NZ’s slide into sinister Pacific power play
“No amount of investment in military platforms, and alignment with the AUKUS nations and their beliefs, will deny our demography and geography: we are part of the Pacific.” — Dr Marco de Jong.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Nov 5, 2023 | Comment & Analysis, PIJF
“No amount of investment in military platforms, and alignment with the AUKUS nations and their beliefs, will deny our demography and geography: we are part of the Pacific.” — Dr Marco de Jong.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Nov 5, 2023 | PIJF, Reflections
“I’ve been mistaken for an orderly, a cleaner, and the girl who collects the food menus. I’ve even walked into rooms where patients tell me they’re waiting for the doctor because they assume that can’t be me.” — Dr Vanisi Prescott.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Oct 8, 2023 | PIJF, Reflections
“We can’t just be about teaching and learning, as the Education Act dictates. We’ll never break the cycle for our young people if we don’t go outside our little school box. I can’t say that enough.” — Soana Pamaka, principal of Tāmaki College.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Sep 24, 2023 | Comment & Analysis, PIJF
“For New Zealand, and other Pacific nations, reducing our options to choosing sides between two imperial nations devalues our sovereignty and place as peoples of the Pacific.” — Dr Marco de Jong on AUKUS.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Sep 3, 2023 | PIJF, Reo
“The English were willing to borrow and absorb. When they saw a word that they needed, they took it and made it their own. They even took Polynesian words, like tapu (taboo) and tatau (tattoo).” — Sefita Hao‘uli, Tongan language advocate.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Aug 27, 2023 | Comment & Analysis, PIJF
“If Japan is so convinced of the scientific safety of its nuclear waste then it can go ahead and dump it in Tokyo. Their waste has no place in our Pacific.” — Dr Marco de Jong on the release of nuclear waste from Japan’s damaged Fukushima plant.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Jul 23, 2023 | Arts, PIJF
“Lisa, and many of the characters in Inky Pinky Ponky are so close to my heart. Their moments and storylines, good and bad, are inspired by my own experiences, and also those of my trans sisters.” — Amanaki Prescott-Faletau.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Jul 2, 2023 | PIJF, Reflections
“It seems that after a run of good years, we’re moving backwards. And all the progress that had been made by those who came before me for equity and inclusion of Pacific is set to be undermined and undone.” — Petra Satele, PhD student and assistant lecturer at Massey.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Jun 11, 2023 | PIJF, Reflections
“For Māori, the MAPAS agenda is grounded in our rights as tangata whenua. We have the right to become doctors in our own land, even in western medicine.” — Dr Elana Curtis.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Jun 4, 2023 | Comment & Analysis, PIJF
“Everyone has the potential to hold these biases. It’s one thing to point that out, but it’s another to ask people to change their attitudes and behaviours.” — Dr Flo Chan Mow and Anton Blank.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | May 7, 2023 | Comment & Analysis, PIJF
“It seems that for every new infectious disease outbreak we have to relearn these lessons and we have to develop workarounds for systems that are designed for majority populations.” — Dr Suitafa Debbie Ryan.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | May 7, 2023 | Comment & Analysis, PIJF
“Honestly, the clinic’s a slap in the face. It’s a disgrace. It makes no sense to pour millions more taxpayer dollars into that type of clinical setup because it just won’t solve the problem for families.” — Dave Letele.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Apr 9, 2023 | Kōrero, PIJF
“My dad was pretty disappointed when I told him that I wanted to do media and broadcasting. He thought I’d be an accountant. But he was so proud of me later on.” — Marama T-Pole.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Mar 26, 2023 | PIJF, Reflections
RSE “thrives because New Zealand is wealthier than any of its RSE partnership countries, and the monetary payoffs for workers and their communities are simply too great to say no to.” — Teuila Fuatai.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Mar 26, 2023 | PIJF, Reflections
“I was scared we’d get accused of money laundering because he was sending so much money home. It was double or triple what I earned at the bank — and that job was a good income at home.” — Noellina Meltenoven, an RSE worker from Vanuatu.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Mar 5, 2023 | Comment & Analysis, PIJF
“In some ways, it’s an addictive situation to be in. There’s nothing quite like having an assured income, each and every year, and to be paid better than your local counterparts in Tonga.” — Sefita Hao’uli on the social impacts of RSE.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Oct 23, 2022 | Comment & Analysis, PIJF
Over a working lifetime, the average income gap between Pākehā men and Pacific women amounts to nearly half a million dollars. For Pacific men, it’s $400,368. “That’s a lot of money our families and communities are missing out on.” — Teuila Fuata’i.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Sep 25, 2022 | Arts
“Making siapo is a traditional skill, and if new people don’t learn, then we lose that knowledge and artform. I know of only four other siapo artists.” — Jasmine Tuiā.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Jul 10, 2022 | Kōrero, PIJF
“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.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Jul 3, 2022 | Kōrero, PIJF
“Being Sāmoan and fa’afafine are the most powerful things about me.” — Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | May 1, 2022 | Kōrero
“We had eight kids and our parents in a four-bedroom house with one bathroom . . . So my floor plans were a way of imagining how we could all live together comfortably.” — Dr Charmaine ‘Ilaiū Talei.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Apr 17, 2022 | Kōrero, PIJF
“There’s a clear mismatch between what people really need and what’s going out during Covid. Especially for a lot of families that we work with — those who aren’t well connected to health services or a GP clinic.” — Penina Ifopo.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Mar 20, 2022 | Kōrero, PIJF
“I was growing up angry at the system, and angry at everyone else for making me poor and brown. And I also had a lot of family responsibilities.” — Ronji Tanielu.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Feb 27, 2022 | Kōrero, PIJF
“I love that ability to explain things to people. Especially when English is a second language, like it is for me . . . That’s been really important in our Covid work.” — Dr Api Talemaitoga.
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | Apr 12, 2020 | Kōrero
“Many Sāmoans living in New Zealand are regularly exposed to the language and culture — but they may only have a superficial understanding of it.” — Lafi Mafaufau
Read MorePosted by Teuila Fuatai | May 12, 2019 | Kōrero
“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.
Read MoreSign up for our email newsletter and get the latest E-Tangata stories sent straight to your inbox.
SubscribeE-Tangata is an online Sunday magazine specialising in stories that reflect the experiences of Māori and Pasifika in Aotearoa.
We welcome submissions or inquiries to:
editor@e-tangata.co.nz
Sign up for our email newsletter and get the latest E-Tangata stories sent straight to your inbox.
SubscribeYou can support E-Tangata’s kaupapa by contributing through PressPatron. With your help, we can tell more Māori and Pacific stories.