’s Commission Bill, which passed its first reading in November last year, would replace the commissioner’s position with a board made up of three to six people.The legislation woul...

Māori perspectives could be the key

Māori knowledge can be used to curb “appalling” drowning statistics in Aotearoa, an expert says.A report released on Tuesday revealed there were 75 preventable drownings in 2021, with Māori overrepresented, making up 31 per cent of deaths.Dr Chanel Phillips (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi) is an expert on Māori water safety and says there are gaps in education which can be addressed using Māori perspectives.“Our drowning statistics over the summer have just been appalling, and it's an...

New Zealand study

Researchers put body cameras on children to find out how many brands they see daily.Brands are everywhere - on buses, buildings and even rooftops - and children are exposed to 554 brands a day."It's hard to avoid, and it's definitely scary," one parent told Newshub while another said: "You don't want kids growing up wanting lots of crappy stuff."Another said: "It sounds like a lot to me." In 2014 researchers put body cameras on 168 Kiwi kids aged 11-13 to test their exposure to marketing.It...

Covid-19:

The vaccination roll-out for 5 to 11 year olds started on Monday after Medsafe approved the Pfizer paediatric vaccine last month.Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency chief executive John Tamihere said immunising children was important for Māori, with one in four under 12 years of age.But he said it was frustrating that the agency would again have to take legal action against the Ministry of Health to get it to release the data."How many times do we have to go to court with these guys...

Not ‘two and done’:

Marlborough Primary Health Organisation chief executive Beth Tester said this week, about 2500 boosters were being administered at the Henry St vaccination centre and in pharmacies every week.On a good day, 400 to 500 people were getting their boosters at Henry St.But she said they needed more Māori and Pasifika to come forward, as uptake was currently tracking behind other ethnicities.Manu Ora mātanga rata (general practitioner) Dr Sara Simmons said the booster roll-out would require getting ...

Concern raised over new Oranga Tamariki legislation:

State care survivor turned-advocate for VOYCE Tupua Urlich says the legislation, as currently drafted, would provide oversight with less independence than what currently exists. Photo: RNZ/ Samuel Rillstone The Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People's Commission Bill passed its first reading on 16 November 2021.The bill would set up a monitor for Oranga Tamariki, replace the children's commissioner with a Children and Young Person's Commission and e...

Children's vaccine rollout kicks off as government

More than 120,000 doses of the child (paediatric) Pfizer vaccine have been delivered to more than 500 vaccination sites around New Zealand as health providers today began the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccinations for children. James Schorfield was among the first five-to-11 year olds to go to a walk-up appointment at the Mt Wellington vaccination centre, where he encountered special guest Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. He said his advice to friends was that the jab was "easier" than expected. "It on...

Protesters block corrections facility,

Protesters are surrounding an Auckland police station after Brian Tamaki was arrested for allegedly breaching his bail conditions. Police launched an investigation earlier in the month after Tamaki visited Hagley Park in Christchurch to speak at a protest. However, Tamaki claims it wasn't a protest but rather a "family funday picnic".The Destiny Church leader is facing multiple charges relating to the COVID-19 Protection Public Health Order and breaching bail conditions.On Monday protesters...