Waatea News: Māori Radio Station

Waatea News: Māori Radio Station

By
Download on the App Store

Waatea News: Māori Radio Station episodes

  • PACIFIC ALARM: FIJI’S HIV CRISIS SPARKS CALL FOR NEW ZEALAND TO STEP UP
    https://waateanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Dr_Sharon_McLennan___Public_Health_Researcher_at_Victoria_University_of_Wellington.mp3

    New Zealand is being urged to significantly strengthen its response to Fiji’s rapidly escalating HIV epidemic, with public health researchers warning the crisis can no longer be treated as an issue contained within one Pacific nation.

    Dr Sharon McLennan, a public health researcher at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, says the extraordinary growth in HIV infections in Fiji has become a regional health security issue, requiring stronger cooperation between Fiji, New Zealand and other Pacific partners.

    Fiji is experiencing one of the fastest-growing HIV epidemics in the world, with researchers estimating adult HIV prevalence has reached about 1.6 percent — roughly one in every 60 adults.

    The scale of the increase has been dramatic.

    Fiji recorded 2,016 HIV diagnoses during 2025, the highest annual figure in the country’s surveillance history and a 27 percent increase from the 1,583 diagnoses recorded in 2024. Of the 2025 diagnoses, 646 involved people aged between 20 and 24.

    A CRISIS GROWING AT EXTRAORDINARY SPEED

    UNAIDS estimates fewer than 500 people were living with HIV in Fiji in 2014.

    By 2024 that estimate had climbed to around 5,900 people, while only 36 percent of those living with HIV were estimated to know their status and just 24 percent were receiving treatment.

    The situation has continued deteriorating.

    Researchers say infections have increased around 14-fold over the past five years, while current estimates put HIV prevalence among pregnant women at around 2 percent. The equivalent of approximately one child a week is now being born with HIV in Fiji, while around one child a month is dying from HIV-related illness.

    Without effective intervention, projections suggest the situation could become considerably worse.

    Fijian health officials warned during the Pacific HIV Symposium last month that the number of people living with HIV could reach approximately 25,000 by 2030 if current interventions prove ineffective.

    INJECTING DRUG USE DRIVING TRANSMISSION

    One of the major drivers of the epidemic is unsafe injecting drug use.

    World Health Organization data shows that among people beginning HIV treatment in Fiji during 2024, 48 percent were people who inject drugs. The rapid spread of methamphetamine use and needle sharing has created an urgent need for harm-reduction programmes alongside conventional HIV prevention.

    Fiji declared a national HIV outbreak in January 2025 and has subsequently moved to expand testing, treatment, prevention and harm-reduction measures.

    But researchers argue the scale and speed of the epidemic mean Fiji should not be expected to confront it alone.

    WHY THIS MATTERS TO AOTEAROA

    McLennan says the deep connections between New Zealand and Pacific countries make the epidemic directly relevant to Aotearoa.

    Fiji is a major Pacific transport, tourism, education and business hub. Families regularly travel between Fiji and New Zealand, while migration, employment and cultural relationships connect communities across national borders.

    Disease does not recognise those borders.

    Researchers say New Zealand has already made substantial progress through its National HIV Action Plan and its ambition to eliminate local HIV transmission and AIDS-related deaths by 2030.

    But a rapidly expanding epidemic within a closely connected Pacific neighbour creates new challenges for maintaining that progress.

    NEW ZEALAND HAS ALREADY PROVIDED MILLIONS

    Aotearoa has already contributed to Fiji’s response.

    In July 2025, New Zealand committed NZ$4 million towards Fiji’s HIV outbreak response.

    The funding was intended to expand community-based testing and treatment, introduce harm-reduction initiatives including needle and syringe programmes, improve access to pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, and strengthen peer-led community support.

    McLennan and fellow researchers acknowledge those steps but argue the response now needs to go further.

    They want greater investment in Pacific-led engagement and leadership, culturally safe HIV prevention, expanded testing and support services for Pacific communities in New Zealand, and sustained financial and technical assistance for HIV prevention and treatment throughout the region.

    They also argue HIV should be addressed across health, foreign policy and international development rather than treated solely as a clinical issue.

    STIGMA CAN BE AS DANGEROUS AS THE VIRUS

    Any response will also need to confront stigma.

    Fear, discrimination and shame surrounding HIV, sexuality and drug use can prevent people from seeking testing or treatment.

    That becomes particularly dangerous when large numbers of people living with HIV do not know they have the virus.

    Modern antiretroviral treatment means people living with HIV can live long and healthy lives, while effective treatment can suppress the virus to the point where it cannot be sexually transmitted.

    Testing, early diagnosis and access to treatment are therefore central to bringing an epidemic under control.

    For Pacific communities, researchers argue those services must also be designed with communities rather than simply delivered to them.

    A PACIFIC PROBLEM REQUIRES A PACIFIC RESPONSE

    The warning from McLennan comes as international HIV programmes face wider funding uncertainty.

    UNAIDS warned in July that reductions in international funding and cuts to prevention and community services threaten to reverse decades of global progress against HIV. Around 1.2 million people acquired HIV worldwide during 2025 and approximately 570,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses.

    Against that backdrop, Fiji represents one of the clearest warnings of what can happen when prevention, treatment, drug harm reduction and community health systems fail to keep pace with a rapidly changing epidemic.

    For New Zealand, the argument is increasingly that helping Fiji is not simply foreign aid.

    It is an investment in the health security of the entire Pacific region — including Aotearoa.

    The Pacific is connected by whakapapa, migration, trade, tourism and whānau. Its health challenges are increasingly connected as well.

    Fiji’s HIV emergency may be unfolding across the ocean, but researchers are warning that the response needs to begin with a simple recognition: in the Pacific, nobody confronts a public health crisis alone.

    #Fiji #HIV #FijiHIVCrisis #HIVAIDS #SharonMcLennan #PacificHealth #PacificHIV #PacificIslands #Pasifika #PasifikaHealth #PublicHealth #RegionalHealth #HealthSecurity #HarmReduction #HIVTesting #HIVPrevention #PrEP #SexualHealth #HealthEquity #Whanau #Aotearoa #NewZealand #NZHealth #PacificNews #TeMoanaNuiAKiwa #NZNews #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

    The post PACIFIC ALARM: FIJI’S HIV CRISIS SPARKS CALL FOR NEW ZEALAND TO STEP UP appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

    0 min
  • LEFT BEHIND: MĀORI UNEMPLOYMENT ABOVE 10% AS ELECTION ECONOMY TAKES CENTRE STAGE
    https://waateanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Professor_Matt_Roskruge___Associate_Dean_Maori_in_the_School_of_Economics_and_Finance.mp3

    Māori, rangatahi and regional communities are carrying a disproportionate share of Aotearoa’s economic downturn, with Māori unemployment remaining above 10 percent as the country heads towards Election 2026.

    Professor Matt Roskruge (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tama), Associate Dean Māori and Professor of Economics at Massey University, says the headline economic numbers do not tell the full story of who is paying the greatest price for weaker economic conditions.

    For Māori households, the impact is being felt through job losses, fewer employment opportunities, reduced household income and increasing pressure on whānau already dealing with high housing, food and everyday living costs.

    MĀORI BEARING A HEAVIER BURDEN

    The national unemployment rate has risen substantially from the historic lows recorded earlier in the decade, but the impact has not been evenly distributed.

