“While I get the fact that an Indigenous party is a positive reflection for New Zealand about how we've evolved, if that Indigenous party is never in a position to exercise influence over the way that the country can go, then what is the point?” — Nanaia Mahuta.
“There are always people who say I’m not a proper Māori because I don’t go to a marae. Well, the way I look at it, some people have a religious faith but don’t necessarily go to church every Sunday.” — David Seymour.
“When the specialist tells me that I have only three months, I tell him: ‘Don't talk to me like that again. I'm not going anywhere. I just want to know the plan. Let's talk about the plan.’” — Dr Ēnoka Murphy.
“I've always felt that, within the Māori world, there were never absolutes. I mean, yes, most people were heterosexual. But, in my community, there were also extraordinary, visionary, talented, astonishing human beings who defied convention.” — Ngahuia Te Awekotuku.
“I look at a number of politicians who are out of that place, and how relieved, relaxed and vibrant they look. So, you know, it's all in front of me.” — Nanaia Mahuta.
“We’re obviously from different backgrounds . . . But the one thing all the players align on is people working hard, making sacrifices, and being committed to their tasks.” — Tomasi Cama, All Blacks Sevens head coach.
“In just a little over a year, I'd gone from being promoted to area commander to sitting at home. Disabled and without a job. Which is trauma enough after so many years in a position, but on top of that, I was seriously ill, and I thought I could die.” — Vitale Lafaele.
“We've got a small cohort who are scared of what tangata whenua represent, and what rebalancing our world represents. This is, sadly, the fear-mongering and race-baiting that we've been responding to.” — Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
“We’ve been a self-governing country for more than 60 years, but we were imposing on ourselves all these ways to become more western and become more Pālagi rather than finding value in our Indigenous culture, customs and values.” — Professor Leilani Tuala-Warren.
“I can remember every fatal accident I’ve ever been to. And every murder. Date, time, and place. And, when you go past a particular place where something serious has happened, the memory just comes back.” — Sergeant Wayne Panapa on his 50 years in the police.
“We’ve defied history because we're the only support party, who, in a term of government, have increased our support. So I think that shows that we've kind of got it right.” — James Shaw, Greens co-leader.
“With aerospace engineering, there’s this high degree of attention to detail associated with making the aircraft safe for flying. It’s not like you can park an aircraft on a cloud and change the tyre.” — Flight Lieutenant Donté Kelly.
“We've always been strongly both Māori and Tongan. You sometimes hear people talk about being half this and half that, but I've never felt that. I've always felt Tongan and always felt Māori.” — Don Mann.
“Being in the gang gave me an identity. No one questioned who you were. No one cared if you're Māori, Pālagi, or Pacific. You were a Mobster, that's who you were. You were just one of the bros.” — Warwick Godfery.
“We get these political conversations on the continuum of ‘hard on crime’ or ‘soft on crime’. But it tells you nothing about whether the response is appropriate for what we're dealing with.” — Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.
“I never ever heard that word ‘kaitiakitanga’ as a kid even though our parents practised it. It was like a daily routine.” — Environmentalist Kevin Prime.
“When I see environmental destruction, ecological destruction, I’m compelled to do something. When I see human rights violations, I just feel aroha for people because, what's that saying? ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’” — Catherine Murupaenga-Ikenn.
“What's improved is that we've got these pockets of Māori excellence . . . But our general health sector is just as racist as it's ever been, and our outcomes are just as poor as they've ever been.” — Dr Jacquie Kidd.
“There is an unfortunate sort of baiting that's going on at the moment that isn't going to take us forward as a country. It’s using Māori as a political punching bag. I hate that style of politics.” — Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.
"Banning gang patches is pretty pointless when you’ve got it on your face. What's that going to achieve?" — Warwick Godfery, Kawerau district councillor and former Mongrel Mob member.
“I’d never really been on a marae until my dad died. I was so out of my depth. I didn’t know how to do anything from an ao Māori perspective. And it’s only now that I'm learning it.” — Bic Runga.
“My academic journey has been a way for me to find my way back to the Pacific, and to make sense of my own history — that history of European settlers from all sorts of places who lived in Sāmoa.” — Peter Brunt.
“I use my privilege and my strengths as an academic, as a professor, as a nurse, as a māmā, as a wahine Māori with a disability, to provide and amplify evidence on things that are important.” — Professor Terryann Clark.
“There are still so few Māori in the university, relatively speaking, that we can often feel alone, and yearn for more Māori life.” — Te Kawehau Hoskins, Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori, Auckland University.
“I knew that I’d got into med school with one of the lowest marks in the class, but I finished med school in the top 20 per cent, which I think goes to show that supporting Māori into med school is important.” — Dr Sue Crengle.
“As you get older, you tend to choose your battles. But, back then, we probably jumped in on everything. Then, as we all got kids and mortgages, our responsibilities toned us down a bit.” — Hilda Halkyard-Harawira.
“There were so few Māori or Pacific students. We felt we had the ‘future of the people’ on our shoulders. We stood out — and we were determined to do well.” — Dr David Tipene-Leach on being a medical student in the 1970s.
“There is a history of recognising the particular rights of Māori in this country, but I don't believe giving Māori something necessarily takes anything away from the rest of us.” — Local government minister Kieran McAnulty.
“I think we're at a really interesting period in colonial history in New Zealand, where people are going to have to take stances more and more on what they believe in and where they stand.” — Rob Campbell.
“I want to use my privilege to serve something that’s bigger than me. And I want to use my voice to highlight that some of us have so much, and we don't realise that it's at the expense of other people and communities and also of Papatūānuku.” — Brooke Pao Stanley.
“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.
“We must never, ever take it for granted that freedom comes on the silver platter. It does not." — Titewhai Harawira.
