Waatea News: Māori Radio Station

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is putting the weekly grocery bill and Te Tiriti o Waitangi at the centre of the Greens’ Election 2026 pitch, backing an extraordinary intervention in the supermarket sector while promising Māori that rangatiratanga and genuine Crown partnership will remain core priorities for the party.

The Greens have unveiled KiwiMart, a proposed publicly owned supermarket chain designed to challenge the dominance of Foodstuffs and Woolworths and force greater competition into a grocery market that has frustrated successive governments.

Under the Affordable Kai policy, at least 120 existing supermarket stores and capacity from two distribution centres would be acquired and transferred into public ownership. KiwiMart would operate commercially but with an explicit mandate to prioritise affordable groceries.

For Davidson, however, the policy sits inside a much broader argument about who the economy should serve.

The Greens are campaigning on affordable living, stronger public services and redistribution of economic power while simultaneously promising to put Te Tiriti, rangatiratanga and Māori decision-making closer to the centre of government.

The scale of the supermarket proposal is significant.

Parliamentary Library modelling obtained by the Greens estimates acquiring 120 stores and two distribution centres would cost around $1.3 billion.

A further $1.5 billion would be used to capitalise KiwiMart so it could operate as a viable national competitor.

That puts the supermarket component alone at about $2.8 billion, while the Greens’ wider Affordable Kai programme — including school lunches and food-security initiatives — would push spending beyond $6 billion over four years.

The Greens argue the fundamental problem is no longer a shortage of supermarkets but a shortage of genuine competition.

Their solution is direct government intervention.

Rather than waiting for another international supermarket chain to enter New Zealand, the state would become the third major player.

It would be one of the most dramatic restructurings of the grocery sector in decades.

Davidson is connecting the policy directly to food insecurity and the pressure confronting families.

The Greens say around one in five children live in households that run out of food, arguing that supermarket competition cannot be separated from child poverty, household incomes and the cost-of-living crisis.

For many whānau Māori, those pressures are experienced every time they walk into a supermarket.

When kai costs more, there is less available for rent, power, petrol, school costs and healthcare.

That is why the Greens are pitching Affordable Kai as considerably more than a competition policy.

It is being presented as an intervention in household poverty.

KiwiMart is only one part of the package.

The Greens are promising a $150 million annual Fair Food Fund supporting community-led food-security initiatives.

They would also double the cap on Work and Income food grants, strengthen food-bank and regional food-distribution support and develop a National Food Strategy.

The party wants a legislative right to adequate and nutritious food.

That community focus could be particularly significant for Māori organisations.

Across the motu, marae, Māori health and social-service organisations and community providers already operate at the frontline of food insecurity.

A substantial community-controlled fund potentially shifts some responsibility and resources away from Wellington and closer to organisations working directly with whānau.

Davidson has also made school food a major part of her election campaign.

The Affordable Kai package would restore and permanently fund Ka Ora, Ka Ako and expand the programme to another 150,000 children.

It builds on the position Davidson has previously outlined to Radio Waatea, where she linked school lunches with child wellbeing, household pressure and supporting local providers and employment.

For the Greens, feeding children at school is therefore being framed simultaneously as education policy, health policy, poverty reduction and local economic development.

That argument could resonate strongly in communities where schools and kura see the consequences of household hardship every day.

The supermarkets would face another major change under a Green government.

The party wants excessive pricing prohibited and proposes extending that approach beyond groceries into concentrated markets such as energy and fuel.

The Commerce Commission would receive greater funding, stronger powers and tougher penalties.

A mandatory supermarket pricing-accuracy code would also be introduced, including automatic compensation when customers are overcharged.

It adds up to an election platform in which the Greens are explicitly arguing that government should be prepared to intervene when concentrated private markets fail to deliver adequate competition.

Critics will inevitably question the cost, commercial risk and extent of state involvement.

The Greens’ answer will ultimately have to be demonstrated at the checkout: whether their intervention could genuinely deliver cheaper groceries.

But Davidson’s political pitch to Māori extends well beyond kai.

The Green Party’s 2026 manifesto describes its goal as an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi, where power and wealth sit more strongly with communities.

Its Te Tiriti platform calls for governing structures that uphold the rangatiratanga of iwi and hapū and for genuine partnership between tangata whenua and the Crown.

That places the Greens firmly on one side of what has become one of Election 2026’s major ideological dividing lines.

While the current Government has moved to change or remove Treaty references across legislation, the Greens are campaigning for Te Tiriti to have a stronger role in the future direction of the country.

For Davidson, those positions are connected rather than separate.

Economic justice for Māori cannot simply mean reducing the grocery bill while leaving questions of power, whenua, decision-making and rangatiratanga untouched.

The Greens have already translated some of that approach into specific election policy.

Their Te Waonui a Tāne policy proposes greater certainty and resources for marae, presenting marae as critical community infrastructure and places of resilience, identity and self-determination.

The party has also committed to giving effect to Te Tiriti in conservation law and prioritising Indigenous-led stewardship of whenua.

Those commitments reinforce the wider message Davidson is taking into the campaign.

Te Tiriti, in the Green Party’s proposition, is not intended to sit in a separate Māori policy chapter.

It is supposed to influence economic, environmental and social decision-making.

The party is also attempting to demonstrate that commitment through its candidates.

The Greens announced 13 Māori candidates on its final 2026 party list, with nine placed inside the top 20, and Davidson ranked number one.

That could become particularly important in an election where Māori voters are being presented with increasingly complicated choices across electorate and party votes.

The Greens will be competing not only against parties on the political right, but also with Labour, Te Pāti Māori and other parties seeking Māori support.

For Davidson, that means demonstrating what specifically a stronger Green presence in Parliament would deliver for whānau.

There is a common thread between KiwiMart and the Greens’ Te Tiriti agenda.

Both challenge existing concentrations of power.

In the supermarket sector, the Greens argue too much power sits with two dominant commercial groups.

