Back to Blog

Jennifer Ward-Lealand debuts as director

The devastating impact of meth or 'P' on a family is the theme of a new short film by actor turned director Jennifer Te Atamira Ward-Lealand.The 13-minute film, called Disrupt, has featured at a film festival in Hawaii and last week it screened at the Beverly Hills International Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Wairoa Film Festival, where it won the audience voted Tinirau Prize.It is also in the programme for the Whānau Marama New Zealand International Film Festival in October and is a...

Māori say time,

Māori who feel alienated or rushed are more likely to avoid routinely vaccinating their tamariki, an immunisation report by health boards in the Wellington region has found.The report, commissioned by Capital & Coast and Hutt Valley health boards and obtained under the Official Information Act, has led to a raft of recommendations on how to improve childhood immunisation services, which cover vaccines against the likes of measles, rotavirus and chickenpox. Broadly, participants shared how ...

Matariki:

Aotearoa’s newest public holiday is fast approaching as the country celebrates Matariki.It’s a great chance to get outdoors and enjoy the amazing beauty here in New Zealand, and fingers crossed, you’ll have a clear night too.Here are some top locations for an overnight trip to celebrate Matariki while stargazing.Link to video and article: Matariki: The best overnight hikes for stargazing | Stuff.co.nz...

Free programme making hundreds of north Waikato

A Huntly family living in two cabins is just one of thousands of whānau in Waikato who needed help making their home healthier this year.Sheryl Matenga, her partner, baby, and three children moved into a whānau-owned home in Huntly when their rent was increased beyond what they could afford in 2019.They were one of 223 families in north Waikato helped by the Waikato District Health Board’s free Whare Ora programme.Link to article: Free programme making hundreds of north Waikato homes wa...

Online backlash to drag performers shocks community:

Sunita Torrance and Daniel Lockett perform as Coco and Erika in a show which encourages inclusivity and kindness.On a New Plymouth District Council Facebook post promoting the Puke Ariki and Waitara Library appearances, the pair were accused of indoctrinating children and recruiting for the Rainbow community.Torrance said that was unfair."It's not about trying to create some kind of gay army or create some kind of agenda."Some of these kids have two mothers, two fathers, they've got a rainbow br...

Matariki Tauranga:

Matariki Tauranga Moana celebrations are in full swing, and everyone’s invited! Check out these special events taking place next week.Tauranga City Libraries presents an evening with Robert McGowan, Queen Service Medal, on Wednesday, June 15.Robert, an author, conservationist, practitioner, and educator, has contributed to the revival and restoration of Rongoā Māori (traditional Māori healing).Robert will speak of his journey to knowledge and share experiences and steps that we can all take...

Don't look to Auckland Art Gallery

OPINION: “Can you please tell us where we can see work by Māori artists?” I asked staff at Auckland Art Gallery one recent Sunday. Their eyes widened, as they blanched at a question with no satisfactory answer. “Um,” said one. “There’s Guide Kaiārahi outside?”Yes, I could have turned around and walked back outside, in the cold, to see Reuben Paterson’s glorious waka looming large. But the few pieces of Māori art currently inside are mostly shoved in back corners or are lo...

Five planets and the Moon

Star-gazers searching for the Matariki constellation will be treated to a rare alignment of five planets and the moon.The alignment of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible in the morning sky from Friday, and joined by the Moon on June 21, in time for Matariki or the Māori New Year. The Matariki constellation will be just below Venus, which will be the brightest planet in the sky."It is a total coincidence, but it is very special that this happens to fall on the same day as t...

Iwi gain equal say over Taranaki Maunga

A new group called Te Tōpuni Kōkōrangi - half appointed by iwi and half by the Crown - will develop future management plans for Te Papakura o Taranaki (currently Egmont National Park). Plans will then need joint approval from both the Minister of Conservation and another group, Te Tōpuni Ngarahu, made up of representatives from the eight iwi of Taranaki.Co-governance of Taranaki Maunga has been hammered out between the Crown and iwi negotiators. They agreed in 2017 that the mountain and rang...

Iwi keen to explore cultural centre

A Marlborough iwi has asked the council to fund a feasibility study into a cultural centre, which could finally see artefacts stored in Christchurch returned to the region.Te Rūnanga a Rangitāne o Wairau Trust general manager Corey Hebberd presented at the council’s annual plan hearings on Wednesday – telling councillors the project, Ngā Wairau o Ruatere, is something they’ve had their sights on long before their 2010 settlement was even signed.Hebberd said while there had been a&n...

Hinemoa Elder on wellbeing, writing and Millie

Once she was known for being a children's TV presenter and wife to Paul Holmes. Now at 56, Dr Hinemoa Elder has found her place in the world as a psychiatrist, health researcher, successful author and proud Māori woman.She will mark Matariki by taking the stage at M9, a new speaker and performance event.Are you excited to be involved with the inaugural M9 event?I'm so looking forward to it. M9 is the work of musician Ria Hall, who has put together an eclectic combination of Māori women to pres...

Iwi's big CBD plan:

Hamilton’s biggest CBD landowner has revealed bold plans to reimagine the central city, anchored by a major redevelopment of Centre Place.Iwi-owned Tainui Group Holdings (TGH), in partnership with Kiwi Property, plans to reimagine the inner-city mall, turning it into a mixed-use precinct, complete with high-rise apartments and multi-storey office blocks.The remodelling of Centre Place is part of TGH’s 20 – 30 year vision to reinvigorate the central city and create a “vibrant heart” for...

