Waatea News: Māori Radio Station

The post Joe Pihema | E Poho Kawau Ana i te Kitenga o te Mauri Toa i Ngā Kaitākaro. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Kei te hinga haere ngā kamupene āporo i Te Matau-a-Māui, ā, e hia miriona tāra kua tau ki te rāngai nā ngā pēhitanga ōhanga o te wā.

E ai ki a Bayden Barber, kua pāngia hoki ngā kaiwhakatipu āporo Māori me ngā māra āporo o te iwi.

Hei tāna anō, ahakoa e kaha tonu ana te hiahia o te ao ki ngā āporo o Aotearoa, nā te pikinga o ngā utu, ngā pānga o huripari Kapareira me te ngaukino o utunui kua toromi ngā kaiwhakatipu me ngā kamupene whakaputa huarākau.

The post Bayden Barber | Kei te tāmate haere te rāngai āporo i Te Matau-a-Māui. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Latest Kōreo from the rohe and motu. Ngā kaupapa nui, ngā reo o te hapori. Listen Live or Online on Waatea Digital

The post 11 o Akuhata 2026 Ngā Kawepūrongo a Waatea | 12pm appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

New Zealand First deputy leader Shane Jones has weighed into the growing speculation surrounding National’s leadership, describing the situation as increasingly untidy as coalition politics heats up ahead of Election 2026.

Speaking with Radio Waatea, Jones turned his attention to questions surrounding Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and the continuing political discussion about National’s leadership.

Jones says the situation does not present a particularly tidy picture for the coalition’s largest party.

His intervention comes at an awkward time for National, with Luxon facing renewed questions about his leadership while trying to keep the Government focused on its economic and election-year programme.

For New Zealand First, however, the turmoil also provides an opportunity to establish some political distance from its coalition partner before voters head to the polls.

Jones is now deputy leader of New Zealand First and remains one of the coalition’s most outspoken ministers, holding the Regional Development, Resources and Oceans and Fisheries portfolios alongside associate responsibilities in finance and energy.

Jones also turned his attention to The Opportunities Party and its economic agenda.

In typically colourful fashion, he indicated New Zealand First has not embraced what he regards as TOP’s economic heresy.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Chris Hipkins has removed one potential post-election combination from the board by ruling out New Zealand First from any government he leads.

The relationship between Labour and New Zealand First has deteriorated despite the two parties governing together between 2017 and 2020.

The decision significantly narrows the coalition options available after November’s election and makes the performance of smaller parties even more important.

New Zealand First has also previously ruled out working with Labour following the election.

For Jones, Hipkins’ declaration means voters are getting greater clarity about what their party vote could produce.

But it also raises the stakes.

Under MMP, election campaigns are not simply about which party finishes first.

They are about whether the numbers exist to assemble a government once every vote has been counted.

That creates an unusual dynamic for National and New Zealand First.

They sit together around the Cabinet table today.

But come election day, they will also be competing against each other for votes.

Jones has already demonstrated New Zealand First is prepared to publicly disagree with National and Luxon.

Last month Luxon criticised Jones over controversial comments concerning the way politicians receive foreign leaders, while Jones subsequently defended his language and pushed back against the criticism.

Those disagreements illustrate one of the defining features of the current three-party Government.

National, ACT and New Zealand First cooperate to govern, but each needs to maintain a distinct political identity if it wants voters to return it to Parliament.

The result is an increasingly complicated political chessboard.

Labour has closed the door on New Zealand First.

New Zealand First is differentiating itself from National.

Jones is dismissive of TOP’s economic direction.

And National is facing questions about whether Luxon remains the leader best positioned to take the party through the campaign.

For Māori voters, there are additional questions around where New Zealand First positions itself on Te Tiriti, Māori representation and the Māori electorates.

The party is campaigning for a referendum on the future of the Māori seats, adding another major constitutional issue to the election debate.

With less than three months until Election Day, the political relationships determining the next government are beginning to harden.

And Shane Jones appears more than happy to stir the pot.

Because while National and New Zealand First remain coalition partners today, Election 2026 is approaching fast.

