Category: Te Ao Māori

Source: Radio New Zealand

Pita Tipene is no stranger at Waitangi. He served on the Waitangi National Trust Board for almost a decade, only stepping down when he hit the board’s maximum term limit.

Now as chairperson of the Northland Regional Council, he wants local government more involved at Waitangi.

“Knowing that the bicentennial of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi is now only 14 years away, I hope I’m still here then, so if you keep that in focus and you look at what Te Tiriti o Waitangi is all about, article 2 refers to kawanatanga, governance.

“Too often people look to Wellington, and by the way, the capital used to be just across the water here at Okiato. But too many people look to Wellington as kawanatanga and tend to forget that local government is just as involved in that article. Local government, in my case Northland Regional Council, has to step up and be honourable partners.”

Tipene said it did not really matter where the council was located, but he said the four Northland councils, Far North, Whangārei, Kaipara and Northland Regional, had been working together to ensure the solutions for Northland came out of Northland.

“So what we know is Northland is not one place where you can paint it with one brush. Over in the Kaipara, or north of Mangamuka, or in the Bay of Islands or Hokianga, we have our different ways and implications. So my message is we are very united and we are going to the government to say we have the solutions, bespoke solutions, that for instance protect and enhance our environment.”

Northland Regional Council included a committee called Te Ruarangi, which was a mixture of iwi voices and hapu voices, to give affect to Te Tiriti, he said.

“It is a very powerful forum and if you were to ever sit in there and experience the level of discussion and debate and insight into how Te Tiriti o Waitangi as envisaged in 1840 can be applied in 2026 and beyond, I’d invite anybody to come and listen to that.”

Far North District Council mayor Moko Tepania said last year was the first that Local Government New Zealand was officially represented at Waitangi.

“We at a local government level carry so many of those principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi around partnerships, local partnerships with iwi, hapū, marae, whānau on the ground. So it’s only right that we as a sector are represented here at the same time.”

Northland councils have always been co-hosts alongside mana whenua for Waitangi commemorations and it was great to have other councils participate, he said.

“We have obligations under so many different pieces of legislation, least of all in the Local Government Act to uphold the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and how we deal with Māori on the ground. We’re local government. We sit alongside iwi rūnanga, who are also a form of local government in this country as well. So it’s always beautiful to come home to see those who come to also respect and honour our nation’s founding document here in the birthplace of the nation, Waitangi.”

Tipene said in the lead up to the centennial in 1940, iwi and political leaders got together and asked what could be done to ensure that the centennial reflected the nationhood.

“The tangible symbols is the Whare Rūnanga, they built and opened it on the 6th of February 1940. Ngātokimatawhaorua the waka was launched at the same time.

“Tangible symbols, what’s our generation contribution? Will it be a new bridge that is two lane and symbolic of Te Tiriti o Waitangi instead of the one lane bridge that we currently have? That’s something for us to all think about.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/07/too-often-people-look-to-wellington-northland-leaders-want-more-local-involvement-at-waitangi/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A group of Aboriginal manuhiri (visitors) say they have travelled across the Tasman to stand alongside Māori at Waitangi, drawing on shared experiences as Indigenous peoples navigating the impacts of government policy on culture, language and land.

Follow updates from Waitangi on RNZ’s blog

The rōpū arrived in Aotearoa mid-week and took part in a WugulOra – a morning ceremony – at the Upper Treaty Grounds at dawn. They say being present at Waitangi is about solidarity, learning, and strengthening ties between Indigenous nations.

Gumbaynggirr woman Ellie Buchanan attended the dawn ceremony with her young daughter, Raya.

“We’re here to show support for our Māori whānau. To show solidarity,” Buchanan told RNZ.

“Toitū Te Tiriti.”

She said Indigenous communities in Australia closely watched what happened in Aotearoa, particularly in relation to language revitalisation and the protection of cultural rights.

“We look towards our Māori whānau in terms of being staunch on their culture and staunch on their language,” she said.

“If that changes, it has a significant impact on us as well as Indigenous people all around the world.”

Buchanan said relationships between Indigenous nations were grounded in a shared responsibility to the whenua (land) and to future generations.

“It’s absolutely important,” she said.

“Indigenous people have the strongest relationship to our country and to our earth. If we want to be able to sustain that, we need to be looking towards our First Nations’ people and to our Indigenous people.”

She described similarities between Gumbaynggirr and Māori values, particularly around caring for children, elders and land.

“[It is] very important to fill our bellies and love our babies and look after our old people and our country and sing our song and tell our story,” she said.

“It’s beautiful to connect and continue to connect.”

Buchanan also spoke about the political climate in Australia, saying it has been a difficult period for many Aboriginal people.

“A little while ago we had a referendum to get our own treaty, which was turned down,” she said.

“Unfortunately what that has opened up is more opportunity for racism and more opportunity for our people to be spoken down and denigrated.”

Despite that, she said her community continued to focus on strengthening its own foundations.

The group she is travelling with is connected to the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School, which she said translated to “a place of freedom for our Gumbaynggirr people”.

“We see that as an opportunity to say, we’re not dealing with that. You fellas do your own business, and we’re going to stand up for what’s right for our community and be staunch and be Gumbaynggirr every day.”

Troy Robinson, a Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Dunghutti man from the mid-north coast of New South Wales, was also part of the delegation. He said gatherings like Waitangi were important opportunities for Indigenous peoples to reconnect across borders.

“I think it’s very important that we have these gatherings and coming together of different nations, different cultures,” Robinson said. “We say different cultures, but in actual fact we’re actually quite similar in everything we do.”

Robinson said witnessing te ao Māori in action – particularly the strength of te reo Māori and tikanga – had been a key reason for making the haerenga (journey).

“Coming here to Aotearoa and seeing just the significance with language and the people, the strength and the resilience that they’ve built here, that’s why we come here,” he said.

Robinson is involved in establishing a bilingual school on Gumbaynggirr country, which now caters for children from kindergarten to Year 9. He said visiting Māori immersion and bilingual education settings here in Aotearoa was very valuable.

