Waatea News: Māori Radio Station

New hauora reports from Te Tiratū Iwi Māori Partnership Board are highlighting just how different the health needs of neighbouring communities can be, strengthening calls for locally designed services rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

The latest reports focus on Paeroa and Thames and combine local health data with the experiences of whānau gathered through Te Tiratū’s Whānau Voice programme. Te Tiratū represents around 121,000 Māori across the wider Tainui waka rohe.

In Paeroa, one of the clearest issues is access to dental care. The town has been without a dentist for some time, meaning whānau can face additional travel and financial barriers simply to receive treatment. Te Tiratū says affordability is also a major concern for families already struggling with the cost of accessing healthcare.

Just up the road in Thames, the challenge looks different. The community has an ageing population alongside pockets of much younger people, creating difficult decisions about how future health investment should balance the needs of kaumātua with those of tamariki and rangatahi.

The findings demonstrate why broad regional statistics can miss important differences between individual towns. Te Tiratū says health services need to be designed around the realities of each community, with whānau involved in identifying both the problems and the solutions.

That local approach sits at the heart of the role of Iwi Māori Partnership Boards, which are tasked with identifying local Māori health priorities and bringing whānau perspectives into health planning and decision-making.

The Paeroa and Thames reports form part of Te Tiratū’s wider Hauora Report Series examining communities across the Tainui waka rohe, building a town-by-town picture of where services are working and where significant gaps remain.

The message from the latest reports is clear: communities separated by only a short drive can face very different health realities — and improving hauora Māori requires solutions designed with those communities, not simply imposed across an entire region.

#Hauora #HauoraMāori #TeTiratū #Paeroa #Thames #Hauraki #MāoriHealth #HealthEquity #WhānauVoice #Kaumātua #Tamariki #Rangatahi #RuralHealth #CommunityHealth #Tainui #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post ONE ROHE, DIFFERENT NEEDS: HAUORA REPORTS REVEAL LOCAL HEALTH DIVIDE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

New Zealand veterans are being asked to serve their country, but advocates say too many are still left fighting for recognition and support once their military service ends.

Aaron Wood, co-founder and trustee of the No Duff Charitable Trust, is renewing calls for major reform of the veteran support system amid criticism from former service personnel that New Zealand compares poorly with other Western countries.

No Duff was established in 2017 to help veterans and their whānau navigate gaps in existing services. The organisation provides free crisis and welfare support and has previously taken more than 1,000 crisis calls, including referrals involving government agencies.

Wood, a former soldier who served for 24 years, says fundamental problems remain despite years of reviews and recommendations. A major 2017 review of the Veterans’ Support Act produced 64 recommendations covering areas including rehabilitation, mental health, family support, eligibility and the way government identifies and responds to veterans. Veterans’ Affairs published its final update on those recommendations in 2024, recording a range of legislative, policy and service changes.

A key area of continuing debate is eligibility. Veterans’ Affairs provides health, rehabilitation and financial assistance to eligible former personnel, but access generally depends on having qualifying service and, for many supports, a condition connected with that service.

Wood and other veterans argue that leaves significant gaps, particularly for people transitioning out of the Defence Force, those requiring mental-health support and former personnel who fall outside the statutory definition required for some veterans’ services.

The Government says it is continuing to expand support. In July, Veterans Minister Chris Penk announced another 1,300 Defence veterans would have their service recognised for access to health, rehabilitation and financial support for deployment-related conditions.

For No Duff, however, the wider challenge remains ensuring nobody who has served Aotearoa is left to navigate civilian life, injury, trauma or financial hardship without adequate support.

#Veterans #AaronWood #NoDuff #NoDuffCharitableTrust #NZDF #VeteransAffairs #VeteranSupport #MentalHealth #DefenceForce #ServicePersonnel #Whānau #VeteranWellbeing #ChrisPenk #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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Child Poverty Action Group is challenging every political party to spell out how it will reduce child poverty, warning Aotearoa is off track to meet its legislated targets as hardship continues to affect thousands of tamariki.

CPAG Executive Officer Lyn Amos says the latest figures show around 169,300 children — 14.3 percent, or roughly one in seven — are living in material hardship, while more than 350,000 are living in financially insecure households.

The inequities are even greater for some communities. Material hardship affects 25.1 percent of tamariki Māori, 31 percent of Pacific children and 26.9 percent of disabled children, according to the latest figures highlighted by CPAG.

Ahead of the November election, CPAG has released its Manifesto to Reduce Child Poverty, calling for action across five areas — incomes, housing, health, disability and education. Its proposals include lifting the minimum wage to the Living Wage, increasing benefit levels, building 3,500 to 4,000 social homes each year and extending free GP and after-hours healthcare to everyone under 18.

