Waatea News: Māori Radio Station

I tae te tira hoiho o Ngāti Kahungunu rātou ko ngā kaitautoko i te kaupapa ki Pāremata i tēnei rā.

Kua tata ki te 53 mano ngā waitohu ki te petihana, he pētihana āki i te kāwanatanga kia whakakore i ngā mahi whakangoikore i ngā tohutoro ki Te Tiriti o Waitangi me ōna mātāpono i roto i ngā ture o motu.

E ai ki a Shane Jones, kāore ngā tohutoro ki Te Tiriti i roto i ā tātou ture i te ōrite.

Ahakoa te karanga a ngā iwi kia noho tonu ngā tohutoro ki Te Tiriti i roto i ngā ture katoa, kāore a Shane Jones i te tautoko i tēnei, hai tāna kāore ētahi o aua tohutoro i te hāngai.

The post Shane Jones | Kāhore ētahi o ngā tohutoro ki te Tiriti i ngā ture i te hāngai. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

I tae te tira hoiho o Ngāti Kahungunu, rātou ko ngā kaitautoko o te pētihana, ki Pāremata i tēnei rā.

Kua tata ki te 53 mano ngā waitohu ki te pētihana, e akiaki ana i te Kāwanatanga kia kaua e whakakore, e whakangoikore rānei i ngā tohutoro ki Te Tiriti o Waitangi me ōna mātāpono i roto i ngā ture o te motu.

E ai ki te Minita Whanaketanga Māori, e ai ki a Tama Potaka, e tika ana kia mihia te kaupapa, nā te nui o ngā mahi kua tutuki i a rātou i ngā rā e rima kua hipa.

The post Tama Potaka | Te whakaeke o te tira hoiho o Ngāti Kahungunu ki te ātea o Pāremata. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has backed a stronger Te Puni Kōkiri, ruled out folding the Māori development agency into another government department, and signalled his party will take a different path from ACT over the future of the Waitangi Tribunal.

Speaking to Waatea, Jones said that if he had his way, Te Puni Kōkiri would be given greater strength and responsibility, including potentially taking on functions currently sitting within the Ministry of Justice.

Rather than questioning the future of TPK, Jones indicated he wanted to see the agency become more robust and influential across government.

He also made clear he had no criticism of the agency itself and said New Zealand First would not support merging TPK into another ministry.

Jones’ comments put a different proposition on the table about the future of Māori public-sector institutions.

Instead of reducing TPK’s role, he is suggesting consolidating additional Māori-related functions within the agency to strengthen its position.

Moving functions from the Ministry of Justice would represent a significant change and would require detailed decisions about precisely which responsibilities transferred and how they would operate.

But politically, the message from Jones is clear: New Zealand First sees a continuing standalone role for Te Puni Kōkiri.

That could become important as Māori voters assess how different parties intend to structure the Crown’s relationship with iwi, hapū and Māori communities after the election.

Jones also highlighted differences between New Zealand First and ACT over the Waitangi Tribunal.

ACT has proposed major changes to the Tribunal, including ending its ability to consider contemporary claims about current Crown policy and conduct and ultimately disestablishing it once eligible historical claims have been completed.

Jones indicated New Zealand First does not share ACT’s position in its entirety.

That distinction could become significant in any future coalition negotiation.

The Tribunal has become one of the clearest points of debate over whether Te Tiriti should continue to provide a mechanism for scrutinising contemporary Crown decisions, or whether the institution should increasingly be confined to completing historical grievances.

For Māori, the outcome could determine what independent avenues remain available to challenge future Crown decisions through a Te Tiriti framework.

Jones went further by signalling that Ngāpuhi and Te Tai Tokerau could become another major focus for New Zealand First.

He suggested the party would be pushing for a deal in the North involving Ngāpuhi.

Exactly what form that deal would take remains to be developed, but the comments put renewed political attention on one of the largest and most complex unresolved Treaty settlement kaupapa in the country.

Any attempt to progress Ngāpuhi would have to navigate longstanding questions around hapū rangatiratanga, representation, mandate and how settlement negotiations should proceed across the different communities of Te Tai Tokerau.

For successive governments, those issues have proved difficult to resolve.

Taken together, Jones’ comments offer an emerging picture of where New Zealand First could position itself on Māori affairs heading into Election 2026.

A stronger standalone Te Puni Kōkiri.

Potentially more Māori-related functions concentrated within it.

No support for absorbing TPK into another ministry.

