Waatea News: Māori Radio Station

The passing of former Speaker of the House Adrian Paki Rurawhe has prompted an outpouring of aroha and reflection across Aotearoa, with tributes recognising a life deeply grounded in whānau, iwi, Rātana and public service.

Rurawhe represented Te Tai Hauāuru in Parliament from 2014 before later serving as a Labour list MP. In 2022 he became only the second Māori to serve as Speaker of the House.

His contribution stretched well beyond Parliament. Rurawhe was a rangatira of Ngāti Apa, had longstanding connections with the Rātana movement and brought decades of experience in Māori development and community leadership to public life.

Political leaders from across Parliament have acknowledged the respect Rurawhe commanded, remembering the calm and dignity he brought to the Speaker’s chair and his commitment to the people and communities he represented. Flags at Parliament are being flown at half-mast in his honour.

For many across te ao Māori, his passing is also a moment to remember a leader whose public life reflected the enduring importance of whānau, whakapapa, service and manaakitanga.

Moe mai rā e te rangatira, Adrian Paki Rurawhe.

#AdrianRurawhe #AdrianPakiRurawhe #MoeMaiRā #Rātana #NgātiApa #TeTaiHauāuru #TeAoMāori #MāoriLeadership #Whānau #PublicService #ParliamentNZ #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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New Zealand First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is taking his party into the final stretch of Election 2026 with constitutional change, the cost of living and economic policy forming key parts of its campaign.

The party has put a strong emphasis on constitutional and citizenship issues, including proposals around voting rights, citizenship rules and the Māori electorates. It has also campaigned on changing the future role of the Waitangi Tribunal.

Alongside those debates, Peters is pushing an economic message focused on what New Zealand First describes as the everyday pressures facing households and businesses.

The party has proposed changes targeting electricity and supermarket market power, a lower 20 percent tax rate for qualifying small and medium businesses, and a long-term Future Fund aimed at infrastructure and economic development.

Peters says the economy remains weaker than it should be and argues New Zealand needs stronger growth alongside action on household costs, health, infrastructure and regional development.

As the November 7 election approaches, Peters joins Radio Waatea to discuss New Zealand First’s campaign priorities, its constitutional agenda and what the party says it would seek to deliver in the next Parliament.

#WinstonPeters #NewZealandFirst #NZFirst #Election2026 #CostOfLiving #NZEconomy #WaitangiTribunal #MāoriElectorates #TeTiritiOWaitangi #PoliticsNZ #MāoriPolitics #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post Peters Puts Constitution and Cost of Living at Heart of NZ First Campaign appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Health advocate and Te Kōhao Health Chair Lady Tureiti Moxon is raising fundamental questions about the future of Crown accountability as debate continues over the role and powers of the Waitangi Tribunal.

The Government began a review of the Treaty of Waitangi Act in 2025, saying it wanted to refocus the scope, purpose and nature of Tribunal inquiries and examine its jurisdiction and management of claims. The Government has said the review is intended to ensure the Tribunal remains effective and fit for purpose.

Lady Moxon says proposals to abolish the Tribunal or significantly restrict its ability to investigate Crown conduct would raise a much bigger constitutional question — who independently holds the Crown to account when Māori believe government decisions breach Te Tiriti o Waitangi?

The debate comes as the Government separately moves to change Treaty references across legislation. In May, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced decisions affecting 19 laws, including repealing seven Treaty-principles references and changing others, with consultation with iwi and a select committee process to follow.

For Lady Moxon, the issue goes beyond the future of one institution and reaches into the relationship between kāwanatanga and tino rangatiratanga, the ability of Māori to challenge Crown actions, and the mechanisms available to independently examine whether the Crown is meeting its Te Tiriti responsibilities.

Lady Moxon joins Radio Waatea to discuss what weakening or removing the Tribunal could mean for Māori, Crown accountability and the future of the Te Tiriti relationship.

#LadyTureitiMoxon #WaitangiTribunal #TeTiritiOWaitangi #TeTiriti #Kāwanatanga #TinoRangatiratanga #CrownMāoriRelations #MāoriRights #ManaMotuhake #TeAoMāori #TreatyOfWaitangi #Election2026 #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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Emergency departments across Aotearoa are facing unprecedented pressure as record demand, increasingly complex patient needs and limited hospital capacity stretch frontline services.

Dr Michael Connelly, Aotearoa New Zealand National Council Chair for the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, joins Radio Waatea following a new report examining the growing pressures facing emergency departments.

The report warns the challenge is not simply the number of people arriving at emergency departments, but the increasing complexity of their health needs and difficulties moving patients from emergency care into already stretched hospital wards.

When hospitals operate close to capacity, patients can spend longer waiting in emergency departments for beds, creating flow-on pressure for clinicians, ambulance services and people arriving for urgent treatment.

ACEM says addressing emergency department pressure requires a whole-of-hospital and wider health-system response rather than expecting emergency departments alone to absorb continually increasing demand.

Dr Connelly joins Radio Waatea to unpack what is happening on the frontline, what the pressures mean for patients and health workers, and what needs to change to ensure emergency care remains accessible when people need it most.

#MichaelConnelly #ACEM #EmergencyDepartments #EmergencyMedicine #HealthNZ #Hauora #HauoraMāori #HealthWorkforce #HospitalCapacity #EmergencyCare #FrontlineHealth #PatientCare #HealthSystem #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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Nearly 2,000 young kauri have been planted across five sites in the Waitākere Ranges, marking a major milestone in the long-term effort to restore and protect one of Aotearoa’s most treasured taonga species.

