Matua Kahurangi: Why did Māori start killing their children at alarming rates in the 1990s?

Between 1978 and 1987, Māori and non‑Māori children were dying at almost the same rate - around 1 child per 100,000 was murdered. Then suddenly, something snapped. By the 1990s, the Māori child-homicide rate more than doubled, while the non‑Māori rate actually dropped. So what the hell happened?

Between 1978 and 1987, child homicide rates in New Zealand were relatively equal between Māori and non‑Māori, roughly one child killed per 100,000. But by the 1990s, something horrifying happened. The rate of Māori children being killed skyrocketed, more than doubling, while the rate for non‑Māori declined. The numbers don’t lie. Between 1991 and 2000, Māori children were being killed at more than three times the rate of non‑Māori. It was a wave of violence that ripped through homes and whānau, and the victims were the smallest and most vulnerable.

Click graph to view  -  SOURCE: c/en/graph/29237/child-homicide-rates-for-maori-and-non-maori

Forget the excuses. This wasn’t just about politics or poverty. It was about violence. Raw, brutal, unrelenting violence happening behind closed doors. Babies thrown against walls. Toddlers smothered. Kids beaten until their hearts stopped. We need to stop dressing this up in academic language and say it plainly - Māori children were being murdered by their own. That truth is uncomfortable, but it’s necessary.

Violence had taken hold. Not just from individuals, but across whānau where dysfunction had been normalised. Where abuse was ignored. Where silence was the rule. Generational cycles of harm played out in real time, and the result was a generation of tamariki never given the chance to grow up.

This is not about blaming culture. Māori values are apparently built on protection, aroha, and collective responsibility. When those values are lost, when violence replaces manaakitanga, when rage replaces whakapapa, the outcomes are bloody deadly.

We can’t pretend this was a one-off. We can’t say it was the times. This was a crisis that ran deep and wide. The data speaks volumes, but it’s the names and faces we’ll never know that matter most.

The rise in Māori-led solutions after 2000 helped bring the numbers down. It shouldn’t have taken that many dead children to force change. It doesn’t absolve what happened in the decade prior. We need to confront the truth. A generation of Māori children were killed, not by strangers, but often by the very people meant to protect them.

Violence destroyed lives. Not government policy. Not economics. Violence. Until that’s named, faced, and rejected at every level, we risk repeating the same horrific cycle.

No more silence. No more euphemisms. Name the violence, stop the violence, and protect our tamariki. Kati te kohuru tamariki - stop murdering children.

Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced.