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New AUT law dean

Khylee Quince has become the first Māori to head a law school in Aotearoa.The Covid-19 pandemic means Associate Professor Quince will become interim dean at Auckland University of Technology's law school until the university is able to complete its international search.She feels she is following in the footsteps of her Ngāti Porou whanaunga Sir Apirana Ngata, who became the first Māori lawyer in 1896, and Dame Georgina Te Heuheu, who 75 years later became the first wahine Māori admitted to t...

Whānau and hapū of Te Waiariki

Whānau and hapū of Te Waiariki are activating legal expertise to consider 'every legal avenue possible' to raise concerns over the sale of their ancestral lands which are currently owned by DOC.For over two weeks the working group, Te Matakīrea o Pātaua has led the response from affected whānau and hapū of Te Waiariki, holding an occupation on land at Te Mautohe ki Pātaua just outside of Whangārei.A fifth tribal wānanga hosted by Te Mautohe ki Pātaua was held on the land this week and ...

Descendant of Māori chiefs says

A Ngāpuhi woman who has been priced out of ever owning another home says she feels the housing crisis has resulted in the loss of her identity.Julia Frelan lost her family home in 2009 after her husband had a stroke, one of her children was hospitalised, and debt from a failed business venture resulted in her declaring bankruptcy.In the years since, the Auckland woman has been mostly working as a therapy assistant but has never managed to get back on the ladder. She regained her credit rating b...

Hand back

Maori Council executive director Matthew Tukaki wants local bodies to hand back some of the Maōri land they have seized for unpaid rates over the past century.He told Te Ao Tapatahi that the passing of the Local Government Rating of Whenua Māori Amendment Act through Parliament this week was a “great first step.”“Rates on Māori land have been a massive issue for a very long time. We’ve seen councils go to the district courts and seize or use that land for years.“It’s bee...

Time for a new way to save

OPINION: We’ve spent billions of dollars fighting Covid-19, but unless we find a way to seriously address income disparity in New Zealand, then we are clearly saying that it’s okay to have 30 mostly brown babies from overcrowded homes die in their sleep each year.The recent numbers are stark. Sixty-four infant deaths died between November 2018 and June 2020 with some indication of a recent increase in numbers, particularly among Māori infants.Right now Māori infants are 8.5 times...

Mana whenua gain full voting rights

Mana whenua representatives in Wellington will be given full voting rights and will sit on nearly all council committees and subcommittees.At a council meeting this morning, a majority of eight councillors to six voted in favour of the decision.Currently, representatives from Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika and Ngāti Toa Rangatira are members of the Strategy and Policy Committee, and the Annual / Long Term Plan Committee.They receive no remuneration and have no voting rights.Und...

Authority rules

The Employment Relations Authority finds Oranga Tamariki was justified to compulsorily retire a social worker. David Williams reportsA personal grievance taken by a former Oranga Tamariki staffer has failed.Bai Zammit-Ross had been a social worker for the Ministry for Children since 2010, working at the Te Puna Wai ō Tuhinapo, a Christchurch youth justice facility. Her wrist was injured in 2017, while breaking up a fight between two youths, and that spiralled into other health issues, including...

Dr Monty Soutar,

Several decades ago Dr Monty Soutar knew someone would have a crack at writing the books he is currently working on, he just did not know it would be him.The historian, Māori scholar and Waitangi Tribunal member has recently been awarded the prestigious, biennial $100,000 Michael King Writer’s Fellowship from Creative New Zealand to finish his trilogy, Kāwai – a saga from the uttermost end of the Earth.The historical novels narrate the experiences of nine successive generations of one...

Haka Party Incident play

A play about a triggering point in Aotearoa history reveals the country's racist past and what it took to change as a nation. The Haka Party Incident premieres at ASB Waterfront Theatre tonight, and delves into a historic event where young Māori activists clashed with engineering students from Auckland University, who were giving a mock performance of the haka in 1979 during traditional capping escapades. Director Katie Wolfe of Ngāti Mutunga and Ng...

Taonga returns home

Tears flowed as a taonga with whakapapa to Tūhoe prophet Rua Kēnana was returned home last week ahead of a symposium this weekend to reflect on his life and legacy.The taonga, a kahu huruhuru (feathered cloak), belonged to Rua Kēnana's daughter Pinepine and was stolen by armed police when they raided the village of Maungapōhatu in the Urewera Ranges to arrest Rua Kēnana on false charges 105 years ago.Police also killed two Māori men at the settlement, including Rua Kēnana's son Toko.The s...