    Māori unemployment has remained above 10 percent, around twice the overall national rate, highlighting a persistent gap in labour-market outcomes.

    For Roskruge, that difference matters because national averages can disguise considerably worse conditions within individual communities.

    The consequences also extend beyond those officially classified as unemployed. People wanting more hours, those who have stopped looking for work and rangatahi struggling to secure their first job can all experience the effects of a weak labour market.

    For communities with younger populations and greater exposure to industries sensitive to economic downturns, the effects can accumulate quickly.

    RANGATAHI RISK LOSING THEIR FIRST STEP ON THE LADDER

    Rangatahi are particularly vulnerable when businesses stop hiring.

    When employers become cautious, entry-level jobs are often among the first opportunities to disappear, leaving young people competing against more experienced workers for fewer vacancies.

    That creates a risk extending well beyond today’s unemployment figures.

    Periods spent outside employment, education or training can affect future earnings, skills development and career progression.

    For rangatahi Māori, the challenge is intensified when employment opportunities are limited within their own rohe, potentially forcing young people to move away from whānau to find work.

    The longer the downturn continues, the greater the danger that what begins as a temporary economic slowdown becomes a longer-term problem for a generation entering the workforce.

    REGIONS FEELING THE SQUEEZE

    Roskruge says geography is another important part of the economic picture.

    Regional communities can be particularly exposed when construction slows, businesses reduce investment or industries such as forestry, manufacturing and other primary-sector activities contract.

    Unlike larger cities, smaller centres may have fewer alternative employers when a significant business closes, restructures or reduces its workforce.

    One lost job can also have a wider economic effect.

    Less household income means less spending at local shops, cafés, tradespeople and other businesses, which can create further pressure on employment throughout the community.

    For Māori, who have significant populations throughout provincial and regional Aotearoa, those pressures can be particularly pronounced.

    A CONTRAST WITH THE GROWING MĀORI ECONOMY

    The unemployment figures also sit alongside another striking economic story.

    Recent Stats NZ figures show Māori authorities held $32.6 billion in assets in 2025, while Māori enterprises captured in the data supported around 55,700 jobs.

    Māori authorities generated $5.7 billion in income and recorded a pre-tax surplus of $781 million, while Māori enterprises represented in the statistics exported almost $1.45 billion in goods.

    That creates one of the central challenges facing Māori economic policy.

    The collective Māori asset base is growing and Māori businesses are becoming increasingly important employers and exporters, yet large numbers of Māori households remain exposed to unemployment and economic hardship.

    The challenge is turning growing Māori economic strength into more jobs, higher wages, skills, apprenticeships and opportunities for whānau.

    ELECTION 2026: WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

    With the general election approaching, employment is likely to become one of the major tests of competing economic policies.

    Political parties will be challenged to explain not simply how they intend to grow GDP, but where new jobs will come from, which regions will benefit and how Māori and rangatahi will participate in that growth.

    Infrastructure investment, housing construction, regional development, education, apprenticeships, Māori enterprise, access to capital and support for small businesses will all form part of that debate.

    There is also a question of timing.

    Economic recoveries do not necessarily reach every community simultaneously. National indicators can begin improving while households and regions experiencing the deepest downturn continue struggling.

    For Māori whānau, therefore, an eventual improvement in national economic statistics will mean little if unemployment remains stubbornly high.

    THE NUMBERS REPRESENT WHĀNAU

    Behind an unemployment rate are thousands of individual stories.

    It can mean a parent losing an income, a graduate unable to find their first job, a forestry worker facing redundancy, a small business losing customers or a rangatahi wondering whether there is a future for them in their hometown.

    That is why Roskruge’s warning matters heading into Election 2026.

    The economic debate cannot be judged solely by whether the national economy eventually returns to growth.

    The bigger test will be who participates in that recovery.

    If Māori unemployment remains above 10 percent while the rest of the economy begins moving forward, then for thousands of whānau the downturn will not be over.

    And as November approaches, voters will increasingly be asking political parties one very straightforward question:

    Where are the jobs — and when will Māori whānau feel the recovery too?

    #MattRoskruge #MaoriUnemployment #MaoriEconomy #Rangatahi #RangatahiMaori #MaoriJobs #Employment #Jobs #EconomicDownturn #CostOfLiving #RegionalNZ #RegionalDevelopment #Whanau #PakihiMaori #EconomicRangatiratanga #MasseyUniversity #Election2026 #Election26 #NZEconomy #NZPolitics #TeAoMaori #Aotearoa #MaoriNews #NZNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

    The post LEFT BEHIND: MĀORI UNEMPLOYMENT ABOVE 10% AS ELECTION ECONOMY TAKES CENTRE STAGE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

    0 min
  • FROM $32.6 BILLION TO THE NEXT GENERATION: POTAKA SAYS MĀORI ECONOMY MUST KEEP GROWING
    https://waateanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Tama_Potaka___Minister_of_Maori_Development-1.mp3

    The Māori economy is entering a new phase of growth, with Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka facing the challenge of turning a rapidly expanding Māori asset base into more jobs, higher incomes, stronger businesses and lasting intergenerational wealth for whānau, hapū and iwi.

    New Stats NZ data shows Māori authorities controlled $32.6 billion in assets in 2025, an increase of $830 million in just one year, while Māori businesses captured in the latest statistics employed around 55,700 people.

    The figures provide a powerful backdrop for Potaka, who holds the Māori Development and Māori-Crown Relations portfolios and has responsibility for supporting Māori economic development.

    MĀORI BUSINESS BUILDING SERIOUS ECONOMIC WEIGHT

    Stats NZ identified 1,362 Māori authorities and 4,488 other economically significant Māori enterprises, giving a combined 5,850 businesses within the categories captured by the dataset.

    Importantly, that is not the total number of Māori-owned businesses operating across Aotearoa. Stats NZ’s methodology captures particular economically significant Māori enterprises, meaning the wider Māori business footprint is larger.

    The financial numbers demonstrate the growing scale of Māori commercial activity.

    Māori authorities generated $5.7 billion in total income, while their combined pre-tax surplus climbed 28 percent to $781 million.

    Their $32.6 billion asset base increased 2.6 percent despite challenging economic conditions, while total income across the wider New Zealand business sector covered by the Annual Enterprise Survey declined slightly over the comparable period.

    55,700 JOBS — AND A CHANCE TO CREATE MORE

    Employment may ultimately be one of the most important measures of Māori economic success.

    Māori authorities employed about 12,500 people, with another 43,200 working for other Māori enterprises identified by Stats NZ.

    That represents approximately 55,700 jobs.

    Those numbers take on added significance at a time when employment and the cost of living remain major issues for Māori whānau.

    For Potaka and the Government, the question is increasingly how policy can help successful Māori businesses expand further, employ more rangatahi, develop skills and create better-paid careers in the regions where many Māori live.

    The Government has put economic growth, investment, exports and productivity at the centre of its wider economic programme, including changes intended to attract investment, improve procurement opportunities and expand international market access.

    The opportunity will be ensuring Māori enterprises are positioned to capture their share of that growth.

    NOT JUST FARMING, FORESTRY AND FISHING

    The latest figures also challenge outdated perceptions that the Māori economy is overwhelmingly concentrated in primary industries.

    Among the 4,488 other Māori enterprises, the largest industry group was professional, scientific and technical services, accounting for 834 businesses.

    Agriculture, forestry and fishing accounted for 756 businesses, followed by construction with 495 and health care and social assistance with 315.