“Showing our children how important language is, the response to being together and being as one and looking after one another and sharing – that’s so important for our people.”

Robinson said the dawn ceremony his group performed at the Upper Treaty Grounds was a long-held cultural practice.

“Morning ceremonies and sunrise ceremonies were very frequent in a lot of cultures, and ours, it’s very, very frequent,” he said.

“Setting the mind, the body and the spirit free in peacefulness and solidarity – it’s something that our people have done since time immemorial.”

He said bringing rangatahi (young people) on the trip was a key focus, with around 15 to 20 of them travelling to Aotearoa.

“They’ll go back and be humble enough to share,” he said.

“Strength and resilience and love, caring, sharing – it’s already in their blood. They need to just move

forward and lead the way.”

Robinson said being at Waitangi was part of a much longer story of exchange between Indigenous peoples across oceans.

“The passing of knowledge, the passing and sharing of country, our people were at one with country,” he said. “Building that with others, that’s what our people did and have done since a long time ago.”

Both Buchanan and Robinson said their presence at Waitangi was about standing beside Māori as fellow Indigenous peoples.

“We’re here to show our solidarity,” Buchanan said.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/06/aboriginal-group-stands-in-solidarity-with-maori-at-waitangi/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Rangatahi at Waitangi say the decisions being made today must be grounded in the wellbeing of future generations, with many calling for stronger action on climate change and greater Māori participation in decision-making.

Taane Aruka Te Aho, who has been attending kaupapa alongside iwi leaders in Te Tai Tokerau, said being present in those spaces was about preparing the next generation of leaders.

“It’s important for us to understand what sort of mahi goes into the iwi chairs forum because we are the next generation of leaders,” he said.

“Because we want to be a part of it. We want to make a difference to ensure that our mokopuna, to ensure that our uri whakatipu are living in flourishing futures.”

Te Aho was one of the rangatahi leaders of Te Kāhu Pōkere – the group that travelled to Brazil for COP30 last year on behalf of Te Pou Take Āhuarangi, the climate change arm of the National Iwi Chairs Forum.

Tumai Cassidy, a Ngāi Tahu rangatahi leader who is also attending Waitangi this year, said caring for the environment was central to that future.

“Something that’s quite close to my heart is around our environment and how do we look after the environment and how do we stop these impacts from climate change that are battering our communities,” he said, adding that rangatahi had a crucial role to play.

“I think it’s important for rangatahi to be at the table, to listen, to learn, so that when they’re of that age where they’re leading their iwi, they have a broad range of experiences, all that history, those kind of things to inform our future decision making,” he said.

“But I think it’s good for rangatahi to be at the table and offer a different perspective as well.”

Iwi leaders say that involvement is already being seen on the ground.

Pou Tangata chairperson Rahui Papa said rangatahi were not just observing this year’s iwi chairs forum, but actively helping run them.

“Some of the rangatira, especially from Te Kahu o Taonui, have designated some of their rangatahi, and they’re wandering around, they’re being the hosts, they’re taking part in actually the facilitation of the hui, which is awesome,” he said.

“So you have some of the older folk that sit as chairs and things like that, but they’re actually bringing an air of succession into the facilitation of these hui.”

Papa said rangatahi from across the country had also travelled to Waitangi to help shape what their own future pathways could look like.

“They will be the stewards, they will be the custodians and the guardians of all aspects of te ao Māori in their time.”

Ngāti Kawa Taituha, Te Tii Marae chair said rangatahi involvement reflected a long line of intergenerational responsibility.

“It’s just again, adding and enhancing the mana of our tūpuna, the signatories, and then down to us, the descendants,” he said.

“And here we are today, carrying out all that mahi of our forebearers. Putting in all the effort to set up our next generation. Obviously, that’s what it’s all about for us.”

He said rangatahi were playing roles both behind the scenes and in visible leadership spaces during the commemorations.

“I think this is kind of really cool to see these groups of rangatahi coming to the marae, being part of the pōwhiri,” he said.

“These groups here are really organised leadership groups, and specifically honing in on really being in tune with our taumata, and capturing all this kōrero.”

‘Haere ki te pōti’

With an election year approaching, some rangatahi also linked their hopes for mokopuna with political participation.

Aruka Te Aho encouraged whānau to focus on their own communities and lift Māori voter turnout.

“We have three options,” he said.

“One is to elect a government and work with a government that prioritises te iwi Māori and the environment to increase climate funding.

“Two, we stop moaning about what this government can’t do for us and seek funding opportunities globally or elsewhere to ensure that we get that ‘moni’ motuhake. Or thirdly, we just keep doing what we’re doing and suffer the consequences.”

He said increasing Māori participation in voting was key.

“What we need to do is look at our own backyard, look at our own rohe and see what we can do to get soldiers out in terms of getting the voting up to ensure that Māori have a seat at the table so that we can make real change,” he said.

“Haere ki te pōti.”

Cassidy’s focus this election was centred on the environment.

“Vote for the taiao, vote for the environment. Without the environment, we’re not going to be here,” he said.

The focus on mokopuna and future generations is also being carried by a group of rangatahi taking part in a six-day hīkoi from Cape Rēinga to Waitangi, due to arrive on 6 February.

Many of the young people involved say they are marching to stand up for future generations and to send a message about honouring Te Tiriti.

The hīkoi is expected to make its way across Waitangi following waka celebrations.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/06/for-our-mokopuna-rangatahi-voices-rise-at-waitangi/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Celebrations getting underway for Waitangi Day, starting with a dawn service which we are livestreaming on this page. Plus, follow our live coverage of all the action through the day from Waitangi and around the rest of Aotearoa on our liveblog below.

Follow our live coverage of all the action through the day at the top of this page.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/06/watch-live-dawn-ceremony-kicks-off-waitangi-day/

Source: Radio New Zealand

“Cremate and bury it”.