Celebrating 'Imagining Decolonisation'

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Film: Cousins

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Decolonizing the Mind and Mindfulness

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Govt announces multi-million dollar funding

While the industry is under pressure with the increasing shortage of midwives around New Zealand, the problem is even more prevalent in Māori and Pasifika communities who currently represent just 12 percent of the workforce. Yet together, they make up 30 percent of women giving birth.An announcement from Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall on Tuesday will give $6 million over the next four years to provide wrap-around care, academic support and to actively recruit Māori and Pasifika. T...

"Culture as Cure?

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Netsafe warns Kiwis to be vigilant after spike in Easter holiday

An internet safety organisation is warning Kiwis to be vigilant this Easter as data shows a 360 per cent jump in online incidents during the break since 2017.Netsafe CEO Martin Cocker said during Easter many people connect online with whānau and hoa and share special memories on social media.But it has also turned into the time of year when the internet is the most dangerous, according to the agency.Over the past four years, it means Kiwis have reported to Netsafe they have lost roughly $1.2 mi...

Judge to 18yo meth dealer:

A teenager who got caught-up with some big players in the Hawke's Bay methamphetamine trade has been granted home detention for offences which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.James Morris, not yet 19 and with family waiting anxiously in the public gallery as he appeared in Napier District Court on Friday, was sentenced to 11 months' home detention, departing with a sound warning from Judge Gordon Matenga, not only for himself but also others who might drift into the clutch of the dr...

NZ's top spy tells group of powerful MPs

NZ Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) Director-General Rebecca Kitteridge spoke on Wednesday at an annual review of the agency, chaired by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and with members including Opposition leader Judith Collins. "There's no doubt that we are seeing an increase in white identity extremism in New Zealand and around the world. That is an unfortunate international trend," Kitteridge told the Intelligence and Security Committee. "It's not just that type of ideology, bu...

Auckland marae caring for city's homeless

Te Puea Marae is leading the claim as it asks for reparations from the Crown for its past failures, and a commitment to do more for its future generations. The marae chairperson, Hurimoana Dennis, hopes the hearing will be the “beginning of the end”. “This is when people are allowed to turn up and tell their stories and talk about the ongoing failings of government agencies, and their policies, to adequately support and house whānau Māori into homes.” The claim before the tribunal...

'We want the whenua back':

Originally published by Māori TelevisionAn occupation has begun in the Whangārei area to put a halt to a transfer of land from the Department of Conservation to the Whangārei District Council.Pātaua South is 30 minutes from Whangārei, and local iwi Te Waiariki and Ngāti Kororā began occupying land at the DoC carpark in Pātaua South in protest of a potential sale of 57ha of land owned by the Harrison family of Pātaua. The iwi has been in discussions to buy the land but time is running ou...

Mana Wāhine

The Tribunal’s kaupapa inquiry programme is designed to provide a pathway to hear nationally significant claim issues that affect Māori as a whole or a section of Māori in similar ways.Introduction Wai 2700 – Mana Wāhine Inquiry will hear outstanding claims which allege prejudice to wāhine Māori as a result of Treaty breaches by the Crown. These claims extend across many fields of Crown policy, practice, acts and omissions, both historical and contemporary, and of related legislation, s...

Old boys return to St Stephen's School at Bombay

Old boys have returned to St Stephen's School at Bombay in an emotional step towards reopening the historic school next year.The school, which educated generations of Māori leaders from 1844 until it closed in 2000, has become derelict and was used as target practice by the army, police and Fire Service for three years up to 2009.Old Boys' Association chairman Joe Harawira, who led 40 old boys back to the school for a working bee on February 27, said the return was "a powerful ex...

Hui to put Māori in driving seat

A group working to protect mānuka honey in the global marketplace is holding a series of hui with Māori around the country.The meetings, which got under way in Northland last week, are being held by Mānuka Charitable Trust. The trust's operating arm - Te Pitau - has funding from the government's Provincial Growth Fund to take legal action to stop Australian beekeepers marketing their products as mānuka honey.The legal challenge was previously being led by Mānuka Honey Appellation ...

Complaints spike as readers

The Media Council has rejected a complaint which opposed the Herald's use of te reo Māori words.It said it was up to a news media organisation to decide the extent to which it wishes to use Māori words.The Media Council informed the Herald of the complaint, following a Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) announcement which declined complaints of TVNZ using too much te reo on mainstream television.The article, which received a significant response, reported several Māori leaders' responses ...

Kids pulling hair out,

A quarter of Kiwi parents say their kids have been showing increased signs of anxiety thanks to the COVID-19 lockdowns.The YMCA surveyed 500 parents and found their anxiety about the state of the world in 2020 was also rubbing off on their children."We've had kids who have started pulling out hair," YMCA North Out of School Care and Recreation (OSCAR) operations manager Kristina Ellson told The AM Show on Wednesday."We've got parents battling to get their kids to school because they don't w...