Waatea News: Māori Radio Station

One of the biggest changes to New Zealand’s environmental and planning laws in more than three decades is raising important questions for Māori about what happens next for Te Tiriti rights, environmental protection and kaitiakitanga.

Associate Professor Linda Te Aho, from the School of Law, Politics and Philosophy at the University of Waikato, joins Radio Waatea to examine the Government’s replacement of the Resource Management Act and what the new regime could mean for Māori.

The Planning and Natural Environment legislation passed its third reading this month. The Government says the new system will make planning simpler, support housing and infrastructure development and retain protections for Treaty settlements and Māori interests.

But the scale of the reforms also puts major questions around Māori participation, decision-making over whenua and wai, environmental safeguards and the practical recognition of kaitiakitanga firmly on the agenda.

For Māori, the debate is about more than replacing one planning system with another. It is about how Te Tiriti rights and responsibilities are reflected when decisions are made about the natural environment for generations to come.

#LindaTeAho #ResourceManagement #RMAReform #TeTiritiOWaitangi #Kaitiakitanga #Taiao #WhenuaMaori #ManaWhenua #MataurangaMaori #Environment #MaoriLaw #WaikatoUniversity #TeAoMaori #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post RMA OVERHAUL: LINDA TE AHO PUTS TE TIRITI, TAIAO AND KAITIAKITANGA UNDER THE MICROSCOPE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Matthew Tukaki sits down with Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Q Wong as the party attempts to turn growing attention into votes at the 2026 election.

Wong is also contesting Mt Albert, an electorate that has become one of the country’s closest races after Labour held the seat by just 18 votes over National in 2023. Once regarded as a safe Labour stronghold, the Auckland electorate is now attracting national attention as Wong attempts to add another dimension to an already competitive contest.

The interview follows Dale Husband’s kōrero last week with Kaperiere Pāpā Wharewera, Opportunity’s candidate in Waiariki, as Waatea continues examining what the party is offering Māori voters.

Tukaki asks Wong where Opportunity stands on protecting Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori rights, with the party campaigning on restoring Treaty recognition where it says protections have been removed from legislation and strengthening the consideration of Te Tiriti in government decision-making.

But the conversation also turns to the pressure hitting households now — is 2026 ultimately the cost-of-living election?

With housing, food, power and everyday expenses continuing to shape political debate, Wong argues economic pressure is one of the major challenges facing New Zealand and is campaigning on changes across taxation, competition, housing and the wider economy.

For Opportunity, the challenge now is translating policy and increased political attention into votes — while Wong attempts to make her own breakthrough in one of Election 2026’s most closely watched electorates.

#QiulaeWong #QWong #OpportunityParty #MatthewTukaki #MtAlbert #Election2026 #TeTiritiOWaitangi #TeTiriti #MaoriVote #CostOfLiving #Housing #Whanau #MaoriPolitics #NZPolitics #Waiariki #PapaWharewera #TeAoMaori #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post TE TIRITI, THE COST OF LIVING AND MT ALBERT: QIULAE WONG MAKES HER ELECTION PITCH appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori is calling for genuine shared decision-making between Māori and the Crown after the Waitangi Tribunal found Treaty breaches in the Government’s national curriculum reforms.

Co-chair Dr Rawiri Wright says the findings should be used as an opportunity to rebuild trust and ensure mātauranga Māori, tuakiri Māori and tirohanga Māori help shape education from the beginning, rather than Māori being brought into the process after major decisions have already been made.

The Waitangi Tribunal’s Wai 3553 Stage Two, Part I report, released this month, found the Crown breached Treaty principles including partnership and active protection. It criticised the lack of meaningful engagement with Māori and found the Crown advanced its knowledge-rich curriculum approach without adequate evidence it would reduce inequities for Māori.

The Tribunal also found the reforms reduced the emphasis on te reo Māori, tikanga and mātauranga Māori, while Te Rūnanga Nui says the distinct foundations of kaupapa Māori education, including Te Aho Matua, must be respected.

Te Rūnanga Nui is now calling for the Crown to meet Māori education organisations and establish a clear process for shared decision-making, with Māori education experts involved from the outset and whānau, hapū and iwi properly resourced to participate.

The call comes amid a separate controversy over transparency inside the Ministry of Education. Chief Ombudsman John Allen has sought an urgent meeting with the Secretary for Education following reports that staff may have been encouraged to avoid creating written records that could be captured by the Official Information Act. The allegations have not yet been established.