That’s the word from Minister for Māori Crown Relations Tama Potaka, who sat down with MATA host Mihingarangi Forbes in Waitangi for a wide-ranging interview on issues affecting Māori.

Asked what it was like as a Māori to watch his own party support the controversial Treaty Principles Bill through its first reading the Minister for Māori Crown Relations, Māori Development, Whānau Ora, Conservation and Associate Minister for Housing admitted it was difficult.

“He uaua,” he said

“But my understanding of the National Party position was very firm that we would take it to a certain point in time but we would ultimately cremate and bury it and that’s what we did.”

A recent Mata-Horizon poll asked Māori voters if they thought Aotearoa New Zealand had become more racist, less racist, or stayed the same on the current coalition government. Seven percent of respondents said it was less racist, 28 percent said it was the same, while 58 percent said the country had become more racist.

Asked what he thought about the results, Potaka said he did not support racism or prejudice in “any way, shape or form”.

“My intention and aspiration in the matters that I’m involved in is to remain very impartial and objective and I don’t get caught up in this air of racism or prejudice.

“I take responsibility for supporting iwi, Māori and other related organisations around their economic development, around their social and cultural development, around a range of matters and we work very hard in a constructive, positive and meaningful way to give effect to the aspirations of Māori.”

Pushed again on how he could not support racism but still be part of a party that supported the bill, Potaka said it was not a “binary matter”.

“I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive to be part of a government that actually is responsible for discussions of bills that many, many people don’t agree with. Previous governments have been like that too, no matter what the political hue of the previous governments,” he said.

Tama Potaka was also asked about his work decreasing the number of people in emergency housing and a subsequent rise in homelessness.

Asked why the government did not know where the one in five people who previously lived in emergency housing ended up, Potaka said New Zealand was not a “police state”.

“I think that we don’t run a police state, Mihi. We’re not responsible to know where everybody that moves around in this country [is], we [don’t] know where they are at every single hour of the day.

“We’re actually comfortable with the work that we’ve done to ensure that the numbers of whānau living in emergency housing have considerably reduced,” he said.

Potaka also paid tribute to departing senior Labour MP Peeni Henare, who announced he was stepping down from the party after 12 years in politics.

“I am surprised, very surprised. Mihi ana kia Peeni,” he said.

“He’s a formidable force in the Labour Party [and] he’s done some outstanding mahi as a representative of his people… he’s been a massive contributor for the Labour Party and in New Zealand politics generally.”

The full interview is available on the RNZ website.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/cremate-and-bury-it-nationals-tama-potaka-on-treaty-principles-bill/

Source: Radio New Zealand

As Waitangi Day commemorations continue drawing people from across Aotearoa and around the world to the Bay of Islands, Te Tii Marae has become a gathering point for Indigenous ocean leadership from across the Pacific.

Taiātea: Gathering of the Oceans held its public forum on 4 February, uniting more than 20 Indigenous leaders, marine scientists and researchers from Canada, Australia, Hawai’i, Niue, Rapa Nui and the Cook Islands.

The forum forms part of a wider 10-day wānanga taking place across Te Ika a Māui (North Island).

With a focus on the protection and restoration of Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean, kōrero throughout the day centred on the exchange of knowledge, marine protection, ocean resilience and the accelerating impacts of climate change.

A key message remained prevalent throughout the day – the moana is not separate from the people, but a living ancestor, and a responsibility carried across generations.

‘Continue that path of conservation, preservation’

Hawaiʻi’s Solomon Pili Kaho’ohalahala, co-founder of One Oceania, a former politician, and a respected elder, framed his kōrero around the belief that there is no separation between human and nature – we are all one.

For Kaho’ohalahala, being present at Waitangi has been a powerful reminder of the links between past, present, and future.

“Waitangi is a very historical place for the Māori people,” he said. “It is where important decisions were made by your elders. So to be here in this place, for me, is significant.”

“We are talking about historical events that have happened to our people across Oceania, preserved by the elders who had visions to create treaties … decisions that were going to be impactful to the generations to follow,” Kaho’ohalahala said.

“It brings the relevancy of these conversations. They are what we need to negotiate and navigate the challenges we face in the present. The purpose for this is, ultimately, no different to the kupuna (Hawai’ian elder), that this was intended for the generations yet unborn,” he added.

Kaho’ohalahala also reflected on the enduring connections between indigenous communities across oceans.

“To be a part of this conversation from across the ocean that separates us, our connection by our culture and canoes is to help us understand that we are still all connected as the people of Oceania.

“But we need to be able to reiterate that, and understand why we need to emerge from that past to bring it to our relevancy to these times and issues, to continue that path of conservation, preservation, for those unborn.”

‘Our ocean … a living organism,’ advocate says

Cook Islands environmental advocate and Ocean Ancestors founder, Louisa Castledine, reiterated the responsibility of indigenous peoples to protect the ocean and pass knowledge to future generations.

She said Waitangi was the perfect backdrop to encourage these discussions. While different cultures face individual challenges, there is a collective sense of unity.

“One of our key pillars is nurturing our future tamariki, and the ways of our peu tupuna, and nurturing stewardship and guardianship with them as our future leaders,” Castledine said.

“It’s about reclaiming how we perceive our ocean as being an ancestor, as a living organism, as whānau to us. We’re here at Waitangi to stand in solidarity of our shared ancestor and the responsibility we all have for its protection,” Castledine said.

She said people must be forward-thinking in how they collectively navigate environmental wellbeing.

“We all have a desire and a love for our moana, our indigenous knowledge systems of our oceans are critical to curating futures for our tamariki and mokopuna,” she said.

“We want to ensure that generations that come after us will continue to be able to feed generations beyond all of us. It’s about safeguarding their inheritance.”

Learning about shared challenges

Canadian representative Chief Anuk Danielle Shaw, elected chief councillor of the Wuikinuxv Nation, said the challenges and goals facing Indigenous peoples were often shared, despite the distances between them.

“This is [an] opportunity to learn about common challenges we may have, and how other nations and indigenous leaders are facing those challenges, and what successes they’ve been having,” she said.