A different position from ACT on the Waitangi Tribunal.

And renewed attention on finding a pathway forward with Ngāpuhi in the North.

Those positions could matter considerably if New Zealand First again finds itself holding the balance of power.

Coalition governments require compromise, and the future of Māori institutions, Te Tiriti policy and the Waitangi Tribunal could become part of those negotiations.

For Jones, however, the starting point appears clear.

Rather than dismantling Te Puni Kōkiri, he wants to strengthen it — and rather than simply following ACT’s direction on the Waitangi Tribunal, New Zealand First is signalling it has its own Māori policy agenda to take into any future government.

#ShaneJones #NZFirst #TePuniKokiri #TPK #WaitangiTribunal #Ngapuhi #TeTaiTokerau #TeTiritiOWaitangi #TreatyOfWaitangi #MaoriDevelopment #MaoriPolitics #Election2026 #NZPolitics #TinoRangatiratanga #ManaMotuhake #Hapu #Iwi #MaoriCrownRelations #TeAoMaori #Aotearoa #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post JONES BACKS STRONGER TPK, DRAWS LINE WITH ACT ON WAITANGI TRIBUNAL AND SIGNALS NGĀPUHI PUSH appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

A new report is putting the spotlight on how Māori values, leadership and investment opportunities are being reflected across Aotearoa’s wealth and investment sector — at a time when many whānau are facing growing economic pressure and uncertainty.

Te Aho o Te Rangi Pihama from RŌA Consulting joins Waatea to discuss the newly released Investment Sector Kaupapa Māori Market Scan 2026, which examines how kaupapa Māori is showing up across investment, wealth creation and financial decision-making.

The report arrives as Māori organisations, iwi, hapū, trusts, businesses and whānau increasingly engage with questions around capital, intergenerational wealth, investment ownership and long-term economic resilience.

At the centre of the report is a wider question about what investment looks like when Māori values are part of the decision-making framework.

For many Māori organisations, investment is not simply about achieving the highest possible financial return.

Whenua, whakapapa, kaitiakitanga, intergenerational responsibility, community wellbeing and long-term resilience can all influence where money is invested and how success is measured.

That creates a different investment conversation.

The question is not simply how much wealth can be generated, but what that wealth is for, who benefits from it, and what obligations sit alongside it.

The market scan also examines the extent to which Māori leadership is present within the wider investment and wealth-management sector.

Representation matters because investment decisions can shape everything from housing and infrastructure to energy, business growth, technology and regional development.

As the Māori economy continues to expand, there is increasing interest in whether Māori organisations are simply participating in existing investment systems or helping reshape them.

That includes who sits around decision-making tables, how Māori perspectives are incorporated into governance, and whether investment products are designed in ways that reflect the aspirations of Māori investors and communities.

The report lands during a difficult economic period for many households.

High housing costs, rising everyday expenses, unemployment and pressure on household incomes mean the language of investment and wealth can sometimes feel distant from the immediate realities confronting whānau.

But that is precisely why the discussion matters.

Building stronger Māori investment capability is ultimately connected to employment, business ownership, housing, retirement security and the ability of whānau to build and pass assets between generations.

For many Māori families, the challenge is not only generating wealth but creating the conditions that make wealth creation possible in the first place.

Much of the growth of the Māori economy has historically been discussed through large iwi commercial entities and post-settlement assets.

But the next phase of the conversation is increasingly about how that economic strength can translate into broader whānau prosperity.

That means examining investment opportunities available to Māori-owned organisations and businesses while also asking how ordinary whānau can participate in savings, investment and asset-building.

It raises questions about financial literacy, access to capital, home ownership, KiwiSaver, entrepreneurship and whether financial institutions are offering products that genuinely meet Māori needs.

There is also a commercial dimension.

Investment markets globally are increasingly interested in long-term sustainability, environmental stewardship and social impact.

Māori investment frameworks grounded in concepts such as kaitiakitanga and intergenerational responsibility may therefore offer more than cultural alignment.

They may provide a distinctive way of thinking about risk, resilience and long-term value.

For organisations balancing commercial performance with obligations to future generations, that perspective can become a strength rather than a constraint.

The market scan also contributes to a much larger Māori economic debate.

As Māori assets grow, who manages them?

Who advises on them?

Where are they invested?

And how much Māori capital is helping build Māori businesses, infrastructure and communities?

Those questions matter because capital creates influence.

The organisations controlling investment decisions help determine which industries grow, which businesses receive support and where future opportunities are created.

