Category: Te Ao Māori

Source: Radio New Zealand

An estuary near Maketu in Bay of Plenty has had its original name Te Heriheri restored as part of an iwi-led project to restore the health of the entire wetland ecosystem.

Te Wahapū o Waihī – the collective of Ngāti Whakahemo, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Mākino, Ngāti Pikiao and Tapuika – was established by the iwi and hapū of Waihī Estuary to restore and protect the health and mauri of the wai.

The collective works with a range of organisations, including Bay of Plenty Regional Council, the Ministry for the Environment, local landowners, the Waihī Drainage Society and community members.

Project lead Professor Kura Paul-Burke (Ngāti Whakahemo, Ngāti Mākino, Ngāti Awa) told RNZ one of the factors that contributed to the poor condition of the estuary was the four freshwater contributors, which once were rivers, were now straightened canals carrying polluted sediment loads straight from the land and human activities into the estuary.

“We purchased 30 hectares of dairy farm to convert to wetland and salt marsh. And the reason we did that was we wanted to build a korowai of wetlands around our estuary, because our estuary, Te Wahapū o Waihī, is one of the top five most degraded estuaries in the country. It does not meet safe swimming guidelines. It has permanent public health warning signs for our kaimoana, our shellfish.

“High nitrogen, phosphorus loads enter the estuary with E. coli levels consistently exceeding safe food consumption levels. So it’s in a very, very poor condition.”

Converting 30 hectares of dairy farm into wetland involved 160,000 native plants and fencing off 16 kilometers of waterways for riparian planting, she said.

It also involved working with local farmers to establish environmental plans in the upper catchment, she said.

Paul-Burke said all work to do with the environment was ongoing, but this part of the project ended in June of this year, and the hope was to then start building more wetlands around the estuary.

“The power of this project has been the five iwi coming together, working together alongside the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Ministry for the Environment. But this project is led by iwi.”

Last Friday iwi members and stakeholders gathered at the wetland to commission a new pump station and unveil a new sign which restored the area’s original name, Te Heriheri.

“We had farmers, the ratepayers association, the drainage society. We had Minister Tama Potaka, representatives from all of the five iwi and local communities because it’s better when we all work together and all of us have worked together,” Paul-Burke said.

She said it was a beautiful ceremony and a chance to acknowledge the original name of the area.

Paul-Burke said Te Heriheri was a seasonal settlement where Ngāti Whakahemo would stay in the spring and summer months to harvest resources for the coming winter.

“So for us Ngāti Whakahemo, we were once known as the net makers, and Te Heriheri or this wetland played a major role in our trading economy with our neighbouring other iwi or tribes.”

It was also an ecologically significant area in terms of the range of native species, including plants, birds, tuna and inanga, she said.

While the 30 hectare wetland and salt marsh restoration was ongoing, restoration projects within the estuary had started, including with tuangi or cockles, pipi, and seagrass, Paul-Burke said.

“What we used was for a baseline for those kaimoana species, we use mātauranga Māori and/or the intergenerational transmission of environmental knowledge from our ancestors through to today. And so we interviewed kaumātua, and they have all since passed on, unfortunately.

“But we interviewed them and asked them, when you were young, where did you use to go to collect your pipi and your tuangi? And they talked about when they were children, which meant that someone older took them, their nanny, their koro, their parents, etc., which then traversed different generations of knowledge.”

With that mātauranga as a baseline and they mapped and surveyed the entire estuary. Standard marine surveys had only identified 16 hectares of pipi and tuangi in the estuary, the surveys based on mātauranga identified 30 hectares plus, she said.

“The power and importance of that intergenerational knowledge has identified that there were actually more kaimoana in our estuary than modern science has been able to access by over 50 percent.

“So we are hoping to develop a new way of surveying and monitoring pipi in particular alongside tuangi so that anyone, any whānau, hapū, iwi or communities across the motu, across the country, can do surveys themselves using this Mātauranga Māori approach.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/24/waihi-estuary-has-original-name-te-heriheri-restored-as-part-of-wetland-project/

Source: Radio New Zealand

With the goals of building marae “bench strength” and improving water safety, King Country iwi Ngāti Maniapoto is launching a freediving course for its descendants.

Sam Mikaere is the group Chief Executive of Te Nehenehenui, the post settlement entity for Ngāti Maniapoto. He said when the iwi reached its settlement in 2022 one of their aspirations was to create courses that uplift whānau who were suffering inequities, in for example housing and education, but also courses focussed on “Maniapoto mātauranga.” https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/480111/ngati-maniapoto-describes-apology-by-the-crown-as-a-fresh-start-for-relations

“We have this huge coastline from Mōkau up to Kāwhia. And if you’ve ever been out on the West Coast, it can be a little tumultuous, the moana at times. And so part of our kaupapa is around our ngāhere, our moana and our awa.

“So in the past, we have run river safety courses with our pakeke and our taitamariki and we’ve also done other things like housing and financials, but one of the other parts that was really important to us, especially, is the piece around safety in our spaces.”

Te Nehenehenui have partnered with Waitā Freediving to provide a training course for ten iwi members at the end of April, with graduates earning their Scuba Schools International (SSI) Freediver certification.

Waitā has previously run courses with Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Ranginui, Tūaropaki, and Rotoiti Trust. The group is made up of three Māori SSI Instructors, Rangi Ririnui, Ra Rātapu and Caleb Ware.

Mikaere said gathering kaimoana (seafood) for hui or tangihanga is a key part of the work of many marae and hapū so it was simple to step into providing training for the next tranche of divers.

“It’s all about building your bench strength for your marae and making sure that our whānau within the rohe have the people that can go out. You know, I do hope that they understand that once they get the ticket, we’re telling all of their marae and be like, hey, if you need something, this one’s your boy, he’ll go out or she’ll go out.”

Part of the course will include strengthening the divers role as kaitiaki of the environment through practical and cultural knowledge, he said.

This first course will act as a pilot program, but the iwi hope that once everything is in place it can be run a few more times, he said.

“We always wanted to support our marae. That was the intent when we got into this, is to create the skill sets on the ground so that we can strengthen our base and hopefully this will be something that our participants go through and then they can share that with their whānau and we can run it again and continue to fill these courses because it’s an integral one that is important to those that live within the marae area or those that come down from outside of the rohe back to their marae to be able to contribute.

“It’s something to be said about supporting your marae through your mahi on the ground and we just look forward to this, unlocking that potential for our whānau back in Maniapoto. Not that they haven’t got divers already, but you can never have too many in there.”

The course will also have a heavy focus on water safety. Mikaere said given the region is known for its rough conditions building diver confidence is key.

