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Te reo Māori isn't being forced on NZ,

I live in Aotearoa New Zealand, but I grew up in New Zealand.One of my great-grandfathers was a man called Ben Keys. During the turn of the 20th century he travelled the country mapping tribal lands. His diaries are in the Alexandra Turnbull Library in Wellington and his maps are still used today during Treaty settlements.He spoke fluent Māori - not just what is commonly understood now as Māori but several different dialects. Most of which are extinct now.In 1908 he married Katarina Rangikawhi...

A turning point:

New Zealand has long fought to have indigenous remains held overseas returned – now it’s reckoning with its own colonial legacy.In 2009, Āwhina Twomey received a phone call from a friend and member of her Rangitāne o Wairau iwi (tribe), asking if she could be in the South Island by 4am the following Saturday. She baulked at the early start, but then she heard the reason: Canterbury Museum had agreed to repatriate her tūpuna (ancestors), or kōiwi tangata (ancestral remains) to her iwi.It ...

MŌ TE MATEMATE-Ā-ONE KI A TE UREWERA

Seven years since Te Urewera was officially recognised as a legal person, her people – Ngāi Tūhoe – are facing up to the wounds of colonisation and a Crown partnership haunted by the past. National correspondent Florence Kerr and visual journalist Lawrence Smith entered a world veiled by the mists of the ancient forest, and travelled the new path being forged for Māori and Crown relations.Link to article and podcast: ENDURING: Kia Pūmau Tonu | Restoring the heart of Te Urewera (stuf...

Kāinga Ora pays $8.1m for motel for homeless in Rotorua,

Government landlord Kāinga Ora has paid $8.1m for a Rotorua motel unit to house homeless people, raising the eyebrows of local real estate agents who say it is well above the capital value (CV).This week the Government announced its housing arm Kāinga Ora was in the final stages of buying the 30-unit Boulevard Motel at 265 Fenton St for $8.1m.The Ministry of Social Development has no record of the motel previously being used for emergency housing. It will be turned into transitional housing fo...

Calls to 'feed the 5 million first'

People are going hungry even though New Zealand produces enough food to feed 40 million - and it's spurring calls for the country to "feed the five million first".Almost 40 percent of New Zealand households experience food insecurity, while 19 percent of children live in households that experience food insecurity.Poverty researcher Dr Rebekah Graham said while working on her thesis on food insecurity, she interviewed a woman who walked for 90 minutes each day to get a free co...

ACT's proposed gang policies 'shortsighted'

The polices include placing injunctions on gang members and stopping their welfare payments being used for alcohol, tobacco and gambling, by electronically monitoring spending. The party released its law and order policy document at Wellington CBD's Danger Danger bar.Danger Danger owner Matt McLaughlin said crime was on the rise on Courtney Place and the surrounding streets."We are seeing a massive increase in gang members, two of the well publicised fights that have happened in the pa...

Te reo revitalisation

There are two ways of looking at Te Reo Māori, Kiley Nepia says; it’s in dire straights, but it is also becoming more innovative and accepted in Aotearoa.Kiley Nepia (Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Rangitāne, Ngāti Kuia, Ngāi Tahu) spoke about his personal journey learning Te Reo Māori at a summit held in Nelson allowing iwi and reo champions of the southern Māori electorate to collaborate and share their revitalisation work.The focus of the summit, hosted by Te Pae Motuhake&nb...

Hiring more Māori researchers

The $315-million-a-year Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) will reward work by Māori researchers at 2.5 times the rate of non-Māori academics, while Pasifika academics' work will be funded at two times the non-Pasifika rate.It will also give research into Māori knowledge a funding weighting of 3 - higher than the current rate of 2.5 which applies to the most expensive sciences.University of Auckland sociology lecturer specialising in higher education, Dr Sereana Naepi, said the change had...

Dramatic rise in teachers being investigated

The number of Teaching Council decisions reached a five-year-high in 2020, with physical abuse of young people and inappropriate relationships with students the most common reasons for investigations. LEE KENNY reports.It was the final lesson of the day and students in the year 10 class packed away their things.The teacher said everyone would have to wait for the bell, but – after a brief exchange – a 14-year-old boy, swore, got up and walked out into the hall.Things escalated quickly. The t...

'It's going to be a very interesting few years' - expert discusses pressure points

A “significantly ageing population” and declining fertility rates were just some realities the New Zealand population faces the coming decade, an expert says.Professor Paul Spoonley said that by 2030, there may be six million kiwis, with 1.5m of them living overseas.The former vice-chancellor of Massey University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, who retired in April this year, spoke to members of the public at Havelock North’s function centre on Wednesday evening.Spoonley sai...

Is Labour funding the Mongrel Mob with drugs programme?

One of the National Party's current lines of attack against Labour is an accusation that the governing party has funded the Mongrel Mob to the tune of $2.75 million.The money, from the Proceeds of Crime Fund, was signed off by those at the top of Labour, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.It was for a methamphetamine rehabilitation programme called Kahukura in the central Hawke's Bay.Link to article: Is Labour funding the Mongrel Mob with drugs programme? What you need to know - NZ Her...

Plunket admits it has been failing

But a review of the programme for under-fives has found it has been falling short for Māori, Pacific, disabled and high needs children and whānau.Plunket's chief executive Amanda Malu said some families have been failed by both the programme and her organisation, and it needed to do better."We absolutely acknowledge that the health system and the Well Child Tamariki Ora programme has failed Māori and Pacific families and we absolutely acknowledge our part in that," she said.Link to article:&n...