    Māori enterprise now stretches across professional services, technology, construction, property, healthcare, tourism and international trade alongside traditional strengths connected to whenua and natural resources.

    That diversification creates opportunities to move Māori capital further into high-value industries including technology, digital services, renewable energy, science, infrastructure and advanced manufacturing.

    MĀORI EXPORTERS TAKING ON THE WORLD

    International trade is another increasingly important part of the story.

    Māori authorities exported $872 million in goods, while other Māori enterprises exported another $574 million.

    Combined, Māori businesses represented in the dataset exported approximately $1.446 billion worth of goods.

    China accounted for 24 percent of Māori authority goods exports, demonstrating both the importance of international markets and the exposure Māori asset owners can have to changing global trade conditions.

    Opening new markets, strengthening trade relationships and helping Māori exporters move further up the value chain therefore have direct consequences for iwi, Māori businesses and the whānau who ultimately benefit from their success.

    FROM SETTLEMENT TO ECONOMIC RANGATIRATANGA

    Perhaps the biggest shift is in how the Māori economy itself is discussed.

    For decades, Māori economic development was frequently framed through deprivation, lost land and Treaty settlements.

    Those histories remain fundamental, but today’s Māori economy increasingly tells another story.

    It is one of Māori as employers, exporters, investors, entrepreneurs, property owners, farmers, innovators and collective custodians of billions of dollars in intergenerational assets.

    Many Māori authorities also operate differently from conventional businesses because commercial returns can support wider aspirations including education, housing, environmental restoration, cultural revitalisation, employment and services for whānau.

    That means growth is not simply about making the balance sheet bigger.

    It is about turning Māori capital into Māori opportunity.

    THE NEXT CHALLENGE

    The numbers provide Potaka and the Government with a significant opportunity.

    With $32.6 billion in Māori authority assets already accumulated, the next frontier is unlocking investment while protecting intergenerational ownership, developing Māori land, improving access to capital, growing exports and helping smaller Māori businesses become larger employers.

    It also means ensuring rangatahi Māori can see themselves not only as workers within the economy, but as entrepreneurs, executives, scientists, investors and business owners.

    The Māori economy is already substantial.

    The challenge for the next Government — and whoever holds the Māori Development portfolio after Election 2026 — will be whether public policy helps transform that economic strength into greater prosperity for Māori households and communities.

    Because the latest numbers make one thing increasingly clear:

    Māori economic development is no longer a conversation about catching up. It is a conversation about how Māori help drive the next generation of Aotearoa’s economic growth.

    #TamaPotaka #MaoriDevelopment #MaoriEconomy #MaoriBusiness #PakihiMaori #EconomicRangatiratanga #TinoRangatiratanga #ManaMotuhake #MaoriEnterprise #IwiBusiness #MaoriAuthorities #WhenuaMaori #MaoriExports #MaoriJobs #RangatahiMaori #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #Investment #Exports #EconomicGrowth #RegionalDevelopment #Whanau #Hapu #Iwi #StatsNZ #Election2026 #Aotearoa #TeAoMaori #MaoriNews #NZBusiness #NZEconomy #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

    The post FROM $32.6 BILLION TO THE NEXT GENERATION: POTAKA SAYS MĀORI ECONOMY MUST KEEP GROWING appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

    0 min
  • JONES AT THE CROSSROADS: MĀORI WEALTH SURGES AS KORONEIHANA, JOBS AND PROTEST COLLIDE
    https://waateanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Shane_Jones___Minister_of_Regional_Development-1.mp3

    New Zealand First deputy leader Shane Jones is entering the final stretch towards Election 2026 with three powerful Māori issues converging around him — the growing economic strength of Māori enterprise, the enduring importance of Kotahitanga following Koroneihana, and increasingly heated debate over the Government’s development agenda.

    As Regional Development Minister, Jones has become one of the Coalition’s most forceful advocates for mining, infrastructure, forestry, energy and regional investment.

    But as the election campaign intensifies, those policies are also putting him directly into debates about whenua, environmental protection, tino rangatiratanga and what economic development should look like for Māori communities.

    MĀORI ECONOMY NOW A $32.6 BILLION POWERHOUSE

    The latest Stats NZ figures provide an extraordinary backdrop to that debate.

    Māori authorities controlled $32.6 billion in assets in 2025, an increase of $830 million in a year, while the Māori enterprises captured in the latest dataset employed approximately 55,700 people.

    Stats NZ identified 1,362 Māori authorities and 4,488 other economically significant Māori enterprises — 5,850 businesses across the two categories.

    Māori authorities generated $5.7 billion in total income and recorded a pre-tax surplus of $781 million, up 28 percent.

    Māori businesses represented in the statistics also exported almost $1.45 billion in goods, demonstrating that the Māori economy is increasingly connected to international markets as well as regional communities.

    The figures are particularly important for Jones because regional economic development and Māori economic development increasingly intersect.

    Much of the Māori asset base remains connected to whenua, forestry, farming, fisheries and natural resources, while Māori businesses are simultaneously expanding into construction, healthcare, professional services, tourism and other industries.

    That means decisions over roads, ports, energy, resource consenting, mining, forestry and regional infrastructure can have direct consequences for Māori businesses and landowners.

    FROM ECONOMIC GROWTH TO ECONOMIC RANGATIRATANGA

    The size of the Māori economy also changes the political conversation.

    Māori are no longer simply stakeholders asking governments for regional development.

    Iwi, hapū, Māori authorities and entrepreneurs are increasingly investors, employers, exporters and owners of significant capital themselves.

    The question for Jones and the wider Government is therefore whether its economic programme can unlock greater productivity from Māori assets while maintaining Māori ownership, environmental responsibilities and the intergenerational character of collectively held whenua.

    The numbers suggest the opportunity is substantial.

    Māori authorities now hold tens of billions of dollars in assets, yet Māori unemployment remains disproportionately high. Turning collective wealth and regional investment into more jobs, apprenticeships, businesses and household income remains one of the major economic challenges confronting Māori.

    KORONEIHANA REMINDS POLITICIANS OF A BIGGER PICTURE

    That economic debate comes alongside another powerful development within te ao Māori.

    Koroneihana 2026 again brought iwi from across Aotearoa together at Tūrangawaewae, while this year’s commemorations carried the weight of remembering significant leaders and loved ones lost over the preceding year.

    For iwi, Koroneihana remains far more than a ceremonial gathering. It is a place where whakapapa, kotahitanga, political leadership and the future direction of Māori intersect.

    Those themes matter in an election year.

    Whatever political differences exist between parties, Māori political and economic aspirations increasingly extend beyond the three-year parliamentary cycle.

    Whenua, whakapapa, economic independence and the ability of future generations to determine their own direction remain enduring kaupapa.

    For politicians such as Jones, who operate simultaneously within Māori political traditions and the machinery of Government, that creates an increasingly complicated political landscape.

    GISBORNE CLASH SHOWS DEVELOPMENT DEBATE IS HEATING UP

    That tension has also been visible on the ground.

    Jones recently clashed with protesters during a public meeting in Gisborne, highlighting the increasingly confrontational debate surrounding parts of the Government’s economic and development programme.

    The confrontation is emblematic of a wider argument playing out across regional Aotearoa.

    Jones has built his political brand around getting projects moving, extracting greater economic value from natural resources and challenging what he regards as regulatory barriers to development. Waatea’s recent coverage has similarly reflected his combative approach across regional development and major primary industries.