“A lot of our people are naturally swimmers. You know, we all grew up doing manus off the local wharf or wherever we come from, so we could all swim. But when you’re diving, you know, you really need to have your wits about you and make sure that you understand the way the water works. So there’s an absolute commitment here to improve mindfulness and focus in the water, to ensure that we’re building confidence in their swimming capabilities and in making sure there’s safe dive conditions, they understand what’s a safe condition to dive in.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/23/king-country-iwi-ngati-maniapoto-launching-freediving-course/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A pre-harvest karakia at a Kerikeri kiwifruit orchard reflects growing recognition of tikanga Māori in the country’s horticulture industry, a Northland iwi leader says.

About 100 people – including workers, shareholders and business leaders – are expected at Friday’s blessing at Pukerau Orchard, which has been owned by Ngāti Hine Forestry Trust since 2018.

Trust chairman Pita Tipene said the karakia was a way of giving thanks for the coming harvest.

“I observed it when I was a child. I would see my father take the first fruits of each season and bury some at the foot of the trees, and then utter some words. It’s like Thanksgiving. We stop and we show our gratitude for all of these blessings and the fruits of the harvest.”

Tipene said many people were involved in growing kiwifruit – from pruners to pickers, managers to scientists – but they rarely met.

“Not often do we come across each other. We all go into the orchards at different times, and we don’t really know each other. But we’re all human beings. It’s important that we connect and enjoy each other’s company in the first instance, but also learn about how we can do better.”

The karakia would also help ensure the safety of workers and a good harvest.

Tipene said he had been in contact with the chairman of Zespri, the national kiwifruit marketing body, who was keen to embrace the tradition for all orchards around the country.

Tai Tokerau (Northland) was well placed to kickstart a national harvest karakia, because its crop was the first to be ready for picking.

In future, however, the karakia could be held in the Bay of Plenty or any other kiwifruit-growing region.

Tipene said business leaders who planned to speak at the event included the chair of regional development organisation Northland Inc, Suzanne Duncan, and the head of Northland’s Joint Regional Economic Committee, Geoff Crawford.

Tipene said the gathering would also be a chance to celebrate Ngāti Hine Forestry Trust making the finals of the coveted Ahuwhenua Trophy, awarded each year for the nation’s best Māori farming and horticulture business.

The trust had been diversifying away from pine and now had six orchards in the Kerikeri area, totalling 34 canopy hectares and producing 13-14,000 trays of gold kiwifruit per hectare.

Horticulture firm Seeka was contracted to manage and pick the crop, while Zespri was responsible for marketing and sales.

The trust had also bought two dairy farms in the Maromaku area.

The Ahuwhenua Trophy was established in 1933 by Sir Apirana Ngata and Lord and Lady Bledisloe.

Last year’s winner was Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust, which runs a bull-fattening farm near Whangaruru, north of Whangārei.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/12/pre-harvest-karakia-brings-together-team-at-pukerau-kiwifruit-orchard/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A kura kaupapa Māori in Te Tairāwhiti is calling for urgent safety improvements outside its school, saying students, whānau and kaiako are being put at risk crossing a “hectic” and “unsafe” road every day.

Tauira from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Uri o Māui say traffic outside the kura has become increasingly dangerous during peak drop-off and pick-up times, with “near misses daily.”

Student board representative Malea Procter told RNZ the kura decided to speak out after repeated requests for a safe crossing failed to gain traction.

She said tauira regularly witness dangerous situations while crossing the road.

“Sometimes we see our teachers standing in the middle of the road trying to slow the cars down,” she said.

“It’s almost a 50-50 chance that cars will slow down for us.

“It’s hectic, very unsafe. Even for our kaumātua and our parents walking our kids back to their cars- into the school too, its really unsafe.”

She said many drivers did not slow down, even though the road runs directly past the kura.

“Us kids get hōhā with the cars just going way too fast,” she said.

“There’s a school here. There are tamariki here. But it’s almost become normal that we just get annoyed about it.”

Procter said tauira had witnessed numerous near misses.

“Maha – with whānau, with tamariki,” she said.

“We’ve seen many unsafe situations.”

Tumuaki (principal) Jodi Smith said safety concerns at the kura were not new.

“In the past we’ve actually had tamariki hit by cars while crossing that road,” she told RNZ.

“That’s when teachers first started to stand in the middle of the road to slow traffic down.”

She said the kura was determined to prevent another accident from happening.

“It’s not about when for us, because as I said, it’s already happened. But it’s about trying to prevent it happening again.”

Smith said traffic volumes were particularly heavy during peak school hours, partly because the kura sits close to other schools in the area.

“We have large trucks coming down that road, and because we’re close to other kura, the traffic volume becomes really high at those peak times.”

The kura serves 240 students from years 1 to 15, with many whānau travelling to the school each day.

“Our kura is growing,” she said.

“And with our Māori tamariki come their grandparents, parents and whānau of all ages who come to pick them up.

“So it’s not just about our students – it’s about keeping our whole whānau safe.”

Procter alongside her father Rāniera Procter, chair of the school board, recently posted a video on social media highlighting the risks students face crossing the road.

The response from the community had been overwhelmingly supportive, Procter said.

“People understand that our main goal is haumaru (safety) for our tamariki and our whānau.”

Smith said the kura, along with whānau, had contacted the council to begin discussions about installing a crossing but had repeatedly been told funding was unavailable.

“At this stage myself and parents have contacted the council to try and start the process,” she said.

“All the replies have come back saying there is no funding.”

Despite this, she said the kura remained open to working collaboratively on a solution.

“We’re even just asking for a sit-down hui,” she said.

“As Māori, he iwi kōrero tātou – we believe in sitting down together and talking things through.

“Our kura would be willing to contribute if that’s what it takes. We just want to work out a plan together.”

‘We don’t want to wait any longer’

The kura would ideally like to see a marked pedestrian crossing installed outside the school.

“But we would honestly take anything that helps keep our tamariki safe,” Smith said.

“If that means barrier arms or another safety measure, that would still be better than what we have now.

“Something that means our teachers don’t have to walk into the middle of the road to stop traffic.”

Procter said the call for a crossing was not about criticising council spending, but about ensuring the safety of the community.

“Our main goal is haumaru mō ngā tamariki me ngā whānau,” she said.

“We’ve reached the point where we’re done waiting.

“We don’t want to wait until something bad happens again.”

Smith echoed that kōrero, saying the kura did not want another accident to be the catalyst for change.

“We don’t want another incident before something is done…That could be a catastrophe for one of our whānau,” she said.

“And we’re not willing to wait until that happens.”

Ensuring that students and whānau can cross the road safely every day is their top priority.

“Our main goal is haumaru mō ngā tamariki, mō ngā whānau. And I feel council have heard that,” she said.

“We’ve come to a point that we’re done waiting, and we don’t want to wait any longer.”