“It just makes sense that we have a relationship, and that we build that relationship.”

She noted the central role of the marine environment for her people.

“It’s not lost on me that my people are ocean going people as well. We rely on the marine environment.

“Our salmon is the foundation and the backbone of our livelihood and the livelihood of all other beings in which we live amongst. I’m a world away, and yet I’m still sitting within the Pacific Ocean.

“So the work I do at home and how we take care of our marine environment impacts the people of Aotearoa as well, and vice versa. And so it just makes sense that we have a relationship, and that we build that relationship, because traditionally we did,” she added.

Following the public forum, indigenous leaders will visit haukāinga in the Tūwharetoa and Whanganui regions for further knowledge exchanges and to discuss specific case studies.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/we-are-all-connected-indigenous-pacific-leaders-unite-at-waitangi/

Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/months-of-preparation-and-a-shipping-container-the-kai-at-waitangi/

Source: Radio New Zealand

With the immenent arrival of government politicians at Waitangi, Māori leaders are encouraging Māori to register and vote in the upcoming election.

Politicians from all parties, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, will be welcomed to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds around 11am on Thursday.

Waikato-Tainui executive chair and Iwi Chairs Forum member Tukoroirangi Morgan said Māori needed to be participants in democracy rather than bystanders.

“There 255,000 thousand people, registered voters who are aged between 30 and 18, and they are ready to go. But there are also thousands and thousands of our young ones who haven’t registered and the onus is on our people and our leaders to get out and their grandchildren and our communities, vote.”

The National Iwi Chairs Forum met with the prime minister on Wednesday, and with the leader of the opposition, Chris Hipkins, the day before that.

Luxon called the talks with the forum “positive and constructive”.

Morgan said the message to the prime minister was that treaty settlements are sacrosanct and should not be meddled with.

“Even despite the fact that there are changes to the RMA (Resource Management Act) and other pieces of legislation you cannot compromise or minimise treaty settlements they are sacrosanct.

“And even the pathway to those who haven’t settled should also be protected.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/leaders-encourage-maori-to-vote-in-upcoming-election-as-waitangi-draws-near/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Prime Minister is due to speak to reporters after meeting with the Iwi Chairs Forum, which gave its backing to a court case against a piece of government legislation.

Minister for Māori Crown Relations Tama Potaka said the meeting was “robust” and “interrogative”, but also an “exchange.”

“There needs to be an exchange of ideas, an exchange of investigative queries, but also a sense of optimism and progress, and that’s what we’ve seen [on wednesday].”

Potaka said there were always questions around legislative frameworks and funding.

Christopher Luxon is in Waitangi with a contingent of government ministers ahead of the political pōwhiri taking place on Thursday, which he will attend.

Luxon was keen to talk to the Forum about the weather response and the economy.

But Iwi leaders are throwing their support behind a Ngāti Manuhiri court case against the government’s amendments to the Marine and Coastal Environments Act.

Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith said this issue wasn’t raised directly. In terms of relations between Māori and the Crown, Goldsmith said “we are absolutely positive on opportunities for Māori to thrive and succeed”.

“There’s a lot we agree on, there’s lots of things we disagree on, but there’s plenty that we can work constructively together on, so it’s very positive.”

Prior to the meeting taking place, Pou Tangata chair Rahui Papa said the key message to the government would be what strategies would they employ to bolster Māori aspirations, instead of legislation which “unpicks” te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Afterward, Tukuroirangi Morgan of Waikato-Tainui said it was a “productive” meeting, saying the iwi leaders were at a position where “we need to get stuff done”.

Despite being election year he said, work needed to continue.

“And the government needs to be conscious that actually working in a much more strategic way to complete action plans, business plans, all of the stuff that we’ve been talking to them for a long, long time should get done.”

Morgan said the Prime Minister was “very committed” to the Treaty relationship.

“We have to try and find creative ways of working with the government in the face of tough economic times, there are still opportunities, and we need to take those opportunities.”

And Aperahama Edwards of Ngāti Wai called the meeting “beneficial”.

“Some of the sensitive things that needed to be discussed were discussed. Some of the pain points that our people have been experiencing were addressed, at least given voice to, and then other matters were spoken to as well.”

Speaking to the mood at Waitangi compared to the last time Luxon was there in 2024, Edwards said there was still “a lot of pain”.

“Our people are hurting, and we’re mindful of that, but there’s also a calm here as well, and an optimism at the thought of what sort of change might be coming.”

Labour, meanwhile, is dealing with the shock resignation of Peeni Henare, who is calling time on his 12-year Parliamentary career.

Henare announced his plans on Tuesday, citing exhaustion and a desire to spend more time focusing on his family and future.

While it was known Henare would not be contesting the Tāmaki Makaurau seat, his announcement he would not be standing at all came in the middle of a joint press conference by the Labour and Green Party leadership.

He told one media platform of his plans before Labour had the chance to put out its own announcement, but Labour leader Chris Hipkins, who initially refused to answer questions about the resignation, denied the announcement had been bungled.

New Zealand First Deputy leader – and a relation of Henare’s – Shane Jones, was now questioning the circumstances around the resignation, and was planning to find out “exactly what has happened”.

As well, local government and diplomatic corps representatives were welcomed onto the Treaty Grounds with a pōwhiri for the Kiingitanga taking place this afternoon.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/watch-prime-minister-speaks-after-meeting-with-the-iwi-chairs-forum/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Ka Lāhui Hawai’i, a Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiian) group are standing in solidarity with Māori in what they describe as a “defence of Te Tiriti o Waitangi”.

The 17-member Indigenous Hawaiian delegation were welcomed to Te Tii Marae on Tuesday, marking the beginning of their engagement alongside Māori communities and leaders.

The rōpū say they are present to “stand alongside Māori leadership, strengthen international solidarity, and affirm the deep genealogical and oceanic ties shared by Indigenous peoples of Moana Nui a Kanaloa”.