"The Māori karanga sound is designed to activate the sorrow that you hold inside yourself. That's the function — that's the purpose." - Te Raina Ferris.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to cook around the world, and in some flash restaurants too. But no one is doing hāngi — even though it’s the oldest dish in Aotearoa, it isn’t available.” — Rewi Spraggon.
“I probably get way more respect from the generations older than me. It's more like my own peers who are saying: ‘Man, do you think you're old enough to be doing this?’” — Far North mayor, Moko Tepania, aged 32.
“We want safe drinking water, reliable stormwater systems and clean beaches. Doing nothing is not an option.” And also: “Why give in to racism?” — Simon Wilson on Three Waters.
“You couldn’t avoid the prejudice. No Māori were allowed upstairs in the theatre. Swimming time for us Māori children was on a Friday when the water was dirty and needed changing.” — Phyllis Bhana.
“Often, people will say ‘Kia ora’ to me now — and it’s particularly lovely for me when kaumātua acknowledge me and people start talking to me in Māori.” — Ariana Tikao on the response to her moko kauae.
“We’d play in a whānau touch tournament every year just after Christmas. And it’s so competitive. Honestly, you have to pretty much trial for our team because there's so many of us and they’re cut-throat as.” — Black Ferns Stacey Fluhler.
“We could become huge, multibillion-dollar organisations, but if no one speaks te reo and there’s no tikanga and no marae, how can we say we've succeeded?” — Tama Potaka.
“It's such a personal story for so many people in these communities who were badly treated by our government for over a century.” — Tearepa Kahi, on the film 'Muru', which we wrote and directed.
“We want it to be normal that Māori success happens because of the policies and procedures that are in place within our universities, not in spite of them.” — Professor Suzanne Pitama.
"We’re dealing with a societal good that is much broader than an individual focus.” — Professor Joanne Baxter, dean of the University of Otago Dunedin School of Medicine.
“Being part of a fight that led to a young, innocent Māori man being exonerated and compensated for the injustice that had happened to him. There could be no greater reward.” — Michael Bennett.
“One thing I've learned through all of my experiences is that fairness is really important. No matter what the rules say, people respond to being treated fairly.” — Adrian Rurawhe, the new Speaker of the House.
"If a kid comes to school and they’re hungry, then feed them. If they’re cold, give them a jacket. We’re not here to judge parents.” — Karl Vasau.
“There's only one New Zealand cricket team to play for, and I had to keep my mouth shut, keep my head down and score runs, and hopefully win games of cricket.” — Ross Taylor.
“There’s a tendency for health policy to lump minority groups together, and then come up with generic solutions which don’t necessarily work for us.” — Dr Siro Fuata‘i.
“We do have a society that hasn't grown enough to recognise that we are not a minority, that we are not one of a number of groups, that we have a particular status by virtue of being mana whenua.” — Prue Kapua.
“There was no one discussing it. There was no one feeling bad about it. . . We just had to deal with it on our own as a bad memory. And that's why I wanted to write it.” — Oscar Kightley on the Dawn Raids and the play he wrote about it.
"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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
"Being Sāmoan and fa’afafine are the most powerful things about me.” — Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann.
“There are other things in the world more important than rugby. In New Zealand, that might not be true, but, in my world, being around family and friends and enjoying each other’s company is more important.” — Sir Wayne Shelford.
“I simply thought the system could be improved. That was the lesson I learned from my experience as a youth advocate, and I took that idea with me when I joined the bench.” — Chief District Court Judge Heemi Taumaunu.
“The League was really uplifting for us because we got to understand that we weren't alone. We got to hear of other women and how they managed to work through problems.” — Dr Hope Tupara, new president of the Māori Women's Welfare League.
“I definitely respect my opponents, but I don’t think I’m a good loser. I love winning too much to enjoy a loss, although I know that our losses have made us a better team.” — Sarah Hirini, Black Ferns captain.
"If I look back at my childhood, I resented everybody for a long time. But later, you develop a strong sense of affection for your foster families. As an adult, I have nothing but aroha for my foster parents." — Ron Mark.
“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.
“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.
“I'm well if my family is well, and my family is well if I'm well. Also, as a people, we are all well if the land is well.” — Dr Waikaremoana Waitoki, clinical psychologist.
“We run it by Māori, for Māori — but we take everyone with us. And I figured, if we could do that locally, what if we could pull it off nationally?” — Riana Manuel, who heads the new Māori Health Authority.
“If there's anything that has marked the survival of our people and the flourishing of our people, it's that we have been brave.” — Moana Jackson.
"Our ancestors were basically the masters of the isthmus and the masters of the Kaipara, and within six or seven generations, that changed to us being paupers. It has a significant impact." — Ngarimu Blair.
“Manaakitanga, kotahitanga, whanaungatanga — all those values are what make me Māori. It's all-encompassing. My wairua is Māori, my whakaaro are Māori, my reo is Māori.” — Oriini Kaipara.
“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.
“When a coach shows that he has my back, and when he treats me like family, I'll go out on the field and do anything for him, for the brothers, for the team.” — Ardie Savea.
“One privilege that comes with being senior is that I see my job as creating an environment where discrimination is just not acceptable.” — Margie Apa, chief executive of Health NZ.
"I’ll bring the experience of being a mum into my research, just like my experience of being wahine Māori, of being Tūhoe, of growing up Wairoa." — Dr Sarah-Jane Paine, who leads the 'Growing Up in New Zealand' study.
“Both Māori and Pākehā students . . . see that, to be an effective person in this country in the 21st century, they need to be competent in te ao Māori, te reo, and tikanga Māori.” — Metiria Turei.
“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.