Council response

A spokesperson for Gisborne District Council said the council had received five requests for a pedestrian crossing outside Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Uri a Māui, but funding constraints meant the project could not proceed at this time.

Journey infrastructure manager Dave Hadfield had previously assessed school safety needs across the district.

“In 2018 council carried out a district-wide survey of schools for safety measures,” Hadfield said.

“Schools were prioritised based on criteria including the size of the school, posted speed limit, traffic volumes and the surrounding environment.”

Hadfield said council had undertaken planning work in 2022 and developed recommended safety improvements for the site, including parking changes, a crossing and new footpaths.

However, he said those plans were put on hold after Cyclone Gabrielle shifted regional transport priorities.

“Regional transport funding is now focused on cyclone recovery and maintaining and renewing the existing road network,”

He added that keeping children safe around schools was a shared responsibility.

“Council works to support safe road environments around schools through road design, traffic management and education,” Hadfield said.

“Keeping tamariki safe around school gates is a shared responsibility between schools, the Ministry of Education, police, parents, caregivers, drivers and the wider community.”

“As a result, council is not currently in a position to commit funding toward new crossing infrastructure at this location.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/12/kura-kaupapa-maori-calls-for-safe-crossing-to-protect-tamariki-and-whanau/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Māori advocates and health leaders say the government’s move-on orders push homelessness out of view rather than addressing the conditions driving it.

The government announced in February their plans to amend the Summary Offences Act to give police the power to direct people to leave a public space for up to 24 hours.

Breaching an order risks a fine of up to $2000 or a three-month jail term.

The powers would apply to rough sleeping, begging and behaviour deemed “disorderly,” and could be used on anyone aged 14 and over.

However, advocates and public health leaders have slammed the change as “mean-spirited” and “missing the mark”, saying it will harm those already struggling.

Hāpai Te Hauora Chief Operating Officer, Jason Alexander (Ngāpuhi), said you can’t “enforce your way out of homelessness”.

“Using move-on orders may reduce what is seen in parts of the CBD, but it does not reduce homelessness. It shifts the problem without addressing why people are there in the first place.”

He said homelessness is a public health issue, not a public nuisance.

“In public health, we use the analogy of the sign at the top of the cliff rather than the ambulance at the bottom,” he told RNZ.

“With this, it’s sort of like they’ve already fallen off the cliff – that’s them being homeless – and now the police are coming along and asking them to move over a bit because we don’t want to see it.”

He said it ignores the real question: “Why are people homeless?”

“A lot of our homeless suffer from addiction. A lot have mental health issues. They end up on the streets because of things like domestic violence, trauma, or just financial stress,” he said.

“We’re still in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. Those who were in crisis before have been pushed over the edge into homelessness.

“We should be asking what is pushing people into homelessness, not how quickly we can move them away from view.”

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith previously said the government was not criminalising homelessness.

“What we’re criminalising is a refusal to follow a move-on order,” he said at the time of the announcement.

“Our main streets and town centres have been blighted by disruption and disturbance. Businesses are declining as some bad behaviour goes unchecked. It needs to stop.”

Alexander rejected the framing of the change as primarily about public safety.

“That framing almost suggests our homeless whānau aren’t part of the public. They’re part of us as much as anyone else is. It’s not really concerned with their safety by just moving them on.”

In Aotearoa, Māori are significantly over-represented in severe housing deprivation statistics. According to Stats NZ, while Māori make up about 17 percent of the population, roughly 31 percent of those experiencing severe housing deprivation are Māori. More than a third are tamariki under 15.

In some rohe (regions, the disparity is higher. Māori make up 84 percent of those severely housing-deprived in Gisborne and 61 percent in Northland.

Chief Executive of Hāpai Te Hauora, Jacqui Harema, said the figures pointed to deeper structural inequities.

“When Māori are consistently over-represented in homelessness statistics, it tells us the housing system is not delivering equitable outcomes,” she said.

“The response needs to focus on the drivers of homelessness.”

Alexander said those drivers included uneven access to stable housing, income security and rental opportunities. Research has also identified discrimination in the rental market, where applicants with Māori-identifying names receive fewer responses from landlords.

“When housing becomes scarce and expensive, those already facing these barriers are the first to feel the pressure.”

When asked about 14-year-olds being subject to move-on orders, Alexander said most children sleeping rough were not there by choice.

“A 14-year-old usually isn’t out on the street through their own choice. They’re being impacted by a raft of issues – family violence, housing instability, poverty, breakdowns at home,”

“Telling them to move on is not resolving these issues. It’s just kicking the can down the road.

“If you’re 14, you should be enjoying your childhood, not worrying about day-to-day survival on the streets.”

Alexander said the focus should shift.

“We should be asking what is pushing people into homelessness, not how quickly we can move them away from view,” he said.

“Let’s not just shift them along because it’s inconvenient. Let’s do everything we can to give them a hand up.”

Youth advocates warn of ‘criminalising’ homelessness

National youth homelessness collective Manaaki Rangatahi said the new powers would make an already deteriorating situation worse.

Pou Ārahi Bianca Johanson said at least 112,500 people in Aotearoa were severely housing-deprived and many regions lacked supported youth housing.

“Move on orders do not move youth on to safety. They move them further underground, further from help, and further from any real chance at stability,” Johanson said.

“These are not adults who have fallen on hard times. These are our young people.”

Johanson said trust was central to its outreach work and enforcement risked destroying that relationship.

“When the state responds to a young person’s visible presence in public with a fine, it sends one message: you are a problem to be moved, not a person to be supported.”

Manaaki Rangatahi is calling for a fully funded National Youth Homelessness Strategy and “duty-to-assist” legislation requiring agencies, including Oranga Tamariki, to support those experiencing homelessness into suitable housing.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/06/move-on-orders-shift-the-problem-as-advocates-warn-of-harm-to-those-already-struggling/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Moriori Imi Settlement Trust allege the Crown has reneged on a promise to remain neutral on issues of tino rangatiratanga between them and Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri over the Chatham Islands.

Descendants of both Moriori and Ngāti Mutunga were in the Court of Appeal in Wellington on Wednesday; the public gallery was so packed that a separate courtroom had to be set up with an Audio Visual link so everyone could watch the proceedings.

The Moriori Imi Settlement Trust is seeking a declaration of whether it would be unlawful for the Crown to enter into a settlement with Ngāti Mutunga that recognises or transfers interests in a way that conflicts with Moriori’s rights.

In November 2022, Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri and the Crown signed an Agreement in Principle (AIP) to settle the iwi’s historical Treaty Claims.

The AIP outlines a broad settlement framework, including recognition of Crown breaches of Te Tiriti and acknowledgement of Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri mana and tino rangatiratanga.

Chief Negotiator for Moriori Maui Solomon said they asked the Crown to remove the wording of tino rangatiratanga, but that request has so far been refused.