When the campaign begins in earnest, friendship around the Cabinet table comes second to winning votes.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #ShaneJones #NZFirst #NewZealandFirst #ChristopherLuxon #ChrisHipkins #NationalParty #LabourParty #TOP #TheOpportunitiesParty #Election2026 #NZElection2026 #NZPolitics #MMP #CoalitionGovernment #CoalitionPolitics #Leadership #NationalLeadership #MāoriPolitics #MāoriVote #MāoriSeats #TeTiriti #RegionalDevelopment #NZEconomy #WinstonPeters #TeAoMāori #MāoriNews #Aotearoa #NZNews

The post #election2026: JONES CALLS NATIONAL LEADERSHIP DRAMA UNTIDY AS ELECTION BATTLE LINES HARDEN appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Ohakune residents and businesses are demanding answers after earthquake damage, a major pipeline failure and complications during repairs left the Central North Island town without a reliable reticulated water supply.

The crisis began with damage caused by the magnitude 5.9 earthquake near Taumarunui on 25 July, which fractured the underground raw water pipeline supplying Ohakune’s Water Treatment Plant.

Because the damaged section was underground, Ruapehu District Council says the break took time to become apparent and was difficult to repair.

But fixing the original earthquake damage did not end the problem.

Technical complications during the repair and restoration process prevented raw water from properly reaching the treatment plant, while the town’s treated-water reserves were placed under severe pressure.

At one point, council reported reservoir levels had fallen to just 12 percent as the treatment plant struggled to rebuild supplies while continuing to meet demand.

Residents and visitors were urged to stop all non-essential water use as authorities attempted to protect what remained in storage.

Emergency drinking water was made available from a tanker outside the council’s Ayr Street office, with additional collection points established around Ohakune.

People were encouraged to keep five-litre containers and refill them rather than taking more water than necessary.

Emergency portable toilets were also deployed around the town as residents were asked to avoid flushing household toilets.

For local households, accommodation providers, hospitality businesses and other operators, the disruption has highlighted just how quickly normal life can grind to a halt when essential infrastructure fails.

The original earthquake was centred near Taumarunui and caused what Ruapehu District Council initially described as relatively minor damage across the district.

The subsequent failure of Ohakune’s raw water pipeline has shown that some infrastructure damage can take considerably longer to emerge.

Ohakune’s drinking water relies on raw water being transported from its source through a pipeline to the treatment plant before treated water is stored and distributed through the town.

Interrupt that pipeline and the entire system becomes dependent on whatever treated water remains in storage.

The district has long recognised the risks earthquakes and other geological events pose to local water infrastructure. A previous GNS Science assessment commissioned by council specifically examined the security of Ohakune and Raetihi water supplies against seismic and volcanic hazards.

The crisis is now about more than getting water flowing again.

Questions are emerging about the resilience of Ohakune’s infrastructure, the response following the earthquake, and whether the town had sufficient backup capacity to cope when the raw water supply failed.

For a tourism-dependent community, a prolonged water outage can also carry a substantial economic cost.

Accommodation providers, cafes, restaurants and other businesses need reliable water for customers, cleaning, food preparation and sanitation.

And for whānau, there is the basic frustration of being unable to turn on the tap and know water will come out.

Getting the system back online is not simply a matter of turning a valve.

Engineers have warned that restoring pressure too quickly could place additional stress on the already damaged pipeline and potentially cause another rupture.

That means crews face a difficult balancing act — restoring water as quickly as possible without creating another failure that sends the town back to square one.

The episode also carries a wider warning for communities across Aotearoa.

Earthquakes do not need to destroy buildings to create a serious emergency.

A damaged pipe buried underground can be enough.

For Ohakune, the immediate priority remains getting safe drinking water reliably back into homes and businesses.

But once the taps are running again, another conversation will remain.

How resilient is the infrastructure beneath the town — and what needs to change before the next earthquake tests it again?

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #Ohakune #Ruapehu #OhakuneWater #WaterCrisis #WaterOutage #WaterSupply #DrinkingWater #RuapehuDistrictCouncil #EarthquakeNZ #Earthquake #TaumarunuiEarthquake #InfrastructureCrisis #WaterInfrastructure #EmergencyWater #CivilDefence #CommunityResilience #InfrastructureNZ #CentralNorthIsland #Whānau #WaiMāori #MāoriNews #Aotearoa #NZNews

The post #regional: OHAKUNE RUNS DRY: EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE TURNS INTO FULL-BLOWN WATER CRISIS appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

The Government’s decision to halt a planned nationwide expansion of rongoā Māori in prisons is facing strong criticism from practitioners who say traditional Māori healing is being misunderstood and reduced to little more than massage.