“It’s become especially important to me over my career as a paediatrician to learn how to be a good Treaty partner.” — Dr Jin Russell.
“I’m not a product. And the reason why I'm so anti that is because my tīpuna on my African side were listed as assets, as chattels, on asset registers.” — Teremoana Rapley.
“We have to disrupt. And it’s not just disrupting the government or the United Nations. It’s about disrupting our thinking and disrupting the everyday choices in our households.“ — Qiane Matata-Sipu.
“I do want to encourage Māori and Pasifika writers to not feel as though they have to be an activist voice in a traditional sense — they can be subversive in another genre.” — crime writer JP Pomare.
“I’ve always felt it’s important for us to clearly articulate what the trajectory of justice should look like for our people, and to articulate for ourselves our vision of justice.” — Tina Ngata.
“The dean of the law school, Jack Northey, said: ‘Listen here, Mr Williams. They tell me you’re bit of a rugby player, but as far as law school is concerned, you’re going to have to shape up or ship out.’” — Bryan Williams.
“My first cousins are as close as brothers and sisters, and we still are a loving extended family. It just so happens that I remember changing their nappies.” — Governor-General, Dame Cindy Kiro.
“What I hear from all quarters now is this: ‘We must prioritise children. We must prioritise our mokopuna. And we’re up for that challenge.’” — Andrew Becroft, former Children's Commissioner.
“I’ve grown to appreciate the place of law in today’s society, but I struggle with its monoculturalism.” — Tamasailau Sualii-Sauni.
“I would spread the word to anyone. If you ever have trouble with the old fella, you better go and get it checked out.”
“There’s nothing like an incurable brain disease to give you focus, Dale. I feel lucky that I’ve been able to continue to work.” — Toa Fraser.
“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.
“Although I was harassed by other kids when I was growing up, today, with the internet, it’s much worse. What we say to people face to face tends to be more moderate.” — Donald Hollingsworth, on growing up takatāpui.
“I most certainly believe there is power and mana in the karakia that were performed. Our Māori spirituality is a big thing. It always has been and it always will be.” — Korohere Ngapo.
"For a long time, we’ve had more of a focus on equality in health, where the approach has been 'one size fits all'. But we know that this doesn’t work for our Pacific and Māori communities. What's needed is an equity focus." — Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu.
“Everything I say in the courtroom now is said in te reo Māori. All of my submissions, every written document.” — Alana Thomas.
“I lived and worked in 30 countries, going around and around the planet trying to find out where I belonged. And, hey, the answer was right back where I started, where I am now in Te Puna.” — Tommy Wilson.
“You know, anyone’s success belongs to a whole island of people. That’s one thing that Mum taught us. Never forget that your success is dependent on every person connected to you — and who’s helped you.” — Leatuao Larry Tua’i-Lavea.
“I grew up as a young Sāmoan kid watching rugby, and Bryan Williams was my idol. . . . So there we had the first Sāmoan All Black who was also a lawyer, and I thought: ‘Man! That is really something.’” — Judge Mike Mika.
“It's really cool to see the narrative change, with people speaking up about their struggles — sharing all the different shapes and shades of ourselves, and not just talking about the things that are good.” — Sulu Fitzpatrick.
“Instead of Pākehā academics questioning the validity of mātauranga Māori, they ought to take note of how Indigenous researchers with a background in both science and mātauranga Māori conduct their research in a way that’s innovative and entrepreneurial.” — Dr Jonni Koia, molecular biologist.
“I grew up in Porirua. It was a very Polynesian upbringing — Sunday lunches with Nan at her house with taro and chop suey and that sort of thing.” — Monique Fiso.
“Black Power Movement was about us discovering, defining, and becoming conscious of our taha Māori and who we were as Māori — and being able to maintain that in our lives.” — Genesis Te Kuru White.
“My job is to create compelling alternatives to the policy failure and the market failure that continues to keep South Auckland poor.” — Tania Pouwhare.
“My pathway into the Mob wasn’t one of crime. It has always been one of: ‘How do we develop people?’” — Harry Tam.
“We demonise these guys, right? And then we've got reason to hate them. But when they try to do something for themselves, we're going to bash them again anyway. They can't win.” — Harry Tam.
“It’s only recently that we started to talk about ‘the Māori calendar’ — which doesn’t actually make sense. Because there’s over 500 of these calendars." — Rereata Makiha, an expert on maramataka and ancestral knowledge.
“It was just incredible to go back and lift our tūpuna out of the shadows, and to say: ‘These women, they were part of the story. So, let’s raise them up.’” — Amanda Malu, chief executive of Plunket.
“When we can show people how we're all connected, there will be more motivation to stand and fight as a region.” — Dr Emalani Case.
“Mainstream health hasn’t done wairua well, or whānau well. So we’ve developed our own Māori model of health care.” — Dr Lily Fraser.
“Sometimes we need to challenge the status quo and put forward our ideas so that we can shift the ground.” — Nigel Borell.
“No party member is interested in anyone else beyond Winston leading the movement and fighting the good fight in 2023.” — Shane Jones.
“They treated us poorly. But that was the only life I knew, so I thought things were fine.” — Bernie O’Donnell.
“I’ve fallen in love with what it means to be Māori.” — Tony Kemp.
“We have to treat every Pacific student as being precious because they are precious. And we should remember that each student is a connection to an entire community.” — Dr Sereana Naepi.
“What outsiders see as mobsters, I see as bros and the people I grew up with and could trust.” — James Papali’i.
“Rather than looking towards North America or Europe for inspiration, I took inspiration from Māori and Pacific ideas because that’s what I could relate to.” — Lama Tone.