“During our negotiations with the Crown… we started in 2016, we signed our settlement in 2020, the Crown undertook to us that they would remain neutral, as between Moriori and Ngāti Mutunga on issues of mana whenua and tino rangatiratanga. They have not done that.”

Moriori would have preferred to settle out of court, he said.

Chair of Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri Iwi Trust Monique Croon said it’s disappointing to be in court over an issue they believe is straightforward.

“With tino rangatiratanga and our grievances, they are with the Crown, not against Moriori. And so we’ve always supported Moriori to have a settlement. And again we like to engage and we like to be part of sharing, working through that shared redress.”

Moriori settled their historic Treaty claims with the Crown in 2020, but the settlement did not include reference to mana whenua or tino rangatiratanga.

Croon said that choice was made by Moriori during negotiations with the Crown.

“Within their legislation in their deed [Moriori]… have agreed to have shared redress with Ngāti Mutanga. At this stage, we still haven’t been able to get together, engage with Moriori on that shared redress… we all share whakapapa. We live on a little island of Wharekauri where we’re a small population, and it’s important that we continue working together,” she said.

Solomon said although the Treaty was signed and applied mainly in New Zealand to Māori, the Crown claimed sovereignty over the Chatham Islands so Moriori have the same rights under the Treaty. “Wherever they’re claiming rights, they also assume the obligations,” he said.

“We don’t oppose Ngāti Mutunga having a settlement, per se. Even though we say, well, actually the Crown already rewarded Ngāti Mutunga by giving them all our land in 1870 by applying mainland custom of take raupatu.”

Chair of the Moriori Imi Settlement Trust Tom Lanauze disputes that Ngāti Mutunga took tino rangatiratanga from Moriori when they invaded the islands in 1835.

Even when Moriori people were slaughtered and enslaved there were still Moriori people on the Chatham Islands, he said.

“We didn’t lose our tino rangatiratanga by any means, in my view. And it’s still there today.”

In June 2025 the Moriori Imi Settlement Trust applied for interim orders in the High Court that the Crown not take any further action in progressing the Ngāti Mutunga Treaty claim to the extent that it would recognise that Ngāti Mutunga holds tino rangatiratanga over the Chatham Islands.

Justice La Hood dismissed the application, finding that “interim relief is not reasonably necessary to preserve Moriori’s rights.”

In December 2025, Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri and the Crown initialled a Draft Deed of Settlement.

Croon said the next step for the settlement is to have it ratified by iwi members.

“Once we have the vote or the support, then we’ll be looking at signing the deed about [the] middle of this year.”

A spokesperson for Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Paul Goldsmith said he was unable to comment as the case is before the courts.

The Court of Appeal judges have reserved their decision.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/05/moriori-accuses-crown-of-not-being-neutral-on-issues-with-ngati-mutunga-over-chatham-islands/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Whānau from Ruapuke Island near Bluff have, again, won customary marine title (CMT) over the waters surrounding Te Ara a Kiwa/Foveaux Strait – the first claimants to do so under stricter rules.

In a judgement released on 26 February, the High Court found the group met the revised legal tests introduced by the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Amendment Act.

The Ruapuke Island Group had previously won CMT in late August 2025, following an eight year application process through the High Court.

At the time, Rick Fife of the Topi whānau, said the he was “extremely pleased” with the decision because it affirmed the connection the various Ruapuke whānau have with their takutai moana.

However, their win coincided with introduction of new rules, effectively making it harder for Māori to win customary marine title. The rule changes were also retrospective, meaning any court decisions issued after 25 July 2024 would be void and need to be reheard.

Despite that, the Court concluded that the claimants held the specified area in accordance with tikanga continuously since 1840, and had exclusively used and occupied the takutai moana without substantial interruption.

The evidence presented to the Court included generations of customary harvesting of kaimoana, seasonal mahinga kai practices and active stewardship of the environment through conservation and kaitiakitanga.

Ailsa Cain of the Kīhau whānau said the decision affirmed what Ruapuke whānau had always known.

“The Amendment Act asked the Court to apply new and more restrictive tests and consider all the evidence again. We are grateful that the Court has once more recognised our whakapapa our tikanga, and our uninterrupted relationship with these waters since before 1840.”

The Court found activities like commercial fishing did not amount to a substantial interruption of customary use and occupation, and had not prevented whānau from continuing their customary practices or exercising kaitiakitanga.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Kaiwhakahaere Justin Tipa congratulated the whānau on the outcome.

“Despite the government changing the law and forcing them back to court to face much stricter tests, their unbroken connection to these waters has now been recognised for a second time.” he said.

“This victory is significant, but we remain deeply concerned for other whānau who now have to fight much harder for their own recognition. Changing the law to raise the bar has put an unfair and unnecessary burden on whānau, hapū and iwi. It also risks shutting out whānau altogether whose whakapapa and tikanga connections are just as strong as those of Ruapuke.”

The law changes prompted sharp protest from Māori around the country, including Northland iwi Ngātiwai and Ngāti Manuhiri who are challenging the amendments in the High Court.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/05/high-court-recognises-ruapuke-island-marine-title-again-after-revised-legal-tests/

Source: Radio New Zealand

One hundred and fifty shearers and woolhandlers representing 27 countries were welcomed to Masterton with a pōwhiri, which kicked off the 2026 Golden Shears.

The pressure at this year’s competition, which runs from Wednesday to Saturday, will be a bit higher as it coincides with the World Premier Shearing and Wool Handling Championships, which were last hosted in Wairarapa in 2012.

Woolhandler Joel Henare (Te Aitanga a Hauiti) is going for a third World individual woolhandling title and a 12th consecutive Golden Shears Open Woolhandling title.

“This is the Olympics in the shearing world and just anyone who’s good at this and takes it to another level, they’ll be here, you know, putting on and displaying these skills,” he said.

New Zealand has one of the highest standards of sheep shearing and wool preparation standards in the world, with the quality of wool preparation as the backbone of that standard, but the rest of the world is catching up, he said.

“Eighty percent of our industry is predominantly Māori… The sheep first came to Tairāwhiti in 1769 with James Cook. So, that’s how long sheep have been around. And we’ve been preparing the wool fibre to fabric market for the world.”

The championships are centred on the Masterton War Memorial Stadium, but some early stages are being held in a marquee across the road in Queen Elizabeth Park, as organisers cope with a programme of 29 World Championships and the annual Golden Shears event – over 600 competitors in total, with more than 6000 sheep to be shorn.

Pou Tikanga of Rangitāne o Wairarapa Mike Kawana said Golden Shears has been a part of the area for a long, long time.

It’s always a great time for local whānau to come together and be a part of a kaupapa that brings people from all over the country in most years, but this year, bringing people together from all over the world, he said.