The organisation is also proposing changes to Working for Families, increased disability assistance, fees-free community-based early childhood education and greater equity funding for schools. These are CPAG policy proposals rather than commitments adopted across the political parties.

The challenge comes as New Zealand remains well above the 2028 material-hardship target of 6 percent established under the Child Poverty Reduction Act framework. CPAG says 47,500 more children are experiencing material hardship than three years ago.

For Amos, Election 2026 provides an opportunity to put the wellbeing of children firmly before political leaders and ask what concrete policies they will implement to ensure every tamaiti has access to secure housing, adequate food, healthcare and education.

#ChildPoverty #LynAmos #CPAG #ChildPovertyActionGroup #TamarikiMāori #Tamariki #Whānau #Election2026 #Housing #CostOfLiving #Health #Education #SocialHousing #Poverty #MāoriHealth #WhānauOra #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post ONE IN SEVEN CHILDREN IN HARDSHIP: CPAG PUTS POVERTY AT CENTRE OF ELECTION DEBATE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

One of Aotearoa’s most prominent Māori storytellers, Tainui Stephens, is turning the lens on his own life with a new collection reflecting on five decades of filmmaking, broadcasting, writing and the changing face of te ao Māori.

The Te Rarawa filmmaker and broadcaster has gathered some of his best writing from E-Tangata for Kua Tau: A Life in Stories, tracing a journey shaped by kaumātua, marae aunties, activists, artists, rangatahi, whānau and friends.

The collection stretches from the political and cultural upheaval of the 1970s and 1980s through to the Māori world of today, exploring te reo and tikanga, identity, racism, leadership, grief, joy and the people who helped shape Stephens’ understanding of himself and his place in Aotearoa.

At the heart of the book is a simple kaupapa — the stories belong to the people, while the storyteller carries the responsibility of giving them voice.

Stephens’ screen career spans five decades. He began at TVNZ in 1984 reporting for the groundbreaking Māori programme Koha and went on to work as a director, producer and presenter across productions including Waka Huia, The New Zealand Wars, Hitler and the Gumdiggers and Taumata 3001.

His feature-film producing credits include River Queen, The Dead Lands, Whina, Holy Days and Ka Mate.

Stephens is also one of the five founders of the Māoriland Film Festival, alongside his wife and fellow filmmaker Libby Hakaraia.

Kua Tau will be launched on Thursday 1 October at the Māoriland Hub in Ōtaki, bringing the story back to a community that has become an important home for Indigenous film and storytelling.

After a lifetime spent helping tell the stories of others, Kua Tau gives Stephens the space to tell his own — and reflect on the people, places and kaupapa that made him whole.

#TainuiStephens #KuaTau #ALifeInStories #TeRarawa #MāoriStorytelling #MāoriFilm #Māoriland #MāorilandFilmFestival #ETangata #TeAoMāori #TeReoMāori #TikangaMāori #IndigenousStorytelling #Ōtaki #Whakapapa #MāoriMedia #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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One of Aotearoa’s most extraordinary conservation comeback stories has reached another milestone, with karure, the Chatham Islands black robin, crowned Bird of the Year 2026.

Jess Mackenzie from the Chatham Islands Landscape Restoration Trust, which led the karure campaign, says the win has put a fresh national spotlight on a species that once came perilously close to extinction.

In 1980, just five karure remained, including only one fertile female, Old Blue. An intensive recovery programme involving the Chatham Islands community and conservationists rebuilt the population from Old Blue and her breeding partner Old Yellow. Today there are around 350 adult birds.

Karure secured 25,610 votes in this year’s Forest & Bird competition, ahead of kākāpō with 19,445 and kārearea with 17,423. A record 105,000 people participated, with 88 percent of votes coming from within Aotearoa.

But the remarkable recovery is far from finished. Karure remains Nationally Critical, and the two predator-free nature reserves where the population currently lives are approaching the limits of suitable habitat. Conservationists say establishing a third population will be crucial to securing the species’ future.

Attention is now turning to Pitt Island, where restoration and predator-control work could eventually create another safe home for karure while protecting other threatened species unique to Rēkohu Chatham Islands.

For Mackenzie and the Chathams community, the Bird of the Year victory is not simply about winning a popular vote. It is a chance to remind Aotearoa that one of our greatest conservation successes was achieved through decades of commitment — and that the mahi to protect karure for future generations continues.