“Both sides are saying: ‘We want to do it a different way.’ It's just no longer right to say evil nasty Crown, good angel iwi. It's not like that at all.” — Supreme Court judge Sir Joe Williams.
“As we embrace te reo Māori, as we embrace kaupapa like Matariki . . . we’re starting to indigenise Aotearoa.” — Che Wilson, Te Pāti Māori president.
“Moving back to the Coast, I found two things that would become the love of my life outside my family. One was East Coast rugby and the other was Radio Ngāti Porou.” — Bailey Mackey.
"Without the authority to practise kaitiakitanga, it’s all just talk. We need to have mana, but gaining mana isn’t what drives me. Restoring mauri is what drives me.” — Dan Hikuroa.
“It's up to us to keep fighting for our language and ensure its survival. Our language is essential to our identity as Māori.” — Reikura Kahi.
“You’ve got hundreds of years of research and development behind the wharenui that we see today. That doesn’t even take into account the building knowledge that our ancestors brought with them from Polynesia.” — Professor Deidre Brown.
“Weaving is my way of connecting my past and present with my future — that is, with my children and my mokopuna.” — Veranoa Hetet.
“I think what contemporary Pacific art tells us is what the truth of our reality is.” —artist-curator Ema Tavola.
“Even though our Māori asset base is now worth $70 billion, that doesn’t mean anything if our families, who are still the working poor, can’t look after one another.” —Traci Houpapa.
“We weren’t seeing true reflections of ourselves on screen. The reflections we were seeing on screen were nearly always driven by Pākehā. Mostly Pākehā men.” — Briar Grace-Smith.
“When you’re around those whānau and individuals who’ve been broken, at the heart of that brokenness is a lack of belief in how extraordinary we are as a people.” — Dr Ella Henry.
“No one was jealous when we had one-quarter of an acre. No one was jealous when we had the city sewer pipe spewing tiko and baby foetuses and amputated arms and legs right in front of our meeting house.” — Ngarimu Blair.
“Being a short-arse, I got bullied hard by people. So I had to learn how to move, to look after myself.” — Tame Iti.
“We need to acknowledge that this is a partnership that we can move further forward — and that there still needs to be an open-mindedness in government, and in the public at large.” — Claudia Orange.
“We were poor, man. Mum had multiple cleaning jobs, and she always told us kids to do the best jobs we could, no matter what it was. That message has stuck with me throughout my working career.” — Tania Sharkey.
“Tatau is having this visual reminder on your body to the long line of your ancestors, who you walk with every day.” — Tyla Vaeau.
“Law can be a tool for both justice and injustice.” — Dr Claire Charters.
"Before I got cancer, I wanted to be an All Black or a professional athlete." — Dr Neru Leavasa, GP and MP for Takanini in Auckland.
“Part of the challenge for non-Māori, particularly for Pākehā, is to understand that we are not a secular culture.” — Dr Hirini Kaa.
“It won’t mean anything if all it was is that one time we had that brown girl as president. There has to be more.” — Tiana Epati, president of the New Zealand Law Society.
“Dad knew that a better education could mean a better life. So he sent us to Carmel, and he was still paying off our school fees for decades after we'd left school.” — Barbara Edmonds, MP for Mana.
“One of the beauties of this Māori development portfolio is that it’ll give me an opportunity to help shape the future of Māori broadcasting.” — Willie Jackson, Minister of Māori Development.
"The fact of the matter is that tamariki Māori are far worse off than their non-Māori peers, and we know that racism plays a huge part in this.” — Glenis Philip-Barbara, Assistant Māori Commissioner for Children.
“Government agencies and various ministries seem to think that part of their role is to uphold their colonial power.” — Dr Rhys Jones.
“When you're a descendant, you have to accept your ancestors. The good and the bad.” — Ross Calman.
"When we had king tides at night, we’d have to put our mattresses on Mum’s bed and wait until the tide went down. And Dad would put the babies, asleep, in the plastic baby bath, and they’d just be floating on the tide."
“When you ask me whether I’m in parliament as a Māori? No, I'm a New Zealander lucky enough to have Māori in my background.” — Winston Peters.
“It's the Sāmoans living outside of Sāmoa who value and hang on to the vestiges of our Pacific culture and indigenous knowledge.” — Melani Anae.
“Overall, I think working at KFC has probably been the most formative experience of my whole life so far.” — Tamatha Paul, 23, Wellington City councillor.
“When Pākehā talk about 'long-term', they rarely mean it the way Māori do. We are multi-generational.” — Fletcher Tabuteau, NZ First MP.
“There's a kōhanga reo, kura kaupapa generation of us coming through who want something different for Māori. And many Pākehā have no issue with that.” — Rawiri Waititi, Māori Party candidate for Waiariki.
“The values we were raised with were to work hard and serve others. So you had to have a job. (Dad made sure I had an IRD number when I was six.)” — Kiri Allan.
“There's been a tendency to judge me by how I sound, how I speak, how I look. I look too Pākehā. I sound too Pākehā.” — Harete Hipango, National MP for Whanganui.
“I think it's right for us not to forget the times in Labour's history when they went with what was popular and lost sight of Labour's values.” — Arena Williams, Labour candidate for Manurewa.
“I arrived in Boston about three months before my family, and I thought: ‘Okay. The best way for me to meet people is to take my guitar and my squash racket.’” — Dr Shane Reti, MP for Whangārei and National's health spokesperson.
“I walk in a couple of worlds at the same time. If I’m in a Pacific situation then I’m obviously a Pacific Islander — and the same applies to the Māori context.” — Teanau Tuiono, Green Party List candidate.
It's important for us to look beyond the "artificial and nonsensical" demarcations imposed by early Europeans and see ourselves "as just one people connected at different levels through the ocean", says Professor Steven Ratuva.