“Our Māori whānau around here are very apt and very skilled in all aspects of the shearing world and I have my own connections as well. My dad was a shearer and some of my uncles, of course, so it’s in the blood for many of us.

“So, exciting to have occasions such as this where we see people from all walks of life and all over the whenua, all over the motu, and all over te ao nei, hui mai mō te kaupapa.”

Kawana said the Māori community in Wairarapa has often had a part to play in the Golden Shears over the years in different aspects, but the local whānau are always pleased to be able to be a part of the occasion.

It’s been an exciting start to 2026 for Wairarapa with local kapa haka group Te Rangiura o Wairarapa taking out first place at the Ngāti Kahungunu regional kapa haka competition in Waipukurau in February, he said.

Te Rangiura o Wairarapa will represent the region at Te Matatini 2027.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/04/its-in-the-blood-for-many-of-us-wairarapa-welcomes-the-world-to-the-world-shearing-champs/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A group of Tūhoe kaumatua say plans to remove the supervisory jurisdiction of the Māori Land Court (MLC) over many post-settlement governance entities (PSGE) will deny Māori access to justice and accountability.

The government is proposing legislation gives PSGEs the choice to be exempt from sections 237 and 245 of Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 – which give the MLC jurisdiction over trusts, to the High Court.

Cabinet signed off on the proposal in 2025 following a ruling from the Supreme Court in 2024 that meant Te Uru Taumatua (TUT), the settlement entity for Tūhoe, was subject to jurisdiction of the MLC.

In 2019, Tūhoe kaumatua Paki Nikora, a staunch critic of TUT, started legal proceeding against the PGSE over its election processes on behalf of Te Kaunihera Kaumātua o Tūhoe.

Nikora died in 2023, aged 73, but the legal battle continued, culminating in the Supreme Court’s ruling.

In a statement, counsel for the Kaunihera, Paul Harman, said the proposed Bill overruled that decision.

Harman implied the proposed bill showed how “far” the Crown and TUT were prepared to go to “override access to justice”.

“It weakens the rule of law when governments make legislation in such haste.” he said.

“We went to the Māori Land Court because Te Uru Taumatua had no meaningful dispute resolution process. This is one of several failures of its Trust Deed, with its election processes being another… all that remains is a High Court application, and I suggest that is too expensive for most Māori.”

Harman claimed the proposed Bill would effectively remove independent judicial oversight and deny Te Kaunihera Kaumātua o Tūhoe and other Māori due process and legal recourse.

In a statement to RNZ, Te Uru Taumatua chief executive Kirsti Luke said the Supreme Court’s ruling made “no real sense” for reality of iwi or PSGEs.

“It was never the Crown or iwi’s intent in reaching settlements, and enacting them in legislation, that the Māori Land Court would have any subsequent jurisdiction over iwi’s self-determination.

“The court acknowledged the situation, that its interpretation created, should be fixed by Parliament, and that is also the course of action we and other iwi support.”

A cabinet paper shows 42 of the country’s 73 PSGEs have formally requested exemption from the court’s oversight

In a statement, Minister for Māori Crown Relations Tama Potaka said the government recognised that PSGEs undertook important responsibilities on behalf of their Iwi.

“Many continue to do so in a diligent and professional way, with strong support from their members and uri.” he said.

“It is important to be clear, however, that a PSGE is not synonymous with the Iwi itself. An is an Iwi. A PSGE carries out defined roles and responsibilities on behalf of Iwi under its trust deed and settlement arrangements, but it does not define the identity or mana of the Iwi.”

Potaka said the proposed legislation reflected the engagement had with PSGEs across the country and the considerations of the Supreme Court had been carefully taken into account.

“This work has not arisen suddenly. Discussions have been underway for some time, including through the former Te Arawhiti structure, and have involved detailed consideration of how best to provide certainty within the PSGE framework.”

“It is also important to emphasise that matters relating to the structure, accountability and leadership of PSGEs ultimately sit with Iwi members. Where Iwi members believe change is needed, whether amendment or replacement of governance arrangements, there are established pathways within trust deeds and Iwi processes to do so. Those are decisions for Iwi to determine.”

Potaka said draft legislation was still being worked through and would be introduced “in due course”.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/04/government-moves-to-strip-maori-land-court-powers-over-pgses/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Three emerging Māori researchers leading innovative projects to improve cancer outcomes for whānau Māori will receive this year’s Māori Cancer Researcher Award.

Their research range from exploring how papakāinga living can strengthen the practice of Rongoā Māori, to developing next-generation immunotherapies with fewer side effects, to enhancing genomic tools that more accurately predict treatment responses for Māori and Pasifika patients.

This is the fifth year for the awards, which are a partnership between Te Kāhui Matepukupuku o Aotearoa (Cancer Society New Zealand) and Hei Āhuru Mōwai Māori Cancer Leadership Aotearoa.

This year, two PhD scholarships and a master’s scholarship have been awarded.

Rongoā Māori practitioner and researcher Robbie Richardson (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Hauiti ki Rata, Te Whanau a Apanui, Ngāti Tuwharetoa) is completing her doctoral research through Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuārangi.

Her work focuses on her whānau’s ancestral home, Mangamāhoe, exploring how papakāinga living and Rongoā Māori practices can help protect whānau and whenua in the face of PFAS contamination from the neighbouring Ohakea Air Force Base – chemicals that persist in the environment for more than 150 years and have been linked to increased cancer risk.

For Richardson, the impact was real not just on her community but within her whānau as her father passed away from cancer a year after residents were first informed of the contamination.

“So there we are with my dad not even 200, 300 meters living from the Ohakea Air Force Base all his 83 years, only having eaten from the land, drank the water from the land, animals such as like chooks and all of that sort of stuff, and all of the vegetation and the crops, that’s all he’s known. He very rarely had takeaways.”

The revelation of PFAS contamination was a shock to community with the Base taking a long time to engage with the papakāinga, she said.

“It’s what they call a forever chemical, so it stays, it moves in water, it doesn’t dissipate in water. So the impact to the whenua is 150 years plus that it will then be able to move out of the so-called red zone.”

Richardson has been practising Rongoā Māori for more than 15 years, among the goals for her research include building evidence for Rongoā Māori within cancer prevention and survivorship frameworks and supporting whānau and hapū health sovereignty in contaminated environments such as at Mangamāhoe.

Her father lived on the papakāinga all his life and Richardson said her research will look into the ways papakāinga living facilitates the expression of rongoā.

“[Rongoā has] been missing since the 1907 Tohunga Suppression Act. So we’ve had this backwards and forwards…. all the medical kind of questions around it, when in fact all it’s simply about is bringing out ease, whatever that might be.”