For Māori, greater participation in the investment sector is therefore not only about financial returns.

It is also about economic rangatiratanga.

For Te Aho o Te Rangi Pihama and RŌA Consulting, the Investment Sector Kaupapa Māori Market Scan 2026 provides an opportunity to examine where the sector currently stands and where gaps remain.

The bigger conversation is about creating an investment ecosystem where Māori values are understood, Māori leadership is visible and Māori capital can work harder for future generations.

At a time when many whānau are focused on simply making the weekly budget balance, that long-term ambition can appear distant.

But the two conversations are connected.

The strength of the Māori economy will ultimately be measured not only by the size of its assets, but by whether that wealth creates greater security, opportunity and prosperity for whānau.

#MaoriEconomy #KaupapaMaori #Investment #MaoriInvestment #ROAConsulting #TeAhoOTeRangiPihama #WhanauWealth #IntergenerationalWealth #EconomicRangatiratanga #ManaMotuhake #MaoriBusiness #Capital #WealthManagement #InvestmentSector #Kaitiakitanga #Whakapapa #Whenua #MaoriLeadership #FinancialWellbeing #Whanau #Aotearoa #TeAoMaori #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post MĀORI VALUES MOVE INTO THE MONEY: NEW MARKET SCAN MAPS INVESTMENT SECTOR SHIFT appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

The future of the Waitangi Tribunal and growing political scrutiny of Māori equity initiatives are raising fundamental questions about how Aotearoa gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, constitutional law expert Carwyn Jones says.

Jones joins Waatea as debate intensifies over the future powers and role of the Waitangi Tribunal, while Māori-focused initiatives such as the Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme, MAPAS, within medical education have also become part of a wider political argument over equity and targeted support.

While the issues may appear separate, together they raise a much larger question about the place of Te Tiriti, Māori rights and tino rangatiratanga within the institutions of modern Aotearoa.

The Waitangi Tribunal has played a central role in investigating claims that Crown actions or policies are inconsistent with the principles of Te Tiriti.

Much of its public profile has historically been associated with grievances involving land confiscation, language, resources and other historical Crown actions.

But its contemporary jurisdiction has also allowed Māori to challenge current Crown policies and practices.

That distinction has become increasingly important as political debate turns to whether the Tribunal should retain its ability to scrutinise contemporary government decisions.

For Māori, restricting that role could mean losing an important independent avenue through which current Crown conduct can be examined against Te Tiriti principles.

The constitutional significance of the debate lies in whether Te Tiriti should primarily be treated as an agreement dealing with historical wrongs or as an enduring framework governing the relationship between Māori and the Crown today.

For many Māori, Te Tiriti is not simply about settling the past.

It informs contemporary questions involving health, education, whenua, natural resources, language, social services and the exercise of rangatiratanga.

Changes to institutions responsible for examining Crown compliance therefore have implications extending well beyond the Tribunal itself.

They touch the relationship between Māori and the state.

At the same time, targeted initiatives such as MAPAS have become part of a renewed debate about whether Māori-specific pathways represent legitimate responses to longstanding inequities.

MAPAS supports Māori and Pacific students pursuing health professional education and sits within a much wider challenge facing the health system — ensuring its workforce better reflects and serves the communities experiencing significant health inequities.

Critics of targeted programmes often argue opportunities should be determined without ethnicity-based distinctions.

Supporters argue that treating everybody identically does not necessarily produce equitable outcomes when communities begin from very different positions and continue to experience different barriers.

That distinction between equality and equity is becoming one of the defining political arguments of the election year.

The MAPAS debate ultimately raises questions extending beyond university admissions.

What constitutes fairness when Māori continue to experience unequal outcomes?

Can government institutions take ethnicity and historical disadvantage into account when attempting to address those disparities?

And what obligations arise from Te Tiriti when mainstream systems repeatedly fail to produce equitable outcomes for Māori?

Those are legal, political and constitutional questions as much as they are questions of public policy.

Taken together, scrutiny of the Waitangi Tribunal and challenges to Māori equity initiatives suggest Aotearoa is entering another significant debate about the boundaries of Crown responsibility to Māori.

For Jones, the constitutional conversation is therefore bigger than any single programme or institution.

It reaches into the meaning of kāwanatanga and tino rangatiratanga, the continuing relevance of Te Tiriti and the mechanisms available to Māori when government decisions are believed to undermine Māori rights or aspirations.

The decisions made now could shape how future governments understand those obligations.

