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Mahi a Atua

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The making of a Māori town:

For most of my life, I’ve been a city dweller. I was born in Christchurch and have lived in Wellington, Auckland, Sydney and London. By the time I hit my 40s, I was lucky enough to be able to work from home, and decided that a small town life was what I wanted.The city is a magnificent human creation responsible for great leaps of progress, but I was over the traffic, the noise, and the crowds. I was also irritated by people with an excess of money or self-regard and an indecent wish for more....

Frustrations boil over

Students and their whānau have marched through the streets of Pukekohe in south Auckland as a stand-off with their school board and the principal reached boiling point.Scores of people walked to Pukekohe North School from Ngā Hau e Whā o Pukekohe marae and performed a haka outside the school gates in protest of how the school was being run.They then marched on to the centre of Pukekohe where they continued their protest.They are calling for the acting principal and the school’s board of tru...

Hamilton politicans shy away

Hamilton is embracing te reo Māori when it comes to naming new city streets but making its use mandatory looks like a political dead end.Since 2016, more than a third of new city streets have received a te reo Māori name. City-wide, about 10 per cent of street names are in te reo.Hamilton street names have become a fertile area of debate in recent years, with growing calls for the city to revisit street names honouring colonial figures such as Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky, Sir Geor...

Let’s choose our words more carefully

Responding to the recent controversy over mātauranga Māori and the letter he co-authored titled "In defence of science", Emeritus Professor Michael Corballis said: "We don't know any Māori who knows what mātauranga is".This immediately made us wonder: What would happen if we asked a group of scientists what science is?Common responses to the question "what is science?" focus on causal explanations, controlled experiments, hypothesis testing or falsification (those are popular options, not an...

Māori to get more say on New Plymouth street names

Hapū and iwi have been promised more influence in naming new roads in New Plymouth.Ngāti te Whiti hapū had called on New Plymouth District Council to involve Māori when developments are first considered, saying their late involvement is leading to painful compromises.The council's iwi committee promised officials would be instructed to change how they work so mana whenua are consulted from the start of resource consent processes.Te Huinga Taumatua yesterday approved a name for a right-of-way...

The schools walking

Māori educators are optimistic that a range of initiatives is converging to create lasting change in the school system.They have told RNZ they believe a combination of teacher training and requirements that make te reo and tikanga compulsory for teachers and schools could have a powerful effect.But they say a lot will depend on the willingness of teachers and principals to embrace the changes.RNZ spoke with principals from four schools to find out how they are responding to the challenge.L...

Science can't be Pākehā or Māori

OPINION: Science is not a Western European invention and should not be contrasted with cultural knowledge.Pākehā do not do Pākehā science, and Māori do not do Māori science.We all do the same science and no one group has special claim to it.Seven Auckland University professors recently wrote an open letter denouncing a Government working group report that advises teachers to discuss "the notion that science is a Western European invention and itself evide...

Māori scientists say 'slow violence' of racism

Last week a letter published in magazine The Listener claimed mātauranga Māori "falls short of what we can define as science" and to "accept it as the equivalent of science is to patronise and fail indigenous populations". The controversial letter came in response to an NCEA working group report, which said "parity for mātauranga Māori with other bodies of knowledge" should be the goal in the Māori school curriculum.Seven University of Auckland academics signed it - Kend...

Professor stands by contentious letter

One of the professors behind a contentious letter dismissing mātauranga Māori as science stands by what was said, claiming the authors were trying to defend science.The letter was published in The Listener last week and was signed by seven professors from the University of Auckland - Kendall Clements, Garth Cooper, Emeritus Professor Michael Corballis, Douglas Elliffe, Elizabeth Rata, Emeritus Professor Robert Nola, and Emeritus Professor John Werry.The letter was in respon...

Principals and teachers back

Cultural capability is one of three priorities for teacher training this year, and the Ministry of Education is also rolling out Te Hurihanganui, a $48 million scheme billed as a game-changer for the way schools work. Hastings Girls High School has been tackling systemic racism over the past four years and the school's principal, Catherine Bentley, said the work could be "absolutely confronting". "People talk a lot about unconscious bias and things like that, but that can only happen once and th...

Experts Shaun Hendy and Siouxsie Wiles among those

A controversial letter by a group of prominent academics has been rubbished as "scientific racism" in a rebuttal by leading Covid expert Professor Shaun Hendy and New Zealander of the Year Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles which has been signed by more than 1100 people. The letter which prompted today's reply claimed Māori knowledge was "not science" and was published in the Listener magazine on July 23 with the names of seven prominent Auckland University professors attached. It was...

Pukekohe parents call for school board removal

Concerned parents of Pukekohe North School (Te Raki o Pukekohe) pupils have met to discuss what they say are issues over the school's board of trustees.The school has roughly 80 per cent children of Māori heritage.One mother, Raemon Mātene, has been fighting the board for more recognition of the needs of whānau Māori.“My experience with the board has been around the lack of engagement with whānau, the lack of Māori representation around the table and the lack of any action to a...