“I never used it as a young fulla. I've tried it a couple of times as an adult. But it didn't do anything super exciting for me — so I don't use it myself.” — Manu Caddie, co-founder of Rua Bioscience, developers of medicinal cannabis.
"Probably 99 percent of what I talk about are things that my nan would hate." — Joe Daymond.
"I hope that Matariki can become a beacon for us . . . Why should we follow the northern hemisphere and the rest of the western world and celebrate the new year because that’s when they’re celebrating it?" — Professor Rangi Matamua.
“There are Pasifika families who want their daughter to succeed in medicine but she still has to teach Sunday school, cook food for their family, and look after the young ones — and those expectations aren’t realistic.” — Dr Collin Tukuitonga.
“When we say that we're struggling for Black lives, it's not just for Black people, it's for a different framework, a different system, a different future. A future that involves all of us.” — Angela Davis.
“There were laws here before the colonisers arrived . . . We had fully formed systems of law and social regulation.” — Khylee Quince.
"As a GP in Māngere, I soon realised that medicine wasn't the solution I was looking for. These people were coming in with problems that medicine, and my textbooks, couldn't solve.” — Dr Canaan Aumua.
“In my generation, many of us were brought up by our grandparents, especially if you were a mātāmua, or first born, as I was.” — Pou Temara.
“In our darkest time, with so much going against us in Pātea, our whānau created Poi E.” — Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
“I didn’t come from a legal family. And I didn’t know any lawyers, so it wasn’t as if, by osmosis, I’d taken a bit of that legal stuff on board. I was a blank page.” — New Family Court judge Robyn von Keisenberg.
“Despite well-intentioned health practitioners, the health system provides lower quality care for Māori.” — Dr Papaarangi Reid.
“The health system has to stop being racist and become a pro-equity, pro-Treaty system.” — Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen.
“We had a very practical Māori upbringing but not much in the way of Niuean or Scottish.” — Pero Cameron, head coach of the Tall Blacks.
“My journey into the Deaf world has been a true gift." — Alan Wendt, New Zealand Sign Language interpreter and language geek.
“As a foster parent, when you're sharing kai, sharing breath and sharing space, these are deep acts of love.” — Shayne Walker.
“When I take the clamps off the vessels and see the shrivelled-up grey kidney become purple and then pink and then pulsate with blood, nothing else I do beats that.” — Dr Lupe Taumoepeau.
“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
“As a defence lawyer for 32 years and trying all that time to keep people out of prison, it’s going to be tough, eventually, having to send someone to prison.” — New district court judge Denise Wallwork.
“When March 15 happened, one of our reactions was anger because we'd raised the alarm much earlier — and pushed and pushed. And nobody took us seriously.”
“I've always detected a growing level of smugness and snobbery amongst the woke leadership and I'm just never going to tolerate that.” — Shane Jones.
“Things need to change for our babies, children, and young people who are still in the system today.” — Ali'imuamua Sandra Alofivae
“It was just me and my mother. She was a single mum during this time, on the benefit. And she essentially educated me in Māoritanga, and herself at the same time.” — Dr Inia Tomas
“In spite of all the opportunities in the mainstream Pākehā education system, having access to native speakers of te reo Māori is much more beneficial.” — Peter Lucas Jones.
“Sometimes we don't appreciate what's right under our noses until we go away from home. Then we tangi weto for our reo. And that's the situation for some of our Aussie whānau.”
“My sister always said I was a natural nosey parker as a kid. She reckons I’m really in the best position to do the work that I do — and that’s asking questions.”
“'Whatever you do, remember, you’ll never be a Pākehā.' Everyone then wanted their children to grow up in a Pākehā way. Speaking English was the norm, the wanted thing."
“She'd say: ‘Ete, you're a Laughing Sāmoan, and if you start telling your story of how you were violent and what you did to overcome that violence, that would be really awesome.’” — Eteuati Ete.
“My greatest aspiration for the future of te reo is to have a mokopuna, so I can speak Māori to that mokopuna every day.”
"I saw parallels with an earlier process of gentrification which displaced communities — largely Pasifika — from Ponsonby, St Mary's Bay and Freemans Bay in the late 1970s to 1980s. That displacement has had ongoing ramifications for Pasifika people.”
“All the Māori students at Victoria wanted to be lawyers and accountants, but I only ever wanted to be a teacher.” — Sir Timoti Karetu.
“It's incredibly important, now more than ever, that we strive to become a more welcoming and compassionate nation."
“I thought: ‘There's nothing stopping me from doing this, is there? If I've got a Bible and a prayer book to help me, then, yep, I can do this.’”
“There’s a lot of ways that Māori design can be woven into a building. But I think the essential thing is that whoever holds mana whenua in that area is engaged in the process."
“Their idea was to send me to school to beat other kids up — and that didn't go down too well with the teachers.”
“Only Māori have Māori insights. There’s still the routine where other cultures think they can build things for us. But that’s a no. Kāhore.” — Hiria Te Rangi, CEO of Whare Hauora.
“This year, there’ll be another 4,000 convictions just for cannabis offences. Forty percent of those will be Māori. So I see decriminalisation and regulation as a way of reducing harm, particularly to Māori.”
“In filmmaking, the essence is collaboration. For something to be really good, there needs to be different perspectives, techniques and skills from lots of different people.”
“When I told Mum I was going to take Māori, she said: ‘Waste of breath.’"
“There are lots of silly excuses that people offer for why there aren’t more of us published. They say, for instance, that we don’t like to write. We aren’t storytellers. We’re not readers. But that’s ridiculous.”
“You do miss the brothers who've passed on. And you miss the vibe that they all brought to the gigs. You miss their mannerisms. You miss what made them individuals.”