ACC-registered rongoā Māori practitioner Te Aroha Williams says the kaupapa is far broader, encompassing physical, emotional, cultural and spiritual wellbeing and offering Māori in the corrections system another pathway towards rehabilitation.

Williams has been delivering rongoā Māori services inside New Zealand’s privately managed prison since January 2024.

She says mirimiri and romiromi are only components of a much wider traditional healing system that can also involve whakawhiti kōrero, karakia, rongoā rākau, tikanga, whakapapa and wairua.

The debate erupted after Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell halted a procurement process that could have expanded rongoā Māori services to 13 prisons.

The proposed programme was worth up to $9 million over five years, although Corrections says no money had been committed or spent before the process was paused.

For Williams, the controversy also raises a fundamental question about whether an Indigenous healing system is being judged differently from other health services.

Prisons already use psychologists, counsellors, physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals.

Rongoā practitioners argue their work should not be dismissed simply because its foundations are Māori rather than Western.

Rongoā Māori approaches wellbeing through interconnected relationships between tinana, hinengaro, wairua, whakapapa, whenua and whānau.

For Māori in prison, that cultural dimension can carry particular significance.

Disconnection from whakapapa, whānau, whenua and identity can sit alongside trauma, addiction and other factors contributing to offending.

Williams says reconnecting people with identity and purpose can therefore become part of the rehabilitation process rather than something separate from it.

Rongoā Māori inside prisons is not simply an untested proposal.

Corrections says a rongoā Māori health service has been operating as part of a programme at Christchurch Women’s Prison since late 2024, while a pilot has operated at Tongariro Prison since January 2025.

Corrections says feedback from the Tongariro pilot indicated improvements in participants’ physical and mental wellbeing as well as their ability to focus on the future and remain motivated.

The proposed expansion would have taken services into prisons from Te Tai Tokerau through to Invercargill.

Instead, the procurement process was paused on 4 August following the Minister’s direction that rehabilitation and reintegration spending should focus on skills and education.

Corrections is now reviewing rehabilitation and reintegration programmes across the prison network.

Existing referrals made through ACC claims will continue to be honoured while that review takes place.

Behind the political controversy sits a much larger question.

What does successful rehabilitation actually require?

A driver licence can help somebody get a job.

A qualification can provide a career pathway.

Education can open doors.

But practitioners such as Williams argue those opportunities may achieve far less if the person leaving prison is still carrying unresolved trauma, addiction, poor health and disconnection from their identity.

For Māori, who remain disproportionately represented within the corrections system, that question has particular urgency.

If the objective is genuinely to reduce reoffending, the test should ultimately be whether an intervention helps people heal, reconnect, develop skills and successfully return to their whānau and communities.

That means the argument over rongoā Māori cannot simply be reduced to whether prisoners should receive massage.

The real debate is whether traditional Māori healing has a legitimate place alongside Western healthcare, education and employment programmes within rehabilitation.

Te Aroha Williams believes it does.

And with Corrections’ own pilot reporting improvements in wellbeing and motivation, the pressure is now on the Government to explain why expanding that approach should stop.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #TeArohaWilliams #RongoāMāori #Rongoā #Mirimiri #Romiromi #MātaurangaMāori #KaupapaMāori #MāoriHealth #MāoriHealing #CorrectionsNZ #NZPrisons #PrisonRehabilitation #Rehabilitation #MarkMitchell #HōkaiRangi #ACC #TraumaHealing #MentalHealth #Whānau #Whakapapa #Wairua #TikangaMāori #Rangatiratanga #TeTiriti #MāoriJustice #JusticeReform #MāoriNews #TeAoMāori #Aotearoa #NZPolitics #NZNews

The post #hauora: MORE THAN MASSAGE: RONGOĀ PRACTITIONER CHALLENGES PRISON HEALING CRACKDOWN appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Community advocate and environmental campaigner Te Whatanui Skipwith is taking his fight from the frontline to the ballot box, standing for the Green Party in the newly created Ōtāhuhu electorate at the 2026 General Election.

Skipwith has been selected as the Greens’ candidate for Ōtāhuhu as the party looks to strengthen its presence across South Auckland and increase Māori representation within its political movement.

For Skipwith, the campaign brings together issues that have already defined much of his community advocacy — whenua, whānau, housing, rangatahi, environmental protection and the ability of communities to have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting them.

He has previously been prominent as a spokesperson for the Rotokākahi Board of Control and Protect Rotokākahi campaign, opposing the construction of infrastructure near the culturally significant Lake Rotokākahi in the Rotorua district.