#Karure #BlackRobin #BirdOfTheYear #BirdOfTheYear2026 #Rekohu #ChathamIslands #Conservation #Kaitiakitanga #TeTaiao #Manu #NativeBirds #PredatorFree #Biodiversity #PittIsland #OldBlue #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post FROM FIVE BIRDS TO NUMBER ONE: KARURE CROWNED AOTEAROA’S FAVOURITE MANU appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

One of Aotearoa’s leading ageing experts is warning the country cannot build a healthy older population while thousands of children are growing up in poverty.

University of Auckland Professor Ngaire Kerse, the Joyce Cook Chair in Ageing Well, says healthy ageing begins at birth, with childhood housing, income, education and access to healthcare helping determine health and wellbeing decades later.

Kerse and researcher Dr Claire Dale point to an estimated 169,300 New Zealand children, or 14.3 percent, living in poverty in 2026, warning persistent disadvantage can accumulate into chronic ill health, social problems and poorer wellbeing over a lifetime.

Research from Growing Up in New Zealand also shows the importance of the first 1,000 days. Stable finances, warm and safe housing and avoiding frequent moves can protect children against chronic conditions including asthma, eczema requiring medication and obesity.

Kerse says ageing well therefore cannot be reduced to telling people to exercise, eat better or make healthier choices later in life. The opportunities people have to make those choices are shaped by their social and economic circumstances from childhood.

The warning comes as Aotearoa’s population gets older. More than 900,000 people were aged 65 or over in 2024 and 2025, while a declining birth rate means the ratio of older people to the working-age population is increasing.

For Māori, the challenge also puts the focus on lifelong health equity — ensuring tamariki and whānau have the housing, income, healthcare, education and community support needed not simply to live longer, but to reach kaumātua years in good health.

The message is simple: investment in healthy ageing cannot begin at 65. It has to begin with our tamariki.

#NgaireKerse #AgeingWell #ChildPoverty #Tamariki #Kaumātua #Hauora #HauoraMāori #MāoriHealth #HealthEquity #HealthyAgeing #Whānau #Housing #Poverty #PublicHealth #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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Kaperiere Pāpā Wharewera is taking his community experience into the political arena, standing for The Opportunity Party in the Māori electorate of Waiariki at this year’s general election.

Wharewera brings a background spanning community service, local government, emergency response and whānau leadership, with his campaign focused on practical and evidence-based solutions he says can deliver better outcomes for Māori communities.

The Opportunity Party confirms Wharewera as its Waiariki candidate as part of a nationwide slate of candidates for the 2026 election. The party is led by Qiulae Wong and is campaigning on changes to the economy, political decision-making and environmental policy.

For Wharewera, the Waiariki campaign provides an opportunity to bring frontline and community experience into the debate over the electorate’s future, including the pressures facing whānau and the need for policy grounded in evidence and local realities.

His candidacy also adds another voice to what is shaping up to be a closely watched contest in Waiariki, one of Aotearoa’s seven Māori electorates.

Opportunity describes itself as seeking to work constructively across traditional left-right political divisions and says it will consider working with either Labour or National depending on their respective policy platforms.

With the election approaching, Wharewera will now be making his case directly to Waiariki voters on what a different approach to politics could mean for Māori communities.

#KaperiereWharewera #PapaWharewera #Waiariki #OpportunityParty #Election2026 #MāoriElectorates #MāoriPolitics #TeAoMāori #Whānau #WaiarikiElectorate #GeneralElection #NZPolitics #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says he has no concerns about featuring in Nicky Hager’s new book Dirty Work, telling Radio Waatea his party charts its own political course and that is why it is not part of Hager’s investigation.

Speaking with Dale Husband, Peters weighed into the growing controversy surrounding Hager’s examination of the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, its political campaigning and its role in the debate over Three Waters and co-governance. Hager alleges the organisation increasingly used Māori and co-governance issues as part of its campaigning strategy, claims the Taxpayers’ Union strongly disputes.

Peters said he regarded the former Labour Government’s Three Waters programme as preposterous, but drew a distinction between his party’s opposition to the policy and the political networks examined by Hager.

He also took aim at two prominent figures associated with debates over Te Tiriti, saying former National Party leader Don Brash and ACT leader David Seymour do not know what they are talking about when it comes to the Treaty of Waitangi.

That position puts Peters at odds with Seymour on significant aspects of the Treaty debate. Peters has previously told Parliament that New Zealand First stands behind the Treaty while rejecting interpretations of Treaty principles that the party considers to have moved beyond the original agreement.

Husband also challenged Peters on why, given those differences, New Zealand First would enter government with parties holding significantly different positions.