Healani Sonoda-Pale, spokesperson for Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi, said the world should know what is happening in Aotearoa.

“As Kanaka Maoli, we know what it means to have our lands, waters, and political future decided without us,” Sonoda-Pale said.

“We came to Waitangi so the world can see that Māori are not standing alone, and that Indigenous peoples across the Pacific are watching, standing together, and demanding that Te Tiriti o Waitangi be fully honoured.”

Sonoda-Pale said their struggles are connected.

“And our collective liberation as Indigenous peoples of Oceania are bound to one another.”

The delegation, which was formed in 1987 as a self-determination and self-governance initiative, have also issued a formal Statement of Solidarity calling on the international community to pay close attention to developments in Aotearoa.

“Since coming to power in 2023, the coalition government has passed, or sought to pass, a suite of laws that directly attack Māori rights to their land, language, culture and healthcare, as well as Te Tiriti o Waitangi itself,” their statement said.

“Te Tiriti o Waitangi affirms the independence and rights of Māori to their lands, waters, and all that is held sacred, yet the history of Aotearoa since 1840 has been marked by repeated failures by the Crown to honor these founding promises.”

The rōpū acknowleged Te Tiriti o Waitangi as Aotearoa, New Zealand’s founding document.

“For Māori, however, Te Tiriti is not the source of their rights, but a reaffirmation of rights that exist because they are tangata whenua, the people of the land,” they said.

“Their relationship to their whenua stretches back through the last millennium, during which time tikanga Māori operated, and continues to operate, as the first law of the land.”

The rōpū say Crown laws “do not and can not diminish rangatiratanga derived through whakapapa Māori, tikanga Māori, and their connections to their lands and waterways”.

Ka Lāhui Hawai’i said as a people “facing similar harms” to their own lands and waters they reject any attempt to “weaken Māori rangatiratanga under the guise of ‘good governance’ or ‘equality’”.

“We stand with our Māori ʻohana and call for the full and faithful honouring of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”

Members of the delegation will be speaking at the Political Forum tent at Waitangi on Thursday.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/native-hawaiian-delegation-travel-to-waitangi-to-stand-in-solidarity-with-maori/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Climate change is a key focus for iwi leaders gathering at Waitangi this week, as coastal communities across the North Island recover from recent severe weather events.

The National Iwi Chairs Forum, representing more than 70 iwi, has been meeting to set priorities for the year ahead, with leaders pointing to the increasing frequency and severity of weather events as a growing concern.

Taane Aruka Te Aho, one of the rangatahi leaders of Te Kāhu Pōkere – the group that travelled to Brazil for COP30 last year – told RNZ that recent weather events across the motu have become a repeating pattern.

“The data shows us that these climate catastrophes are going to keep coming, more frequent, more severe. We’ve seen that in Te Tai Tokerau, in Tauranga Moana, in Te Araroa,” he said.

On behalf of Te Pou Take Āhuarangi, the climate change arm of the National Iwi Chairs Forum, Te Kāhu Pōkere attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in November 2025.

They were the first iwi-mandated rangatahi Māori delegation to attend a global COP.

At this year’s forum, the rōpū is presenting its findings and what can be taken back to hapū, iwi and hapori.

“One of the key learnings for me was the importance of data sovereignty and data strategies harnessing environmental data to help us in our climate-based decision-making,” Te Aho said.

In the wake of flooding and storms in the north and east of the country, dozens of marae again opened their doors to displaced whānau, providing shelter, kai and serving as Civil Defence hubs.

Te Aho said those responses showed the strength of Māori-led systems of care.

“It’s paramount that we acknowledge our whānau, but also fund our whānau to keep resourcing, because they are the ones opening up their doors,” he said.

“To ensure not only our mokopuna are thriving, but to ensure our people of today can go back to work, that they’re looked after. Pākeke mai, rangatahi mai, kaumātua mai, kei konei te iwi Māori ki te tautoko i a rātou.”

Last month, the government announced a $1 million Marae Emergency Response Fund to reimburse marae for welfare support provided during the severe weather events, allowing them to “replenish resources and build resilience.”

Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka said at the time, the fund “ensures marae are not left carrying the costs of that mahi”.

“Allowing them to replenish what was used, recover from the immediate response, and continue to build their resilience for future events.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also praised the response from marae.

“Marae have been exceptional in the way they have stepped up to help their communities, providing shelter, food and care to people in need,” he said.

Pou Tangata chairperson Rahui Papa welcomed government support for marae but said long-term planning was needed.

“Back in Cyclone Gabriel, they talked about a 100-year weather event. It’s come up three or four times within the last few years,” he said.

“And I’m picking that, with my weather crystal ball… it’s going to happen time and time again.

“So comprehensive responses have to be employed. Emergency centres at marae have been just absolutely wonderful. I take my hat off to those communities and those marae that have worked together to really find a way to look after the community.”

Ngāti Hine chairperson Pita Tipene said climate change was one of the key issues being coordinated at a national level.

“There’s no point in planning for something next week and next month if we’re consigning our planet to the changes that are upon us,” he said.

“We only have to look at the devastation around Te Tai Tokerau, let alone Tauranga Moana and Tai Rāwhiti.”

Tipene also acknowledged the contribution of Te Kāhu Pōkere.

“The young people who went to COP in Brazil and presented back to us said the solutions are in place and led by people. Their messages were very, very clear and the energy and the focus that they bring to those efforts is significant,” he said.

“The National Iwi Chairs Forum comes together because we know we have much more strength together than we are alone. And so coordinating our efforts into areas that will improve the circumstances of our people or protect and enhance the environments of our people, that’s our overall priority.”

Forum members also unanimously backed a legal challenge by Hauraki iwi Ngāti Manuhiri, which is [

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/585812/national-iwi-chairs-forum-backs-court-case-challenging-amendments-to-marine-and-coastal-areas-actt taking the government to the High Court] over amendments to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act. The changes, made last year, raised the threshold for iwi seeking customary marine title.

