Most of us know NUKU //063 through her extensive career on our screens and airwaves. Stacey Morrison (Ngāi Tahu, Te Arawa) is a māmā, writer, facilitator and tutor. She is a veteran broadcaster, television host and consultant. She is also a passionate champion of te reo Māori and is an ambassador for the breast cancer foundation.

While Stacey has raised her three tamariki with te reo Māori as their first language, she herself did not learn until adulthood. It was in fact, her third language.

In this episode we hear personal stories of her upbringing and losing her māmā to breast cancer at a young age. We talk about language and the ways we can incorporate te reo into our everyday lives and, we talk about the realities of being an indigenous woman today and honouring our puku.

Tania Pouwhare (Ngāi Tūhoe) is a manager in local government for Community and Social Innovation, testing radical challenges and opportunities that enhance the mana of our people, particularly those that have been left behind by the economy.

Her mahi spans both grassroots and systems levels, directly affecting those farthest from resources, power and influence.

In this episode we talk about her time in the UK and her formative years working for women’s rights organisations. The self-professed feminist shares her views on sexual and reproductive health rights for wāhine and, Tania talks unapologetically about New Zealand’s class system and the paradox facing the Māori economy.

Darna Appleyard (Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa, Te Whakatōhea, Scottish) spent much of her childhood in Tasmania. It was there across the ditch she learnt first hand about some of the hardest things she’d have to face in her life, from racism and inequality, to family suicide.

This self-described ‘equity challenger’ works to disrupt the distribution and programming of health resources to achieve health equity for Māori.

In this episode we talk about her childhood and the time whaea Eva Rickard knocked on their front door, Darna shares her passion for Māori health outcomes and the innovative solutions they need to be achieved and, she talks openly about losing a father and brother to suicide.

As per all NUKU kōrero, we do not shy away from the hard topics in this episode, so please be kind to yourself when you listen, and take breaks where you need.

Kura Paul-Burke (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Whakahemo) is a Māori marine ecologist, scientific diver and trans-disciplinary researcher with extensive pragmatic knowledge combining mātauranga Māori and Western science to assist co-developed kaitiakitanga.

As well as  her role as an associate professor for Mātai Moana with the University of Waikato she works with rangatahi to teach freediving and has spent much time dedicated to the restoration of mussel beds in Ōhiwa harbour.

In this episode we talk about the importance of our moana environments. We discuss the benefits of combining matauranga Maori with Western science and, we learn that although Kura spends much of her time underwater, this wahine is not the greatest swimmer.

Julie Paama-Pengelly (Ngaiterangi - Te moutere o Matakana) describes herself as a practitioner of political identity activism through the teachings and practice of mahi toi, predominantly Tā moko. 

Living and working in te rohe o Tauranga Moana, her studio is a space that nurtures a diverse group of creatives. Julie was one of the first wahine kai tā of modern times, working, sharing, learning, and leading in a very male-dominated space. 

In this episode we talk about her journey with tā moko, the power and resurgence of our traditional marks and we discuss pūhoro, for wāhine.

Maata Wharehoka (Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Apakura, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Kuia) started her working life as a nurse. Her mahi in health saw her write the first stop smoking programme for Māori women and, she led wāhine in cervical screening programmes on marae.

She later found her niche in marae at Parihaka Pā and championed marae arts, raranga and karanga. In 2015 she won the Creative New Zealand Ngā Tohu ā Tā Kingi Ihaka award recognising her lifetime contribution to the arts. Maata’s many passions have been combined in her mahi around death, as she champions Kahu Whakatere Tupapaku, the tīkanga Māori practices surrounding death and burial.

In this episode she tells us about her life’s journey, what it was like to grow up with a strict mid-victorian minded aunty. She shares experiences of birth and death in her whānau, and she tells us why she advocates for euthanasia and how we all need to be prepared to die.

Tuhi-Ao Bailey (Ngāti Mutunga, Te Ātiawa, Taranaki) is a kaitiaki dedicated to our Taiao. The Parihaka pā trustee supports hapū, marae and Māori landowners with water, fish and flora monitoring, as well as riparian planting and pest control. She is a passionate climate change champion and gardener who has helped set up maara and tree nurseries with a number of roopu, while also incorporating Indigenous planting practices into her own backyard.

She is known to many by her Pākehā ingoa, Emily. However in recent years she has actively sought to Indigenise her world even more, nurturing her reo Māori, receiving her moko kauae, and leading with her ingoa taketake.

In this episode we talk about her mahi as an iwi representative and her many years of advocacy, activism and action. We discuss the importance of whenua, growing kai and the effects of climate change. Tuhi Ao also shares an intimate insight into what it was like to be abruptly thrown into the public eye on October 15, 2007, and how Taranaki has helped heal her and find strength in her identity as a wahine Māori.

Veranoa Hetet (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Te Ātiawa) is a master weaver and one of our country’s most celebrated contemporary artists. Although, the humble wahine from Waiwhetū cringes when you describe her as that.

Veranoa is an uri of renowned weavers and teachers, her grandmother, the late Dame Rangimarie Hetet and her mother, the late Erenora Puketapu-Hetet. As well as her aunty, the late Diggeress Te Kanawa. She says being surrounded by art, and having parents as masters of their art, meant her journey was pretty straight forward.

Today, her work is national museum collections, it adorns the walls of galleries, she has kākahu that are awarded for excellence, like the New Zealander of the Year award, and most importantly, her work is worn and carried by her tamariki and mokopuna. Veranoa also helps whānau around the world to reclaim Māori art traditions through the Hetet School of Maori Art, an online kura where she teaches raranga, tāniko and kākahu, including korowai.

In this episode we talk about the importance of keeping our art practices alive, the beauty and vitality of the harakeke plant and we learn the correct kupu for our different woven cloaks.

Laura O’Connell Rapira (Te Ātiawa, Ngāruahine, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whakaue) is a community organiser, campaigner and writer.

She started her career organising events, before moving on to charity fundraising. However, she got pulled into a different direction when she started RockEnrol, a youth-powered campaign to get more young people out to vote. In 2014 she joined ActionStation and became their director. Since then, she has worked with communities nationwide around steps towards economic fairness, climate protection, human rights, global peace and honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

In this episode we laugh about the irony of being full-time paid activist, we discuss some of her recent highlights, like the move to make Matariki a public holiday, and, we talk about her next chapter with the Foundation for Young Australians.

Awatea Mita (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Porou) is a justice advocate speaking out for equitable outcomes in the criminal justice system. She is also a passionate advocate for Indigenous rights.

Her current advocacy projects are around repealing the Bail Amendment Act 2013 and increasing the use of restorative practice alternatives to harm. Much of this drive came as a result of her own 22 month incarceration in 2015 and seeing first hand the vulnerability and strength of our wāhine Māori under punitive state control. She wants to help create a system that restores balance while keeping the mana and dignity of whānau intact.

In this episode we talk about her childhood and the integral part her whānau played in sharing the stories of resistance in Aotearoa. We discuss her experience in the prison system and how the death of her son, while she was incarcerated, changed her forever. Awatea also shares her current journey and the possibility of one day, lending her voice to represent our people in our highest office.