As Election 2026 approaches, voters are increasingly being presented with competing visions of the relationship between Māori and the Crown.

One approach places greater emphasis on common citizenship, uniform treatment and limiting distinctions based on ethnicity.

Another argues that Te Tiriti itself recognises a distinct relationship between Māori and the Crown and that achieving equitable outcomes can require targeted approaches.

The argument over the Tribunal and programmes such as MAPAS therefore cannot be reduced to individual policies.

It goes to a much more fundamental constitutional question.

Is Te Tiriti primarily something Aotearoa looks back to when addressing the wrongs of the past — or does it continue to shape the rights, responsibilities and aspirations of Māori and the Crown today?

That is a debate likely to extend far beyond this election.

#CarwynJones #WaitangiTribunal #TeTiritiOWaitangi #MAPAS #TinoRangatiratanga #ManaMotuhake #MaoriRights #MaoriHealth #HealthEquity #Equity #ConstitutionalLaw #TreatyOfWaitangi #MaoriEducation #MaoriPolitics #Election2026 #NZPolitics #TeAoMaori #Aotearoa #Whanau #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post TE TIRITI AT A CROSSROADS: CARWYN JONES WARNS DEBATES OVER TRIBUNAL AND MĀORI EQUITY GO MUCH DEEPER appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

A horseback hīkoi carrying a petition to protect Te Tiriti o Waitangi is making its way to Parliament, as Ngāti Kahungunu takes its concerns over proposed changes to Treaty references in legislation directly to the heart of political power.

The journey began at Waimārama and is travelling through the Ngāti Kahungunu takiwā before crossing the Remutaka Range and heading into Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

Led by Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated chair Bayden Barber, the riders are carrying a petition calling on Parliament not to remove, weaken or amend references to Te Tiriti principles in New Zealand legislation.

The decision to travel by horseback is deliberately symbolic.

When farmers have wanted governments to hear their concerns, tractors have been driven into political protests. Ngāti Kahungunu is using horses to carry the message of tangata whenua to Parliament.

Around 30 horses from Hawke’s Bay were initially expected to participate, with other riders and supporters invited to join different stages of the journey.

But behind the spectacle is a serious constitutional argument.

Ngāti Kahungunu is challenging the coalition Government’s review of Treaty provisions across existing legislation and wants stronger protection for the continuing place of Te Tiriti in the laws of Aotearoa.

The route itself carries considerable whakapapa.

Waimārama is connected to Harawira Mahikai Te Tātere, a Ngāti Kurukuru rangatira and ancestor of Barber who signed Te Tiriti at Waipūreku in 1840.

The journey also connects with places associated with other Ngāti Kahungunu signatories, including Te Hāpuku Te Ika-nui-o-Te-Moana and Hoani Waikato.

Riders are travelling through communities including Havelock North, Hastings, Te Hauke, Waipawa, Waipukurau, Rākautātahi, Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua and Te Whakaoriori before heading across the Remutaka into Te Awakairangi and ultimately Parliament.

It means the riders are not simply travelling south.

They are following whenua carrying generations of history connecting Ngāti Kahungunu to Te Tiriti.

The protest comes as the Government continues work reviewing references to the Treaty and Treaty principles across legislation.

The review originates from the National-New Zealand First coalition agreement and includes consideration of whether some Treaty references should be replaced with more specific wording or removed.

Cabinet has also agreed to changes affecting the strength of some statutory Treaty obligations, including moving some requirements from giving effect to Te Tiriti or its principles to a lower threshold of taking them into account.

The Waitangi Tribunal has strongly criticised the reforms and recommended that the Government pause the work, while Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has rejected the call to stop the process.

The legislation is not expected to pass before the 7 November election, leaving its eventual fate in the hands of the next Parliament.

The hīkoi is therefore carrying another message — political participation.

Barber wants the journey to encourage Māori to vote, particularly rangatahi and whānau who may otherwise feel disconnected from electoral politics.

With Treaty legislation, the future of the Waitangi Tribunal and the wider Crown-Māori relationship emerging as significant election issues, the composition of the next Parliament could directly determine what happens next.

The timing also coincides with Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, drawing a connection with the historic 1972 Māori language petition that gathered more than 30,000 signatures calling for te reo Māori to be taught in schools.

The riders are expected to complete their journey at Parliament, where the petition is to be presented to Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP Cushla Tangaere-Manuel before being taken into the House.

Other iwi riders have also been invited to join the final leg into Te Whare Paremata.

