Waatea News: Māori Radio Station

Nō te mutunga wiki nei i kati ai ngā tono a ngā kaunihera mō ngā whakahoutanga kāwanatanga ā-rohe.

I tēnei wā, e tautokohia ana e Te Hiku o Te Ika, e Whangārei me Te Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Te Tai Tokerau tētahi mahere whakakotahi. Heoi anō, kua whakahē a Kaipara i taua mahere, ā, kua tuku i tā rātou ake tono ki te Kāwanatanga.

Hai tā te Manukura o Te Hiku o Te Ika, hai tā Moko Tepania, e tūwhera tonu ana ia ki ngā whakarerekētanga.

The post Moko Tepania | Ka whakakotahingia rānei ngā kaunihera o Te Tai Tokerau? 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 10 o Akuhata 2026 Ngā Kawepūrongo a Waatea | 12pm appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Find the full article HERE

A Māori unemployment crisis is hitting both ends of the workforce, with rangatahi struggling to get their first opportunity while older Māori workers face the prospect of losing jobs and finding the door back into employment increasingly difficult to open.

A Radio Waatea special investigation by Matthew Tukaki examines what happens when unemployment stops being simply an economic statistic and becomes a whānau crisis.

The investigation, Two Generations, One Crisis, looks behind the headline numbers to examine how deteriorating employment conditions are affecting Māori communities across Aotearoa.

Māori unemployment has climbed to its highest level in more than a decade, with the impact extending well beyond the person who loses a job.

For rangatahi, a weak labour market can mean sending application after application without getting an interview, competing against experienced workers for entry-level positions and struggling to gain the experience employers demand.

Missing those first steps into employment can have consequences lasting years.

Young people who cannot establish themselves in the workforce risk falling behind in income, skills development, KiwiSaver contributions and career progression before their working lives have properly begun.

At the other end are older Māori workers.

Many have decades of experience, mortgages or rent to pay, children and mokopuna to support and little financial room to absorb months without an income.

When redundancy strikes, age can become another barrier to getting back into work.

The Radio Waatea investigation highlights how these two employment pressures can collide inside the same whānau.

Parents can lose jobs while their adult children cannot find them.

Grandparents can find themselves helping support unemployed mokopuna while confronting uncertainty about their own employment.

One unemployment statistic can therefore represent an entire household under pressure.

The consequences reach into almost every part of whānau life.

When income disappears but rent, mortgages, power, food, transport and debt repayments remain, families are forced into increasingly difficult decisions.

Savings disappear.

Debt grows.

Doctor and dentist appointments can be postponed.

Sports, school activities and other expenses are cut.

Whānau may increasingly rely on foodbanks, community organisations and relatives to get through the week.

Unemployment can also take a heavy psychological toll.

Work provides more than income. It can provide routine, confidence, social connection, purpose and mana.

Long periods without employment can erode all of them.

The investigation also raises questions about what happens when job losses become concentrated in communities already experiencing economic disadvantage.

Less employment means less money circulating through local shops and businesses.

That can weaken Māori businesses, reduce opportunities for other workers and create another cycle of job losses.

The effects can spread through marae, community organisations and social services as more whānau seek assistance while the organisations supporting them face increasing demand.

It turns an employment downturn into a community-wide economic shock.

As politicians debate economic growth, government debt and fiscal responsibility ahead of Election 2026, Radio Waatea’s investigation asks a different question.

What does economic policy look like from the kitchen table of a whānau where nobody can find work?

For Māori, unemployment cannot be treated simply as a line moving up and down on an economic graph.

It is about rangatahi wondering whether there is a future for them in Aotearoa.

It is about experienced workers wondering whether they will ever be hired again.

And it is about whānau trying to hold everything together while the bills keep arriving.

Two generations are being squeezed by the same labour market.

The danger is that without urgent attention, today’s unemployment crisis could become tomorrow’s intergenerational disadvantage.

Read the full Radio Waatea Special Investigation: Two Generations, One Crisis — How Māori Unemployment is Breaking Whānau Across Aotearoa on Waatea News.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #WaateaInvestigates #SpecialInvestigation #MatthewTukaki #MāoriUnemployment #MāoriJobs #JobsCrisis #UnemploymentNZ #Rangatahi #RangatahiMāori #MāoriWorkers #Whānau #WhānauOra #CostOfLiving #CostOfLivingNZ #MāoriEconomy #EconomicCrisis #EmploymentNZ #JobsNZ #MāoriBusiness #PakihiMāori #MāoriNews #TeAoMāori #KaupapaMāori #Election2026 #NZElection2026 #NZPolitics #Aotearoa #NZNews

The post #tekaupapa: TWO GENERATIONS IN THE FIRING LINE AS MĀORI JOB CRISIS DEEPENS 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 10 o Akuhata 2026 Ngā Kawepūrongo a Waatea | 11am appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Nearly three decades after New Zealand embraced MMP, questions over whether the political system is delivering enough for Māori are moving back into focus as unemployment rises and pressure continues across the health system.

Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere says the debate goes beyond individual government policies and reaches into the question of whether Māori have enough influence over decisions directly affecting whānau.

With the 2026 general election approaching, three issues are emerging as important tests — political representation, Māori unemployment and access to healthcare.

New Zealand’s first MMP election was held in 1996, transforming Parliament and creating greater opportunities for smaller political parties to influence government.

For Māori, MMP has coincided with increased Māori representation in Parliament and provided an environment in which dedicated Māori political movements have been able to establish a parliamentary presence.

But Tamihere says representation needs to be measured by more than the number of Māori faces sitting around the political table.

The bigger question is whether Māori representation produces enough influence over government decisions, resources and policies affecting whānau, hapū and iwi.

Almost 30 years after MMP’s arrival, that distinction between having representation and exercising meaningful political power remains central to the debate.

The economy provides another test.

Māori unemployment has climbed to its highest level in more than a decade, increasing pressure on political parties to explain how they intend to create sustainable employment for Māori communities.

Behind every unemployment statistic are whānau dealing with lost income, rising household costs and uncertainty about the future.

The impact can be particularly severe for rangatahi trying to enter the workforce during an economic downturn.

Tamihere’s longstanding advocacy for Māori economic development puts the question of Māori participation in economic decision-making firmly on the election agenda.

The issue is not simply how many jobs are created nationally, but where those jobs are created, who gets access to them and whether Māori businesses and communities are positioned to benefit from economic growth.

For Te Pāti Māori, greater Māori economic influence is closely connected to political self-determination.

Health remains another major pressure point.

Māori continue to experience significant inequities across a range of health measures while many communities face difficulties accessing timely primary, specialist and hospital care.

Workforce shortages, waiting times, affordability and geography can all create barriers, particularly for whānau living in communities already carrying high levels of health need.

The debate has become even more politically charged following the Government’s abolition of Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority.

Supporters of the authority viewed Māori-led commissioning and decision-making as an opportunity to address entrenched inequities through a health system designed with Māori rather than simply for Māori.

The coalition Government argued a separate Māori health bureaucracy was unnecessary and that improved outcomes should instead be delivered through the wider health system.

The political argument may have changed, but the underlying challenge has not.

Māori continue to expect measurable improvements in access, prevention, treatment and life expectancy.

For Tamihere, these three issues ultimately intersect.

Political representation determines who gets into the room.

Economic power influences who benefits from prosperity.

And the health system provides one of the clearest measures of whether government policy is actually improving people’s lives.

That creates a bigger question heading towards Election 2026.

After nearly 30 years of MMP, does Māori representation translate into enough power to change the outcomes experienced by Māori?

If unemployment remains disproportionately high and health inequities remain entrenched, simply having Māori represented in Parliament may no longer be enough.

The challenge for every political party seeking the Māori vote will be demonstrating not just how Māori will be represented after election day — but how that representation will deliver jobs, healthier whānau and genuine influence over the decisions shaping Aotearoa.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #JohnTamihere #TePātiMāori #TePatiMaori #MMP #MMPNZ #MāoriPolitics #MāoriRepresentation #MāoriVoice #Rangatiratanga #ManaMotuhake #MāoriUnemployment #JobsNZ #MāoriJobs #MāoriEconomy #PakihiMāori #MāoriHealth #HealthEquity #WhānauHealth #NZHealth #TeAkaWhaiOra #Whānau #Rangatahi #Election2026 #NZElection2026 #NZPolitics #TeAoMāori #KaupapaMāori #MāoriNews #Aotearoa #NZNews

The post #election2026: TAMIHERE: MĀORI POWER, JOBS AND HEALTH PUT SYSTEM ON TRIAL appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

The road to Te Matatini o Ngā Taniwha 2027 has become very real for 57 of the finest kapa haka from across Aotearoa and Australia, with the competition draw now setting the stage for the battle at Hopuhopu.

Qualifying kapa representing 13 regions have been allocated across four preliminary competition pools, determining who they will perform alongside when the national kapa haka festival gets underway next February.