For Wright, the wider issue is bigger than a single curriculum document. It is about whether Māori have a meaningful role in decisions affecting the education, identity, language and future of their tamariki.

The challenge now is whether the Crown responds to the Tribunal findings by changing not only the curriculum, but the way decisions about Māori education are made.

#RawiriWright #KuraKaupapaMāori #TeRunangaNui #MāoriEducation #AkongaMāori #Tamariki #WaitangiTribunal #Wai3553 #TeTiriti #TeAhoMatua #MātaurangaMāori #TeReoMāori #Education #Curriculum #OIA #GovernmentTransparency #Whānau #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono is heading into the final stretch of Election 2026 balancing a broad political brief — campaigning for change while challenging the three-party Government across foreign affairs, defence, workers’ rights, Pacific issues and the environment.

Tuiono, a Green List MP since 2020 and the party’s first Pasifika MP, currently holds portfolios including Defence and Disarmament, Foreign Affairs, National Security and Intelligence, Oceans and Fisheries, Pacific Peoples, Space, Veterans, and Workplace Relations and Safety. He also serves on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee and the Intelligence and Security Committee.

His political background stretches beyond Parliament. Of Cook Islands Māori, Ngāpuhi and Ngāi Takoto descent, Tuiono has spent more than two decades working across environmental, Indigenous and social justice movements, including advocacy involving Indigenous communities at the United Nations.

That experience is now feeding into an election campaign where the Greens are campaigning around three headline themes — affordable living, healthy nature and what the party describes as honest politics. Their 2026 manifesto includes policies covering Te Tiriti, Māori development, housing, health, environmental protection and political transparency.

Tuiono has also been pushing political transparency during the campaign, backing Green proposals to cap individual political donations at $30,000, prohibit company donations and introduce a stand-down period before former ministers can become lobbyists.

For Tuiono, the election campaign is therefore being fought across several fronts — from the cost of living and workers’ rights at home to climate change, Pacific security and Aotearoa’s place in an increasingly uncertain world.

With voters heading to the polls on 7 November, the coming weeks will test how effectively the Greens can turn those policy differences with the governing parties into support at the ballot box.

#TeanauTuiono #GreenParty #Election2026 #NZPolitics #TeTiriti #MāoriPolitics #Pasifika #ClimateChange #WorkersRights #ForeignAffairs #Pacific #Environment #PoliticalTransparency #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post ELECTION PRESSURE BUILDS: TUIONO TAKES GREEN FIGHT ACROSS PEOPLE, PLANET AND POLITICS appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Porirua Mayor Anita Baker says Wellington councils answered the Government’s challenge to be bold about local government reform, only to have months of work and ratepayer investment left in limbo after ministers pushed decisions beyond the election.

The Government has confirmed Cabinet will not consider councils’ Head Start amalgamation proposals until early 2027, saying further work is required on issues including representation and the transfer of regional council functions.

Councils had been given a tight deadline to develop proposals for restructuring local government, including possible new unitary authorities. By the August deadline, 18 Head Start proposals had been submitted, but Local Government Minister Simon Watts says none had unanimous support across their respective regions.

Baker says councils were encouraged to be brave and ambitious, invested significant staff time and ratepayer money, and met the Government’s timetable — only for the process to now be paused. She says the decision leaves communities questioning what all that work was for.

Across Wellington, councils spent nearly $250,000 developing their regional proposal, according to Wellington Mayor Andrew Little. Nationally, documents obtained by 1News estimated the cost of the process across councils at more than $10.5 million, including staff costs.

The Government says the delay does not mean reform has been abandoned. Watts and RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop say they remain committed to changing the local government structure and expect reforms to be in place before the 2028 local elections.

For councils and ratepayers, however, the immediate question is what happens next after being asked to invest time and money developing major structural changes that will now sit unresolved until after Election 2026.

#Porirua #AnitaBaker #LocalGovernment #CouncilReform #Amalgamation #Wellington #Ratepayers #RegionalGovernment #Councils #LocalDemocracy #Election2026 #NZPolitics #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post REFORM ON HOLD: PORIRUA MAYOR SAYS COUNCILS ANSWERED CALL FOR CHANGE — THEN GOVERNMENT HIT PAUSE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

New hauora reports from Te Tiratū Iwi Māori Partnership Board are highlighting just how different the health needs of neighbouring communities can be, strengthening calls for locally designed services rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

The latest reports focus on Paeroa and Thames and combine local health data with the experiences of whānau gathered through Te Tiratū’s Whānau Voice programme. Te Tiratū represents around 121,000 Māori across the wider Tainui waka rohe.