Learning a code language

The simple English sentence “This is good.” consists of two phrases –with the phrase-break coming between “This” and “is good.”A sentence of similar meaning in te reo is: Ka pai / tēnei. (“Is good / this.”) also two phrases, but in reverse order.Apart from the reversal of the phrase- sequence, however, there is another difference between these two sentences which is of much greater significance.This column focuses on further clarifying this particular difference.Link to video ...

Te Papa opens interactive Matariki exhibition

The exhibition made up of three interactive parts including past, present and future was blessed this morning by mana whenua.Te Papa kaitiaki and design team lead Crystal Jones said the first part focuses on the star "Pōhutukawa" and looks at remembering those who have died in the last year."You come up and you push one of the buttons and you think about the person or people or say their names out loud. In historic times, you would call their name out to the stars and Pōhutukawa would take you...

Dame Silvia Cartwright to head inquiry

Dame Silvia Cartwright will head the independent inquiry into abuse at Dilworth School.Eleven men linked to Dilworth School have been charged over historical assault, totalling over 50 separate charges. Three have pleaded guilty and two have been sentenced to prison.Dame Silvia, a former Governor-General and hight court judge, led the inquiry into the Earthquake Commission's handling of the Canterbury earthquake claims, and the 1988 Cartwright Inquiry into cervical cancer treatment at Auckl...

Gaps in learning, behavioural issues worsening as students struggle in pandemic -

Principals and teachers warn they are seeing worse behaviour and achievement after two-and-a-half years of pandemic disruption.They told RNZ many young people were doing well, but some had gaps in their learning and had missed basic routines and socialisation that helped them get along with one another and with their teachers.They said the situation was worst in Auckland, where schools had lost more time to lockdowns than schools in other parts of the country.Link to article: Gaps in learni...

Seventh report:

In this, the Seventh report of the Family Violence Death Review Committee, we draw attention to the concept of a duty to care. It is related to but distinct from a common concept in a western framework: a ‘duty of care’, which is a legal obligation to ensure the safety or wellbeing of others.This report explores factors that have pushed Aotearoa New Zealand away from caring for people who experience family violence, reinforcing messages that no one is there to help them.The&nb...

Māori organisations lead way in dealing with family violence -

The latest report from the Family Violence Death Review Committee (FVDRC) is calling for government agencies to be more responsive to whānau. A duty to care - Pūrongo tuawhitu: Me manaaki te tangata from the Family Violence Death Review Committee draws on findings and recommendations from in-depth reviews conducted between 2019 and 2021.Link to article: Māori organisations lead way in dealing with family violence - report (1news.co.nz)...

TREATY OF WAITANGI

From beginning to end, Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a non-racial agreement, writes Dame Anne Salmond, but it has been recast as a partnership between races, and that has provoked racist reactionsIn 2017, film director Taika Waititi released a video for the Human Rights Commission, ‘Give Nothing to Racism,’ mercilessly satirising everyday racist behaviour in New Zealand. The next year in an interview in the UK, he described New Zealand as ‘the best place on the planet,’ but added, ‘It’s as...

Māori rangatahi,

Karanama Ruru (Ngāti Raukawa/Ngāti Maniapoto) is a te ao Māori and youth affairs reporter for Stuff in Auckland.OPINION: It was hard to claim my Māoritanga growing up. It wasn’t so much that I had fairer skin than most Māori I knew or that I couldn’t speak much te reo. I blame that on urbanisation.It was the mamae and internalised racism that was enforced by the idea that I’m nothing more than a statistic waiting to happen.I’m not sure if I realised it ...

Once were one colony:

With a new Australian government comes revived hopes for movement on section 501 deportations, a policy that disproportionately affects Māori in that country. One big hurdle? Australians’ ignorance about the impact of colonialism in Aotearoa, says Mat Henderson (Ngāpuhi).I am descended from a Ngāpuhi shearer who migrated to Australia 110 years ago and share my korero with you today from the lands and waters of the Gadigal Nation where my whānau have lived for three generations. The first p...

Witi Ihimaera:

"I was staying with my nan at Waituhi [near Gisborne], and she said to me: 'Wake up... we have to get going,' because outside our window there were all these people carrying lamps and walking up the hill opposite, where Takitimu marae was."I was a townie boy and loved my sleep and said: "Can't this wait until morning', but I come from a place, Waituhi, that was a Ringatū stronghold, ... and so we went outside and I followed these lights going up towards the Takitimu marae, and then suddenly a d...

The Māori movies to watch

For the past 17 years, the Wairoa Māori Film Festival has championed Māori cinema in the pre-dawn of Matariki at Queen’s Birthday weekend. We picked a long weekend for people to travel the long distance to the East Coast, and we picked Matariki because it has traditionally been a time of remembrance and storytelling. In ancient times, we gathered around the fireplace and shared oral histories, moteatea and waiata. In modern time, we gather in a cinema, a marae or around our giant s...

Auckland Māori medical students

...

CAB has advice

The idea of becoming a grandparent can be exciting and a bit daunting at the same time, depending on our role as grandparents. Many grandparents enjoy interacting with their grandkids without the day-to-day responsibilities of parents. This can mean a weekend together every now and then, an afternoon playdate, babysitting in the evening, or chats on the phone or even emails written. Sometimes however, life circumstances change or maybe things just haven't gone to plan and it can often fall to gr...