Now he is attempting to take that experience into Parliament.

Skipwith is one of 13 Māori candidates on the Green Party’s final 2026 list.

The Greens have placed Māori representation prominently within their election campaign, with nine Māori candidates ranked inside the party’s top 20.

Skipwith sits at number 30 on the final party list, making winning significant electorate support in Ōtāhuhu an important part of his campaign.

Green co-leader Marama Davidson has positioned the party’s Māori candidates as part of a wider commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, equity and partnership.

The party argues Māori leadership must be central to decisions involving whenua, housing, healthy kai, climate change and the future of whānau.

For Skipwith, Ōtāhuhu provides a distinctive political battleground.

It sits within the wider South Auckland community, where decisions around housing affordability, employment, transport, healthcare and the cost of living have immediate consequences for Māori and Pacific whānau.

Skipwith enters the race with experience outside the traditional parliamentary pathway.

His public profile has been built through kaupapa and community advocacy rather than a career inside Parliament.

His work around Rotokākahi has put him at the centre of disputes involving mana whenua, environmental protection and the relationship between local government decision-making and culturally significant whenua and wai.

That background fits into a broader Green Party strategy of selecting candidates with grassroots and community experience.

The party says its 2026 candidates bring backgrounds spanning local government, education, environmental work, law, renewable energy and community organising.

Waatea has previously reported that Skipwith’s selection reflects the Greens’ focus on candidates with strong community connections and experience in areas including housing, youth development and social wellbeing.

The challenge now is converting advocacy into votes.

Skipwith is confirmed by the Green Party as its Ōtāhuhu candidate, putting him into an electorate contest where the Greens will need to persuade voters that their policies on housing, inequality, climate and Te Tiriti speak directly to everyday pressures in South Auckland.

The party is campaigning nationally on reducing household costs, increasing affordable housing, strengthening renters’ rights, investing in renewable energy and addressing climate change.

For Māori voters, there is another question.

What does stronger Māori representation inside political parties actually deliver for whānau?

The Greens are arguing that their Māori candidates can help push issues involving Te Tiriti, rangatiratanga, housing, whenua and inequality further towards the centre of government decision-making.

Skipwith now has to make that case on the streets of Ōtāhuhu.

Election campaigns have a way of testing whether grassroots movements can translate their energy into political power.

For Te Whatanui Skipwith, that test has arrived.

The campaign trail may be different from standing alongside whānau protecting whenua and wai, but many of the underlying questions remain the same.

Who makes the decisions?

Whose voices are heard?

And how much influence do communities have over decisions affecting their whenua, their environment and their future?

Skipwith has spent years challenging those decisions from outside the political establishment.

In 2026, he is asking the people of Ōtāhuhu to give him the opportunity to challenge them from inside Parliament.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #TeWhatanuiSkipwith #GreenParty #GreensNZ #Ōtāhuhu #Otahuhu #SouthAuckland #Election2026 #NZElection2026 #MāoriCandidates #MāoriPolitics #MāoriVote #MāoriRepresentation #TeTiriti #Rangatiratanga #ManaWhenua #Whenua #Rotokākahi #ProtectRotokākahi #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateAction #Housing #Rangatahi #Whānau #KaupapaMāori #TeAoMāori #MāoriNews #Aotearoa #NZPolitics #NZNews

The post #election2026: FROM THE FRONTLINE TO THE BALLOT BOX: SKIPWITH TAKES GREEN FIGHT TO ŌTĀHUHU appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Housing Minister Tama Potaka is defending the Government’s record on Māori housing as a new human rights review warns Aotearoa is moving backwards on housing outcomes and Te Tiriti commitments.

The criticism comes as Māori remain disproportionately affected by homelessness and housing insecurity, while the Government points to falling emergency housing numbers, new social housing investment and changes intended to make it easier for whānau to develop papakāinga.

Speaking with Radio Waatea, Potaka was challenged over whether the Government’s approach is delivering for Māori communities at a time when housing remains one of the biggest pressures confronting whānau.

The Aotearoa New Zealand Human Rights Foundation’s latest housing review argues the country has made almost no overall progress towards ensuring everyone has access to a decent home.

It is particularly critical of the shift away from dedicated Māori housing initiatives towards broader contestable funding and argues the Government is retreating from a Te Tiriti-based approach to housing.