Ariana Drabble’s (Te Arawa – Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Raukawa – Ngāti Koroki, Ngāti Toa – Ngāti Kimihia) PhD research at the University of Otago Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka will look to tap into and better understand the power and potential of Natural Killer (NK) cells.

“Our immune system can be reprogrammed to destroy cancer cells, but current CAR T cell therapies for blood cancers often fail when tumours evade detection or suppress T cell activity. NK cells have powerful cancer-killing abilities and a safer profile. By combining CAR T cells with CAR-engineered NK cells, we aim to harness their complementary strengths. NK cells can guide and support T cells while reducing factors that shut down immune responses.”

In the last five years, Drabble’s mother, grandmother, an aunt and uncle have all received cancer diagnoses.

“Each diagnosis was not just a moment of grief, but confirmation that this mahi is not simply academic, but it is a commitment to my whānau, my tūpuna and generations to come,” she said.

Katya Hutton (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa, Ngāti Kura) from Waipapa Taumata Rau The University of Auckland is undertaking her Master’s looking at the impact of using Māori genomic information to improve the accuracy of cancer immunotherapy predictions for Māori and Pasifika patients.

Current biomarkers guide treatment decisions and predict treatment responses but rely on global DNA reference databases that lack representation from Indigenous populations. If we don’t take into account the natural variability among underrepresented communities when using DNA reference databases to interpret genomic biomarkers, there is a risk that we lose the precision in our precision health approach.

“This could lead inappropriate care for them,” Hutton said.

“My goal is to accelerate precision care and precision heath research to ensure that every patient in Aotearoa – no matter what age, sex, ethnicity or ancestry – is getting the best care they can get.”

Cancer Society director of research and innovation, Christelle Jolly said the awards empower Māori researchers to pursue the questions that matter most to their communities.

“Each of these projects has the potential to directly improve cancer outcomes for whānau. This is why investing in a strong and supported Māori cancer research workforce matters so much.”

Hei Āhuru Mōwai Tumuaki (chief executive) Anna-Marie Ruhe said the organisation is immensely proud to stand alongside these emerging researchers whose work carries the aspirations of their whānau, hapū, and iwi.

Their projects demonstrate what becomes possible when mātauranga Māori and scientific innovation are supported to flourish, she said.

“These awards are not just an investment in individual researchers – they are an investment in a future where Māori leadership in cancer research is strong, visible and transformative. When Māori are empowered to ask the questions that matter to our communities, we move closer to a health system where whānau Māori can access care, treatments, and solutions that truly work for them.”

As part of the award, each master’s scholarship will last for one year and will comprise:

• Stipend of $35,000
• Tuition fees of $10,000

Each PhD scholarship will last for three years and will comprise:

• Stipend of $40,000 per year
• Tuition fees of $10,000 per year
• Tikanga contribution of $10,000 across the course of the award

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/02/wahine-maori-acknowledged-with-awards-for-cancer-research/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Māori women are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system, getting worse the further they progress through the system, a new factsheet from the Ministry of Justice shows.

The factsheet found while wāhine Māori made up 15 percent of people in New Zealand they made up 44 percent of all women who were proceeded against by police, 49 percent of women entering court, 66 percent of women remanded in custody, and 71 percent of women sentenced to imprisonment.

Awatea Mita is the Director of the National Youth and Justice Coalition, she said the factsheet confirms what wāhine Māori and advocates have been saying for years, that the deeper wāhine Māori move into the justice system, the more punitive the response becomes.

“So this is not simply about what someone did, it’s about how the system reacts in bail decisions, in risk assessments, in sentencing outcomes.

When disparity grows, the further someone moves through the system, that tells us something structural is happening. The system is not neutral, it is amplifying inequality.”

Analysis in the factsheet, Reducing the disproportionality of Māori in the criminal justice system: wāhine Māori, concluded that while some of the disproportionality – that is the over representation of one group in relation to others – can be explained by factors such as seriousness and history of offending, a proportion remains unexplained, particularly at later stages in the system.

Discretionary decisions made within the justice system, and therefore within the system’s control, contribute to this unexplained proportion.

By the time wāhine are sentenced to imprisonment the unexplained disproportionality is at its highest, at 54 percent.

The factsheet notes that if all of this unexplained proportion was addressed, this could decrease the number of wāhine Māori sentenced to imprisonment up to 149 each year.

“When more than half of the imprisonment gap cannot be accounted for by offence seriousness or history, we have to ask what else is driving those outcomes.

We also need to remember that offending history reflects cumulative contact with police and courts. So that exposure is not evenly distributed… there’s not a neutral starting point.

The report shows us that the disparity is not just about what people do, it’s about how the system escalates its response over time,” Mita said.

While factsheet itself doesn’t use the word racism, Mita said the escalating pattern of disparity can’t be explained by behaviour alone.

“When disparity grows at each stage of the system, from police to court to remand to imprisonment, and when a large portion of that gap remains unexplained, we have to look at structural bias.

This isn’t about individual prejudice, it’s about how bail frameworks operate when someone doesn’t have stable housing. It’s about how risk assessments interpret prior history. It’s about how discretion is exercised. So if a system repeatedly produces unequal outcomes for one group, then we need to examine the structures producing those outcomes.”

Reducing disproportionality of Māori in the criminal justice system overall is a priority strategic goal for the Ministry of Justice, with wāhine Māori as the focus of the first stage of this work.

“This is partly because ensuring equitable outcomes for wāhine Māori have broader positive impacts on whānau and communities, including improved youth outcomes and reduced pressure on other government support systems,” Ministry of Justice’s General Manager, Sector Insights, Rebecca Parish said.

“Ongoing analysis will help us monitor the impact of this work, and how best to continue addressing the disproportionality of wāhine Māori in the criminal justice system.”

Mita said it is a positive step that the Ministry is tracking and acknowledging the disparity, but describing disparity is not the same as reducing it.

“Meaningful reform would include strengthening bail access, reducing custodial remand for low level offences, investing in Māori led alternatives and shifting resources towards prevention and whānau support. Monitoring the problem is a start, but structural reform is the real test,” she said.

Mita said she would like to see fewer wāhine Māori entering custodial remand for non-violent offences and wāhine Māori designing and leading the solutions.

If Aotearoa is serious about justice, then a shift from managing disparity to preventing it is needed and that means investing on whānau well-being rather than relying on carceral escalation, she said.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/27/maori-wahine-over-represented-in-criminal-justice-system-and-gets-worse-the-further-they-go/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Marlborough iwi now has responsibility for managing a historic coastal site including the area of the first Polynesian settlement in Aotearoa.

Te Pokohiwi o Kupe – or the Boulder Bank Site Historic Reserve – includes the Wairau Bar, where Wairau River meets the sea at Cloudy Bay in Marlborough.

