
Oscar Kightley: Waking up to the Dawn Raids

The call for more radical leadership

Lusi Faiva: ‘Freedom is acceptance of who I am’

The Happy Bankrupt

Moana Jackson: Portrait of a Quiet Revolutionary

Judge Frances Eivers: A voice for all our children
"What we need to do is put our mokopuna, our children first, and at the centre of all our decisions. Only then can we make this a better place for them." — Judge Frances Eivers, Children’s Commissioner.
Nanaia Mahuta: We need to look to each other first
“I have seen far too much positivity in New Zealand to be pulled down by nameless, faceless critics who want to create a perception that is designed to do nothing else but bring out the worst in people.” — Nanaia Mahuta.
Judge Lope Ginnen: We have a place in the law, as ourselves
“I learned that the pursuit of excellence includes embracing our own identities, as Pacific women and as Māori women. That we have a place in the law, as ourselves.” — Judge Lope Ginnen on what she learned working in an all-wāhine Māori and Pacific law firm.
Sione Tu‘itahi: Centring Indigenous knowledge and leadership
“Many people now recognise that Indigenous knowledge offers solutions that will help humanity as a whole. We’re at a point where Indigenous knowledge is marching from the margin to the centre.” — Sione Tu’itahi.
It’s time for a nuanced whānau conversation
“It’s time we engaged our communities. A mature and informed conversation about the impacts of colonisation and religion on our community is overdue.” — Andre Afamasaga on the Manly Sea Eagles jersey debacle.
It’s not Pacific ‘culture’ to be homophobic
“If there is a generalised way to describe our traditional Pacific culture, then we can say it was supportive and reverent of our diverse communities. Our culture was inclusive.” — Emmaline Pickering-Martin.
Moana Maniapoto: Small steps, big kaupapa
“The new EU FTA locks the door on Māori being able to get new IP laws to stop the misuse of our taonga in Aotearoa and the EU.” — Moana Maniapoto.
Confronting climate change means sharing power
“Sea level rise is a slow-moving disaster for our Māori communities. They’re disproportionately at risk because our wāhi tapu, our urupā, our marae, are generally in low-lying coastal areas, or in river valleys.” — Dr Shaun Awatere.
A respectfully curious approach
“Any time we’re on the world stage, it’s Māori things front and centre. As if those things are in a strong and healthy state. As if we have a bicultural country.” — Keri Opai.
Talking about Pacific and religious values
“Fa’afafine, same-sex relationships and transgender people existed throughout the Pacific well before Christians arrived.” — Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann.
Pepeha for non-Māori
“I believe that it’s inappropriate for non-Māori people to use the same pepeha as tangata whenua. It is not a matter of mere opinion, of like or dislike, of right or wrong: it simply doesn’t make sense. It is a matter of indigeneity.” — Keri Opai.
Sisters on and off the field
“For as long as anyone can remember, the team has always had a chant of ‘Sisters!’ It’s often heard before a game or at the end of the halftime huddle, but . . . there was a time when it was shouted with little meaning.” — Rikki Swannell in 'Sevens Sisters'.
Finding my taha Māori through Matariki
“What I ended up learning about Matariki and the maramataka has changed my life.” — Olive Karena-Lockyer, planetarium presenter and educator at Stardome Observatory.
What’s in a Māori name?
“I carry my name with pride. It’s a very public signifier of the reclamation of my whakapapa, and mine is the first Māori name in our direct line in 186 years.” — Atakohu Middleton.
Threads of red
"I can’t stand it any longer. I send away for a DNA test. It arrives in a little white packet, and I’m excited. I tell my husband that I’m sure I have Māori in me." — Aimee Milne.
Mozzies: We don’t cease to be Māori once we’ve left
“As ‘Mozzies’, our Māori identity is fluid and multi-faceted. We are Indigenous, we are Pacific peoples, we are largely urbanised living in a colonial world. There are many nuances to our identity.” — Ngāwaiata Henderson.
The right words to say
“I sometimes find myself on the speakers’ paepae at a formal hui. It’s always a daunting thing. Never to be taken for granted. Always to be reflected on.” — Tainui Stephens.
Ensuring access to te ao Māori
“We’re here to pass on our mātauranga Māori, and to lift each other up.” — Āwhina Kihi.
When the reo settles into your heart
“Once you’ve started to kōrero Māori with your kurī, there’s no going back.” — Siena Yates.
I’m not plastic — I’m Sāmoan
“It made the racism that came with being Sāmoan in Australia even harder to deal with. On one hand, I didn’t cut it as a real Sāmoan. On the other, I was being stereotyped as dumb and a troublemaker.“ — Lefaoali’i Dion Enari.
He maimai aroha: Anaru Robb
“Anaru’s ability to speak Māori committed him throughout his adult life to holding the government to task about its obligations to te reo Māori and Māori rights.” — Wena Harawira.
What is spectrum, and why should Māori care?
“Māori want to ‘own’ spectrum, not to set up their own separate network, but as an incentive for existing telcos to enter into commercial deals with Māori.” — Andrew Robb.
The spectrum — the battle to reclaim a taonga
“It’s been a 30-year journey to get to this point, and the knowledge that has driven us is the knowledge that the spectrum is a taonga.” — Piripi Walker.
Susana Lei’ataua: Spreading her wings
“Am I being truthful? Am I being respectful? Am I prepared? And am I responsible? Those are the four things that really guide me.” — Susana Lei’ataua, RNZ Pacific's News Editor.
Linda Waimarie Nikora: The power and purpose of kapa haka
“Te Matatini is one of those rare moments. It’s our opportunity to be completely and unashamedly Māori.” — Professor Linda Waimarie Nikora.
Whina — doing justice to an icon
“Love is the final word of the film — a transcendent love of place and time, as much as of the heart and of each other.” — Tainui Stephens.
Celebrating Māori writing and storytelling
“Our most complex and important questions, theories, and ideas were shared and discussed by some of our greatest creators in te ao Māori.” — Chloe Fergusson-Tibble on Kupu, the Māori writers’ festival.
Mōteatea: A window into the world of our ancestors
“They give us not only a glimpse into the customs, the language and beliefs of the time, but also an insight into our ancestors’ way of thinking and their emotions at the time of composing.” — Tenga Rangitauira.
Memories of a master
“No one knows exactly when it happened, but once these migration voyages ended, the practical application of celestial navigation was quietly lost to the people who would become known as Māori.” — Jeff Evans, in ‘Reawakened’.
Uncovering the stories my family forgot, about a past still haunting Aotearoa
“The instruments used to displace the querulous Irish ... are the same as those subsequently deployed to deal with the troublesome Māori." — Professor Richard Shaw.
Assaulting the ears of government
“Whina and the other League women are remembered for ‘assaulting the ears of Government Departments’, particularly on issues related to housing and mortgages.” — Dr Aroha Harris.
The pain and anguish of a street name
“The name von Tempsky is a reminder of a past filled with despair and anguish and injustice. We did not want to have a name on our street which commemorates that man’s hand in the invasion of Waikato.” — Tukoroirangi Morgan.
RADIO WAATEA
E-Tangata and Radio Waatea are longtime friends, and support each other's kaupapa.