Potaka has instead highlighted the dramatic reduction in the number of children living in emergency accommodation.

The Government has made reducing reliance on emergency housing motels a central part of its housing programme.

Potaka has previously said thousands of children were living in emergency housing when National came into office and has pointed to the reduction as evidence the Government’s approach is working.

But critics say falling emergency housing numbers do not necessarily mean the underlying housing crisis has been solved.

Figures reported earlier this year showed emergency housing applications being declined at significantly higher rates, with Māori continuing to be disproportionately represented among people seeking support.

That has fuelled concerns that some people may simply be disappearing from the emergency housing statistics while continuing to experience homelessness, overcrowding or insecure accommodation.

The Government can also point to changes intended to make building on whenua Māori easier.

New national environmental standards for papakāinga came into force in July, allowing up to 10 homes on ancestral Māori land in specified zones, subject to environmental and safety requirements.

The changes are intended to reduce inconsistent council rules, consenting complexity and costs that have frustrated Māori landowners trying to house whānau on their own whenua.

Potaka has argued those reforms recognise the relationship Māori have with whenua and can support long-term whānau wellbeing.

Māori housing providers have broadly welcomed moves to simplify papakāinga development but have warned planning reform alone will not build houses.

Infrastructure, finance and access to capital remain significant barriers.

Budget 2026 provided $69.2 million towards between 1,800 and 2,250 additional social homes and another $22.4 million aimed at preventing households from entering emergency housing.

The Government says its Flexible Housing Fund allows Māori housing providers alongside community organisations and other providers to develop housing based on local need.

But Māori housing advocates have criticised the replacement of ring-fenced Māori housing funding with a competitive model.

That distinction goes to the heart of the Human Rights Foundation’s criticism.

The argument is not simply about whether government money is being spent on housing.

It is about whether Māori have sufficient control over the design, funding and delivery of housing solutions for Māori communities.

The Waatea interview also moved beyond housing and into the increasingly heated political debate surrounding Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

Asked whether he continues to stand behind the Prime Minister, Potaka said he does.

Luxon has faced renewed scrutiny over his leadership as the Government heads towards the November election.

For Potaka, a senior Māori minister within National, that support puts him firmly behind the party leader as the election campaign intensifies.

But when Waatea raised Luxon’s push for a referendum on MMP, Potaka declined to comment.

The Prime Minister’s position has opened another significant political debate over New Zealand’s electoral system.

For Māori, any discussion about changing MMP carries particular significance.

Since its introduction in 1996, MMP has contributed to a more diverse Parliament and created greater opportunities for smaller parties, including Māori political movements, to gain representation and influence.

That makes any proposal to reconsider the system a potentially major issue for Māori voters heading into Election 2026.

Potaka’s decision not to enter that debate leaves the Prime Minister carrying the argument for now.

Housing, however, remains the immediate challenge.

Government ministers can point to fewer families in emergency motels, new social housing investment and planning reforms for papakāinga.

Critics can point to increasing emergency housing rejection rates, persistent homelessness, severe housing deprivation and the removal of dedicated Māori housing funding.

Both sets of numbers can exist at the same time.

The real test is what is happening to whānau after they leave the statistics.

Are they moving into secure homes?

Are Māori providers building enough houses?

Can whānau develop their whenua?

And are tamariki moving from emergency accommodation into stable housing — or simply into another form of insecurity?

For Tama Potaka and the Government, those questions will follow them into Election 2026.

Because ultimately, success in Māori housing will not be measured by how many people disappear from an emergency housing register.

It will be measured by how many whānau finally have a secure place to call home.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #TamaPotaka #MāoriHousing #HousingCrisis #HousingNZ #HousingRights #EmergencyHousing #Homelessness #Papakāinga #WhenuaMāori #Whānau #TamarikiMāori #RangatahiMāori #TeTiriti #TeTiritiOWaitangi #Rangatiratanga #KaupapaMāori #SocialHousing #AffordableHousing #HousingEquity #ChristopherLuxon #NationalParty #MMP #MMPReferendum #MāoriVote #MāoriPolitics #Election2026 #NZElection2026 #NZPolitics #MāoriNews #TeAoMāori #Aotearoa #NZNews

The post #national: POTAKA DEFENDS HOUSING RECORD AS REPORT WARNS MĀORI ARE GOING BACKWARDS appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

A new housing rights review is accusing the Government of taking Aotearoa backwards on both the right to a decent home and its Te Tiriti o Waitangi commitments, with Māori housing expert Jacqueline Paul warning that Māori-led solutions are being pushed aside.