Rangitāne o Wairau and the Department of Conservation signed an agreement on Friday at Ūkaipō – the Rangitāne Cultural Centre – appointing the iwi as the Control and Management Authority for the reserve.

It is recognised as one of the oldest and most significant archaeological sites in New Zealand, often referred to as the birthplace of the nation and the site of the first large Polynesian settlement in Aotearoa around 1250-1300 AD.

The area remains a public reserve but Rangitāne o Wairau is now responsible for day-to-day management and governance.

Rangitāne o Wairau kaiwhakahaere matua Corey Hebberd said Te Pokohiwi had been out of the iwi’s hands for generations and the agreement was a major step forward.

“Not just symbolically but practically – because it gives us the responsibility and authority to properly look after this place for the future,” he said.

“This agreement is first and foremost about control and management. It confirms who is responsible for looking after Te Pokohiwi and it gives Rangitāne the authority to actively manage this place, not just advise on it.

“It enables decisions to be made locally, consistently and with a long-term focus while ensuring the reserve remains protected.”

The appointment means Rangitāne would lead decisions relating to cultural heritage protection, environmental restoration, management of activities and the overall direction for the reserve.

The Department of Conservation would continue to support the partnership.

Hebberd said the signing marked the end of a detailed and lengthy process.

Department of Conservation operations manager for south Marlborough Stacey Wrenn said the agreement was a practical and effective approach to managing the nationally significant site.

“Placing control and management responsibility with Rangitāne recognises the depth of their connection to Te Pokohiwi and supports stronger, more durable outcomes. DOC remains closely involved working alongside Rangitāne to ensure the reserve is protected and managed in the interests of all New Zealanders.”

The Crown had committed to developing a Conservation Management Plan for Te Pokohiwi as part of Rangitāne’s Treaty settlement. The plan had not yet been completed despite significant work.

Te Pokohiwi is a coastal environment subject to erosion, sea level rise and storm impacts.

Rangitāne has been working with scientific partners, including Earth Sciences New Zealand, to better understand the risks.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/27/marlborough-iwi-rangitane-o-wairau-now-responsible-for-te-pokohiwi-o-kupe/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Ngāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana and the Crown have signed a Deed of Settlement for historical claims dating back to 1866.

Representatives from the Crown, including Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith and the various hapū of the rohe gathered at Tuai to commemorate the settlement process finishing after six years of negotiation.

In a statement, Goldsmith said the settlement included an agreed historical account and redress for historical breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi which caused significant harm to generations of Ngāti Ruapani.

The settlement package includes:

• $24 million in financial redress;
• An undivided half share of Patunamu Forestry Ltd;
• Four commercial redress and two cultural redress properties; and
• Approximately 12,000 hectares of land added into Te Urewera.

Ngāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana chair Kara Puketapu-Dentice said Waikeremoana, like other parts of Te Uruwera, carried a complex and deeply painful history.

“The hapū of Waikaremoana and the wider Te Urewera experienced invasion, displacement, and the systematic loss of land and livelihood.”

The settlement also included an apology for the Crown’s breaches, including those inflicted during its campaigns against the tipuna of Ngāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana and other Tūhoe hapū in Waikaremoana.

These included attacks on kāinga at Te Kōpani in 1866, the displacement and starvation of hapū, and the coerced acquisition of around 178,000 acres of land under threat of confiscation which left the hapū virtually landless by 1895.

Puketapu-Dentice said he welcomed the opportunity to formally acknowledge his people’s history and bring closure to a process which required them to repeatedly recount those experiences.

“It allows us to recognise the truth of what occurred, while creating space for future generations to focus on rebuilding and renewal.”

Around 3500 descendants of Ngāti Ruapani, Ngāti Hinekura, Whānau Pani, and Ngāi Tarapāroa hapū maintain their connections to Waikaremoana and the wider Te Urewera, remaining centred around Waimako and Te Kuha marae.

“This settlement provides a foundation for the hapū of Waikaremoana, alongside other Tūhoe hapū, to restore their presence and strengthen their communities,” Puketapu-Dentice said.

“We have much to rebuild over the generations ahead. This settlement enables us to focus on restoring our relationship with our whenua, supporting our whānau, and ensuring that Waikaremoana continues to sustain future generations.”

In a statement, Minister Goldsmith said the long-awaited agreement acknowledges the past and looks to the future.

“It is a privilege to sign the Deed and deliver the Crown apology to Ngāti Ruapani in their rohe,” he said.

“A key feature of the settlement is the return of Crown-owned land into Te  Urewera, reflecting a central aspiration of Ngāti Ruapani to restore their connection with Te Urewera.

“While no settlement can fully remedy the injustices of the past, this agreement represents an important step forward. I hope it will support Ngāti Ruapani to achieve their cultural and economic aspirations for future generations to come,” Goldsmith said.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/26/ngati-ruapani-mai-waikaremoana-and-crown-sign-deed-of-settlement-for-historical-claims/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Education union NZEI Te Riu Roa is questioning why the consultation period on a draft Māori curriculum is only half as long as its English counterpart.

“It’s pretty much an impossible deadline, really. I mean, you cut the deadline in half, we’ve got till April to respond,” president Ripeka Lessels said.

The Ministry of Education opened the draft Te Marautanga o Aotearoa framework and Year 0-10 wāhanga ako (Pūtaiao, Waiora, Toi Ihiihi, Hangarau, Ngā Reo, and Te Reo Pakeha) for consultation from 28 January until 24 April 2026.

However, consultation on the Year 0 to 10 draft New Zealand Curriculum opened three months earlier in October 2025. The consultation period closes at the same time as Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, alongside the New Zealand curriculum, make up the national curriculum statements, Lessels said.

The shorter consultation timeframe would impact on teachers, who would have less time to digest and respond to the changes, she said.

“It’s gonna be a challenge, unless [teachers] have subject specific association members beside them to actually take them to go through and read through that stuff, so that they can, you know, download it all and be able to respond appropriately.”

Lessels said the government and ministry had prioritised speed over experience and it would lead to less kaupapa Māori embedded in the curriculum.

“I think this is the only chance that most of the sector will get, is to respond in this time frame … but that’s true also of the New Zealand curriculum, there’s been very little consultation with the subject association around curriculum development since the beginning of this government.”

This curriculum would also apply to the majority of Māori students who were not in Māori medium education, but who Lessels said had a right to be taught in their language regardless of their choice of school.

“What’s good for Māori is good for everybody … tamariki Māori are still part of the education system in Aotearoa New Zealand and we still, and the government, still have an obligation to improve education, as they are trying to do, improve education for all tamariki Māori.”

Lessels said the previous curriculum documents had a lot of input from Māori in the education sector, but input on the new draft had been limited.