The draw was held at Tūrangawaewae Marae in Ngāruawāhia, marking another major milestone in the countdown to what is expected to be one of the biggest Māori cultural events of 2027.

Around 2,000 performers are expected to take part after qualifying through regional competitions across Aotearoa and Australia.

For the kapa, the draw is much more than finding out which day and pool they will perform in.

It allows months of planning to begin in earnest as kaihaka, tutors, composers and whānau prepare for the national stage.

Behind every performance will be countless hours of wānanga and rehearsal, along with the fundraising, travel, accommodation, costume preparation and whānau support required to take a kapa to Te Matatini.

The four preliminary pools will eventually determine which kapa progress to Te Matangirua, the festival’s grand final.

The draw itself does not provide any judging advantage, with every kapa assessed independently against Te Matatini’s competition criteria.

Once allocated, kapa are also unable to switch competition pools.

Te Matatini o Ngā Taniwha will be held at Hopuhopu from February 23 to 27, bringing the country’s premier kapa haka competition back to the Waikato.

The event is being hosted by Te Kīngitanga, Waikato-Tainui and Te Whare Haka o Tainui Waka.

For Tainui, hosting Te Matatini brings the country’s leading kapa onto whenua carrying enormous cultural and historical significance for the Kiingitanga and Waikato-Tainui.

And for kapa around the motu, the countdown has now entered another gear.

They know their pool.

They know their competition.

And now the mahi begins.

Fifty-seven kapa. More than 2,000 performers. Four pools.

One stage to determine who will become the next Toa Whakaihuwaka of Te Matatini.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #TeMatatini #TeMatatini2027 #TeMatatiniONgaTaniwha #KapaHaka #Haka #TeAoMāori #MātaurangaMāori #KaupapaMāori #TeReoMāori #Kiingitanga #WaikatoTainui #TainuiWaka #Turangawaewae #Hopuhopu #NgaaRuawaahia #Kaihaka #TeMatangirua #ToaWhakaihuwaka #MāoriPerformingArts #MāoriCulture #MāoriNews #Aotearoa #NZNews

The post #kapahaka: THE BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN: TE MATATINI 2027 KAPA LEARN THEIR FATE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Community nurses across the North Island are taking industrial action as a dispute over pay and working conditions puts renewed attention on the value placed on nurses caring for some of Aotearoa’s most vulnerable patients.

NZNO delegate and Total Care nurse Krystal Lewis says community nurses are among the lowest-paid nursing workforces in the country despite providing care that can prevent patients from deteriorating and ending up in already stretched hospitals.

The nurses work outside traditional hospital settings, providing care to patients in their homes and communities.

Their responsibilities can include wound care, medication support, clinical assessments and ongoing treatment for people living with complex or chronic health needs.

For patients with limited mobility, disabilities or significant health conditions, community nursing can provide an important connection between primary care and hospital services.

The industrial action puts the spotlight on what nurses say is a widening gap between the responsibility carried by community-based health workers and what they are paid.

Lewis says the workforce wants recognition for the clinical responsibilities nurses carry and the contribution they make to keeping vulnerable patients safely in their communities.

The dispute comes against a much wider battle over pay equity involving nurses and other female-dominated workforces.

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation has joined legal action challenging the Government’s changes to the Equal Pay Act, with the High Court becoming the latest battleground over the cancellation of existing pay-equity claims.

Unions argue the law changes stripped workers of a pathway towards addressing historic gender-based undervaluation of their work.

The Government has defended its changes to the pay-equity system as necessary to make the process more workable and financially sustainable.

For community nurses, however, the argument is immediate.

They say undervaluing the workforce risks making it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain experienced nurses in services designed to keep people well outside hospital.

That could have consequences throughout the health system.

When community healthcare capacity falls, patients who might otherwise be treated at home can require additional GP, emergency department or hospital care.

The strike therefore raises a bigger question about where New Zealand places its health dollars and whether enough value is being put on the frontline services that can prevent people from needing more expensive hospital treatment.

For nurses taking industrial action, recognition is about more than a pay packet.