The Aotearoa New Zealand Human Rights Foundation’s review of housing between 2023 and 2026 finds almost no overall progress has been made towards ensuring everyone has access to a decent home.

The Foundation says there has instead been a shift towards market-led housing policies without the same commitment to embedding human rights and Te Tiriti obligations into government decision-making.

Paul, a Foundation committee member and Māori housing expert, says the consequences are particularly significant for tangata whenua.

The report identifies Māori, Pacific peoples, disabled people and renters among those continuing to experience some of the country’s greatest housing inequalities.

One of Paul’s major concerns is the move away from dedicated funding for Māori-led housing programmes.

The Foundation says replacing dedicated Māori funding with contestable funding forces Māori housing providers to compete against other organisations for resources.

Paul argues that represents a retreat from a Te Tiriti-based approach to housing and is calling for dedicated Māori-led housing funding to be reinstated.

The Foundation also wants tangata whenua involved as partners in housing decisions rather than simply competing for government contracts and funding.

For Māori, the housing challenge extends well beyond the national supply of houses.

It includes the ability to build papakāinga, develop whenua Māori, provide housing for kaumātua and create homes that allow whānau to remain connected to whakapapa, whenua and community.

The Foundation’s report also points to a series of government policies it says have weakened housing rights.

It highlights Budget 2026’s move to increase rents for social housing tenants from 25 percent to 30 percent of their income.

Emergency housing access has also tightened.

According to the report, 33.2 percent of emergency housing applications were declined between October 2025 and March 2026, compared with 4 percent in March 2024.

The Foundation says almost 30 percent of people whose applications were declined received no alternative support.

Kāinga Ora tenancy terminations are another area highlighted.

The review records 74 households losing Kāinga Ora tenancies during 2024/25, compared with none two years earlier, with Māori and Pacific tenants disproportionately affected.

The housing debate becomes even more urgent when the impact on tamariki and rangatahi is considered.

Recent research reported by Te Ao Māori News found more than 33,000 tamariki and rangatahi experiencing severe housing deprivation, with Māori bearing a disproportionate share of the crisis.

Poor or insecure housing can flow into almost every other area of whānau wellbeing.

Overcrowding and damp homes can affect health.

Frequent moves can disrupt education.

High rents can leave less money for kai, electricity and transport.

And homelessness or severe housing deprivation can make almost every other challenge confronting a whānau harder to overcome.

At the heart of the Foundation’s report is a much bigger argument about what housing is actually for.

The review warns that treating housing primarily as a speculative asset has helped entrench inequality.

It argues government should instead measure housing policy against whether people can access homes that are affordable, secure, habitable, accessible and culturally appropriate.

For Paul, that framework also needs to recognise Te Tiriti and rangatiratanga.

The Foundation is calling for stronger accountability mechanisms, including renewed consideration of a housing commissioner overseeing Crown decisions and an independent mechanism where Māori make decisions about Māori housing.

Heading towards Election 2026, housing is therefore shaping up as much more than a debate over how many houses New Zealand can build.

For Māori, the test will also be who gets to design the solutions, who controls the resources and whether whānau can build secure futures on their own whenua and within their own communities.

Because a decent home is not simply another commodity.

It is where tamariki grow, kaumātua are cared for, whakapapa is maintained and whānau build the foundations for the next generation.

And the warning from this latest review is stark — on both housing rights and Te Tiriti, Aotearoa is heading in the wrong direction.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #JacquelinePaul #MāoriHousing #HousingCrisis #HousingRights #RightToHousing #TeTiriti #TeTiritiOWaitangi #Rangatiratanga #WhenuaMāori #Papakāinga #Whānau #TamarikiMāori #Kaumātua #KāingaOra #SocialHousing #EmergencyHousing #AffordableHousing #RentersNZ #HousingEquity #HumanRights #MāoriDevelopment #KaupapaMāori #TeAoMāori #MāoriNews #Election2026 #NZElection2026 #NZPolitics #Aotearoa #NZNews

The post #housing: HOUSING BACKSLIDE: PAUL WARNS MĀORI PAYING THE PRICE FOR TIRITI RETREAT appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Rotorua Lakes Councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait has delivered a blunt verdict on the Government’s local government overhaul, rejecting both the voluntary Head Start pathway and the alternative Backstop process as councils face potentially historic changes to how communities are governed.