    Opponents are asking a different set of questions — about environmental consequences, local communities, Māori rights and who ultimately receives the economic benefit.

    For Māori landowners and iwi organisations, those questions cannot always be divided neatly into pro-development and anti-development camps.

    Many want investment, infrastructure and jobs while simultaneously demanding protection of whenua, wai, cultural landscapes and decision-making rights.

    That makes Māori economic development one of the more complex political battlegrounds heading towards November.

    THE $32.6 BILLION QUESTION

    Jones has long argued that regions need investment rather than stagnation.

    But the latest Māori business statistics suggest the next stage of that conversation cannot simply be about what Wellington can do for Māori.

    It must increasingly ask what happens when Government investment and policy meet a Māori economy that already possesses enormous assets, commercial expertise, export relationships and investment capacity.

    Can Crown infrastructure investment unlock Māori land?

    Can Māori businesses secure a larger share of major regional projects?

    Can more of the almost $1.45 billion in Māori goods exports be converted into higher-value products?

    Can iwi capital help build housing, renewable energy, tourism, technology and regional infrastructure?

    And, perhaps most importantly, can that growth translate into jobs and higher incomes for whānau?

    These are questions that will outlast Election 2026.

    Koroneihana reinforces the importance of whakapapa and collective Māori aspiration. The Stats NZ figures demonstrate the growing economic power sitting alongside it. The protests confronting Jones show there is no automatic agreement about how that power — or the natural resources underpinning parts of it — should be developed.

    Together they point towards one of the defining Māori political debates of the coming decade.

    Economic development is coming. The real argument is increasingly about who controls it, who benefits from it, and what Aotearoa is prepared to protect along the way.

    #ShaneJones #NZFirst #RegionalDevelopment #Koroneihana2026 #Koroneihana #Kiingitanga #Kotahitanga #MaoriEconomy #MaoriBusiness #PakihiMaori #EconomicRangatiratanga #TinoRangatiratanga #ManaMotuhake #MaoriDevelopment #IwiBusiness #WhenuaMaori #RegionalEconomy #RegionalNZ #MaoriJobs #Jobs #Mining #Forestry #Infrastructure #EconomicGrowth #Environment #Gisborne #Tairawhiti #Election2026 #Election26 #TeAoMaori #MaoriPolitics #MaoriNews #Aotearoa #NZPolitics #NZNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

    The post JONES AT THE CROSSROADS: MĀORI WEALTH SURGES AS KORONEIHANA, JOBS AND PROTEST COLLIDE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

    0 min
  • Bayden Barber | Te ahunga o Te Matau a Māui ki ngā ngaru nui, ki ngā ngaru roa o te Moana nui a Kiwa.

    I tērā wiki i mānu te waka o Te Matau a Māui i Ahuriri, i Te Whanganui-a-Orotu, ki te whai i te ara o Te Hokinga, he haerenga e rima tau te roa ki te aru anō i te ara moana i whāia e te waka o Tākitimu.

    E rua marama te roa o tēnei wāhanga o te haerenga, ka pae ki te uta o Hāmoa o Whītī, kātahi ka hoki mai ki te kāinga.

    He haerenga hai whakamātau i ngā pūkenga o ngā kaiwhakatere waka e whakangungua ana.

    I whai wāhi kōrero mātou ki te Hea o Ngāti Kahungunu, ki a Bayden Barber. E whai ake nei ko te whānuitanga o āna kōrero.

    https://waateanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/waka-Pohaturoa-Waenga-02092026-1pm.mp3

     

    The post Bayden Barber | Te ahunga o Te Matau a Māui ki ngā ngaru nui, ki ngā ngaru roa o te Moana nui a Kiwa. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

    1 min
  • Savannah Tukariri | Nau mai, Tauti mai ki te ‘World Buskers Fest 2027’

    Ka tū anō ko te ahurei World Buskers ki Ōtautahi mai i te 21 ki te 31 o Hānuere 2027!

    I tēnei tau i hiwa ake ko te kaupapa o KOHA he āpitihanga tēnei kaupapa i te ahurei hai whakapoapoa i ngā kaihaka Māori me ngā kaiwhakangahau Pasifika ki te hui, hei whakatairanga i tō tātou ahurea, ō tātou pūkenga me te mana o ngā iwi taketake o te whenua nei.

    Hei tā Savanah Tukariri, te kaihautū Māori o KOHA, i ara ake tēnei kaupapa nā te iti o te whai wāhi a te Māori me te Pasifika ki te hui i ngā tau kua pahure.

    E whai ake nei ko te whānuitanga o āna kōrero.

    https://waateanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/busker.mp3

    The post Savannah Tukariri | Nau mai, Tauti mai ki te ‘World Buskers Fest 2027’ appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

    1 min
  • #Hakinakina: Ken Laban and Dale Husband Unpack a Wild Weekend — Wahs Survive, All Blacks Stumble and Black Ferns Make History
    https://waateanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Ken_Laban___Atatu_Sporting_Commentator_and_Mayor_of_Lower_Hutt.mp3

    Sports commentator Ken Laban joins Dale Husband on Radio Waatea to dissect a massive weekend of sport, with the Warriors surviving a Manly thriller on their way into the NRL playoffs, the All Blacks falling to the Springboks in Soweto and the Black Ferns producing an extraordinary eight-try victory in South Africa.

    From rugby league finals fever to the greatest rivalry in international rugby and another history-making performance from our wāhine toa, there is no shortage of talking points for Laban and Husband.

    And with September arriving, the stakes are getting considerably higher.

    The Wahs are heading for finals football

    For Warriors supporters, the heart rate probably took a while to settle after another tense encounter with the Manly Sea Eagles.

    The Warriors survived a contest that went right down to the wire, securing the victory they needed and carrying momentum into the NRL playoffs.

    It was not necessarily the type of performance that will have the coaching staff completely relaxed, but finals football is rarely about perfection.

    At this stage of the season, winning matters.

    For Laban, the bigger question is whether the Warriors can now convert an impressive regular season into a serious finals campaign.

    The pressure changes dramatically once playoff football begins.

    Mistakes become more expensive, opportunities become harder to find and the margin between continuing the season and going home can come down to one tackle, one kick or one moment of individual brilliance.

    But the Warriors have given themselves the opportunity.

    And once again, Aotearoa is preparing to ride the emotional rollercoaster with them.

    Warriors carrying Māori and Pacific league communities with them

    There is also something bigger surrounding the Warriors whenever they make a finals run.

    The club has enormous support throughout Māori and Pacific communities, where rugby league has long been part of whānau, clubs and neighbourhoods.

    When the Warriors succeed, that visibility flows back into the grassroots game.

    Rangatahi see players who come from communities like theirs performing on one of the biggest stages in Australasian sport.

    Clubrooms fill.

    Junior registrations get another boost.

    And Up the Wahs starts appearing everywhere from workplaces to marae.

    For Laban and Husband, that connection between elite sport and community remains an important part of the Warriors story.

    All Blacks fall short in Soweto

    There was considerably less to celebrate for All Blacks supporters.

    New Zealand went down 29-24 to the Springboks in front of more than 85,000 spectators at FNB Stadium, leaving South Africa with a 2-1 advantage in the four-Test series.

    The All Blacks had their chances.

    Ardie Savea scored twice during a fast New Zealand start, while Will Jordan crossed after halftime as the visitors attempted to beat South Africa with speed and attacking movement.

    But the Springboks increasingly dragged the contest towards their greatest strengths.

    Scrum pressure, lineout drives, territory and relentless physicality gradually changed the game.

    South Africa eventually prevailed by five points.

    Ardie Savea loss adds to the pain

    Perhaps the biggest concern to emerge from Johannesburg was the injury to captain Ardie Savea.

    Savea was forced from the field with a shoulder injury after scoring twice and is set to miss the fourth and final Test in Baltimore.

    His absence will leave a substantial hole.

    Savea provides ball carrying, breakdown pressure, defence, leadership and the ability to change a game almost single-handedly.

    His two tries in Soweto also saw him become the leading try-scoring forward in men’s international rugby.

    The All Blacks can no longer win the four-Test series.

    Baltimore is now about drawing it 2-2 and preventing South Africa from completing its first series victory over New Zealand since 1976.

    For Laban, that final Test becomes a major examination of the depth and character of the All Blacks without their captain.

    Black Ferns turn Johannesburg into a statement

    But if the men’s result left New Zealand supporters frustrated, the Black Ferns provided one of the performances of the weekend.

    New Zealand defeated the Springbok Women 52-20, scoring eight tries in the first Test between the two countries played on South African soil.

    Yet even that scoreline does not explain how remarkable the performance became.

    The Black Ferns received four yellow cards and at one point were reduced to just 13 players.

    Instead of retreating, they attacked.

    Remarkably, New Zealand scored two tries without reply while playing with 13.

    Eight tries — but four cards send a warning

    Elinor-Plum King and Braxton Sorensen-McGee both scored twice, with Chryss Viliko, Maia Joseph, Amarante Sititi and Maama Mo’onia Vaipulu also crossing. King was named player of the match.

    The attacking performance demonstrated just how dangerous the Black Ferns can be when given space.

    But there is another side of the ledger.

    Four yellow cards, scrum pressure and a heavy penalty count will give the coaching staff plenty to address.

    Against stronger opposition, spending that much time with players in the sin bin could prove decisive.

    The Black Ferns now head towards France in Lyon before further WXV matches against England and Scotland.

    A special Sititi whānau moment

    There was also a remarkable piece of New Zealand rugby history involving the Sititi whānau.

    Amarante Sititi came from the bench and scored for the Black Ferns on the same day her brother Wallace was involved with the All Blacks.

    They became the first New Zealand brother and sister to play Test rugby on the same day since Annaleah and Xavier Rush in 1998.

    For Māori and Pacific sporting communities, moments such as these demonstrate the extraordinary whānau pathways continuing to emerge at the highest level of the game.

    Ken Laban’s Monday sporting verdict

    For Ken Laban and Dale Husband, there is plenty to debate.

    Can the Warriors turn their momentum into a genuine NRL premiership challenge?

    Can the All Blacks respond in Baltimore without Ardie Savea and salvage a drawn series?

    And just how good can these Black Ferns become if they combine their devastating attacking ability with greater discipline?

    Those are very different sporting stories, but all three now share one thing.

    The pressure is rising.

    The Warriors are entering finals football.

    The All Blacks have one Test left to save the series.

    And the Black Ferns are heading towards tougher international opposition with confidence after making history in Johannesburg.

    September has arrived — and for Kiwi sports fans, the big games are only getting bigger.

    Read Waatea’s full Weekend Sports Roundup:
    https://waateanews.com/2026/09/07/weekend-sports-roundup-warriors-survive-manly-thriller-all-blacks-stumble-as-black-ferns-make-history/

    #KenLaban #DaleHusband #Hakinakina #WeekendSports #SportsRoundup #Warriors #NZWarriors #OneNZWarriors #UpTheWahs #NRL #NRLFinals #ManlySeaEagles #RugbyLeague #AllBlacks #Springboks #ArdieSavea #BlackFerns #WahineToa #WomensRugby #AmaranteSititi #MaoriSport #PacificSport #MaoriAthletes #Rangatahi #NZSport #Aotearoa #TeAoMaori #WaateaSports #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

    The post #Hakinakina: Ken Laban and Dale Husband Unpack a Wild Weekend — Wahs Survive, All Blacks Stumble and Black Ferns Make History appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

    13 min
  • Who Will Heal Our Whānau? Sir Collin Tukuitonga Warns Medical Workforce Must Reflect the Communities It Serves
    https://waateanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Professor_Sir_Collin_Tukuitonga___Associate_Dean_Pacific_at_the_University_of_Aucklands_Faculty_of_Medical_and_Health_Sciences.mp3

    As ACT campaigns to scrap Māori and Pacific medical-school admission pathways, one of Aotearoa’s leading public-health experts says the bigger question is whether the country is prepared to build the diverse health workforce its communities actually need.

    Professor Sir Collin Tukuitonga, Associate Dean Pacific at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, has long advocated for a health workforce that better reflects the people of Aotearoa.

    The debate has taken on new urgency after ACT confirmed it will campaign at Election 2026 to remove targeted Māori and Pacific admission pathways at the University of Auckland and University of Otago.

    The Government has already commissioned a review of those programmes under the National-ACT coalition agreement. But despite political debate intensifying over their future, the findings of that review have still not been made public.

    For Sir Collin, the issue goes well beyond who gets through the doors of medical school.

    It reaches into the future of the health workforce, the shortage of doctors, persistent inequities experienced by Māori and Pacific communities and whether those communities can see themselves represented among the professionals delivering their care.

    ACT wants ethnicity removed from the equation

    ACT’s position is that medical-school admission should be determined by individual achievement rather than ethnicity.

    The party argues preferential pathways based on ethnicity are inconsistent with equal treatment and wants the Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme, known as MAPAS, and equivalent targeted pathways removed.

    Supporters of MAPAS see the issue very differently.

    They argue that measuring every applicant by exactly the same criteria without recognising longstanding educational, economic and social barriers does not necessarily produce equality — particularly when Māori and Pacific people remain substantially underrepresented in medicine.

    University of Auckland Dean of Medical and Health Sciences Professor Warwick Bagg says Māori currently account for only 5.8 percent of the medical workforce, while Pacific doctors account for just 2.8 percent.

    Both remain well below their respective shares of the New Zealand population.

    Those figures go to the heart of Sir Collin’s longstanding concern: if Aotearoa wants a health system capable of serving its entire population, who trains as a doctor matters.

    Representation isn’t just about numbers

    The argument for increasing Māori and Pacific representation in medicine is not simply that patients should see doctors who look like them.

    It is about the wider relationship between workforce composition, cultural understanding, trust, access and the communities in which doctors ultimately choose to practise.

    The University of Auckland says evidence shows Māori and Pacific doctors have approximately an 86 percent retention rate in the New Zealand health workforce 10 years after registration, slightly above the approximately 83 percent rate for Pākehā doctors.

    It also says Māori and Pacific doctors are more likely to work in general practice and in regional and rural communities — precisely the areas where workforce shortages remain a major challenge.

    That makes the debate particularly relevant to Māori communities outside the main centres.

    A policy designed to increase Māori participation in medicine may ultimately affect not only who studies medicine, but where the resulting doctors work and which communities gain access to them.

    Same doctor at the end of the degree

    One of the most contentious aspects of the political debate is the suggestion that targeted admission somehow means lowering the standard required to become a doctor.

    The University of Auckland rejects that proposition.

    Regardless of how students enter medical school, all students must ultimately satisfy the same academic, clinical and professional standards required to graduate as doctors.

    That distinction is important.

    MAPAS changes the pathway through which eligible Māori and Pacific students can enter medical and health programmes. It does not create a separate medical qualification or a lower professional standard at graduation.

    The university argues academic grades are important, but grades alone cannot determine who will ultimately become an effective health professional.

    For Māori and Pacific communities, qualities such as communication, cultural understanding and the ability to build relationships can become particularly important when mistrust or previous experiences with the health system create barriers to accessing care.

    A health system already struggling for doctors

    There is also a danger that the political fight over Māori and Pacific admissions distracts from an even larger problem.

    Aotearoa needs more doctors.

    Medical-school places remain intensely competitive, while regional and rural communities continue to struggle to recruit and retain clinicians.

    That raises a broader policy question for Election 2026.

    Rather than concentrating only on how the existing medical-school places are divided, should the political debate also focus on dramatically increasing the country’s capacity to train doctors?

    More training places, clinical placements and stronger pathways into general practice and underserved communities could expand the overall workforce while maintaining pathways designed to improve Māori, Pacific, rural and socioeconomic representation.

    Scrapping one pathway does not, by itself, create another doctor.

    The evidence is sitting behind closed doors

    There is another uncomfortable issue hanging over the debate.

    The Government has already reviewed these programmes.

    The National-ACT coalition agreement specifically committed the Government to assessing targeted Māori and Pacific admission schemes, including MAPAS, to determine whether they were achieving their intended outcomes.

    The University of Auckland says it has spent the past year supplying information for that independent Ministry of Health review and is now calling for the findings to be released.

    That creates an obvious question.

    Why should New Zealanders be asked to decide the future of Māori and Pacific medical pathways during an election campaign without being allowed to see the Government’s own evidence about whether they work?

    If the review identifies significant problems, those findings should be open to scrutiny.

    If it concludes the programmes are successfully increasing Māori and Pacific participation in medicine, voters should know that too.

    Either way, evidence commissioned by the Government should be central to a debate now being put before the electorate.

    MAPAS has changed the workforce

    The University of Auckland maintains that MAPAS has contributed to a sustained increase in Māori and Pacific health professionals, including doctors.

    It says the numbers of Māori and Pacific doctors have steadily increased since the programme was established.

    Yet the fact that Māori comprise only 5.8 percent and Pacific peoples 2.8 percent of the medical workforce suggests representation has not caught up with population need.

    That poses a challenge for those proposing to remove the pathways.

    If MAPAS goes, what replaces it?

    How will the country increase the number of Māori doctors?

    How will it increase the Pacific medical workforce?

    How will medical schools recruit talented rangatahi from communities historically underrepresented in medicine?

    And how will the health system ensure those doctors ultimately reach rural, regional and high-needs communities?

    Those questions require more than an argument about university admission rules.

    They require a national health-workforce strategy.

    For Māori, this is ultimately about hauora

    For Māori, the debate cannot be separated from the persistent inequities already evident across the health system.

    Whether the issue is cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, mental health, access to primary care or life expectancy, Māori continue to experience health outcomes that demonstrate the system is not delivering equally for everybody.

    Increasing the Māori health workforce will not solve every one of those problems.

    But workforce representation is one component of building a system in which Māori knowledge, cultural competency, community relationships and clinical expertise operate together.

    That is why the political debate surrounding MAPAS matters far beyond university campuses.

    It is ultimately about the people who will be standing in clinics, hospitals and communities caring for whānau decades from now.

    The question Election 2026 needs to answer

    There is a legitimate political debate about how university admission should work.

    ACT is entitled to argue that ethnicity should play no role in determining access.

    Universities, Māori and Pacific health leaders and public-health experts are equally entitled to point to workforce shortages, underrepresentation and persistent inequity as reasons targeted pathways remain necessary.

    But the debate cannot end with whether MAPAS survives.

    The bigger question is what kind of health workforce Aotearoa wants to build.

    If the country wants more doctors, more doctors in rural communities and a workforce capable of serving an increasingly diverse population, then it needs a plan for producing them.

    And before politicians dismantle programmes specifically created to address underrepresentation, the public should at least be able to examine the evidence the Government has already commissioned about whether those programmes are working.

    Because ultimately this isn’t simply about who gets into medical school.

    It’s about who will be there to heal our whānau.

    #SirCollinTukuitonga #CollinTukuitonga #MAPAS #ACTParty #MedicalSchool #MaoriDoctors #PacificDoctors #MaoriHealth #PacificHealth #HauoraMaori #HealthEquity #HealthWorkforce #MedicalWorkforce #DoctorShortage #RuralHealth #UniversityOfAuckland #UniversityOfOtago #MedicalEducation #RangatahiMaori #MaoriStudents #PacificStudents #Equity #TeTiriti #Whanau #Election2026 #Election26 #NZPolitics #MaoriPolitics #Aotearoa #TeAoMaori #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

    The post Who Will Heal Our Whānau? Sir Collin Tukuitonga Warns Medical Workforce Must Reflect the Communities It Serves appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

    10 min
  • Nothing About Us Without Us: Dr Huhana Hickey Says Disability System Must Hand Power Back to Tāngata Whaikaha Māori
    https://waateanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Dr_Huhana_Hickey___Disability_Advocate_and_High-profile_lawyer.mp3

    One of Aotearoa’s leading disability-rights advocates says the Waitangi Tribunal’s damning findings on the disability system confirm what tāngata whaikaha Māori and their whānau have been saying for decades — a system designed without them will continue to fail them.

    Dr Huhana Hickey, of Ngāti Tāhinga, Waikato and Whakatōhea Ngāti Ira, is an academic, disability-rights lawyer and long-time advocate for whānau hauā and disabled people. She lives with multiple sclerosis, serves on the Human Rights Review Tribunal and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to people with disabilities.

    Her advocacy has consistently pushed beyond simply making existing services more accessible. At its heart is a demand that tāngata whaikaha Māori have genuine authority over decisions affecting their lives.

    That kaupapa has been given powerful backing by Hauwhaikaha: The Disability System Report, released by the Waitangi Tribunal as part of the Wai 2575 Health Services and Outcomes Kaupapa Inquiry.

    The Tribunal found the Crown has breached Te Tiriti principles, failed to adequately partner with tāngata whaikaha Māori, failed to properly address longstanding inequities and inadequately supported kaupapa Māori providers.

    A system Māori have struggled against for decades

    Hauwhaikaha is the culmination of an extensive inquiry involving 48 claimants, 13 interested parties and 11 weeks of hearings between 2022 and 2024.

    The Tribunal heard that Māori experience significantly higher levels of disability than non-Māori, while tāngata whaikaha Māori also experience inequitable access to health and disability support.

    The Crown itself accepted there is a higher proportion of unmet need among tāngata whaikaha Māori and that they are frequently marginalised within the health and disability system.

    For Hickey, these are issues that extend well beyond government reports.

    Throughout decades of advocacy she has challenged barriers in housing, transport, employment, healthcare and public spaces, while arguing that accessibility and inclusion must recognise Māori identity and culture rather than treating disability as an isolated issue.

    Fragmented, complicated and difficult to navigate

    One of the Tribunal’s strongest conclusions reflects an experience familiar to many whānau.

    The disability system is fragmented, complex and difficult to navigate.

    For people already dealing with disability, illness, financial pressure, inaccessible transport or housing and the demands of everyday life, navigating multiple agencies and eligibility rules can itself become another barrier.

    For Māori living rurally, the problem can become even greater.

    The Tribunal found shortages of services in rural communities can force whānau to travel further and carry additional costs simply to access support. It also heard evidence of racism and discrimination within the system.

    This is where Hickey’s long-standing advocacy for accessibility becomes particularly important.

    Accessibility is not simply about whether a building has a ramp.

    It is about whether housing is suitable, transport is available, information can be understood, healthcare is accessible, technology works for disabled people and whānau can reach services when they actually need them.

    The Tribunal says power itself is the problem

    Perhaps the most significant finding in Hauwhaikaha is not about an individual programme or funding stream.

    It is about who holds power.

    The Tribunal concluded that the state disability system does not properly recognise or provide for the tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake of tāngata whaikaha Māori.

    It found the Crown historically failed to partner with tāngata whaikaha Māori in designing disability services, policies, strategies and action plans.

    It also found Māori have not been adequately supported and resourced to participate formally in system design and decision-making.

    That takes the debate beyond consultation.

    Asking Māori what they think after a policy has largely been developed is not the same as sharing authority over its design.

    For Hickey and other disability advocates, the principle has long been straightforward: disabled people must be participants in decisions affecting disabled people.

    For tāngata whaikaha Māori, that principle also intersects with Te Tiriti, tino rangatiratanga and the right to develop Māori-led responses.

    Kaupapa Māori providers need more than praise

    The Tribunal also focused heavily on kaupapa Māori services.

    It recognised kaupapa Māori providers as essential to delivering culturally appropriate support and sustaining hauora Māori, describing those providers as expressions of tino rangatiratanga.

    But it found they are not receiving sufficient funding or support to meet the needs of tāngata whaikaha Māori.

    That creates an uncomfortable contradiction.

    Government can recognise that Māori providers reach whānau differently and deliver culturally grounded services, but that recognition means little if those organisations are then expected to deliver more with inadequate resources.

    For whānau, the consequences can be delays, fewer choices and services struggling to remain sustainable.

    Cultural safety remains unfinished business

    The disability workforce also came under scrutiny.

    Māori and tāngata whaikaha Māori remain under-represented across the health and disability workforce.

    The Tribunal found Crown training and professional development arrangements have not ensured workers are culturally competent, contributing to too many instances of culturally unsafe care.

    That matters because disability support can involve some of the most personal aspects of a person’s life.

    Trust matters.

    Whanaungatanga matters.

    Understanding whānau structures matters.

    Language, tikanga and identity matter.

    A technically available service can still be inaccessible if the person receiving it does not feel culturally safe using it.

    Government can’t fix what it doesn’t properly measure

    Hauwhaikaha also exposes a major weakness in disability data.

    Despite longstanding knowledge of inequities, the Tribunal found the Crown has failed to sufficiently understand how well the disability system is performing for tāngata whaikaha Māori.

    There are no nationally consistent data standards across Crown agencies that allow Māori disability health outcomes to be systematically and separately measured and reported.

    That has consequences for accountability.

    If government cannot clearly measure who is receiving services, who is missing out, where unmet need sits and whether outcomes are improving, it becomes considerably harder for Māori communities to hold the system accountable.

    Better data is therefore not merely an administrative exercise.

    It determines whether inequity can be seen.

    Some Māori communities face particular barriers

    The Tribunal made specific findings concerning Kāpō Māori, including Māori who are blind, deafblind, vision-impaired or have low vision; Tāngata Turi, Māori who are deaf or hard of hearing; and tāngata whaikaha Māori living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

    Those findings underline another important point.

    Tāngata whaikaha Māori are not a single homogenous community.

    Disability, age, location, language, gender, income and whānau circumstances can create very different needs.

    A disability system capable of serving Māori therefore needs flexibility rather than assuming one model will work for everybody.

    Abolition of Te Aka Whai Ora leaves another question

    The Tribunal has also highlighted the consequences of dismantling Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority.

    It recommends the Crown establish appropriate replacements for the monitoring role previously held by Te Aka Whai Ora under the Pae Ora legislation, covering the health and disability system and health services provided through prisons.

    That recommendation is politically significant.

    Whatever structure governments choose, the Tribunal is effectively saying that independent and effective monitoring of Māori outcomes cannot simply disappear.

    Someone must be responsible for determining whether the system is actually improving outcomes for tāngata whaikaha Māori.

    Co-design must mean sharing the steering wheel

    The Tribunal recommends viable partnership models developed through co-design with tāngata whaikaha Māori.

    It also wants Māori directly involved in designing and delivering the disability system, alongside reforms covering funding, data and accountability.

    For advocates such as Hickey, the challenge will be ensuring co-design does not become another government buzzword.

    True co-design means involving disabled Māori from the beginning.

    It means paying people appropriately for their expertise.

    It means accessible participation.

    It means Māori organisations having resources and decision-making authority.

    And crucially, it means government being prepared to give up some control.

    From consultation to rangatiratanga

    Dr Huhana Hickey’s decades of advocacy have been built around a deceptively simple idea: disabled people should be able to participate fully in society and have a meaningful say over the systems governing their lives.

    Hauwhaikaha now places that principle squarely alongside the Crown’s Te Tiriti responsibilities.

    The Tribunal has identified the problems.

    It has identified the inequities.

    It has identified failures in funding, cultural safety, data, representation and partnership.

    And it has recommended a pathway forward.

    The question now is whether another landmark report becomes another document sitting on a government shelf — or whether Election 2026 marks the point at which tāngata whaikaha Māori finally move from being consulted by the disability system to sharing power over it.

    Because after decades of advocacy from leaders such as Dr Huhana Hickey, the message could hardly be clearer:

    Nothing about tāngata whaikaha Māori should be decided without tāngata whaikaha Māori at the table.

    #HuhanaHickey #TangataWhaikahaMaori #Whaikaha #DisabilityRights #MaoriDisability #DisabilityJustice #Accessibility #Inclusion #Wai2575 #Hauwhaikaha #WaitangiTribunal #TeTiriti #TinoRangatiratanga #ManaMotuhake #HauoraMaori #MaoriHealth #HealthEquity #KaupapaMaori #WhanauHaua #KaapoMaori #TangataTuri #FASD #CulturalSafety #DisabilityWorkforce #AccessibleHousing #AccessibleTransport #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs #Election2026 #Election26 #Aotearoa #TeAoMaori #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

    The post Nothing About Us Without Us: Dr Huhana Hickey Says Disability System Must Hand Power Back to Tāngata Whaikaha Māori appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

    12 min
  • From Aotearoa to India: Te Matapihi Hunts Global Solutions to Māori Housing Crisis
    https://waateanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Ali_Hamlin-Paenga___Chief_Executive_of_Te_Matapihi.mp3

    Māori housing leaders are looking beyond Aotearoa for new ways to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing whānau, with Te Matapihi leading a delegation to India to explore affordable construction, new technology, sustainable housing and international partnerships that could help build more Māori homes.

    Te Matapihi Chief Executive Ali Hamlin-Paenga has led the Māori housing delegation as part of a strategic visit to India running from 26 August to 6 September.

    The national Māori housing body says the kaupapa is about identifying global best practice and building relationships capable of translating innovation overseas into practical housing outcomes back home.

    Te Matapihi describes itself as the independent voice of the Māori housing sector, advocating for Māori housing policy and working across government, providers and communities to address the Māori housing crisis.