Luxon is expected to meet with the forum at Waitangi on Wednesday.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/climate-change-a-priority-for-iwi-leaders-at-waitangi/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is hailing the completion of upgrades to the road to the Treaty Grounds in time for Waitangi Day this year.

Haruru Falls Road has been paved with added guardrails, drainage and earthworks thanks to $1.57 million from the Regional Infrastructure Fund and $400,000 from the Far North District Council.

The upgrade – completed with just days to spare – provides a second paved route to the grounds without the need to go through Paihia.

Jones attended the opening on Wednesday with iwi leaders, trustees of the Waitangi National Trust, Far North Mayor Moko Tepania and other dignitaries.

“Anyone familiar with the road will know that it was a dusty, uneven and sometimes treacherous route because it was partially unsealed,” Jones said.

A further $10.2m from the RIF is helping with upgrades to the grounds themselves, including car parks, toilet blocks, pathway lighting and drainage to protect the Treaty House, due for completion this year.

“The Waitangi Treaty Grounds are a place for all New Zealanders and where much of our country’s history was shaped. It’s a site of national significance and its importance is evident in the more than 160,000 visitors who head to the grounds each year,” Jones said.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/minister-shane-jones-hails-roading-upgrades-to-treaty-grounds/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The National Iwi Chairs Forum is backing a court case by Ngāti Manuhiri looking to challenge amendments to the Marine and Coastal Areas Act (MACA).

Hauraki iwi Ngāti Manuhiri are set to take the government to the High Court over changes made to the act last year, which made it harder for Māori to win customary marine title.

Justice minister Paul Goldsmith has repeatedly said the changes restore the act to Parliament’s “original intent”.

The changes have been bashed by former ministers, treaty lawyers, iwi and hapū leaders and even prompted an almost 20,000-strong petition opposing the amendments.

Now, Ngāti Manuhiri want to challenge those changes in the High Court, alleging that the changes limit their ability to exercise of their culture, deny their access to justice, and discriminate against Māori.

In a statement, Ngāti Manuhiri chair Mook Hohneck said the revised test measures customary ownership through Western concept of exclusion rather than tikanga Māori.

“What we’re seeing is not an attempt to uphold the original intent of the law, it is an attempt to fundamentally change the rules with which we’ve engaged in good faith because the Crown isn’t getting its way,” Hohneck said.

“The Crown is stacking the deck in its favour, and is setting a precedent that future governments can constantly move the goal post whenever they see fit.”

The legislation is retrospective, meaning some applicants would need to start the process from scratch.

Hohneck claimed those changes amounted to retrospective interference with ongoing court proceedings, and breached their expectation that their application would be determined under the law as it stood when they applied.

“Our claim seeks declarations that the 2025 law changes are inconsistent with natural justice and the Bill of Rights Act, and are discriminatory against Ngāti Manuhiri.”

“Our settlement with the Crown included a formal apology and commitment to rebuild their relationship with Ngāti Manuhiri, based on the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Marine and Coastal Area Act amendments cut across that promise and apology,” Hohneck said.

Speaking from Waitangi, Iwi Chairs Forum kaikōrero Rāhui Papa said his rōpu fully supported the challenge.

He told media the current legislation “unpicked” settlement processes and agreements.

“In the case of Ngati Manuhiri, they feel that they had quite a strong and enduring settlement because it was hard negotiated.”

“We absolutely support [it]. If an iwi feels that their settlement, their hard negotiated settlement, is being unpicked some years after the agreement, that just shows the institutional forgetfulness and amnesia of the government to what they actually agreed to.” he said.

There was a similar sentiment from Northland Regional Council chair and Ngāti Hine chair Pita Tipene, who told RNZ support for the challenge from Ngāti Manuhiri was unanimous.

“In terms of Ngati Hine, we will support any measure, any action that protects and enhances our collective rangatiratanga.”

“Whether it is in court, whether it is out in the community, that’s our focus,” Tipene said.

Changes to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act were made in October last year.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/national-iwi-chairs-forum-backs-court-case-challenging-amendments-to-marine-and-coastal-areas-act/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The iconic Te Tiriti o Waitangi Marae is once again welcoming manuhiri from across the motu after reopening at last year’s Waitangi celebrations.

The marae, commonly known as Te Tii, welcomed iwi from around the country in a pre-dawn pōwhiri on Tuesday morning, one of eleven it will host this week.

The pōwhiri was also a kawe mate, a mourning ceremony where photos of those who have recently died are brought to a marae.

Among those remembered this year were activist Hinewhare Harawira and Ngāti Tūwharetoa Ariki Tumu Te Heuheu. His son and successor Te Rangimaheu was in attendance.

Marae Chairman Ngāti Kawa Taituha said it was a beautiful moment to welcome Ngāti Tūwharetoa, and the taumata acknowledged the many connections between Waitangi and Tūwharetoa.

“Hepi Te Heuheu opened our whare tupuna in 1977. So that was our connection with Tumu and down to Te Rangimaheu.”

Remembering those who have passed in the last year was a good way to begin the commemorations at Waitangi this week, he said.

Governor-General Cindy Kiro will be welcomed to the marae on Tuesday, a first as she has previously only been welcomed to the Whare Runanga on the Upper Treaty Grounds, he said.

Taituha said there has been some discussion among Ngāpuhi leaders about moving all pōwhiri back to the lower Marae.

“They’ve seen the beautification of our whare tūpuna, the new carvings, the whole restoration, and it’s kind of a reflection on where we’re at as a people, as a whānau, as Ngāti Kawa, Ngāti Rāhiri, Te Matarahurahu.”

More and more people are gravitating to the marae, he said.

Although there is still a little bit more work to do, he said, with additional carvings only added to the sides of the doorway of the whare in the last week.

“So there’s a big kōrero with that with the quill… and on the other side is a scroll. And so that’s to acknowledge our documents, of course. He Whakaputanga, Declaration of Independence and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“So it’s just again, adding and enhancing the mana of our tūpuna, the signatories, and then down to us, the descendants and here we are today, carrying out all that mahi of our forebearers. Putting in all the effort to set up our next generation. Obviously, that’s what it’s all about for us.”