The horseback hīkoi comes as the wider political argument over Te Tiriti intensifies. ACT has separately proposed ending the Waitangi Tribunal’s contemporary jurisdiction and ultimately disestablishing it once eligible historical claims are completed.

For Ngāti Kahungunu, the journey represents a direct response to that wider political environment.

From Waimārama to Parliament, horses are carrying a petition through communities whose connection with Te Tiriti stretches back to 1840.

Nearly two centuries later, the message heading into the Beehive is that Te Tiriti is not simply history — its descendants are still prepared to ride hundreds of kilometres to defend its place in the future of Aotearoa.

#TeTiritiOWaitangi #ProtectTeTiriti #NgatiKahungunu #BaydenBarber #HorsebackHikoi #Hikoi #ToituTeTiriti #Waimarama #Heretaunga #TeTaiRawhiti #TeWhanganuiATara #Parliament #WaitangiTribunal #TreatyOfWaitangi #TinoRangatiratanga #ManaMotuhake #TangataWhenua #Whakapapa #Iwi #Hapu #MaoriRights #Election2026 #MaoriVote #TeWikiOTeReoMaori #Aotearoa #NZPolitics #TeAoMaori #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post TE TIRITI RIDES INTO PARLIAMENT: HORSEBACK HĪKOI CARRIES PETITION TO THE BEEHIVE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

New Zealand needs to break its cycle of stop-start infrastructure investment and stop allowing three-year political terms to determine projects that must serve communities for generations, Infrastructure New Zealand says.

Chief Executive Nick Leggett says the way Aotearoa plans, funds and delivers its transport, water, energy and social infrastructure needs to become a major issue in the 2026 election campaign.

Infrastructure New Zealand has launched Let’s Build NZ, a nationwide, non-partisan campaign aimed at taking the infrastructure debate beyond politicians, officials and industry and putting the choices directly in front of voters.

With tens of billions of dollars of investment expected to be required over the coming decades, the organisation says New Zealand can no longer afford constantly changing priorities, projects being started and stopped, or infrastructure programmes being redesigned whenever governments change.

At the heart of the campaign is a simple argument: infrastructure is built for decades, while governments are elected for three years.

Leggett says New Zealand needs a much longer-term approach.

Roads, rail, public transport, electricity networks, water systems and social infrastructure can take years to plan, consent, finance and construct.

Political uncertainty can therefore have real financial consequences when projects are delayed, redesigned or cancelled.

Infrastructure New Zealand argues that the eventual cost is carried by New Zealanders through slower delivery and higher project costs.

The election debate over infrastructure is also much broader than individual highways or major construction projects.

Reliable infrastructure underpins almost every part of the economy and everyday life.

It determines whether people can get to work, whether communities have secure drinking water, whether electricity networks can meet future demand and whether businesses can expand.

Housing growth also depends on pipes, roads, transport connections, schools and other services being available where new communities are being developed.

For regional and rural communities, infrastructure resilience is particularly important when severe weather can isolate towns, damage roads and bridges and disrupt essential services.

The challenge is increasingly not simply building new infrastructure, but maintaining and strengthening what New Zealand already has.

Climate change is adding another dimension to the infrastructure challenge.

Flooding, slips, coastal inundation and extreme weather are placing increasing pressure on transport routes, water systems and communities.

That means future investment decisions will need to consider not only where infrastructure is built, but whether it can withstand the conditions it may face over the next 30, 50 or even 100 years.

For Māori communities, those decisions can carry additional implications where vulnerable infrastructure intersects with whenua Māori, marae, papakāinga and coastal settlements.

Long-term infrastructure planning therefore becomes an economic, environmental and social issue.

One of the most significant parts of the Let’s Build NZ campaign will be an Infrastructure Policy Scorecard.

Infrastructure New Zealand says political parties will be assessed against the eight priorities contained in its 2026 Election Manifesto.

The organisation says the purpose is not to tell New Zealanders which party to vote for, but to make the differences between competing infrastructure policies easier to understand.

Leggett says voters deserve greater clarity about what parties intend to build, how they intend to fund it and what their decisions could mean over the next generation.

That is particularly important when large projects can involve billions of dollars of public investment and financial commitments extending far beyond a single parliamentary term.

Finding agreement on what New Zealand needs is only one side of the equation.

The harder question is how it will all be paid for.

Future governments will face competing demands across health, education, welfare, defence and other public services at the same time that major investment is required in transport, water, energy and resilience.