It is about whether the health system recognises community nursing as an essential part of keeping whānau well and keeping patients out of hospital.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #CommunityNurses #NursesStrike #NZNO #KrystalLewis #TotalCare #NursesNZ #NursingNZ #PayEquity #EqualPay #EqualPayAct #HealthNZ #HealthcareNZ #CommunityHealth #FrontlineWorkers #NursePay #HealthWorkforce #WhānauHealth #MāoriHealth #HealthEquity #NZHealth #Aotearoa #MāoriNews #NZNews

The post #hauora: COMMUNITY NURSES DRAW A LINE: LOW PAY PUSHES FRONTLINE WORKERS TO STRIKE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is putting marae at the centre of her party’s election pitch, arguing Aotearoa needs to stop treating some of its most important community infrastructure as dependent on the priorities of whichever government holds power.

The Greens have unveiled Te Waonui a Tāne: Thriving Marae and Thriving Communities, a policy designed to establish long-term and protected funding for marae, hapū and their surrounding communities.

Davidson says the proposal recognises the role marae already play far beyond cultural and ceremonial life.

Across Aotearoa, marae can become community headquarters during floods, storms, road closures and other emergencies, providing shelter, kai, communication and support when conventional services are under pressure.

The Greens argue that makes marae critical infrastructure deserving of sustained investment rather than having to repeatedly compete for funding.

Te Waonui a Tāne would establish two complementary funding mechanisms.

Te Rākau Whakarauora Restoration Fund would focus on immediate and urgent needs, giving marae access to funding for restoration and resilience work.

Te Tōtara Haemata Intergenerational Fund would take a longer view, establishing an enduring investment fund intended to generate returns for future generations.

Davidson says the objective is to give marae the certainty to plan across generations rather than election cycles.

The proposal also connects marae investment with climate resilience.

Many marae are increasingly exposed to flooding, coastal erosion, severe weather and rising insurance and infrastructure costs, creating difficult questions for whānau about how some ancestral places will be protected.

For the Greens, strengthening marae is therefore being presented not only as a Tiriti commitment but as investment in the resilience of entire communities.

Davidson’s advocacy comes as Te Tiriti and kaupapa Māori remain fiercely contested areas of national politics.

She has been a vocal critic of the coalition Government’s direction on Māori issues and has argued that policies affecting te reo, Te Tiriti and Māori communities represent a wider political shift that needs to be challenged.

That makes Te Waonui a Tāne more than a funding announcement.

It represents a clear political dividing line heading towards the 2026 election over how governments recognise Māori institutions and the role marae should play in the country’s future.

The Greens say stronger marae mean stronger communities, while critics will inevitably question the scale, cost and priorities of any major new government funding commitment.

For voters, the questions will be whether marae should receive permanent protected funding, how that investment should be structured, and whether their role during emergencies means they should be recognised alongside other essential community infrastructure.

For Davidson, the argument starts with something Māori communities have understood for generations.

Marae are not simply buildings.

They are places where whakapapa lives, where communities gather, where whānau seek refuge during emergencies and where decisions made today can shape the lives of mokopuna decades from now.

And as Election 2026 approaches, the future of those marae is now firmly part of the national political conversation.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #MaramaDavidson #GreenParty #GreenPartyNZ #TeWaonuiATane #Marae #MaraeFunding #Hapū #Whānau #Mokopuna #TeTiriti #TeTiritiOWaitangi #KaupapaMāori #TeAoMāori #MāoriPolitics #MāoriNews #ClimateResilience #MaraeResilience #CommunityResilience #Election2026 #NZElection2026 #NZPolitics #Aotearoa #NZNews

The post #election2026: DAVIDSON PUTS MARAE FUNDING ON THE ELECTION BATTLEFIELD appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

The push to formally declare English an official language of Aotearoa has reignited debate over why the country’s dominant language needs statutory protection when te reo Māori had to fight for generations simply to survive.

Professor Rawinia Higgins, chair of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori,in a recent interview said English has never faced the struggle for recognition experienced by te reo.

The debate follows legislation seeking to give English formal recognition as an official language alongside te reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language.

While English is overwhelmingly the language used throughout government, Parliament, business, education and the courts, its status has largely existed through convention rather than specific legislation declaring it an official language.

Te reo Māori’s story is dramatically different.

Generations of Māori experienced policies and social pressure that pushed the language from classrooms and public institutions, contributing to a major decline in the number of fluent speakers.

That decline ultimately fuelled the Māori language movement, including the 1972 Māori language petition, the establishment of kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa Māori, and the campaign that resulted in te reo becoming an official language through the Māori Language Act 1987.

Higgins says putting English and te reo Māori on the same footing without recognising that history risks ignoring why statutory protection for Māori was necessary in the first place.

English has never needed legislation to guarantee its dominance.