The seedlings have come full circle. They were propagated from seeds collected from healthy kauri in the Waitākere Ranges, nurtured at a Rotorua nursery and have now returned to their ancestral whenua in Te Wao Nui o Tiriwā.

The planting is part of Te Kāwai Kauri, bringing together mana whenua Te Kawerau ā Maki, Auckland Council and scientific partners to protect the whakapapa and future of Waitākere kauri.

For Te Kawerau ā Maki, the kaupapa is about much more than planting trees. Kauri are regarded as rangatira and living tūpuna, with their wellbeing inseparable from the health and mauri of the ngahere.

The project is particularly significant as kauri dieback remains a major threat. There is currently no known cure, meaning preventing the movement of contaminated soil, protecting healthy trees and continuing research remain critical.

Te Kawerau ā Maki Chief Executive Edward Ashby joins Radio Waatea to discuss bringing these young kauri home, the importance of kaitiakitanga and the hope that some could eventually become the thousand-year-old giants of tomorrow.

#EdwardAshby #TeKawerauAMaki #Kauri #WaitakereRanges #TeWaoNuiOTiriwa #KauriDieback #TeKawaiKauri #Kaitiakitanga #ManaWhenua #Taiao #Conservation #Whenua #TeAoMaori #TamakiMakaurau #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post Kauri Come Home: 2,000 Young Trees Return to Te Wao Nui o Tiriwā appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

E rere ana te tai o te aroha mai i ngā kaiarataki, ngā whānau, ngā rōpū me ngā hapū, i te rironga atu o Adrian Rūrawhe, kua mate nei.

Ko ia te Māngai o mua i te Pāremata, ā, ko ia hoki te Mema Pāremata mō Te Tai Hauāuru.

Hei tā te Kaiarataki takirua o te Pāti Kākāriki, a Marama Davidson, mō te manaaki i te wairua o te tangata. Kāore he pāinga i a ia, ā, i tū ia hei pouāio mō ngā Mema Pāremata whānui, ahakoa te pāti.

E whai ake nei ko te whānuitanga o āna kōrero.

The post Marama Davidson | Mō te manaaki i te wairua o te tangata, kāore he pāinga i a Adrian. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

I ngā kamepeina kōwhiringa pōti e haere ana huri taiāwhio i te motu,

I kōrero mātou ki a Kyla Campbell-Kamariera, kaitono rārangi mō Te Pāti o Te Tai Tokerau.

Hei tā Kyla, ko te tū a te pāti ki te Pāremata, he whakaū i te tino rangatiratanga o Te Tai Tokerau.

Ahakoa ko ngā Mema Pāremata nō ngā rōpū ā-motu e tū ana hei māngai mō ō rātou rohe pōti, he wāhanga anō rātou nō ngā rōpū e whai kaupapa ana mō te motu whānui.

Engari, mō tētahi pāti ā-rohe, ko tōna aronga matua ko te oranga me te anamata o tōna rohe.

The post Kyla Campbell-Kamariera | Te tino rangatiratanga o Te Tai Tokerau ki te Pāremata. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

E ai ki a Marama Davidson, kua kite ia i te tāmate haeretanga o whakapono a te motu ki te Kāwanatanga i roto i ngā tau ka hipa, ā, hai tāna anō, nā ngā awenga a ngā kāporeihana i ngā take tōrangapū tētahi o ngā take i pērā ai.

E hiahia ana te Rōpū Kākāriki ki te whakawhāiti i te rahinga o te pūtea koha ka tau atu ki ngā rōpū tōrangapū, ā, ko te $30,000 te tōnuitanga o te pūtea ka whakaaehia e te pire nei.

Mā ēnei whakarerekētanga e mōhio ai te motu ko wai mā ngā kaiwhakaawe, he aha hoki tā rātou e hiahia nei ki te tautoko.

The post Marama Davidson | Ka herea ngā pūtea koha tōrangapū e tō mātou pire. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Ko Raniera McGrath te Poutaki hou kua kopoua ki te ārahi i Te Pae Motuhake o Te Tai Tokerau i Te Mātāwai, arā, te rōpū e mahi ana ki te whakapakari i te reo Māori puta noa i Te Tai Tokerau.

Inā te nui o ngā kaupapa i kōkirihia e ia i ngā tau ki mohoa mai i ngā wānanga tāmoko, whakairo, karanga, whaikōrero me te reo Māori. Ko tētahi o āna kaupapa hou ko te wānanga karanga me te whaikōrero i tū i Te Rarawa i ngā wiki tata nei.

Hei tāna ko te mahinga matua ko te poipoi i te tuakiri o te tangata kia tū maia ia i tēnei ao hurihuri.

The post Raniera Mcgrath | Te ara reo o Te Taitokerau. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Mō ngā whānau kāore anō kia rēhita ki te pōti

Ko te 4 o Oketopa te rā whakamutunga ki te rēhita mēnā e hiahia ana koe ki te kāri EasyVote.

E ai ki a Hone Matthews o te kaitiaki take kōwhiri, ka taea tonu te rēhita tae atu ki te 25 o Oketopa, engari me tuku pōti motuhake.

Ki te kore koe e rēhita hei te 25 o Oketopa, kāore e taea te pōti i tēnei kōwhiringa ā-motu!!

Ka tūwhera ana te pōti tōmua hei te 26 o Oketopa, ā, ka kōpani te wāhi ki ngā mahi tuku pōti ā te 9 karaka i te pō hai te 7 o Noema.

The post Hone Matthews | Kāore anō kia rēhita mō te pōti? Kia tere, kei kore koe e āhei ki te pōti! appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.