In Paeroa, one of the clearest issues is access to dental care. The town has been without a dentist for some time, meaning whānau can face additional travel and financial barriers simply to receive treatment. Te Tiratū says affordability is also a major concern for families already struggling with the cost of accessing healthcare.

Just up the road in Thames, the challenge looks different. The community has an ageing population alongside pockets of much younger people, creating difficult decisions about how future health investment should balance the needs of kaumātua with those of tamariki and rangatahi.

The findings demonstrate why broad regional statistics can miss important differences between individual towns. Te Tiratū says health services need to be designed around the realities of each community, with whānau involved in identifying both the problems and the solutions.

That local approach sits at the heart of the role of Iwi Māori Partnership Boards, which are tasked with identifying local Māori health priorities and bringing whānau perspectives into health planning and decision-making.

The Paeroa and Thames reports form part of Te Tiratū’s wider Hauora Report Series examining communities across the Tainui waka rohe, building a town-by-town picture of where services are working and where significant gaps remain.

The message from the latest reports is clear: communities separated by only a short drive can face very different health realities — and improving hauora Māori requires solutions designed with those communities, not simply imposed across an entire region.

#Hauora #HauoraMāori #TeTiratū #Paeroa #Thames #Hauraki #MāoriHealth #HealthEquity #WhānauVoice #Kaumātua #Tamariki #Rangatahi #RuralHealth #CommunityHealth #Tainui #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post ONE ROHE, DIFFERENT NEEDS: HAUORA REPORTS REVEAL LOCAL HEALTH DIVIDE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

New Zealand veterans are being asked to serve their country, but advocates say too many are still left fighting for recognition and support once their military service ends.

Aaron Wood, co-founder and trustee of the No Duff Charitable Trust, is renewing calls for major reform of the veteran support system amid criticism from former service personnel that New Zealand compares poorly with other Western countries.

No Duff was established in 2017 to help veterans and their whānau navigate gaps in existing services. The organisation provides free crisis and welfare support and has previously taken more than 1,000 crisis calls, including referrals involving government agencies.

Wood, a former soldier who served for 24 years, says fundamental problems remain despite years of reviews and recommendations. A major 2017 review of the Veterans’ Support Act produced 64 recommendations covering areas including rehabilitation, mental health, family support, eligibility and the way government identifies and responds to veterans. Veterans’ Affairs published its final update on those recommendations in 2024, recording a range of legislative, policy and service changes.

A key area of continuing debate is eligibility. Veterans’ Affairs provides health, rehabilitation and financial assistance to eligible former personnel, but access generally depends on having qualifying service and, for many supports, a condition connected with that service.

Wood and other veterans argue that leaves significant gaps, particularly for people transitioning out of the Defence Force, those requiring mental-health support and former personnel who fall outside the statutory definition required for some veterans’ services.

The Government says it is continuing to expand support. In July, Veterans Minister Chris Penk announced another 1,300 Defence veterans would have their service recognised for access to health, rehabilitation and financial support for deployment-related conditions.

For No Duff, however, the wider challenge remains ensuring nobody who has served Aotearoa is left to navigate civilian life, injury, trauma or financial hardship without adequate support.

#Veterans #AaronWood #NoDuff #NoDuffCharitableTrust #NZDF #VeteransAffairs #VeteranSupport #MentalHealth #DefenceForce #ServicePersonnel #Whānau #VeteranWellbeing #ChrisPenk #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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Child Poverty Action Group is challenging every political party to spell out how it will reduce child poverty, warning Aotearoa is off track to meet its legislated targets as hardship continues to affect thousands of tamariki.

CPAG Executive Officer Lyn Amos says the latest figures show around 169,300 children — 14.3 percent, or roughly one in seven — are living in material hardship, while more than 350,000 are living in financially insecure households.

The inequities are even greater for some communities. Material hardship affects 25.1 percent of tamariki Māori, 31 percent of Pacific children and 26.9 percent of disabled children, according to the latest figures highlighted by CPAG.

Ahead of the November election, CPAG has released its Manifesto to Reduce Child Poverty, calling for action across five areas — incomes, housing, health, disability and education. Its proposals include lifting the minimum wage to the Living Wage, increasing benefit levels, building 3,500 to 4,000 social homes each year and extending free GP and after-hours healthcare to everyone under 18.

The organisation is also proposing changes to Working for Families, increased disability assistance, fees-free community-based early childhood education and greater equity funding for schools. These are CPAG policy proposals rather than commitments adopted across the political parties.

The challenge comes as New Zealand remains well above the 2028 material-hardship target of 6 percent established under the Child Poverty Reduction Act framework. CPAG says 47,500 more children are experiencing material hardship than three years ago.

For Amos, Election 2026 provides an opportunity to put the wellbeing of children firmly before political leaders and ask what concrete policies they will implement to ensure every tamaiti has access to secure housing, adequate food, healthcare and education.

#ChildPoverty #LynAmos #CPAG #ChildPovertyActionGroup #TamarikiMāori #Tamariki #Whānau #Election2026 #Housing #CostOfLiving #Health #Education #SocialHousing #Poverty #MāoriHealth #WhānauOra #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

The post ONE IN SEVEN CHILDREN IN HARDSHIP: CPAG PUTS POVERTY AT CENTRE OF ELECTION DEBATE appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

One of Aotearoa’s most prominent Māori storytellers, Tainui Stephens, is turning the lens on his own life with a new collection reflecting on five decades of filmmaking, broadcasting, writing and the changing face of te ao Māori.

The Te Rarawa filmmaker and broadcaster has gathered some of his best writing from E-Tangata for Kua Tau: A Life in Stories, tracing a journey shaped by kaumātua, marae aunties, activists, artists, rangatahi, whānau and friends.

The collection stretches from the political and cultural upheaval of the 1970s and 1980s through to the Māori world of today, exploring te reo and tikanga, identity, racism, leadership, grief, joy and the people who helped shape Stephens’ understanding of himself and his place in Aotearoa.

At the heart of the book is a simple kaupapa — the stories belong to the people, while the storyteller carries the responsibility of giving them voice.

Stephens’ screen career spans five decades. He began at TVNZ in 1984 reporting for the groundbreaking Māori programme Koha and went on to work as a director, producer and presenter across productions including Waka Huia, The New Zealand Wars, Hitler and the Gumdiggers and Taumata 3001.

His feature-film producing credits include River Queen, The Dead Lands, Whina, Holy Days and Ka Mate.

Stephens is also one of the five founders of the Māoriland Film Festival, alongside his wife and fellow filmmaker Libby Hakaraia.

Kua Tau will be launched on Thursday 1 October at the Māoriland Hub in Ōtaki, bringing the story back to a community that has become an important home for Indigenous film and storytelling.

After a lifetime spent helping tell the stories of others, Kua Tau gives Stephens the space to tell his own — and reflect on the people, places and kaupapa that made him whole.

#TainuiStephens #KuaTau #ALifeInStories #TeRarawa #MāoriStorytelling #MāoriFilm #Māoriland #MāorilandFilmFestival #ETangata #TeAoMāori #TeReoMāori #TikangaMāori #IndigenousStorytelling #Ōtaki #Whakapapa #MāoriMedia #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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One of Aotearoa’s most extraordinary conservation comeback stories has reached another milestone, with karure, the Chatham Islands black robin, crowned Bird of the Year 2026.

Jess Mackenzie from the Chatham Islands Landscape Restoration Trust, which led the karure campaign, says the win has put a fresh national spotlight on a species that once came perilously close to extinction.

In 1980, just five karure remained, including only one fertile female, Old Blue. An intensive recovery programme involving the Chatham Islands community and conservationists rebuilt the population from Old Blue and her breeding partner Old Yellow. Today there are around 350 adult birds.

Karure secured 25,610 votes in this year’s Forest & Bird competition, ahead of kākāpō with 19,445 and kārearea with 17,423. A record 105,000 people participated, with 88 percent of votes coming from within Aotearoa.

But the remarkable recovery is far from finished. Karure remains Nationally Critical, and the two predator-free nature reserves where the population currently lives are approaching the limits of suitable habitat. Conservationists say establishing a third population will be crucial to securing the species’ future.

Attention is now turning to Pitt Island, where restoration and predator-control work could eventually create another safe home for karure while protecting other threatened species unique to Rēkohu Chatham Islands.

For Mackenzie and the Chathams community, the Bird of the Year victory is not simply about winning a popular vote. It is a chance to remind Aotearoa that one of our greatest conservation successes was achieved through decades of commitment — and that the mahi to protect karure for future generations continues.

#Karure #BlackRobin #BirdOfTheYear #BirdOfTheYear2026 #Rekohu #ChathamIslands #Conservation #Kaitiakitanga #TeTaiao #Manu #NativeBirds #PredatorFree #Biodiversity #PittIsland #OldBlue #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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