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/te-tiriti-o-waitangi-marae-welcomes-manuhiri-once-again-for-waitangi-celebrations/

Source: Radio New Zealand

MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi says she hopes today’s court hearing will secure her reinstatement to Te Pāti Māori and pave the way for a reset of the party’s leadership.

Last year, she contested her expulsion from the party and was temporarily reinstalled in an interim judgement. A substantive hearing is now taking place at the High Court in Wellington.

Speaking outside on Monday morning, Kapa-Kingi told reporters she hoped the court could finalise the matter so everybody could move into 2026 “fired up and good to go”.

“I’m hoping that the reinstatement is secure and proper, and then we’ll see what happens from that point. But the reinstatement is key.”

Kapa-Kingi said she was also asking the court to require Te Pāti Māori to conduct a “proper full and open and honest process” regarding its leadership through a special general meeting.

“Good strong leadership is open … it’s about respect. It’s about love. It’s about kindness. It’s about all of those things that that we value as Māori and those things need to be obvious and apparent in the leadership. And I don’t know whether that’s so right now.”

Kapa-Kingi said she had never departed from the party’s kaupapa and was intending on visiting Waitangi for the annual commemorations later this week.

She said she was not sure how the party’s co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa Packer and Rawiri Waititi would be received up north given they had declined to attend a hui called by Ngāpuhi in November.

“We were disappointed and wished that they had turned up.”

Arriving at the court, Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere said he was feeling “pretty chipper”.

“[Let’s] just see how the game goes,” he said. “There’s a lot of things at play, so let’s just await the finding.”

In an interim ruling published in early December, Justice Paul Radich said there were “serious questions to be tried” on the manner in which Kapa-Kingi was expelled from the party.

He said there were “certainly tenable arguments” that the expulsion was founded upon “mistaken facts and procedural irregularities”.

Te Pāti Māori’s lawyers had argued reinstating Kapa-Kingi was likely to “create extreme tension within Te Pāti Māori’s MPs and leadership”.

They argued the national council did have authority to expel Kapa-Kingi as it was the “primary heavy-lifter of hard decisions” in that context.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/02/mariameno-kapa-kingi-hopes-to-be-back-in-te-pati-maori-following-court-hearing/

Source: Radio New Zealand

For more than three decades, Aotearoa’s longest surviving independent Māori theatre company has used storytelling to open kōrero about trauma, healing and hope in communities across the motu.

Te Rākau Hua o Te Wao Tapu (Te Rākau) was established in 1989 as a space for Māori performance activists to be “in control of telling their own stories”.

Since then, the company has taken theatre beyond traditional stages and into marae, community halls, prisons and youth residences.

Te Rākau co-founder and current director Jim Moriarty (Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Kōata, Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne) said they had been committed to telling their people’s stories “in a way that opens pathways to wellness”.

“I don’t think we’re doing anything new – we’re doing it our way,” Moriarty told RNZ.

“We wrap our work in the rituals I grew up with, manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, whakapapa, caring for people.”

In its early days, Moriarty said Māori were not coming to mainstream theatre.

“So we decided to take theatre to our people… wherever our people are.”

There most recent production Out the Gate explores the pipeline that leads many Māori from childhood trauma into state care, youth justice, and ultimately incarceration.

“At its heart, the work is about the wounded child,” he said.

“About accountability, and about hope. With the right support, people want to walk into the light.”

Unlike conventional theatre, Out the Gate did not begin with a script, he said. It began with research grounded in whānau experience.

“About 80 to 90 percent of what people saw was verbatim.”

The production drew on the Kaupapa Māori research project TIAKI – Community wellbeing for whānau with [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/580726/kaupapa-maori-study-exposes-gaps-in-prison-data-and-support-for-maori

lived experience of incarceration], funded by the Health Research Council.

Central to that work was kōrero with nearly 50 whānau with lived experience.

“Out the Gate traces the journey from childhood into state care, youth justice, and prison,” Moriarty said.

“The research programme ran for three years. Four of the researchers were whānau apprenticed with me, people who had lived experience and could extract deeper kōrero.”

Moriarty’s partner of 28 years, Helen Pearse-Otene (Ngāpuhi, Taranaki), a writer, psychologist and Toi Whakaari graduate, played a key role in shaping the material, he said.

“Helen synthesised all of that – she’s incredibly rigourous as a researcher.

“We combined it with our own lived experience, fostering hundreds of young people over the years.”

Their work, Moriarty said, was inseparable from tikanga Māori and the healing frameworks embedded within te ao Māori.

“When people start forming new relationships with unresolved trauma from childhood, a space opens up, because that work happens on the marae, tikanga and Māori identity flow naturally into that healing.”

The way Te Rākau works, he said, mirrors the way tūpuna engaged with the world, “collectively and with care”.

“That whole way our tūpuna expressed themselves through whole-of-life engagement. That’s how I create and run theatre,” he said.

“From the very beginning, and even after the journey’s over, it’s about taking care of people.”

That approach extends beyond the performance itself, he said. After each performance of Out the Gate, the cast and crew held open kōrero with audiences.

“After each show, we held kōrero with the audience – judges, whānau, people recently released from prison, probation officers, social workers,” Moriarty said.

“Often those kōrero lasted longer than the show.”

Those conversations, he said, are where much of the healing happens.

“It’s about landing in a place where we can be practical, creative, and reinforce the joy of being Māori. And that’s never been more important.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an open attempt to invisibilise Te Tiriti, to homogenise us, and to undermine our core values and relationship with tino rangatiratanga.”

Moriarty and Pearse-Otene worked as cultural supervisors for Corrections for about a decade, and Moriarty also helped facilitate creative Māori-based programmes in prisons around the country.

“Imprisonment has always been a subject close to me,” he said.

“I’ve had whānau in and out of the whare herehere. Imprisonment has been part of our history – rightly or wrongly – and it doesn’t look like it’s going away.