“One of the reasons that many of the more vulnerable whānau turn to third-tier lenders and shop trucks is that they're treated nicely. They have things done for them, and aren’t made to feel stupid.”
“The whole system is set up to fail Māori and to force people to do deals where they may not be 100 percent behind it.”
“It may sound cheesy but joining the police felt like a calling.”
“Our Māori knowledge is thousands of years old. It ties in every element and aspect of the world — it can teach us a lot about the planet in this age of climate change and environmental sustainability.”
"Your pride in being Māori was always there. There was no great epiphany. No thunderbolt striking. It was how you lived your life."
“There was a really beautiful thing that happened during the filming. We had a change of heart which changed our head.” — Vea Mafile'o on learning to understand her father through the making of 'For My Father's Kingdom'.
“Being able to express myself as a Cook Islander through dancing and singing and teaching is still important for me.” — Caren Rangi.
“Everybody knows what it's like to be on a first date. Or have rude thoughts. And, as long as you're being honest, it can be funny.” — Kura Forrester, Billy T award winner.
“I always loved that little kids could watch bro'Town and not feel so stink about being poor.” — Oscar Kightley
“Look, if you do a deal with us, you can call us in 200 years' time and we'll still be here. Someone will pick up the telephone.”
“The city can eat you up. And I don’t think I’d be writing the music I write if I was living in Auckland.”
“There's value in going back to Pūao-te-Āta-tū. You've got to go back sometimes to go forward.” — Neville Baker.
"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."
“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.
“When I think about the shortage of Pasifika journalists, I'm a bit surprised there aren't more of us, because we're powerful storytellers and we always have been.”—Indira Stewart, host of RNZ's new morning news show First Up.
“Teaching your kids that they need to develop some resilience and strength of character is essential, but it's just as important that they know and feel the love from the people bringing them up.”
The soldiers of the Māori Battalion never envisaged that, for their descendants, the rates of incarceration, ill-health, and unemployment were going to soar when they came back from the war.
“The story of my education is nothing if not consistent: I didn’t pass, but I had a good time."—Australian-based businessman Matthew Tukaki.
“It wasn’t until I went to Westlake Girls’ that I realised I was Māori. In Kaitaia, everybody’s Māori to some extent. Even the Pākehā or the Dallies.”
“I have a lot of faith in this country and in our people to navigate a future which is positive and which is probably different from anywhere else in the world.”
“As Māori, we're unique. I don't think I'm better than anybody else, but I think I'm bloody just as good.”
“I believe absolutely that the Kura Kaupapa Māori Aho Matua is the way forward for us to revitalise and regenerate ourselves as Māori.”
The education system kept excusing itself for not doing the best it could for Māori kids by blaming Māori kids themselves.
“Our future wellbeing relies on addressing issues far deeper than how much money will become ours in a settlement deal.“
“The only way Māori and Pacific outcomes are going to improve is if European New Zealand actually confronts its racist heritage and acknowledges that that racism is alive and well."
“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.
“It’s not being Māori, Pacific, disabled, or rainbow that’s the disadvantage. It’s the discrimination in the system that disadvantages us and treads on our dignity.” —EEO Commissioner, Dr Karanina Sumeo.
“The first land purchase began here in Otago in 1844 and, within 50 years, Kāi Tahu were virtually landless."—Mike Stevens, historian and Bluffie.
"Our goal is that all Māori children should have access to their language and be able to live as Māori in Aotearoa."
“It’s great to have this role, but it won’t mean much if, over the next 20 years, we don’t see anyone else coming through the door and rising up through the ranks.” — Tiana Epati, president-elect of the NZ Law Society.
"You can do anything you put your mind to. Don't be limited by having just one path."
"There weren’t many Māori in Timaru in that period . . . In fact, I first learned about Māori culture from a Weet-Bix card."
"We challenge students to think about their own perceptions and prejudices and how these impact on the provision of healthcare."—Associate Professor Fa’afetai Sopoaga, winner of the Prime Minister's Supreme Award for Excellence in Tertiary Teaching.
“It’s so important for me to get Māori kids on the page, which is why my protagonists are always Māori. Because when I was growing up, you just didn’t see yourself.”
“Pacific Islanders do things a bit differently — especially because of their respect for authority or for elders. But you can have respect and still question without challenging offensively.”
“I had confidence in Jacinda. That’s the other thing I’ve learned on my journey. It’s the importance of recognising talent — including talent that’s better than you.”
“I think the global indigenous cinema needs a global indigenous fund. We need to see the value of our stories, which somebody else takes the profit from.”
“Mana whenua has to do with acknowledging that the land has mana, and fulfilling your obligations and your kinship relationship with the land. That’s what it is — not an ownership or property relationship.”
"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."
“If we're not going to use the reo on a regular basis in our homes, as we’re raising our children, we're probably going to miss the main way forward for reo Māori.”
‘I loved listening to Nan’s stories about how, when she was a little girl, she’d sit there with her nanny, who used to smoke a pipe … and read the Pākehā newspaper to her in te reo Māori.”
“I just loved the contact. I’ve always been quite physical. Like in netball I was fairly rough. I loved that game, but there was something special about rugby.”
“Look. There’s someone outside, just by the door. He’ll look after us. Let’s go out and pretend we’re with him.”
“I have come to realise that maths belongs in every culture. Yet, kids growing up in New Zealand get taught that there’s only one way of doing maths, and that’s a white way. As I see it, my Cook Islands family were the real mathematicians.”
"It doesn't make sense to be sharing a land with others, if you don't make an effort to learn their stories or their language."
“All of our stories hold wisdom and knowledge. They have determined our behaviours as Māori people. So there’s lots and lots of learning in those stories.”