That puts funding and financing firmly into the election debate.

Taxpayers, ratepayers, infrastructure users, private investors and future generations can all ultimately carry parts of the cost depending on the model chosen.

The political parties will therefore face pressure not simply to announce projects, but to demonstrate credible plans for funding, sequencing and delivering them.

Infrastructure New Zealand’s intervention also challenges a longstanding feature of New Zealand politics — major infrastructure projects becoming political battlegrounds.

A new government can arrive with different priorities, leading to projects being reviewed, altered, delayed or cancelled.

Three years later, another election can change the direction again.

Leggett argues that New Zealand needs greater certainty and a more enduring approach to the infrastructure that will be required regardless of which political party occupies the Beehive.

That does not mean removing political choices.

Voters and governments will continue to disagree about priorities, costs and individual projects.

But Infrastructure New Zealand wants those disagreements to occur within a much longer planning horizon.

The Let’s Build NZ website will progressively release material over the coming weeks, including weekly evidence cards, infrastructure-sector insights and its assessment of political party policies.

Infrastructure New Zealand describes the initiative as non-partisan and says it wants a better-informed national debate rather than agreement with every position in its manifesto.

For voters, the campaign raises some fundamental questions.

What infrastructure does New Zealand actually need?

What should be built first?

How much are we prepared to pay?

And can political parties agree on enough of the long-term direction to stop Aotearoa repeatedly starting again?

With enormous investment decisions approaching across transport, water, energy, housing-enabling infrastructure and climate resilience, those questions will extend well beyond Election Day.

Governments come and go every three years. The infrastructure they build — or fail to build — can shape Aotearoa for generations.

#InfrastructureNZ #LetsBuildNZ #NickLeggett #Infrastructure #Election2026 #NZPolitics #Transport #WaterInfrastructure #Energy #Housing #SocialInfrastructure #ClimateResilience #Roads #PublicTransport #RegionalInfrastructure #EconomicGrowth #Investment #WhenuaMaori #Marae #Papakainga #Aotearoa #MaoriEconomy #TeAoMaori #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post BUILD FOR GENERATIONS, NOT ELECTIONS: INFRASTRUCTURE NZ TAKES $BILLION DEBATE TO VOTERS appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Hāpai Te Hauora is calling for greater scrutiny of changes to Lotto NZ’s Powerball game, warning that bigger jackpots, longer odds and more frequent small wins could influence gambling behaviour and increase the risk of harm across Aotearoa.

The Māori public health organisation says changes to one of New Zealand’s most recognisable gambling products should be considered through a public health lens, particularly when many whānau are already facing significant cost-of-living pressures.

At the centre of Hāpai’s concern is the potential combination of larger headline jackpots, reduced chances of winning the major prize and more frequent smaller wins.

While those changes may alter the experience of playing Powerball, Hāpai says attention also needs to be paid to how they could affect the frequency and intensity of gambling.

Large Powerball jackpots generate enormous public attention.

As prize pools climb, Lotto becomes increasingly prominent across advertising, news coverage, retail outlets and conversations between friends, colleagues and whānau.

For people experiencing financial pressure, the prospect of a life-changing win can become particularly powerful.

Hāpai’s intervention raises an important question about whether increasingly large jackpots encourage people to spend more, play more frequently or continue gambling despite increasingly difficult odds.

That matters when household budgets are already being stretched by housing, food, electricity, transport and other essential costs.

Hāpai is also drawing attention to the behavioural impact of more frequent smaller prizes.

A small win may appear positive for players, but from a gambling-harm perspective the important question is what happens next.

If frequent small wins encourage players to reinvest winnings into more tickets, continue playing for longer or perceive themselves as being closer to a major win, the structure of the game itself could influence gambling behaviour.

That means assessing Powerball should involve more than looking at how many people win prizes.

Public health experts also need to understand how the design of the game affects participation, spending and repeated play.

The relationship between bigger jackpots and longer odds also deserves greater public understanding.

A larger advertised prize does not necessarily mean an individual player has a better opportunity to win it.

Hāpai’s concern highlights the importance of ensuring consumers understand what changes to the game mean for their actual chances of winning.

That includes whether advertising and promotional material gives appropriate prominence to the odds and gambling-harm information alongside the excitement generated by multimillion-dollar jackpots.

Gambling harm is not experienced evenly across society.

For Māori public health organisations such as Hāpai Te Hauora, the issue extends beyond individual choices and into the wider environments that shape gambling behaviour.