“If you look at history, Taranaki, Parihaka, imprisonment isn’t new for our people.”

He believes incarceration cannot be understood without recognising the trauma that sits beneath it.

“Underneath incarceration is trauma,” he said.

“This work didn’t come out of nowhere – it’s been in my bones all my life. I grew up around discussions of fairness, equity, and institutionalisation.”

Moriarty was born and raised on the marae in Porirua, so his upbringing immersed him in tikanga Māori from an early age – whaikōrero, waiata, haka, manaakitanga and the responsibility of hosting manuhiri.

He said his early life as a “pā kid” shaped both his worldview and his creative practice.

“The old people would watch you running around and decide where you might fit… fishing boats, singing and dancing, shepherding,” he said.

“That’s how they nurtured us.”

Those foundations later shaped both his theatre practice and his training as a psychiatric nurse, bringing together storytelling and mental health in ways that continue to inform his mahi with Te Rākau today.

“Theatre has always been a great love of mine,” he said.

“I come from a generation where we had an old valve radio in the house. That’s how the world came into our home. When it went all staticky, you’d give it a slap. So we told stories. Whoever could tell the spookiest story got the apple.”

He said these experiences underpinned his mahi today.

“That whole way our tūpuna expressed themselves through whole-of-life engagement. That’s how I create and run theatre,” he said.

“From the very beginning, and even after the journey’s over, it’s about taking care of people.”

While Out the Gate has finished its initial run, Moriarty hopes the production will tour again, particularly into prisons, if funding becomes available.

In the meantime, Te Rākau is currently developing its next production, Don’t Vote, Don’t Moan, But Register, encouraging Māori participation in the electoral process.

“It’s not about voting left or right,” Moriarty said.

“It’s about voting informed, voting with heart. If we want to be at the table, we need to vote.”

But Moriarty said whether on stage, in a prison, or on a marae, the purpose is to create spaces where people feel safe to speak, to listen and to begin healing together.

“With the right support,” he said, “people want to walk into the light.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/02/longest-standing-maori-theatre-company-brings-whanau-voices-of-trauma-and-hope-to-the-stage/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Crown has apologised to Taumarunui iwi Ngāti Hāua in a Treaty Settlement, which includes statutory pardons for two of their tūpuna.

The Ngāti Hāua Claims Settlement Bill passed its third and final reading in Parliament on Thursday.

Te Whiringa Kākaho o Ngāti Hāua trustee Aaron Rice-Edwards said it’s a day of celebration for the iwi, around 200 people travelled to Parliament from Taumarunui and beyond to share in the milestone.

“It’s been a rough road. We feel a bit battered and bruised. Like most iwi can attest to, this process is hard. It’s hard on relationships with our neighbours, hard on relationships with ourselves, but it’s an awesome testament today to finally arrive here, due in large measure to the sacrifice of our leadership and our pāhake and our kaumātua, many of whom have passed on. So we’re kind of carrying their legacy and their moemoeā, their vision for our people,” Rice-Edwards said.

“A lot of our whānau have brought pictures of their loved ones who’ve passed on. So again, we carry that legacy on.”

Rice-Edwards said securing pardons for Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu and Te Rangiātea, who were unjustly convicted under martial law in 1846, was a critical part of negotiations.

“Te Rangiātea, he was a koro at the time, quite elderly. He died in November 1846 in jail, in Mt Cook Jail. Also, tūpuna Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu was sentenced for rebellion against the Crown. He was convicted to die or be executed by hanging.”

Ngāti Hāua have a strong history in the Heretaunga or Hutt Valley and both Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu and Te Rangiātea were caught up in land disputes which led to armed conflict in the Hutt Valley, he said.

“It’s been a sense of grievance for our iwi for a long time. So we’ve carried that and their descendants have carried that stigma. A big part of that mamae is the fact that we never had the remains of our tūpuna to bury properly in terms of our tikanga or to take them back home,” he said.

“So today is remembering those two tūpuna and reaffirming their mana in terms of the injustice of the Crown, the way they were treated.”

Following today’s third reading, the bill will go to the Governor-General for Royal Assent, becoming the Ngāti Hāua Claims Settlement Act.

Once the legislation is enacted, settlement assets will transfer to Te Whiringa Kākaho o Ngāti Hāua Trust.

Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Paul Goldsmith said the total settlement package provides $19 million of financial redress and includes the return of 64 culturally significant sites.

Goldsmith told MPs the Act records the Crown’s apology for its actions which breached the Treaty, including warfare, the alienation of land through Crown purchasing and Public Works taking which left Ngāti Hāua virtually landless.

“The loss of land led to the erosion of tribal structures and left Ngāti Hāua unable to sustain themselves and with few opportunities for social and economic development. Many Ngāti Hāua were obliged to leave their rohe which exacerbated the damage to the iwi’s spiritual and cultural well-being.”

This settlement lays the economic, cultural and social foundation for Ngāti Hāua to reestablish their connection to their land, their rohe, strengthen their identity and to build a future for themselves in generations to come.”

The settlement can never fully compensate Ngāti Hāua for the loss they’ve suffered as a result of Crown actions, he said.

Rice-Edwards said back home in Taumarunui, the main centre of their region, there is a lot of disparity and inequity in housing, health and employment among their people.

“While we’re not sort of letting the Crown off the hook in terms of its obligations to our people. We want to go back home and be a catalyst for change and social transformation. So that will be a big focus for us for the next five years.”

Rice-Edwards said the financial redress will be helpful in rebuilding their tribal nation, but the return of land has been a key focus for the iwi.

“So that will be a focus in terms of growing those reserves and just managing them and just reconnecting as a people with those places, because all of those places we haven’t been able to access for a long time.”

Many rangatahi (young people) were in attendance at Parliament to watch the Bill pass and Rice-Edwards said it is incumbent the current leadership to start looking to the future.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/01/30/carry-that-legacy-on-ngati-haua-celebrates-treaty-settlement/