For te reo Māori, legal recognition became part of a much wider battle to reverse language loss and protect a taonga guaranteed under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Supporters of formal recognition for English argue legislation would simply acknowledge the reality that English is already the country’s most commonly spoken language and provide certainty about its status.

But critics question what practical problem the legislation is intended to solve when English already dominates almost every major institution in New Zealand.

The debate comes amid wider political arguments over the place of te reo Māori in public life, including the use of Māori names by government agencies and the visibility of te reo throughout the public sector.

Its task is helping ensure te reo Māori continues to grow as a living language spoken in homes, workplaces, schools, marae and communities.

English became dominant without needing to campaign for recognition.

Te reo Māori survived because generations of Māori refused to let it disappear.

And for language advocates, that history matters when Parliament considers whether two very different journeys should now be treated as though they were the same.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #RawiniaHiggins #TeTauraWhiri #TeReoMāori #MāoriLanguage #MāoriLanguageCommission #OfficialLanguage #EnglishLanguageBill #TeTiriti #TeTiritiOWaitangi #MāoriLanguageAct #KōhangaReo #KuraKaupapa #MātaurangaMāori #KaupapaMāori #TeAoMāori #MāoriLanguageRevitalisation #ReoMāori #MāoriNews #NZPolitics #ParliamentNZ #Aotearoa #NZNews

The post #tereo: HIGGINS: ENGLISH NEVER HAD TO FIGHT TO BE HEARD appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Māori and Pacific communities must not be left behind as a new generation of personalised medicine transforms healthcare around the world.

That was one of the key messages from the inaugural Indigenous Precision Medicine Symposium held in Apia, Sāmoa, bringing together health leaders, researchers, clinicians and community advocates from across the Pacific, Aotearoa, Australia and the United States.

University of Auckland researcher and symposium co-convenor Dr Natalie Netzler says precision medicine has the potential to significantly improve health outcomes by using a person’s genetic profile to help determine which treatments and medicines are most likely to work for them.

The approach could eventually mean patients receive treatments more closely matched to their individual biology rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all model.

But the development also presents a major challenge for Māori and Pacific peoples.

Indigenous populations have historically been underrepresented in genetics and genomics research, creating concerns that rapidly advancing medical technologies could actually widen existing health inequities if Māori and Pacific communities are not included.

Netzler says Indigenous participation therefore needs to be built into the development of precision medicine rather than added later.

That includes confronting major questions around Māori and Pacific data sovereignty, who controls genetic information, where it is stored, who can access it and how communities benefit from research involving their people.

Around 110 invited participants attended the three-day gathering in Apia, believed to be the first symposium dedicated entirely to advancing precision medicine specifically for Māori and Pacific health.

The event was co-convened by Netzler, Asiata Professor Satupaitea Viali from Oceania University of Medicine, University of Auckland Professor Peter Shepherd and Carmel Sang.

Participants examined how genomics and precision medicine could move from research laboratories into everyday clinical care while protecting Indigenous knowledge, rights and community interests.

The symposium also placed Indigenous leadership at the centre of the discussion.

Organisers say Māori and Pacific communities need to be involved in deciding how genetic research is conducted and how resulting technologies are incorporated into healthcare.

Training more Pacific scientists and strengthening research capability within the Pacific are also seen as critical if the benefits of precision medicine are to reach communities throughout the region and in Aotearoa.

For Māori, the discussion has important implications as researchers increasingly explore the potential of genomics to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of conditions carrying significant health inequities.

The challenge now is ensuring tomorrow’s medicine does not reproduce yesterday’s inequalities.

For Netzler and the researchers gathered in Sāmoa, the opportunity is to build precision medicine with Māori and Pacific peoples from the beginning — creating healthcare that is scientifically advanced while remaining equitable, culturally grounded and underpinned by Indigenous leadership.

#WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #DrNatalieNetzler #PrecisionMedicine #IndigenousPrecisionMedicine #Genomics #Genetics #MāoriHealth #PacificHealth #HealthEquity #IndigenousHealth #MāoriDataSovereignty #IndigenousDataSovereignty #MātaurangaMāori #TeAoMāori #KaupapaMāori #PacificResearch #PacificScience #Samoa #Apia #UniversityOfAuckland #WaipapaTaumataRau #MedicalResearch #HealthResearch #FutureOfMedicine #PersonalisedMedicine #WhānauHealth #MāoriNews #Aotearoa #NZHealth #NZNews

The post #hauora: PRECISION MEDICINE PUSH PUTS MĀORI AND PACIFIC HEALTH AT THE CENTRE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.