The consequences of harmful gambling can reach beyond the person buying the ticket.

Financial stress can affect partners, tamariki and wider whānau, with gambling losses potentially competing against household spending on food, rent, power and other necessities.

That makes the design and promotion of gambling products a broader hauora issue.

The timing of the Powerball changes is also significant.

Across Aotearoa, households are dealing with continuing financial uncertainty and pressure on disposable incomes.

For someone struggling financially, a massive jackpot can represent something much more emotionally powerful than entertainment.

It can represent an imagined escape from debt, rent, mortgages and financial insecurity.

That is why Hāpai wants greater scrutiny of whether changes designed to make Powerball more attractive could have unintended consequences for people already vulnerable to gambling harm.

Lotto NZ occupies an unusual place in New Zealand society because gambling proceeds also contribute funding to community organisations and causes.

But the existence of community benefits does not remove the need to scrutinise the way gambling products are designed and marketed.

Hāpai’s challenge is therefore about balancing those benefits against the potential social and health costs associated with harmful gambling.

As Powerball evolves, the organisation wants regulators, decision-makers and the public to look beyond the size of the jackpot.

The bigger question is what happens to gambling behaviour when the dream becomes larger, the odds become longer and smaller rewards encourage people to keep coming back.

For Hāpai Te Hauora, that is where the real public health conversation needs to begin.

#HapaiTeHauora #LottoNZ #Powerball #GamblingHarm #ProblemGambling #Hauora #MaoriHealth #Whanau #PublicHealth #CostOfLiving #Gambling #SaferGambling #ConsumerProtection #HealthEquity #WhanauOra #TeAoMaori #Aotearoa #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post POWERBALL UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: HĀPAI WARNS BIGGER JACKPOTS COULD COME WITH BIGGER HARM appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Award-winning Māori writer Dr Tina Makereti is heading to France after being named the 2026 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow, giving her three months dedicated to writing in the Mediterranean town where one of Aotearoa’s most celebrated literary figures once worked.

Makereti, who affiliates to Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, has established herself as an important voice in contemporary Aotearoa literature, with work exploring identity, whakapapa, history, belonging and the experiences of Māori.

The prestigious fellowship will allow her to spend three months in Menton, France, concentrating on her writing away from the competing demands of everyday life.

For writers, one of the most valuable resources can simply be uninterrupted time.

The Menton fellowship provides exactly that, creating an opportunity for Makereti to focus intensively on her creative work while living and writing in an environment with a longstanding connection to New Zealand literary history.

The residency continues a tradition linking Aotearoa writers with Menton and the legacy of Katherine Mansfield, who spent time in the southern French town during the later years of her life.

For Makereti, the fellowship represents both recognition of the body of work she has already produced and an investment in what comes next.

Makereti’s contribution to literature has helped bring Māori experiences, histories and perspectives into spaces where they have not always been adequately represented.

Her writing has traversed fiction and non-fiction while engaging with questions about whakapapa, colonisation, identity and the ways the past continues to shape contemporary Aotearoa.

That contribution forms part of a much wider flourishing of Māori literature, with Māori writers increasingly telling stories grounded in their own communities, histories and worldviews.

Those stories are not only important within Aotearoa.

International opportunities such as the Menton fellowship also help Māori and New Zealand literature reach audiences and literary communities around the world.

The Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship has long been regarded as one of New Zealand’s significant opportunities for established writers.

Its value extends beyond the location.

A residency gives a writer something increasingly difficult to find — sustained creative space to research, experiment, reflect and write.

Three months can provide the opportunity to substantially advance a manuscript, explore new ideas or take an existing project in a new direction.

For Aotearoa’s literary community, supporting writers in this way is also an investment in the stories that eventually return home.

Makereti’s selection is another reminder of the growing visibility and influence of Māori writers internationally.

Literature provides a powerful way for audiences outside Aotearoa to encounter Māori history and contemporary life through Māori perspectives rather than having those experiences interpreted by others.

From whakapapa and whenua to identity, whānau and the continuing consequences of colonisation, Māori writers are carrying distinctly Aotearoa stories onto an increasingly international stage.

Makereti will now add another chapter to that journey from Menton.

For three months in France, the focus will be simple — time, space and the freedom to write. What emerges from that opportunity could eventually become another important contribution to the literature of Aotearoa.