In their Māori policy, they argue too much decision-making power has historically sat with the Crown rather than being shared with iwi, hapū and Māori communities.

The solutions are obviously very different, but the political philosophy connecting them is clear: shift power and resources closer to people and communities.

That is the proposition Davidson and co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick are taking into Election 2026 under the party’s wider campaign priorities of affordable living, healthy nature and honest government.

For all the constitutional and economic arguments, however, KiwiMart will eventually face a brutally simple political test.

Can it make groceries cheaper?

A publicly owned supermarket would require billions of dollars of public capital.

Transferring stores out of existing supermarket groups would provoke fierce debate about competition, property rights and government intervention.

And establishing a successful nationwide grocery business would be a major commercial undertaking.

Those are legitimate questions the Greens will have to answer.

But Davidson’s counterargument is likely to be equally straightforward.

For families struggling to fill the trolley every week, the status quo is already expensive.

And after years of inquiries, market studies and attempts to encourage competition, the Greens have decided incremental change is no longer enough.

For Māori voters, the Green proposition now brings two significant issues together.

Put more kai on the table — and put more rangatiratanga at the decision-making table.

Whether that combination translates into votes will be one of the important Māori political stories to watch as Aotearoa heads towards Election 2026.

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The post Kai, Cost of Living and Te Tiriti: Marama Davidson Says Greens Are Coming for the Supermarket Duopoly appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Te Pāti Māori President John Tamihere is putting one of the biggest questions in modern Māori politics squarely before voters: after generations of Crown breaches, should Māori continue asking governments to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi — or should Aotearoa build a constitutional system that requires them to?

The long-time Māori political leader enters the final stretch towards Election 2026 with his party campaigning on constitutional transformation, tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake, arguing Māori political representation means little unless it translates into genuine power over the decisions affecting whānau, hapū and iwi.

That argument has now moved beyond aspiration.

Te Pāti Māori has unveiled a sweeping Te Tiriti Entrenchment Policy proposing a $220 million Mātike Mai Fund, stronger powers for the Waitangi Tribunal, an independent Te Tiriti Commission and a pathway towards constitutional transformation by 2040.

For Tamihere, the kaupapa raises a fundamental question about the future of the country.

Who should ultimately hold power in Aotearoa — and what does the promise made between Māori and the Crown in 1840 mean in practice in 2026?

For decades, governments have acknowledged Te Tiriti through legislation, settlements, consultation requirements and the Waitangi Tribunal.

But Te Pāti Māori argues those protections remain vulnerable because Parliament can ultimately change them.

The party wants to shift Te Tiriti from something whose practical application can expand or contract according to the Government of the day towards a more durable constitutional framework.

Tamihere has previously put the issue directly into the Election 2026 debate, arguing Te Tiriti should be the framework through which policies including health, housing, taxation and education are developed rather than simply another Māori policy area.

That is a considerably bigger proposition than inserting Treaty clauses into legislation.

It is about changing the architecture of decision-making itself.

At the centre of Te Pāti Māori’s proposal is a $220 million Mātike Mai Fund over four years.

The fund would support an independent secretariat, constitutional discussions with Māori throughout the motu and the beginnings of a Māori Constitutional Convention.

Those Māori-led discussions would eventually be followed by wider engagement involving tangata Tiriti, local government and the Crown.

Importantly, Te Pāti Māori says Parliament would not dictate the final constitutional model.

Instead, iwi, hapū and Māori would lead its development.

The approach draws on the Mātike Mai kaupapa associated with the late Dr Moana Jackson and Professor Margaret Mutu, which explored constitutional arrangements recognising spheres of rangatiratanga and kāwanatanga alongside a relational space where authority could be exercised together.

The destination remains deliberately unresolved.

The principle is that Māori should have the authority to help determine it.

Another major change would make Waitangi Tribunal recommendations binding on the Crown.

Most Tribunal recommendations currently remain recommendations, meaning governments can acknowledge findings of Treaty breaches without necessarily implementing the remedies proposed.

Te Pāti Māori wants to fundamentally alter that relationship.

Binding recommendations would give Tribunal findings substantially greater practical force and could reshape the balance between the Crown, Parliament and the Tribunal.

For Tamihere and Te Pāti Māori, that goes directly to accountability.

If an independent process establishes that the Crown has breached Te Tiriti, the party argues Māori should not then depend on the same Crown voluntarily deciding whether to remedy that breach.

The party is also proposing an independent Te Tiriti Commission.

Under the announced policy, the Commission could investigate serious Crown breaches, require remedial action and issue Te Tiriti Compliance Orders.

That would be a significant constitutional innovation.

It also explains why the proposal is becoming one of Election 2026’s sharpest political dividing lines.

ACT has attacked the plan as undemocratic, while New Zealand First has opposed the proposal and its cost.

Labour has also rejected important elements. Chris Hipkins has opposed allowing a commission to overrule Cabinet decisions and rejected the proposed $220 million level of funding for Mātike Mai, while maintaining that discussion about constitutional reform can continue.

The Greens have been considerably more receptive, with co-leader Marama Davidson saying important elements align with longstanding Green positions on Te Tiriti.

That means constitutional transformation is no longer just a debate between Māori and the political right.

There are significant differences emerging among the parties that could potentially need one another to form the next government.

That matters because Te Pāti Māori has made its Te Tiriti policy a bottom line in post-election negotiations.

The mathematics of MMP could therefore transform what might otherwise appear to be a long-term constitutional conversation into an immediate coalition negotiation.

If Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori collectively hold enough seats to change the Government after November 7, they would still have to reconcile very different positions on exactly how far constitutional reform should go.

Te Pāti Māori has acknowledged the detailed mechanics would have to be negotiated after the election.

For Tamihere, that makes political leverage critical.

Māori representation is one thing.

Having enough parliamentary power to require other parties to negotiate over Māori priorities is another.

That distinction has been central to Tamihere’s political argument.

Nearly 30 years after Aotearoa held its first MMP election, Māori representation in Parliament has grown considerably.

But Tamihere has challenged whether representation has produced sufficient control over resources, policies and institutions affecting Māori lives.

The test, he argues, should ultimately be outcomes.

Māori continue to experience disproportionately high unemployment and entrenched health inequities, while housing and the cost of living continue to place pressure on whānau.

For Te Pāti Māori, greater political and economic influence is therefore inseparable from self-determination.

That is where Tamihere’s constitutional argument meets the kitchen table.

One of the challenges confronting Te Pāti Māori is convincing voters dealing with immediate economic pressure that constitutional transformation should be a priority.

Labour has already seized on that tension, arguing $220 million could instead be directed towards helping households with bills, food and other immediate pressures.

Te Pāti Māori’s response is that the two cannot be separated.

Its argument is that persistent disparities in health, housing, education, employment and wealth are partly the result of who has historically controlled the institutions making those decisions.

Changing outcomes therefore requires changing power.

The party’s current policy programme explicitly links fairer distribution of wealth and resources, secure housing, Māori-led health and education, protection of whenua and Te Tiriti-based constitutional transformation.

That is a much broader conception of mana motuhake than simply changing the machinery of Parliament.

It includes economic power.

For Tamihere, self-determination has never existed solely in the constitutional arena.

Māori businesses, iwi assets, whenua development, employment and access to capital are also part of the equation.

Political rangatiratanga without the economic means to exercise it has obvious limitations.

That becomes particularly relevant as Māori unemployment remains disproportionately high and rangatahi face difficulty entering the labour market.

Tamihere has argued that the question is not simply whether the national economy creates jobs, but where those jobs are created, who gets them and whether Māori businesses and communities share in economic growth.

In that sense, constitutional transformation and economic transformation are two sides of the same political argument.

Both ask who owns, who decides and who benefits.

Te Pāti Māori has chosen 2040, the bicentenary of the signing of Te Tiriti, as its target for constitutional transformation.

The party is not proposing to arrive at a predetermined constitutional model immediately.

Instead, the next 14 years would be used for Māori-led development and wider national dialogue.

That could potentially involve some of the most profound questions Aotearoa has confronted about itself.

What does rangatiratanga mean constitutionally?

Where does kāwanatanga begin and end?

What authority should belong to iwi and hapū?

What role should Parliament retain?

How should disputes between different spheres of authority be resolved?

And what role should tangata Tiriti play in designing the next chapter?

Those questions cannot be answered with a campaign slogan.

But Te Pāti Māori’s proposition is that avoiding them is also a political choice.

That is what makes the current election particularly significant.

Aotearoa is being offered sharply different constitutional directions.

Parties on the political right are challenging or seeking to limit the way Te Tiriti principles operate within government.

Te Pāti Māori is proposing the opposite — strengthening Te Tiriti’s constitutional status and building enforcement mechanisms designed to prevent future governments from simply walking away from Crown obligations.

Labour is signalling considerably more caution.

The Greens appear more willing to explore significant change.

For Māori voters, those differences are substantial.

This is no longer simply an argument over wording in legislation.

It is becoming an argument about power.

John Tamihere has spent decades operating inside Māori politics, government, broadcasting, social services and Māori development.

His latest political challenge goes to the heart of all of them.

After 186 years of the Crown largely determining how Te Tiriti is interpreted and applied through its own institutions, Te Pāti Māori is asking whether the next phase should look fundamentally different.

Its answer is constitutional transformation.

Its target is 2040.

Its immediate battleground is Election 2026.

And its proposition to Māori is increasingly clear:

Mana motuhake cannot simply mean having Māori voices in the room. It must ultimately mean Māori having genuine power over the decisions that shape Māori lives.

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I whāriki a Mark Pirikahu nō Ngāti Maika i ētahi maharatanga, i ngā tau i noho ia hei taringa areare ki a Matua Rauru Broughton.

He kaumātua whai mana a Rauru Broughton, he kaipāpāho Māori rongonui, he toa hoki mō te reo Māori. I whakapaua e ia tōna kaha ki te tuku i ngā taonga a kui mā a koro mā, me te whakamuramura i te hiranga o te whakatipu i te reo Māori i roto i tōna iwi, tōna hapū me ngā reanga kei te heke mai.

Ko te reo irirangi ā-iwi me te ao pāpāho Māori o ēnei rā he hua nō te momo i a Rauru. Moe mai rā e te taonga tikikura.

The post Mark Pirikahu | Moe Mai Rā e Te Taonga Tikikura, e Rauru. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

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.

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

E tātā nei a Minita Shane Jones i ētahi wāhanga o te ahumahi huakiwi, nā te nui o ngā rīpoata tūkino i ngā kaimahi manene e pupū ake ana i taua ahumahi tonu.

The post Shane Jones | Zespri! Whakatikaina tō whare. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

ACT leader David Seymour has seized on the Reserve Bank’s decision to lift the Official Cash Rate as an Election 2026 dividing line, arguing New Zealand cannot afford another surge in government spending — but the Reserve Bank’s own assessment shows the inflation story is considerably broader than one political party’s fiscal policy.

The Reserve Bank Te Pūtea Matua increased the OCR by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent on September 2, marking another turn in the economic cycle after households and businesses had endured years of elevated borrowing costs. Annual inflation is currently 4.1 percent, above the Reserve Bank’s 1–3 percent target band.

Seymour says the increase should serve as a warning to voters about the size of government, public spending and the economic consequences of Labour returning to office.

His argument is that controlling inflation requires continuing to restrain government expenditure while expanding the productive side of the economy.

At the centre of ACT’s attack is its claim that Labour has a $10.4 billion hole between its election commitments and the revenue available to pay for them.

Seymour argues additional unfunded spending would increase demand in the economy, add to inflationary pressures and ultimately force interest rates higher than they otherwise would be.

That $10.4 billion figure is an ACT political calculation and allegation, rather than a Reserve Bank finding.

ACT is challenging Labour leader Chris Hipkins to explain how the party would fund its programme and what effect additional government spending could have on inflation, borrowing and the OCR.

It is shaping up as an important election argument because the consequences of higher interest rates are felt directly around the kitchen table.

Mortgage repayments rise.

Business finance becomes more expensive.

Credit costs increase.

And households already struggling with food, power, insurance and rates can find themselves with even less disposable income.

The political argument needs to be separated from the Reserve Bank’s independent monetary policy decision.

The Reserve Bank has been dealing with inflationary pressure influenced by both domestic and international forces.

Earlier this year it warned that international developments were increasing near-term inflation while weakening economic activity. Its May Monetary Policy Statement projected inflation could peak at 4.3 percent in the September quarter before eventually returning towards the 2 percent midpoint of its target range.

That means Seymour is entitled to make the political argument that government spending matters — because fiscal policy can influence demand and inflation.

But the OCR increase cannot simply be attributed to Labour policies when Labour is not currently in government, nor can it be reduced to government spending alone.

The Reserve Bank makes its decisions independently and considers the overall inflation outlook.

Seymour says ACT ministers have helped drive $14 billion in savings across three Budgets, which the party argues has reduced the need for additional borrowing and taxation while easing pressure that could otherwise have flowed through to inflation and interest rates.

ACT also credits Coalition spending restraint with helping move the Government towards surplus earlier than previously expected.

Again, these are claims ACT is putting before voters as part of its economic record heading into Election 2026.

The party’s pitch is increasingly centred on the idea that National needs ACT in government to impose greater spending discipline than it would pursue on its own.

Seymour argues the battle against waste cannot be considered finished simply because inflation has fallen substantially from the levels New Zealand experienced earlier in the decade.

The OCR decision also provides Seymour with another opportunity to promote ACT’s proposal to substantially reduce the machinery of government.

ACT wants fewer Ministers, fewer government departments and clearer lines of accountability, arguing New Zealand operates a government structure larger than comparable countries.

Its economic philosophy is straightforward: reduce the cost and reach of government, lower barriers for business, avoid new taxes and create conditions for private-sector investment and productivity growth.

ACT says savings should begin at the top rather than simply asking households to absorb additional taxes.

That position also creates an important question for the party.

If government is significantly reduced, voters will want to know precisely which services disappear, which agencies merge, how many jobs go and what impact those decisions have on the public.

Recent public service restructures have already intensified debate about whether spending reductions can continue without affecting frontline and public-facing services.

For Labour, Seymour’s attack highlights one of the biggest challenges confronting any opposition party promising new investment.

It is relatively easy to announce policies.

The harder questions are how much they cost, when they begin, whether they are funded through taxation, borrowing or reprioritisation, and what effect they could have on the wider economy.

Labour will therefore face increasing pressure throughout the campaign to demonstrate that its fiscal programme adds up.

If ACT’s $10.4 billion figure is wrong, Labour has an opportunity to demonstrate why.

If new revenue is intended to fund additional expenditure, voters need to know where that revenue comes from.

And if spending is being reprioritised, voters need to know what will receive less.

The political battle over the OCR has particularly serious implications for whānau already facing high housing costs and economic insecurity.

An interest rate decision in Wellington can eventually flow through to mortgage rates, business lending and household budgets around the motu.

For Māori businesses, particularly smaller pakihi with limited access to capital, higher borrowing costs can delay investment and expansion.

For homeowners refixing mortgages, even relatively small changes in rates can translate into meaningful differences in weekly repayments.

And for renters, higher financing costs faced by landlords can add another pressure within an already difficult housing market.

That means the argument over inflation is ultimately about much more than economic statistics.

It is about mahi, whare, kai and whether whānau have anything left after the bills are paid.

Seymour wants voters to see a simple choice.

ACT says more government spending risks higher inflation, greater borrowing, additional taxes and higher interest rates.

Its prescription is smaller government, continued savings and stronger private-sector economic growth.

Labour and other opposition parties will argue that government investment can also improve productivity, infrastructure, health, education and employment — and that cutting expenditure too aggressively can weaken the services and foundations the economy depends upon.

The Reserve Bank’s rate increase ensures those competing philosophies will now be tested against something voters understand intimately: the cost of money.

The OCR is now 2.75 percent, inflation remains above target, unemployment is elevated and households are still recovering from the cost-of-living shock of recent years.

For ACT, that is evidence New Zealand cannot relax its focus on spending.

For Labour, the challenge will be proving that its programme can deliver greater investment without reigniting inflation.

And for voters, particularly whānau Māori facing high unemployment and household costs, the question may be simpler:

Which economic plan actually leaves them with more jobs, more security and more money in their pockets?

#DavidSeymour #ACTParty #OCR #InterestRates #ReserveBankNZ #RBNZ #Inflation #CostOfLiving #MortgageRates #EconomyNZ #Election2026 #NZElection2026 #ChrisHipkins #LabourNZ #GovernmentSpending #GovernmentCuts #PublicService #Taxpayers #NoNewTaxes #EconomicGrowth #FiscalPolicy #MaoriEconomy #PakihiMaori #MaoriBusiness #MaoriJobs #Whanau #HousingCosts #NZPolitics #MaoriPolitics #MaoriVote #Aotearoa #TeAoMaori #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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Former rugby league international Tāwera Nikau has turned his trademark determination towards another battle — protecting Aotearoa’s threatened taonga species and restoring the whenua, wetlands and waterways they depend upon.

Nikau joined Dale Husband on Radio Waatea following the Endangered Species National Hui in Kirikiriroa, where iwi, scientists, environmental advocates, rangatahi and community leaders gathered around a confronting reality: thousands of indigenous species are now classified as threatened or at risk.

As co-chair of Tāngaro Tuia te Ora, the Endangered Species Foundation, Nikau is championing a conservation model grounded in mātauranga Māori, practical restoration and the principle that protecting individual species is impossible without restoring the ecosystems surrounding them.

The scale of the challenge presented at the national hui is enormous.

The Endangered Species Foundation says at least 3,747 native species are officially classified as threatened or at risk, with many others yet to be assessed.

Freshwater species are particularly vulnerable, with 89 percent of native freshwater fish threatened or at risk, including tuna, īnanga and kōaro.

The Foundation says fewer than two percent of waterways are considered pristine and almost half of rivers and lakes are in poor health.

The picture around the coastline is equally concerning, with around 80 percent of shorebirds and more than 90 percent of seabirds threatened or at risk.

Those numbers help explain why the hui was deliberately designed around action rather than simply another conversation about declining biodiversity.

For Nikau, environmental restoration is deeply personal.

His whānau farm sits beside Lake Waikare in North Waikato, putting the health of freshwater, wetlands and surrounding ecosystems directly in front of him.

His work now includes restoring wetlands, protecting biodiversity, tackling invasive species including koi carp and using technology such as water sensors to better understand the health of waterways.

It is a remarkable second act for a man best known to generations of sports fans for his rugby league career.

Nikau represented New Zealand internationally, captained the New Zealand Māori side and was later inducted as a New Zealand Legend of League.

His life after professional sport has also been shaped by considerable personal adversity, including losing a leg following a motorcycle accident.

Today, that same resilience is being directed towards community, mental health, whenua and environmental restoration.

Central to Nikau’s approach is the understanding that Māori environmental knowledge is not an optional addition to conservation.

It is part of the solution.

Mātauranga tuku iho carries generations of observations about the relationships between whenua, wai, species, seasons and people.

That connection changes the way environmental decline is understood.

A polluted awa is not simply a problem involving water chemistry.

The loss of tuna is not merely a declining population on a scientific spreadsheet.

And the disappearance of a native species is not simply a biodiversity statistic.

For Māori, these can be losses involving whakapapa, mahinga kai, tikanga, mātauranga and identity.

The Foundation says honouring Te Tiriti requires Māori leadership, tikanga and mātauranga Māori to be placed at the centre of restoration efforts.

One of the challenges highlighted by Waatea’s recent coverage is how little many New Zealanders know about the indigenous species quietly disappearing around them.

Kiwi, kākāpō and Māui dolphins are widely recognised.

But the endangered species story extends much further.

At the Kirikiriroa hui, experts and kaitiaki highlighted species including kanakana, tuna, pekapeka, kōkako, matuku-hūrepo and tara iti.

Kanakana are particularly remarkable.

The ancient jawless species have existed for hundreds of millions of years and migrate between freshwater and the ocean. For Māori they are also taonga and mahinga kai, connecting ecological health with whakapapa and tikanga.

Yet pollution, dams, culverts and habitat degradation threaten their survival.

Hokonui Rūnanga is among those combining mātauranga Māori and science through monitoring, planting and breeding initiatives to help restore them.

The same message applies to other threatened species.

Protecting pekapeka, Aotearoa’s native bats, requires protecting and reconnecting the landscapes where they roost and feed.

Understanding the future of tuna means understanding their extraordinary migration between ocean and freshwater environments.

Saving matuku-hūrepo, the Australasian bittern, means restoring the wetlands on which it depends.

That is why the conservation conversation increasingly has to move beyond rescuing individual animals.

If the awa is unhealthy, the species within it will struggle.

If wetlands disappear, wetland species disappear with them.

If mature ngahere becomes fragmented, the intricate ecological relationships within those forests begin to break down.

The Endangered Species Hui brought those connections together under the kaupapa Taonga Tuku Iho: Restoring Māuri Through Collective Action.

Nikau has also taken his environmental advocacy beyond his own whenua.

He has been involved in opposition to sand mining and previously helped deliver a 14,000-signature petition to Parliament opposing sand mining at Te Ākau and Bream Bay.

That advocacy reflects the broader message emerging from the Foundation.

Environmental protection cannot rely solely on government agencies.

Iwi, hapū, landowners, farmers, scientists, schools, businesses and local communities all have a role.

Nikau’s own environmental work has involved partnerships with scientists, iwi, schools and community organisations, combining local knowledge with technology and environmental science.

The national gathering in Kirikiriroa was hosted by Norm Hill, a Waikato environmental and community leader known for his work protecting the Waikato River.

Hill founded the Waikato Kaitiaki River Sweepers, mobilising volunteers to remove rubbish from waterways while strengthening community involvement in caring for the awa.

That practical approach reflected the intention of the entire hui.

Day one showcased projects already producing results.

Day two focused on collaboration and identifying actions capable of restoring the mauri of te taiao.

The kaupapa was not simply about describing what has gone wrong.

It was about demonstrating what can still be saved.

Rangatahi were deliberately included in that conversation.

The hui examined what a thriving future for biodiversity could look like through a rangatahi lens and what might change if younger generations had a greater role in environmental decision-making.

For Nikau, that intergenerational responsibility is fundamental.

His journey from elite sport through profound personal adversity and into environmental leadership has increasingly centred on service and what can be left behind for others.

And that may be one of the most important messages from the endangered species kaupapa.

Aotearoa still has extraordinary biodiversity.

But whakapapa alone will not protect it.

Neither will another report documenting decline.

Saving our taonga species requires healthy awa, thriving wetlands, restored ngahere and communities prepared to become kaitiaki — because once a species disappears, no amount of money, regret or political promise can bring that whakapapa back.

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Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono says the crises confronting Aotearoa and the wider world cannot be treated as separate issues, linking poverty, conflict, Pacific security and climate change to a need for political leadership that protects people, whenua and future generations.

The Green Party spokesperson for social development and children has been reflecting on a significant week spanning Koroneihana, growing geopolitical tensions across the Pacific and the continuing conflict in the Middle East.

For Tuiono, who has Cook Islands and Māori whakapapa, the connections are clear: decisions made about climate, security and international conflict eventually reach communities, whānau and tamariki.

And nowhere is that more apparent than across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.

Tuiono was among those attending Koroneihana 2026, where iwi gathered at Tūrangawaewae to honour loved ones lost and consider the challenges facing the generations ahead.

The kaupapa provided a markedly different perspective from the day-to-day political battle in Wellington.

Alongside remembrance, kotahitanga and whakapapa was a powerful message about responsibilities to te taiao and what today’s leaders leave behind for mokopuna.

For Tuiono, environmental protection cannot simply be another policy portfolio competing against economic priorities.

It is about intergenerational responsibility.

That perspective has particular significance for Māori, where the relationship between people and whenua is not simply one of ownership or economic use.

The health of communities is connected to the health of the environment around them.

That message comes as the Pacific Islands Forum has again demonstrated how strategically important the region has become.

Pacific leaders have been dealing with security tensions involving some of the world’s most powerful countries while simultaneously trying to keep the focus on the issues their communities identify as priorities.

Recent missile activity has heightened those concerns and reinforced demands for greater transparency when military tests could affect the region.

For Pacific nations with direct historical experience of nuclear testing and militarisation, those fears carry a weight outsiders can sometimes underestimate.

Tuiono’s broader concern is that Pacific peoples must be able to determine their own future rather than finding their ocean transformed into an arena for competition between larger powers.

For Aotearoa, that requires listening to Pacific voices rather than assuming New Zealand automatically knows what is best for the region.

Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa is sometimes discussed internationally through the language of strategy, influence and security.

For Pacific peoples, it is much more.

It is whakapapa.

It is whenua and moana.

It is home.

That distinction becomes increasingly important as China, the United States and other powers compete for strategic influence.

Tuiono has consistently advocated for a Pacific-centred approach to foreign policy, where regional nations have greater agency over the decisions affecting them.

Climate change remains central to that argument.

For low-lying Pacific nations, rising seas and extreme weather are not future possibilities to be debated at international conferences.

They are already shaping decisions about infrastructure, freshwater, food security and the long-term future of communities.

Tuiono is also looking beyond the Pacific to the worsening situation in the Middle East.

The confrontation involving the United States and Iran has placed the Strait of Hormuz at the centre of another dangerous international flashpoint.

The waterway was responsible for close to a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the current war, making disruption there a threat well beyond the Middle East. Recent shipping movements have remained dramatically below normal levels amid attacks, military pressure and the continuing US-Iran confrontation.

The conflict escalated again this week, with US strikes against Iranian targets followed by Iranian retaliation, while neither side has indicated it is prepared to make the concessions demanded by the other.

For countries thousands of kilometres away, the consequences can eventually be felt through energy prices, freight costs and inflation.

For families already struggling with household costs, international instability can therefore quickly become a domestic economic issue.

That connection is particularly important given Tuiono’s social development and children portfolios.

Whether the pressure comes from climate change, higher living costs, housing insecurity or international instability, children are often among those least responsible for a crisis but most exposed to its consequences.

For Māori and Pacific whānau already confronting inequalities in housing, health and income, another economic shock can deepen existing hardship.

Tuiono’s political argument is that governments cannot keep treating poverty as an individual failure while ignoring the structural conditions surrounding families.

Reducing child poverty requires secure housing, adequate incomes, accessible public services and investment in communities.

But it also requires thinking further ahead.

Climate resilience is social policy when flooding destroys homes.

Energy security is social policy when fuel prices push household budgets over the edge.

Environmental policy becomes health policy when polluted waterways or extreme heat affect communities.

And foreign policy becomes a household issue when conflict disrupts the commodities and supply chains families rely on.

Tuiono says the need for stronger climate action is becoming increasingly urgent.

The Pacific has long argued that climate change is its greatest security threat, even as international attention increasingly turns towards military competition.

For the Greens, those two ideas of security are fundamentally different.

A larger military presence may respond to geopolitical threats.

It does not stop seas rising around island communities.

It does not protect drinking water from saltwater intrusion.

It does not rebuild homes after cyclones.

And it does not restore ecosystems damaged by a warming climate.

The party wants greater emphasis on emissions reductions, environmental protection and climate adaptation, alongside support for Pacific communities already experiencing the consequences.

The threads connecting Koroneihana, the Pacific Islands Forum and the Middle East may initially appear distant from each other.

But Tuiono sees a common question running through them.

What kind of world is this generation of political leaders preparing to hand to the next?

At Tūrangawaewae, the message is grounded in whakapapa and responsibilities extending beyond one electoral term.

Across the Pacific, island nations are demanding the right to shape their own futures while confronting a climate crisis they did little to create.

And in the Middle East, escalating conflict demonstrates how quickly decisions made by powerful states can reverberate around the globe.

For Tuiono, leadership cannot simply be measured by economic growth or the next set of polling numbers.

It must also be measured by whether tamariki are lifted out of poverty, communities have security, Pacific peoples retain agency over their region, and te taiao is protected for the generations still to come.

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The post From Koroneihana to the Pacific: Teanau Tuiono Says Leadership Must Put People and Planet First appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

From missile tests and great-power rivalry in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa to a landmark Waitangi Tribunal finding that the disability system has failed tangata whaikaha Māori, it has been another week where the serious business of politics collided with something rather less serious — Prime Minister Christopher Luxon apparently getting his Wahs and Tahs mixed up.

Radio Waatea’s Matthew Tukaki rounds up a week that has exposed some of the biggest issues confronting Aotearoa: our relationship with the Pacific, the Crown’s obligations to Māori, the treatment of disabled whānau and, just for good measure, whether the Prime Minister knows the difference between the New Zealand Warriors and the NSW Waratahs.

The Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Palau has again demonstrated just how strategically contested Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa has become.

China, Taiwan, the United States, Australia and New Zealand were never far from the conversation, despite Pacific leaders repeatedly making clear that the region should not become a geopolitical playground for larger powers.

One of the most significant issues was China’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile test, which caused alarm because of inadequate warning to Pacific nations.

Forum leaders registered concern about the test and called for countries conducting future ICBM tests to provide greater transparency and at least 24 hours’ advance notice, reflecting international practice.

It matters because the Pacific is not an empty blue space on a military map.

It is home.

Pacific nations have lived through the consequences of nuclear testing and militarisation before. Their whenua and moana have carried the environmental and human costs of decisions made by much larger countries thousands of kilometres away.

For New Zealand, that makes the Forum about far more than diplomacy.

Our relationships across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa are built through whakapapa, migration, trade, security and generations of shared history.

The Forum also found itself navigating the increasingly difficult relationship between China and Taiwan.

Palau maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and the presence of Taiwanese representatives generated a strong response from Beijing.

China warned of consequences over Taiwan’s participation, while Palau defended its right as host to determine how the meeting operated.

Several Pacific leaders were also absent from the summit, including leaders from the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Samoa, although their circumstances varied.

The bigger challenge for the Pacific remains ensuring its priorities are not drowned out by strategic competition.

Climate change, economic resilience, energy security, health, fisheries and protecting the ocean remain immediate concerns for island nations.

The great powers may see the Pacific through the lens of strategic positioning.

Pacific peoples see their homes.

That distinction matters.

Back home, one of the week’s most important developments came from the Waitangi Tribunal.

Its new Hauwhaikaha: The Disability System Report, part of the Wai 2575 Health Services and Outcomes Kaupapa Inquiry, has found serious failures in the way the Crown’s disability system serves tangata whaikaha Māori.

This was no small inquiry.

There were 48 claimants, 13 interested parties and 11 weeks of hearings between 2022 and 2024.

The Tribunal found the Crown had historically failed to adequately partner with tangata whaikaha Māori in designing the disability system and had not properly resourced Māori participation at decision-making level.

It also found problems involving data, funding, access to services and the support provided to kaupapa Māori providers.

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

That should demand political attention.

The Tribunal heard that Māori experience a higher prevalence of disability than non-Māori while simultaneously confronting inequitable access to disability support.

Tangata whaikaha Māori described a fragmented and complicated system that can be difficult to navigate.

For rural Māori, those barriers can be compounded by fewer available services, long travelling distances and additional costs.

The Tribunal also identified the impact of racism and discrimination, Māori under-representation in the health and disability workforce and failures to consistently provide culturally safe care.

Kaupapa Māori providers were recognised as essential to delivering culturally appropriate services and as expressions of tino rangatiratanga themselves, yet the Tribunal found they were not sufficiently funded or supported.

Among its recommendations are viable partnership models co-designed with tangata whaikaha Māori, greater Māori involvement in the design and delivery of disability services and stronger monitoring arrangements following the loss of the role previously held by Te Aka Whai Ora.

For Tukaki, the political question is what happens next.

Tribunal reports can diagnose the problem.

Only governments can decide whether they are prepared to implement the cure.

After a week dominated by Pacific geopolitics and a major Tribunal report, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon managed to provide a considerably lighter political moment.

While attending the Pacific Islands Forum, Luxon mixed up the Warriors and the Waratahs.

Yes.

The New Zealand Prime Minister apparently confused our beloved Wahs with Australia’s Tahs.

The reaction online was swift, with social media users gleefully adopting variations on supporting the Waratahs and poking fun at the Prime Minister’s sporting credentials.

In the grand scheme of government, confusing a rugby league club with a rugby union side from New South Wales is hardly a constitutional crisis.

Prime ministers misspeak.

Politicians get names wrong.

And nobody should pretend the country’s future depends on correctly identifying every sporting franchise.

But politics is also about connection.

And when politicians work hard to demonstrate they understand ordinary New Zealand culture, getting something as deeply embedded in the national sporting conversation as Up the Wahs wrong is always going to attract attention.

There are probably easier ways to annoy Warriors supporters.

And perhaps that is politics in Aotearoa in 2026.

In one week we have Pacific leaders grappling with ballistic missiles flying through their region and the intensifying strategic competition between some of the world’s most powerful countries.

We have a Waitangi Tribunal report documenting longstanding inequity for tangata whaikaha Māori and finding fundamental problems with the disability system.

And then we have the Prime Minister apparently sending New Zealand sporting loyalty across the Tasman.

The Waratahs moment will generate the memes.

But the other two stories deserve to remain long after the social media jokes disappear.

Because whether it is Pacific nations demanding respect for their sovereignty or tangata whaikaha Māori demanding a system designed with them rather than for them, the political message this week has been remarkably similar: listen to the people whose lives are actually affected by the decisions being made.

And as for the Prime Minister?

Someone might want to remind him before the next photo opportunity:

Up the Wahs. Not the Tahs.

#First5AM #Politics #PoliticsNZ #PoliticalWrap #MatthewTukaki #PacificIslandsForum #PacificIslands #TeMoanaNuiAKiwa #PacificPolitics #China #Taiwan #PacificSecurity #NuclearTesting #MissileTest #OceanOfPeace #WaitangiTribunal #Wai2575 #Hauwhaikaha #TangataWhaikahaMaori #DisabilityRights #DisabilitySystem #MaoriHealth #HauoraMaori #TeTiriti #TinoRangatiratanga #ManaMotuhake #ChristopherLuxon #Warriors #NZWarriors #UpTheWahs #Waratahs #Election2026 #NZPolitics #MaoriPolitics #TeAoMaori #MaoriNews #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post #Politics: Wahs or Tahs? Pacific Power Plays, a Damning Disability Report — and Luxon Backs the Wrong Wahs appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

As Te Arikinui Kuini Ngā Wai hono i te pō prepares to host her second Koroneihana, attention is turning not only to the future of the Kīngitanga but to the emerging leadership of a young wahine Māori increasingly carrying her role across iwi, cultural, political and international spaces.

Still early in her reign as Ariki Nui of the Kīngitanga, Ngā Wai hono i te pō inherited a movement with almost 170 years of history and a position carrying enormous responsibility following the death of her father, Kīngi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, in 2024.

Her second Koroneihana therefore represents more than another milestone in the annual Kīngitanga calendar.

It is another chapter in the transition between generations and an opportunity for iwi and Māori leaders to consider what the Kīngitanga may become under her stewardship.

This year’s gathering carries a strong theme of remembrance, with iwi preparing to honour significant leaders and loved ones who have died.

That gives the occasion particular weight.

Koroneihana has always been about more than celebrating the person occupying the throne. It is a place for remembering whakapapa, strengthening relationships between iwi and discussing the challenges facing Māori collectively.

Those conversations take place against a rapidly changing political and social backdrop.

The 2026 election is approaching, debate around Te Tiriti remains intense, Māori continue to face disproportionate challenges across health, housing and employment, and questions of mana motuhake and Māori political influence remain firmly on the national agenda.

Ngā Wai hono i te pō occupies an increasingly significant position within that environment.

Comparisons between Ngā Wai hono i te pō and her father are inevitable, but they may ultimately miss the point.

Every monarch of the Kīngitanga has led within the circumstances of their own generation.

Kīngi Tūheitia’s reign saw the Kīngitanga strengthen relationships across iwi, engage governments of different political colours and become increasingly visible internationally.

His daughter has inherited those relationships, but she is not required to simply reproduce his leadership style.

At 29 when she ascended to the throne, Ngā Wai hono i te pō became the second Māori Queen and the eighth monarch of the Kīngitanga.

She represents a generation of Māori who have grown up during a period of significant revitalisation of te reo Māori, tikanga and Māori identity.

That generational perspective could become one of the defining features of her reign.

There is symbolism in a young wahine Māori occupying one of the most important positions in Te Ao Māori.

For rangatahi, particularly young wāhine Māori, leadership is no longer something represented only by older generations or confined to conventional political institutions.

Ngā Wai hono i te pō embodies another model.

Her authority comes through whakapapa and the Kīngitanga, while the effectiveness of her reign will increasingly be shaped by the relationships she builds and the kaupapa she chooses to champion.

That creates considerable potential influence.

The Kīngitanga is not a political party and the Māori monarch does not operate like an elected politician.

But the movement has always been political in the broader meaning of the word.

It emerged from Māori efforts to protect whenua, maintain authority and create unity in the face of rapidly expanding colonial power.

Those foundational questions — whenua, rangatiratanga, unity and the relationship between Māori and the Crown — remain unresolved nearly 170 years later.

Although deeply anchored in Waikato-Tainui, the significance of the Kīngitanga stretches across iwi boundaries.

Koroneihana provides one of the major spaces where Māori leaders, kaumātua, rangatahi, politicians and communities can gather around shared kaupapa.

That does not mean every iwi agrees with the Kīngitanga on every issue.

Nor should it.

The strength of Te Ao Māori has never depended upon political uniformity.

But at a time when Māori politics can become divided along party, iwi and organisational lines, the Kīngitanga retains an unusual ability to create a space where those different voices can still come together.

Maintaining that ability may become one of Ngā Wai hono i te pō’s most important responsibilities.

Another major test of her reign will be the relationship with successive governments.

The Kīngitanga was born from resistance to the loss of Māori authority and whenua.

Today that relationship operates in a dramatically different environment, but tensions around Te Tiriti, Crown power and Māori rights continue.

The challenge for Ngā Wai hono i te pō will be maintaining relationships with political leaders without allowing the Kīngitanga to become captured by the politics of any one government or party.

That requires a careful balance.

The mana of the position can provide access to prime ministers, ministers, international representatives and other influential figures.

But its strength also depends upon remaining firmly grounded among the people.

The international dimension of the role is also becoming increasingly important.

Indigenous peoples around the world are strengthening relationships around climate change, cultural revitalisation, language, economic development and Indigenous rights.

The Kīngitanga is well positioned to participate in those networks.

Ngā Wai hono i te pō represents both an ancient whakapapa and a contemporary Indigenous generation increasingly connected across borders.

That provides opportunities for the Kīngitanga to strengthen relationships throughout the Pacific and with Indigenous nations internationally.

It also means the Māori monarchy can increasingly become one of the ways Aotearoa is understood beyond its shores.

One of the strongest kaupapa associated with the later years of Kīngi Tūheitia was the protection of te taiao.

That legacy provides another potential foundation for the new reign.

For Māori, environmental leadership is inseparable from whakapapa.

Awa, maunga, moana and whenua are not simply natural resources.

They are tūpuna, sources of identity and responsibilities passed between generations.

For a monarch in her twenties, climate change and environmental degradation are not distant future challenges. They will unfold throughout her lifetime and the lives of the rangatahi standing alongside her today.

That gives environmental leadership an inherently intergenerational dimension.

It is still far too early to define the reign of Ngā Wai hono i te pō.

That story may take decades to write.

But the questions surrounding her leadership are already becoming clearer.

Will she become a stronger voice for rangatahi?

Will environmental protection become a defining kaupapa?

How will she navigate increasingly difficult debates around Te Tiriti?

Can the Kīngitanga continue strengthening relationships across iwi while remaining independent of party politics?

And how will a young Māori Queen use the international platform now available to her?

Those questions will not be answered during a single Koroneihana.

But each gathering provides another indication of the direction being taken.

This year’s Koroneihana will remember those who have gone before.

That is entirely appropriate for a movement built upon whakapapa.

But whakapapa does not only look backwards.

It connects the past to generations yet to come.

For Ngā Wai hono i te pō, that may ultimately become the defining challenge of her leadership — protecting the mana and legacy of the Kīngitanga while ensuring it continues to speak meaningfully to a new generation of Māori.

Her reign is still young.

So is the Ariki Nui herself.

But as thousands again gather around Tūrangawaewae, the significance of this second Koroneihana lies partly in what Māori are remembering — and increasingly in what they are imagining for the future.

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The post A New Generation of the Kīngitanga: Ngā Wai hono i te pō Steps Forward at Second Koroneihana appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.