Families turn to portable cabins

Families are turning to backyard solutions to house loved ones as the national housing crisis limits other options.The rental house market in Horowhenua is like much of New Zealand, the few properties that are available are out of reach for most.When two teenagers showed up on Nina Pilkington’s doorstep, her Shannon home was already out of space for the extended family. But she was not out of aroha.Link to article and video: Families turn to portable cabins as rental prices soar | Stuff.c...

Iwi and environmental groups'

Environmental groups and local iwi are banding together to fight the Dome Valley landfill, north of Auckland.Chinese-owned, Waste Management New Zealand, bought the 1000 hectare site near Wellsford, and won resource consent from Auckland Council, to fill 60 hectares with rubbish.A community group called "Fight The Tip" has joined forces with Ngāti Whātua and Ngāti Manuhiri to lodge appeals to the Environmental Court. So far nine appeals have been filed.Link to article: Iwi and environmen...

Huge Oranga Tamariki uplift

A sprawling family with children who didn't officially exist was the focus of a major Oranga Tamariki uplift which led to Beehive briefings after it threatened to spiral out of control.It came after social workers and police turned up at a remote and rural property to take a number of children into care.The visit led to Oranga Tamariki realising there were more children than believed in the wider family grouping - and no idea who they were or where they might be.The problem confronting those who...

Oranga Tamariki wrong

Oranga Tamariki got it wrong when it decided not to investigate nine out of 14 reports of possible abuse or neglect.An internal review has found shortfalls in the way these reports of concern were initially accessed - and two-thirds should have been referred for further action.A report of concern is when a member of the public or someone like a teacher or doctor notifies Oranga Tamariki that a child or young person may be at risk of harm.If Oranga Tamariki is worried about a child's wellbeing, a...

Alison Jones:

The legendary Māori-language advocate Sir Tīmoti Kāretu says about Pākehā learning te reo: “Anyone who wants to come on board, we say: ‘Hop on the waka and let’s go. If you don’t want to, then stay on shore.’” Timoti’s big-hearted invitation to join the waka is being taken up with enthusiasm by Pākehā. Free classes in introductory Māori language are crowded, and many have waiting lists. Pākehā presenters on RNZ National make valiant, though sometimes excruc...

'We cursed ourselves for not seeing the signs':

Tears and raw emotion have been laid bare in Parliament as MPs tackled one of the heaviest and most personal topics: suicide prevention. The special parliamentary debate on Thursday afternoon was an acknowledgment of the Zero Suicide Aotearoa report released last year on World Suicide Prevention Day. The report was commissioned by the Mental Health and Addiction Wellbeing Group, a cross-party committee including Labour MP Louisa Wall, National MP Matt Doocey, ACT leader David...

'Nothing to be scared of':

A senior Labour MP says there's "nothing to be scared of" in how the Government plans to live up to a UN declaration the National Party signed New Zealand up to. In 2010, the National-led Government - in coalition with the Māori Party - said New Zealand would support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The previous Government, led by Labour under Helen Clark, refused to sign it, then-Māori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia saying it was "fu...

Sick babies cared for in playroom

The number of beds for older children is also down, leaving families and already busy staff stressed as they decide who can be admitted and who should be cared for at home.The bed cuts were because of building work taking place and come as a big spike in respiratory illnesses hit the hospital.Counties Manukau District Health Board said the hospital was initially down 26 beds across both neonatal and paediatric care.But since a surge in sick children about three weeks ago, it set up eleven beds i...

Concerns raised over training of Oranga Tamariki staff

None of the staff at a care and protection residence where youth workers allegedly used excessive force on a teen had received refresher training on techniques for physical interventions, a union says.Oranga Tamariki chief executive Sir Wira Gardiner announced on Thursday that the agency would close care and protection residence in Christchurch, Te Oranga.It comes after a video, published by Newsroom on Tuesday, showed three staff members at the facility twice tackling a boy aged about...

Simon Bridges is proof Māori don't need

Dr Brash, who also led the ACT Party for a short time and currently spokesperson for lobby group Hobson's Pledge, says the controversial He Puapua document is "dangerous for our future" by forcing Kiwis to "choose between their Māori ancestors"."Every single person who identifies as Māori in this country also has Pākehā ancestors," he told The AM Show on Thursday.He Puapua is a report written by the Government's Declaration Working Group, but not Government policy. It's essent...

Oranga Tamariki tackling video

Condemnation of Oranga Tamariki continues to pour in thick and fast after video emerged of staff assaulting a young teen at one of its care facilities.Oranga Tamariki acting chief executive Sir Wira Gardiner told a select committee at Parliament on Tuesday "a number" of staff had been stood down since the video was posted on the Newsroom website on Tuesday.That video showed the young person being surrounded by staff, tackled, restrained and held in a headlock at one of the ministry's c...

Lake Alice abuse:

Solicitor-General Una Jagose has acknowledged the courage and persistence of survivors of abuse at the Lake Alice Psychiatric adolescent unit in the 1970s.Jagose is giving evidence to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in Auckland.She also acknowledged those who had bravely spoken in public before the commission about their experience at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital, the pain and suffering they had endured and the impacts on their lives."Along with many other survivors you wil...

Whistleblower video

The boy is around 13 years old. He takes a couple of steps towards the Oranga Tamariki staff member, who is wearing black gloves. The man grabs the boy’s legs and tackles him to the ground. Two more staff members join in. The boy is held on the floor on his back. They hoist him up and walk him a few steps before pushing his face into a wall. Soon after, in a secure timeout room, his arms are twisted behind his back and he is again thrown to the ground. Our whistleblower says if police did this...