Burden of history:

Ngāti Naho is a hapū on the northern shores of the Waikato, its rohe includes Rangiriri, tucked between the river and the shallow Lake Waikare. It's also the site of one of the most significant battles of the New Zealand Wars.The hapū finds itself busier and busier as interest grows about what happened at Rangiriri 158 years ago, when the Crown assaulted the Pā in an act designed to eliminate the Kiingitanga and confiscate more than a million hectares of land."There is a lot of demand," said...

'#HeyColoniser':

National's 'Demand the Debate' campaign, under which Māori co-governance concerns have been raised, has been adopted by the Māori Party, which is demanding a debate about "colonisers' entitlements" and "white privilege". Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, writing in an opinion piece for NZ Herald, said there should be a debate on the "inherently white system", people "refusing to address their attitudes of white privilege" and "systemic racism". Writing about it on so...

Police make 14 arrests at Pūtiki Bay, Waiheke Island,

Fourteen arrests have been made at Waiheke Island's marina site, the latest this week allowing work on seabed piles to continue after the violence earlier this month.Inspector Gary Davey of Auckland Police released new information about events at Pūtiki Bay, Kennedy Point where the island's first marina is being developed."Prior to Monday, 11 people have been charged and put before the court. Police are continuing to monitor the situation at Kennedy Point/Pūtiki Bay," Davey said yesterday, ref...

Teachers say learning te reo

As part of a series this week, RNZ is looking at efforts to ensure schools and teachers are using reo and tikanga every day. Today, teachers tell RNZ that learning te reo is making them into better educators.This month saw the start of the first courses in a $100 million push to teach te reo and tikanga to 40,000 early childhood and school teachers over the next four years.The courses come as learning and speaking te reo have essentially become compulsory for teachers - they have to attest to us...

Auckland University professor resigns over letter

A University of Auckland professor has stepped down as acting dean of science after backlash to a letter he co-authored claiming Māori knowledge "is not science".Professor of Psychology Douglas Elliffe emailed the science faculty to say his role in writing the letter meant his leadership had the potential to "increase division" among the university's scientific community.Elliffe was one of seven professors to sign the letter published in the Listener magazine last week in response to ...

National MP questions bid to put Māori knowledge

It traces back to 2019 when the Government agreed to strengthen NCEA, with a commitment to explicitly reflect and promote mana ōrite mō tē mātauranga Māori, or parity for Māori knowledge, within the main secondary school qualification. Jackie Talbot, a group manager of early learning and student achievement at the Ministry of Education, told Newshub it is currently being trialled in schools and the findings are being used to refine them for full school pilots through 2022. She sa...

Report finding 18,000 more children pushed into poverty

The report from the Child Poverty Action Group points the finger of blame squarely at the Government but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is disputing the numbers.One Auckland teen who's currently in emergency housing says COVID-19 was the tipping point. "COVID lockdown was pretty rough... couch surfing with family... out on the streets... if I had to I'd sleep at internet cafes or park benches, anywhere like that," he told Newshub. He's not alone. The Child Poverty Action Group's latest ...

Former staff accuse

Staff at Te Arawhiti, the Office for Māori Crown Relations, are leaving the agency at high rates, with multiple former Māori staff accusing it of racism.RNZ understands one long-serving Māori staff member who left relatively recently blasted the agency for racism as he exited.The staff member, who RNZ has decided not to name, is understood to have stood in front of colleagues at his farewell and spoken about the racism he had experienced at the organisation.RNZ contacted the staff member but ...

University of Auckland

The University of Auckland has announced a change to its Māori name, and will now be known as Waipapa Taumata Rau.The university’s previous Māori name was Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau, a more literal translation of its English name.The replacement name underpins a new strategic direction, one that aims to “build respect for Māori knowledge” and challenges the public to understand the deep roots of Māori history and culture.Auckland University celebrated the name change at dawn ...

Tūkākī tells Fonterra to 'stick to milking cows

The chairman of Ngā Ngaru (National Māori Authority), Matthew Tūkākī, has fired shots across the bow of New Zealand’s largest agricultural company, Fonterra, over its bid to trademark Māori words used for its Kāpiti cheese range.“When I discovered that they intend on making applications to trademark Māori words and names, I think all Māori would agree with me that a corporate entity sure as hell does not own the use of Māori words or phrases,” Tūkākī said.However, Fonterra has...

Fleas, fear, threats:

So many warnings, so many opportunities: The frustrated words of the Assistant Māori Commissioner for Children as she slams Oranga Tamariki's lack of action on the safety of young people.Glenis Philip-Barbara’s words come after the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) released 15 reports, under the Official Information Act, into the four Oranga Tamariki youth justice facilities for young people who have, or are alleged to have, committed an offence.The reports detail allegations of sta...

RADIO ZM shares 'perfect response' to complaint about use of te reo Māori,

Radio station ZM has garnered praise for its response to a listener who complained bitterly about the use of "useless" te reo Māori on air. The pop music station shared a screenshot of a message received on its Facebook page from a disgruntled person whose name was photoshopped to read 'Sour Puss' to protect their identity. #"Stop ramming Māori language down our throat. I just listened to the 7am news and it was ridiculous [sic]. We are called New Zealand, fact," the message began.&n...