“I’ve been going through the Te Reo Rangatira document, and, you know, it reads very much like the Pākehā document, and that’s because this minister has pretty much demanded what it should look like, and that they should be the same. You can see that, it’s in the document, you can see that in the Te Reo Rangatira document, the step stages and phases in that document kind of mirror the New Zealand curriculum, the Pākehā document.”

In a statement the Ministry of Education said it was its intent to release the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa side by side.

“We decided that further work was needed on the draft framework and Years 0-10 wāhanga ako of Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, to make sure we released the best possible version for New Zealanders to consider and provide feedback on. This is an important milestone in Māori-medium education, and we needed to get it right.

“We recognise that kura and schools using Te Marautanga o Aotearoa have a shorter consultation time period than those using the New Zealand Curriculum, so we are making it possible for kura, schools and whānau to provide feedback through multiple avenues. In addition to the feedback forms for the framework and each wāhanga ako, we are also:

– holding webinars that anyone can attend and provide feedback at

– arranging workshops through Kahu Pūtoi to discuss the drafts, and

– holding local workshops through the Curriculum Advisory Service.

“The final National Curriculum is expected to be released in mid-2026, and we intend the final versions of both curricula to be available together at that time.

“We believe the three-month consultation period, supported by multiple feedback opportunities, provides enough time for kura and schools to engage with the draft Te Marautanga o Aotearoa and provide feedback. The consultation closes on Friday 24 April 2026.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/19/impossible-deadline-union-questions-shorter-consultation-period-for-maori-curriculum/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington iwi Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika has expressed profound disappointment at the ongoing discharge of untreated wastewater at Moa Point.

In a statement, the iwi said as tāngata whenua it held an enduring responsibility to protect the whenua, wai, and moana of Te Upoko o te Ika (the Wellington region).

“This discharge is unacceptable and reflects a serious failure of infrastructure and governance. This situation requires accountability and a strengthened system,” the statement read.

The chair of Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika Te Whatanui Winiata told RNZ there had been an emotional reaction from iwi members, many who have expressed an “enormous amount of disappointment” at the disaster.

“We are a group of people and an iwi that holds our taiao in high regard. In fact, we believe that we are a part of the taiao. We are indigenous forms of the Māori flora and fauna and the taiao is our whanaunga. We have whakapapa, we have ingoa, we have stories that connect us to the taiao. So it’s been quite a cry of hurt, disappointment and anger.”

The iwi were looking forward to the findings of an independent review into the treatment plant failure and expected to be a part of the solution, he said.

“One message that we often share as members of the iwi there in te Upoko o te Ika, in Te Whanganui-a-Tara is that we are the constant. We don’t have the opportunity to come and go. It’s our responsibility and the expectation on us is to remain, to maintain our presence within the region to maintain the mauri of our region and to play our role as kaitiaki of the region. And I think this type of situation we’re in is a clear message that we need to be a part of the decision making. Because we will always, as responsible kaitiaki and members of the tākiwa, we will always make a decision that has the region and it’s best interest at heart.”

Winiata said the iwi had previously raised concerns about wastewater infrastructure at Moa Point and in the Lower Hutt suburb of Seaview.

“For many years, treated and untreated sewage has been discharged at Moa Point and at Seaview and in particular into one of our awa called Waiwhetū … and we have been voicing our opinion for many years from a tikanga Māori perspective which dictates that sewage stays on the land and never enters our waterways.”

The iwi said the public deserved clear and timely information and it expected transparency regarding the cause of this failure, the repair timeline, and the environmental impacts.

“Recent leadership changes at Wellington Water reflect the seriousness of this situation and reinforce the need for strengthened governance. Historic infrastructure decisions made without kaitiakitanga at their core have directly contributed to the environmental and cultural harm we are now witnessing.

“Taranaki Whānui is actively engaged in governance and the transition to the future water entity, Tiaki Wai, and will continue to exercise its responsibilities as mana whenua at all levels to protect and restore the long-term health and mouri of our moana.”

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

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A new study has linked food insecurity experienced by Māori to the ongoing consequence of colonisation rather than the result of individual choice or lifestyle.

The study, led by postdoctoral health researcher Dr Madeline Shelling (Ngāti Porou) from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland draws on in-depth interviews with Māori kai experts.

It documents how land loss, environmental degradation, restrictive laws and the marginalisation of mātauranga Māori have dismantled Māori food systems across generations.

Shelling said the research began with a visit to her whānau in Te Araroa, where despite the community taking pride in the food they could source from the land they were still counted as being food insecure.

“It came out quite clearly in my PhD that the way that we assess kai security or food security in Aotearoa is not representing Māori values, traditions or knowledge because it’s a questionnaire made up of eight questions that are all related to how we access food by having money and obviously in te ao Māori and many indigenous cultures around the world, having money is not the only way that you access kai, and it never has been.”

The outcomes of food insecurity in Aotearoa, as a wealthy, settler colonial nation, are expressed in obesity, diabetes and non-communicable and diet-related diseases which come with stigma, she said.

“Having great access to bad food is a problem that is faced by indigenous people in settler colonised countries all over the world it’s a very common pattern and yet individual choice is still blamed and so I’m just really passionate about moving away from that stigma that there is a choice because there often is very little choice.

“What if fish and chips is the only option in your area that you can access? What if you work two jobs and you don’t have transport and the only place you can walk to is McDonald’s?

“People who have the privilege of choice don’t understand what it’s like to not have that choice.”

Shelling said reducing food insecurity to individual choice ignores systemic issues faced by people in lower socio-economic areas and it excludes people who have experienced colonisation.

“Colonisation is such an important determinant of food insecurity and it has to be acknowledged so that we can remove some of these stigmas about individuals having choice over their food, when really their environment, their intergenerational trauma, their lack of intergenerational wealth through colonisation has all contributed to their inability to choose certain types of food and particularly healthy foods.”

The study identified four key impacts of colonisation, loss of land, erosion of rangatiratanga, marginalisation of Māori knowledge and impacts on health.

“It’s hard to get healthy kai when you don’t have healthy whenua that you can access,” Shelling said.

To solve the problems of food insecurity there is a responsibility from the top down to implement policy and there’s also from the bottom up, what whānau decide to do day to day and what they are able to do, because for a lot of whānau choosing where to buy food is not an option, she said.

“I want to make it really clear that Māori are trying to do something about it and Māori don’t want to be reliant on fast foods and takeaways.

“If we truly understood how colonisation impacted our food systems, we would not call it playing the victim it’s about understanding truly the effects of colonisation on every aspect of our life and for my research in particular on food systems and then where do we go from there and that’s a responsibility that we have for tangata tiriti and tangata whenua for doing it from the top down and the bottom up.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/14/its-hard-to-get-healthy-kai-when-you-dont-have-healthy-whenua/

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

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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.”

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– 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.

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– 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/