    For Hamlin-Paenga, who whakapapa to Te Aitanga ā Māhaki and Ngāti Kahungunu, the visit represents an opportunity to look at what one of the world’s largest and fastest-developing nations can teach Aotearoa about building homes at scale.

    India offers a different housing laboratory

    India faces housing challenges on a scale vastly greater than New Zealand, but that scale has also driven investment and innovation in construction, infrastructure, digital technology and urban development.

    During the visit, the delegation has been examining affordable housing, sustainable construction materials, scalable building technologies, climate resilience and infrastructure.

    Discussions have also extended into water and waste management, smart-community technology, artificial intelligence in housing design and digital service delivery.

    For Māori communities facing high construction costs, difficult development economics and the challenges of building on collectively owned whenua, the attraction is obvious.

    The question is not simply whether India can build differently.

    It is whether some of those ideas can be adapted to a Māori context while preserving tikanga, whakapapa, whenua relationships and the aspirations of whānau.

    A Māori housing crisis needs more than one solution

    Te Matapihi’s international push comes against a much bigger challenge at home.

    Māori housing is not simply an issue of supply.

    For Te Matapihi, a Māori housing system is connected to wai, kai, whānau, whenua and whakapapa. Its approach recognises that kāinga needs to accommodate cultural relationships, multigenerational living and connections with marae, kōhanga reo, kura and wider community infrastructure.

    That makes the challenge different from simply producing the greatest possible number of standard houses.

    A solution that works for a large urban development overseas may need significant adaptation before it can work for papakāinga on whenua Māori.

    But new materials, modular construction, prefabrication, digital planning and lower-cost building systems could potentially address some of the practical barriers Māori housing providers encounter.

    From university laboratories to papakāinga

    One of the delegation’s significant engagements has been with Osmania University in Hyderabad, where discussions explored potential partnerships in housing research, sustainable construction and urban development.

    The delegation examined the university’s work in sustainable materials and scalable construction technology and discussed possible joint research, technology-based pilot programmes and formal institutional partnerships.

    That could be particularly significant if the relationship moves beyond a study tour.

    Rather than simply importing a finished Indian housing product, collaboration could allow Māori housing organisations and researchers to examine which technologies can be adapted to New Zealand’s regulatory, climatic and cultural environment.

    The discussions also considered student and research exchanges and opportunities to strengthen technical and leadership capability among rangatahi.

    That potentially turns housing into an economic-development opportunity as well.

    If Māori organisations can build capability around emerging construction methods, engineering, digital design and sustainable materials, the benefits could extend beyond individual housing projects into Māori employment, skills and enterprise.

    Technology could change how homes are delivered

    Housing construction in Aotearoa remains expensive.

    For Māori organisations, costs can be compounded by infrastructure requirements, financing barriers, consenting, fragmented land ownership and the complexity of developing whenua Māori.

    International technology will not make those barriers disappear.

    But the India mission suggests Te Matapihi is looking at whether innovation can reduce some of the pressure.

    Scalable construction systems can potentially shorten build times.

    Alternative materials may reduce costs or improve environmental performance.

    Digital planning tools can make design and project management more efficient.

    Artificial intelligence could increasingly assist with design optimisation, modelling, infrastructure planning and resource use.

    And smart-community technology could eventually influence how larger papakāinga developments manage energy, water and other infrastructure.

    The challenge will be ensuring technology serves Māori housing aspirations rather than forcing Māori communities to reshape themselves around technology.

    Climate resilience becoming part of the housing equation

    Climate resilience has also featured prominently in discussions in India.

    That has particular relevance for Māori.

    Many marae, papakāinga and Māori communities are located in coastal, rural or river environments increasingly exposed to flooding, erosion, storms and other climate hazards.

    Housing built today may need to serve several generations.

    That means decisions about location, materials, water systems, energy, infrastructure and resilience have implications extending decades into the future.

    Indian experience with heat, extreme rainfall, population density and infrastructure pressure may not translate directly to Aotearoa, but it provides another source of ideas for designing communities capable of adapting to a changing climate.

    Housing diplomacy opens another door

    The delegation has also become about more than construction.

    Hamlin-Paenga’s public reflections on the mission point to a wider agenda involving Māori leadership, enterprise, education, culture and innovation, alongside strengthening relationships between Aotearoa and India.

    Former Foreign Affairs Minister and current Te Matapihi deputy chair Nanaia Mahuta has also participated in the wider delegation, alongside Te Matapihi chair Jordon Robertson and other Māori and Pacific leaders.

    That gives the mission an economic-development dimension.

    Housing represents an enormous global industry encompassing construction, architecture, manufacturing, technology, infrastructure, finance and research.

    For Māori, international relationships in those areas could potentially create opportunities not just to purchase technology, but to develop Māori businesses, research partnerships and intellectual capability.

    The test comes when everyone gets home

    International delegations can produce impressive photographs, meetings and memoranda.

    The harder test is what happens afterwards.

    Te Matapihi and its Indian counterparts have already identified possible pathways including formal university relationships, collaborative research and technology-based pilot programmes.

    Turning those possibilities into actual homes will require considerably more work.

    Any imported construction technology would need to satisfy New Zealand building standards and regulations.

    Costs would need to stack up after shipping, manufacturing, licensing and local adaptation.

    Solutions would need to work with whenua Māori ownership structures.

    And most importantly, Māori communities themselves would need to determine whether the technology meets their aspirations.

    But Te Matapihi’s approach represents something significant.

    Instead of accepting that New Zealand’s existing housing system is the only system Māori can work within, it is searching internationally for alternatives.

    Housing by Māori, for Māori

    The wider policy challenge remains substantial.

    The Government itself acknowledges critical gaps exist for whānau Māori within the housing system and that Māori need to be placed at the centre of approaches intended to improve Māori housing outcomes.

    The India delegation asks what comes next.

    If another country has developed a cheaper construction method, can Māori use it?

    If universities have developed better sustainable materials, can they be tested here?

    If digital technology can reduce costs or speed up development, can Māori providers access it?

    If international partnerships can unlock investment, skills and expertise, can those relationships ultimately help put more whānau into secure homes?

    For Ali Hamlin-Paenga and Te Matapihi, the journey to India is therefore not simply about looking at houses.

    It is about looking for new tools Māori can bring home and place in Māori hands.

    Because the success of the mission will not ultimately be measured by how many meetings were held in India.

    It will be measured by whether the relationships, technology and ideas brought back to Aotearoa eventually become warm, affordable and enduring kāinga for whānau Māori.

    #AliHamlinPaenga #TeMatapihi #MaoriHousing #HousingCrisis #Whare #Kainga #Papakainga #WhenuaMaori #WhanauMaori #AffordableHousing #HousingInnovation #India #IndiaNewZealand #IndigenousHousing #SustainableHousing #ModularHousing #ConstructionTechnology #HousingTechnology #ClimateResilience #Rangatahi #MaoriEnterprise #PakihiMaori #MaoriEconomy #EconomicRangatiratanga #TinoRangatiratanga #HousingEquity #HomeOwnership #Whanau #Aotearoa #TeAoMaori #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

    The post From Aotearoa to India: Te Matapihi Hunts Global Solutions to Māori Housing Crisis appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

    11 min

About Waatea News: Māori Radio Station

From the publisher's feed

Keep up to date with the latest Māori news from around regional Aotearoa. Listen to Waatea live, Auckland's only Māori radio on 603am or online here.