“We ended up leading the world on this — and it’s all because whānau supported our research, and said: ‘Do this research for us.’”
“People have come in for the haka boogie, and when they stay for a while, we can see them becoming empowered to take on fulfilling roles.”
My mother used to say: “Forgive thine enemies, my son, but write down their names.” You forgive and remember what you've got to do because you can't keep carrying those things forever.
“If I could do anything today, it would be to have the Waitara lands returned to the hapū. For me, it's about self-determination, and seeing hapū rangatiratanga that was guaranteed in Te Tiriti o Waitangi becoming embedded in this country.”
"I like taking the kids back to Waitara and Urenui. Going back home and realising that wi-fi is not the norm ... that Sky television is not normal either. Most of the whānau don't have doors on their bedrooms, let alone wallpaper on the walls. There's a stark contrast that they can see."
"If you understand the technology and how to use it, then you can deliver important messages." Gaming developer and winner of Māori Entrepreneurial Leader award, Maru Nihoniho.
“We grew up on our marae at Waipatu and we didn’t know there were Pākehā. We only saw and breathed Māori until Sunday school, or until we had to go to the dentist or the doctor. They were the only Pākehā we saw.”
"I've been through tough times … and it’s made me much better equipped to do the health work that I do now, because I understand, through my own experience, just how tough disabilities and mental health problems can be on families.” - Counties Manukau DHB chair Mark Gosche.
“All you can do is hold on, hold on, and then they break your hold, and they take you away, and you're screaming.”
“The truth is that the Treaty settlements aren't that big. Initially, when the $1 billion fiscal cap for the settlements was announced, I calculated that what was needed was in fact around $100 billion. So Māori are getting a very small contribution.”
Being original and unique is an enormous reason that Black Grace is still here. We don't copy what happens in Europe or anywhere else.
Kōrero with the former governor-general and chair of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care.
“If you're an MP — and certainly if you're a leader of a party — you should be thinking these things through, and upskilling yourself to make sure you have the maximum cultural competence and a sense of the full breadth of the issues we're dealing with as a country.”
Like so many New Zealanders, Vivien has a Pākehā mum and a Māori dad. In the early 1990s, she hit...
The former probation officer has been battling to keep Māori inmates from heading back to prison.
“Prisons aren’t Māori. We can’t have kaupapa Māori prisons because we never had prisons in the first place.”
"I was surprised when I’d find people who couldn’t comprehend that you could be Māori and Christian."
“The media had the general populace believing it was a bunch of Communist radicals running the occupation. That was the picture painted by the National Government led, at the time, by Muldoon.”
My uncle said: “I think you need to put a Pākehā name on your applications.” So Dad used the name McLeod . . . and he very quickly got a job under that name.
“We were constantly finding ourselves among the firsts. It was scary because there wasn't enough work for us — and we had such a little voice in the industry.”
"They say we've got a P problem in the Far North. Well, we do. But the P problem is prisons. It's politics. It's personalities. It's processes. That's the P problem we have here."
Dr Jemaima Tiatia-Seath — on suicide prevention, the migrant dream, and the motivating force of a high school teacher who made her feel like "a dumb Coconut".
Many of our stories are not pretty, but they're honest and they need to be told.
It’s hard not to be impressed by Emeline Afeaki-Mafile’o. At 25, she started her own non-profit...
Keith Ikin, the new man at the helm of the Māori Television Service, is bringing a fresh...
“I've met a lot of people in my time, but I've never come across people who are so outwardly, vilely racist.”
“We can help them in a small way to address the current crisis that's going on in their lives, but I know that if we really want to shape a generation of people, we have to address the bigger forces at work.” An interview with South Auckland psychiatrist Dr Siale 'Alo Foliaki.
Damon Salesa, associate professor of Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland, was the first...
"The results really are amazing. It’s a mystery to us, actually. But it’s clear that, if you give families the opportunity to determine the right pathway for them, and provide the resources, they’ll do well."
James Nokise comes from a family with more than a few church ministers — his dad and grandfather...
The stories we tell, and the stories that others tell about us, create and shape who we are.
Muldoon could be a bully, but he had a sense of social justice, too.
All over the Pacific, the colonisers have belittled us and our practices. That's what colonisers do.
"We have a completely different take on what social investment might be like, compared to the National government."
When the All Blacks do the haka, they're acknowledging the mana of their opponents — not just asserting their own.
Let’s make sure that our Ōtara and Manukau buildings reflect that we’re the Pacific capital of the world.
We’re failing to prepare our young people for the racism in our society.
The Pākehā have a Treaty right to rule over their own people. Not over us.
Has the Māori Party done enough to keep Labour at bay in the Waiariki seat?
With the Treaty there's no endpoint because it's a living document.
History will see Metiria as one of the most important Māori leaders of her generation.
With the red bus we’ve never been more than just passengers. And with the blue bus, all we get to do is clean it.
'We aren't winning the struggle ... Here we are with more Māori in parliament but with the plight of our people worse than it has ever been.'
“Māori language gave me a means to express feelings I almost didn’t know I had.”
Te reo Māori can’t be compulsory in our schools until we have the resources.
We should all pay more attention to the 1835 Declaration of Independence.
It may be time you got to know Paula Morris — through her writing anyway. And there’s a good...
Over the last dozen years or so, you may have had a good few chuckles watching The Laughing...
"People have spent more than enough time degrading our cultures — and we don't need to be part of that anymore."
It's still a fact that most white Australians have never met a First Nations person. Not one.
Getting chefs to turn what grandma made into restaurant dishes.
'I looked like I was just another Pālagi — whereas actually, I felt like I was a Samoan from South Auckland.'
