“There is no airstrip. To get to Takū, you book a passage on the supply ship — if it’s sailing. Last year, not a single ship visit was made. Cut off from outside supplies, the islanders relied entirely on their traditional food sources: fish, coconut and occasional taro.”
“I think some of it is well-meaning and paternalistic stuff. But it’s racism nevertheless. So it doesn’t matter whether it’s malicious or accidental or just ignorant racism. It’s still racism. And the outcome is just the same.”
Despite their war service during the First World War, Māori soldiers returning home found that little had changed in post-war New Zealand.
“People don’t realise that we’re descended from scientists. They just think we’re a bunch of indigenous people who fluked getting to places.”
We're "a changing, creative and responsive people whose culture isn’t fixed or static". — Sean Mallon, Senior Curator Pacific Cultures, Te Papa.
“I see moko as a reflection of our society. We’re now at a stage where we can celebrate who we are as Māori people.”
“The further you get into medicine, the less important the science becomes. What’s more important is the social activism side.”—South Auckland paediatrician Teuila Percival.
“Those who cannot truly and freely choose should be protected by the state, not exposed to greater risk of death.”
The upcoming Crown commemorations of James Cook’s voyages are "part of a wider narrative in which racism has been denied more often than it has been acknowledged".
"Israel Folau’s demise is one that I can’t fully celebrate as a gay Pasifika person."—Seuta'afili Dr Patrick Thomsen.
“The number of far right groups or individuals isn’t important. It is their potential to harass and intimidate, and to be violent.”
"Let’s be honest. Both sides of politics abandoned the provinces last century. The Provincial Growth Fund is the first injection of capital in a long time."
“Many of us have lost our languages through no fault of our own. Let’s remove the shame from reclaiming our languages.”
“My hunger for the past came out of a need to process my own grief, rather than a desire to study the history.” — Hepi Mita, on making a film about his mum, Merata.
“Of first importance, the river. Of second importance, the river.”— Kennedy Warne on the Whanganui River.
"Being an outsider because of my personality quirks was an identity I could embrace. Better than being defined purely by my lack of culture and language. Give me Crazy Pālangi over plain Pālangi any day."
When I hear a child saying she hates Pākehā, it doesn’t sit right with me. It’s the same when I hear people referring to the “bloody Pākehās”.
The good news is that the country seems to be in a process of recovery — and for Pākehā, discovery — of the Māori conceptual world.
I grew up in a predominantly Pākehā town in the South Island. My mother is Pākehā. My father, who...
“I believe absolutely that the Kura Kaupapa Māori Aho Matua is the way forward for us to revitalise and regenerate ourselves as Māori.”
Being a good reo speaker doesn’t necessarily qualify you as a good reporter.
"Our goal is that all Māori children should have access to their language and be able to live as Māori in Aotearoa."
“Everyone has their say in a democracy. But mostly the people who have their say in public life in New Zealand are white.”—Steve Braunias
Our stories create the lens through which we see ourselves and our neighbours and the world around us.
“Our women look at people as if everyone is important and everyone belongs to one of the communities they serve.”
“Let’s put aside those old battle tactics of divide and conquer, a tool that has pitted us against each other."
“It's okay to be a bad writer in your first draft because a lot of the craft of writing is in the rewriting.”
“I always used to think that the work we were doing was adding another brick to the wall — the wall of rangatiratanga.”—Robyn Bargh, founder of Huia Publishers.
"I was so lucky to grow up with my 23 cousins. We all liked to joke around. I was used to banter and coming back with one-liners. And being a smartarse."
Comedian James Nokise, an Edinburgh Fringe festival veteran of seven years, on why Rose Matafeo winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award last week is a very big deal.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, the wars of the 1860s, the subsequent land confiscations, and the invasion of Parihaka in 1881 were still fresh in the memories of many Māori.
"Colonialism had done little to develop or educate those people it ruled, so for many Pacific — especially Polynesian — people, leaving their homelands was often seen as one of the few routes to economic and social advancement.”
What should we call the series of conflicts that raged between the Crown and groups of Māori from 1845 to 1872?
“This was bigger than just land ownership. It went to the heart of how Māori and Pākehā would live together.”
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