#TinaMakereti #KatherineMansfield #MentonFellowship #KatherineMansfieldMentonFellowship #MaoriWriters #MaoriLiterature #AotearoaLiterature #TeAtiawa #NgatiTuwharetoa #NgatiRangatahiMatakore #MaoriAuthors #Writing #Books #Literature #Whakapapa #MaoriArts #ToiMaori #TeAoMaori #Aotearoa #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post FROM AOTEAROA TO MENTON: TINA MAKERETI NAMED 2026 KATHERINE MANSFIELD FELLOW appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Senior Māori minister Tama Potaka has defended the National-led Government’s economic direction, arguing the state has an important role in building for New Zealand’s future — but warning that bigger government and higher taxes are not automatically the answer to struggling public services.

Speaking with Waatea as the Government faces continued scrutiny over welfare, public services and cost-of-living pressures, Potaka outlined the philosophical line National is attempting to walk ahead of the election.

On one hand, the Government has responsibilities to invest in the services and infrastructure New Zealanders depend on.

On the other, Potaka says National remains committed to a model of more limited government and does not support solving every challenge by increasing taxation.

Potaka acknowledged the importance of government and its responsibility to invest for the future.

That includes maintaining essential public services and ensuring systems such as health can effectively meet the needs of New Zealanders.

His argument is not that government should withdraw from delivering essential services, but that taxpayers should expect those services to work.

Potaka pointed to health as an example of a system where government plays a critical role, while arguing that some services have failed to perform effectively over successive governments.

That puts questions of efficiency and outcomes at the centre of National’s approach.

The challenge for the Government is demonstrating that improvements can be delivered while maintaining spending restraint.

Potaka’s preference for limited government reflects National’s wider economic philosophy that the state should concentrate on its core responsibilities while allowing individuals, communities and businesses greater space to operate.

But that position becomes more complicated when public services are under pressure.

Health needs doctors and nurses. Schools need teachers. Infrastructure requires long-term capital. Welfare agencies need enough frontline capability to support people in hardship.

For Māori communities, those pressures can be particularly significant where existing disparities mean whānau are more likely to experience poorer outcomes or face barriers accessing services.

The political question is therefore not simply whether government should be bigger or smaller.

It is what government needs to do, how much it should spend and whether the services taxpayers are funding are actually delivering.

Potaka also made clear National is not campaigning on a higher-tax model.

That creates another important dividing line heading into Election 2026.

While parties on the political left have proposed different forms of greater taxation or redistribution to fund services and address inequality, National’s preference remains to constrain the tax burden while focusing on economic growth, investment and improving the performance of existing government spending.

For households struggling with grocery bills, rent, mortgages, power and transport, the appeal of keeping taxes down is straightforward.

But opponents will argue that lower-tax settings can limit the Government’s ability to invest in the public services those same households rely upon.

That is shaping up as one of the fundamental economic choices facing voters.

The harder political challenge for National may be convincing people experiencing financial pressure that the Government’s strategy is improving their lives.

For many households, economic policy is not judged through government accounts or political announcements.

It is judged at the supermarket checkout.

It is the rent or mortgage payment.

It is whether someone can find a job.

It is how long they wait to see a doctor.

It is whether their children believe they can afford to build a future in New Zealand.

That makes the question of connection particularly important for National.

The Government may argue it is investing for the future and attempting to create more effective public services, but voters experiencing pressure today will ultimately decide whether they believe that approach is working for them.

Potaka’s comments expose what could become one of the defining debates of the election campaign.

How much government does New Zealand need?

How much tax are people prepared to pay?

Which services must the state provide?

And when government programmes are failing, is the answer more investment, fundamental reform — or both?

For Māori voters, those questions intersect with another issue: whether decisions made in Wellington translate into better outcomes for whānau on the ground.

Potaka’s position is that government matters, public investment matters and effective services matter — but National does not believe an ever-expanding state funded through higher taxation is the solution.

With households still focused on jobs, housing, healthcare and the cost of living, voters will now judge that argument against something much more immediate than political philosophy.

The real test for National is whether struggling whānau can see and feel the future the Government says it is investing in.

#TamaPotaka #NationalParty #Election2026 #NZPolitics #MaoriPolitics #CostOfLiving #Economy #Tax #PublicServices #GovernmentSpending #Health #Hauora #Welfare #Housing #Jobs #Whanau #MaoriEconomy #TeAoMaori #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post POTAKA DEFENDS GOVERNMENT DIRECTION: NATIONAL BACKS LOWER TAXES BUT SAYS THE STATE STILL HAS A CRITICAL ROLE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.