No one can hurt you more than you can hurt yourself.
Selina Tusitala Marsh is a celebrated poet-scholar. She was the first PI to graduate with a PhD in...
New Zealand’s values should connect to the heart as well as to the head.
Even before Miriama McDowell had emerged from the Toi Whakaari National Drama School in 2002, she...
Law professor David Williams on a lifetime of engagement with te ao Māori.
Three World Cup Rugby titles — and the first wahine on NZ Rugby’s board.
We owe so much to Ngā Tama Toa and the New Zealand Māori Council.
Tusi Tamasese made quite a splash with his groundbreaking debut film The Orator — O Le Tulafale:...
I wonder about the future of our Māori boarding schools
Leilani Tamu – poet, writer, mum and ex-diplomat – on why she’s going into politics.
On the great feats of Pacific navigation, the 'Eve' hypothesis, and why we're all 'cuzzies' in the end.
Our kids are taking to technology like ducks to water.
Fran Kora is a versatile character. He’s been a star in theatre productions, and in a movie as...
I don’t believe we’re here just to survive. We’re here to flourish. We’re here to blossom.
My preference was a career in law, not in the freezing works.
It’s time to push for more tikanga Māori in our legal system.
I can’t help smiling on graduation days – so many Pasifika students being capped
After going to Tonga, I’ll never see the world the same again.
Still a newcomer, but already Māori journalist of the year.
The Crown’s track record on te reo Māori shows it doesn’t know what to do.
They had us kids singing about our whakapapa and our history.
Rawiri Paratene told his daughter: “You should be a politician.”
She was the world's first transsexual mayor and MP — but life's been tough since she left politics.
The racism in the health system has almost crushed me
Vincent O'Malley is a New Zealand historian who, over the last 20 years, has been focusing on how Māori and Pākehā have been getting along. His research has led not just to a PhD from Victoria University but also to articles in scholarly journals, blogs, and a series of influential books.
Moana Maniapoto has now been welcomed into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. That puts her in...
"The kaitiaki concept is deeply ingrained in me and I think that’s throughout the Polynesian mindset."
Māori need to play a part in every form of the country’s decision-making
The more that te reo is heard, the more normal it becomes.
Judging by government policies, some of our politicians have never read any New Zealand history.
The law has been anything but objective and unbiased toward Māori.
David Riley, a South Auckland writer and teacher, on why he started writing books about Māori and Pacific heroes.
Kim Workman: From dance bands and under-age drinking, to police work and prison reform
Salā Lemi Ponifasio isn’t easily defined. He’s never had any formal training in dance or theatre....
Courtney Sina Meredith is driven, ambitious, articulate — and on a mission. Last week, the...
It’s not hard to see why Maisey Rika has such a loyal and growing following, not only in Aotearoa...
They’d say: “Man, I wish we had what you’ve got.”
I thought we were a much more inclusive and tolerant society than we really are.
The media can give you power by seeing that you’re well informed
Missed the Silver Ferns job — but on top with the Southern Steel
The outspoken former MP for Te Tai Tokerau on staying true to his activist roots.
“No hard feelings. You told us what the consequences would be if we offended again.”
Discovering you have Māori whakapapa can be a life-changing experience, as broadcaster Simon Dallow found.
Graham Henry and Steve Hansen used to say to me: “Where are you going with this, Bert?” And I’d say: “I don’t know. But I know I’m heading in the right direction.”
To get better rights for Pacific Islanders, we needed to first get rights for tangata whenua.
We’d get more confident coverage of Māori issues in the media if we all learned te reo.
The fears advanced by those on the fringes of politics have all been proven false.
Anytime there’s a Māori sportsperson, who’s slightly chunky and who’s on telly, he’ll phone me and say: “That’s your cousin.”
Tamsin Hanly has been in the news lately because of what she’s doing to help ensure that our kids...
Māori and Pasifika share more than just whakapapa.
‘Dad was a Mongrel Mob member and Mum was a teenage mum. I love those two details ... ’
It’s not often that a working class boy with my background gets to be a Cabinet minister.
Nina Nawalowalo is a Wellington theatre director with a reputation for making memorable pieces of...
There’s no need to always have Māori looking good and colonisers bad
We need more diversity all through Radio New Zealand.
My question was: How can I influence Tongan society and Tongan thinking? And starting a newspaper was what came to my mind.
A former “little smart-arse” has a message for many other Pākehā
Pulled in by the whānau. And they’ve never let me go.
A Tarara whakapapa. A gift for oratory. And still a political destiny?
As the heading indicates, Sima Urale is no longer a doongy. Not, you’d suspect, that she was ever...
Kia ora, Jason. You’re a well-known New Zealand figure through your music, especially because of...
You can have all the ideas in the world, but they are nothing without the courage to fight for them
Why are we learning everything white? And there’s nothing brown?
Hinewehi Mohi has many admirers — for her distinctive, pure and beautiful voice, her songwriting,...
We may live in the Pacific, but our knowledge of our own complex and vast region leaves a lot to be desired. Teresia Teaiwa, a leading Pacific academic, is helping to change that.
Tusiata Avia began her teaching career in Otara 25 years ago. In the years since, she’s travelled...
No writer has done more to explore and explain the Pacific over the last 50 years than Albert...
Not many master chefs spend their mornings making school lunches for Auckland’s poorest kids. But that’s Michael Meredith.
Hek Busby talks to Dale Husband about his early years, and the part he's played in the revival of waka-building.
Rotorua-born and raised, environmental lawyer, and now the president of the Māori Women’s Welfare League. That’s Prue Kapua.
On Friday, Cathrine Latu confirmed she’d be back playing netball for the Northern Mystics next...
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