The long-serving Rotorua representative and Māori ward councillor has emerged as one of the strongest local critics of the speed and structure of the reform programme.

Raukawa-Tait ultimately voted against both options, arguing the process does not provide the time, certainty or community involvement required for decisions of this magnitude.

At stake is potentially the biggest restructuring of local government in a generation.

The Government’s Simplifying Local Government programme is aimed at reducing the overall number of councils, removing regional councils and moving towards larger unitary authorities.

Councils have effectively been presented with two pathways.

Head Start is the voluntary fast-track process that allowed groups of councils to develop high-level merger proposals for consideration by the Government.

The deadline for those proposals was 9 August.

Rotorua Lakes Council acknowledged during the process that full public consultation was not possible within the timeframe set by the Government.

The alternative does not necessarily offer councils greater control.

If councils do not participate through Head Start, the Government has said it will step in through a Backstop process after the 2028 local elections.

Under that pathway, central government would determine the changes, informed in part by proposals developed through Head Start.

For Raukawa-Tait, neither option was good enough.

Her position effectively challenges the idea that councils should have to choose between rushing into a locally developed proposal or waiting for Wellington to decide their future.

The debate is about much more than council boundaries.

Any amalgamation raises fundamental questions about who represents communities, how rates are distributed, where decisions are made and whether smaller communities retain meaningful influence inside much larger organisations.

For Rotorua, Māori representation is particularly significant.

Rotorua Lakes Council identified mana whenua views and commitments, local voice and political representation among six key criteria it considered while assessing potential merger options.

The council has also acknowledged Rotorua’s longstanding relationship with Te Arawa and says iwi and hapū engagement has been part of its consideration of reform.

But engagement undertaken under intense time pressure is not necessarily the same thing as having the time required to build genuine agreement.

That is at the centre of Raukawa-Tait’s concerns.

Rotorua Lakes Council carried out two rounds of community engagement as it considered whether to pursue Head Start.

More than 300 people responded during the first round and more than 700 participated in the second survey.

Council stressed that any Head Start proposal would only be high-level, with detailed design, financial analysis, legislative work and formal consultation still required if Cabinet accepted a proposal in principle.

But the fundamental question remains whether communities should have been given more time before councils were pushed towards choosing a direction.

The Government announced the Head Start process in May, leaving councils only months to assess potentially transformative structural changes. Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell herself acknowledged the pressure created by the short deadlines while saying the council was determined to hear from local people.

For Māori, restructuring local government carries another layer of consequence.

The shape and size of councils can influence Māori representation, relationships with mana whenua and the ability of iwi and hapū to engage directly with decision-makers.

Larger councils may offer efficiencies and greater capacity to manage infrastructure.

But they can also create distance between decision-makers and the communities they serve.

For Te Arawa, the question is therefore not simply whether Rotorua ends up inside a larger unitary authority.

It is what happens to mana whenua relationships, Māori representation and local decision-making if that occurs.

Those issues become especially important when communities are being asked to consider structural changes on accelerated timelines.

Raukawa-Tait’s decision to oppose both pathways highlights the political dilemma created by the Government’s model.

Vote for Head Start and accept an accelerated process.

Reject Head Start and face a future Backstop process largely controlled by central government.

For critics, that does not amount to much of a choice.

For supporters, moving early provides councils with the best opportunity to influence reforms the Government has already signalled are coming.

Either way, the future of local government in Rotorua is no longer an abstract debate.

It could reshape who governs the district, how decisions are made and how strongly communities — including Te Arawa — are represented around the council table.

Merepeka Raukawa-Tait’s position is that a transformation that significant deserves something the current process has struggled to provide.

Time.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #MerepekaRaukawaTait #Rotorua #RotoruaLakesCouncil #TeArawa #MāoriWards #MāoriRepresentation #LocalGovernment #LocalGovernmentReform #CouncilAmalgamation #HeadStart #Backstop #UnitaryAuthority #LocalDemocracy #ManaWhenua #Iwi #Hapū #TeTiriti #Rangatiratanga #Waiariki #MāoriPolitics #NZPolitics #CouncilReform #CommunityVoice #MāoriNews #TeAoMāori #Aotearoa #NZNews

The post #REGIONAL: RAUKAWA-TAIT REJECTS BOTH PATHS AS GOVERNMENT PUTS COUNCILS ON FAST TRACK appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.