Peters pointed to the realities of coalition government, arguing that stable government in New Zealand’s MMP environment often requires parties with different policies and philosophies to negotiate and find common ground.

The exchange highlights an increasingly important distinction as Hager’s book fuels fresh debate over the political right: opposition to policies such as Three Waters does not necessarily mean agreement over Te Tiriti, Māori policy or the political tactics used to campaign against them.

#WinstonPeters #NZFirst #NickyHager #DirtyWork #ThreeWaters #TeTiriti #TreatyOfWaitangi #DonBrash #DavidSeymour #MāoriPolitics #CoalitionGovernment #Election2026 #NZPolitics #DaleHusband #TeAoMāori #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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Frontline Ministry of Social Development workers are warning that cuts to security staffing at service centres could put both staff and clients at greater risk, with their union calling for the changes to be stopped.

The Public Service Association says MSD is pressing ahead with reducing security staffing from three guards to two at 20 service centres, despite strong opposition from workers at the affected sites.

A PSA survey found 74 percent of members at impacted centres opposed the reduction, with workers raising concerns that a two-guard model could leave only one guard actively covering a service centre while the other takes a break or deals with another incident.

PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons says workers have reported increasing aggression, lockdowns and difficult interactions with clients, and argues MSD should conduct an independent review of its incident reporting before reducing security.

The union says the 2014 Ashburton Work and Income shootings, in which receptionist Peggy Noble and case manager Leigh Cleveland were killed, remain firmly in the minds of frontline staff when workplace security is discussed.

The PSA also disputes MSD’s reliance on incident data to support the changes, arguing security guards regularly defuse situations before they escalate to the point where a formal incident is recorded. That is the union’s assessment, rather than an independently established finding.

The dispute comes as MSD staff face wider pressure across the public service, with the PSA arguing rising unemployment, cost-of-living pressures and changes to welfare obligations are contributing to increasingly stressful interactions at service centres.

For Fitzsimons, the central question is whether saving money on security is worth taking additional risks in workplaces serving some of the country’s most vulnerable whānau.

#MSD #WorkAndIncome #PSA #FleurFitzsimons #FrontlineWorkers #WorkerSafety #WorkplaceSafety #Security #PublicService #SocialDevelopment #Whānau #Hauora #HealthAndSafety #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post SAFETY CUTS UNDER FIRE: MSD WORKERS WARN FEWER GUARDS COULD PUT LIVES AT RISK appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Another successful Te Wiki o te Reo Māori has wrapped up across Aotearoa, but attention is now turning to how the momentum can be carried beyond one week and into the everyday lives of whānau, workplaces, schools and communities.

This year’s theme, Ake, Ake, Ake – A Forever Language, focused on Te Reo Towns, encouraging communities across the motu to make te reo Māori visible, heard and used throughout the year. Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori says homes, marae, businesses, schools, sports clubs and public services all have a role in ensuring the language flourishes.

That strength is also visible through kaupapa such as Ngā Manu Kōrero, where generations of rangatahi continue to demonstrate the depth, confidence and power of Māori oratory.

But significant challenges remain. Te Taura Whiri’s State of Te Reo Māori work found that while support for the language continues to grow, everyday usage remains comparatively limited, potentially affecting the number of speakers in future generations. It has also identified the need for more Māori-language teachers and sustained policy support for revitalisation.

The political environment has added another dimension. Māori Language Commissioner Professor Rawinia Higgins publicly criticised changes to government branding guidance prioritising English, arguing earlier this year that te reo Māori was again becoming caught in wider political debate.

Te Taura Whiri also pushed back against concerns over public servants attending this year’s Te Wiki parade, maintaining the event was a cultural celebration rather than political activity and stressing that supporting te reo Māori is a responsibility extending beyond the Commission itself.

Meanwhile, the Crown is refreshing Maihi Karauna, its Māori language revitalisation strategy, with the new strategy expected to be completed during 2026. The framework continues to recognise shared responsibility between the Crown, iwi and Māori for revitalising te reo.

The challenge now is ensuring the energy of Te Wiki and the strength displayed by rangatahi at Manu Kōrero become part of something much bigger — a language spoken, protected and passed from one generation to the next, every day of the year.

#TeWikiOTeReoMāori #TeReoMāori #AkeAkeAke #ManuKōrero #TeTauraWhiri #RawiniaHiggins #MāoriLanguage #ReoMāori #Rangatahi #Tamariki #Whānau #MātaurangaMāori #MaihiKarauna #LanguageRevitalisation #TeAoMāori #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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