Friday January 9, 2026
News:
Local board members paddle Waikato River
Members of the Franklin Local Board experienced the culturally significant waka ama programme on the Waikato River as part of their Māori partnership programme.
The Franklin Local Board Māori Partnership Programme has been in place since 2024 and plays a key role in strengthening the board with Māori values. Some of the outcomes include:
- One-to-one engagement and board-level relationship building.
- Cultural capability development, including te reo and tikanga training for elected members.
- Integration of tikanga into governance processes.
See full article HERE
Ex-Kaipara councillor Ihapera Paniora discharged over Whangārei assaults
A former Kaipara District councillor has been discharged without conviction for assaulting two women in a central Whangārei gift shop.
Ihapera Paniora, 38, a practising commercial lawyer, represented herself during a hearing before Judge Greg Davis in Whangārei District Court On Tuesday afternoon.
She earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of common assault under the Summary Offences Act, for which maximum penalties are six months imprisonment and/or a $4000 fine.
At the time of the offending, Paniora was the inaugural and only Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori ward councillor until the ward was removed at the 2025 local body elections as part of the representation review process. She holds a senior legal role at Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua and has expressed aspirations for a future political career......
See full article HERE
Articles:
Geoff Parker: Why Control of New Zealand’s Freshwater Matters to Us All
Judy Gill: The Eden Myth in New Zealand Education
This Breaking Views Update monitors race relations in the media on a weekly basis. New material is added regularly. If you would like to send Letters to the Editor in response to any of these articles, most media addresses can be found HERE.
Thursday January 8, 2026
News:
Hundreds gather in Northland to remember the Battle of Ruapekapeka Pā
Hundreds of people from around the motu are expected to descend on a Northland pā this weekend to remember one of the most famous battles fought on New Zealand soil.
The Battle of Ruapekapeka Pā, the final engagement of the 1845-46 Northern War, pitched an estimated 400 Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hine defenders against a force of about 1600 British troops and Māori allies.
News:
Hundreds gather in Northland to remember the Battle of Ruapekapeka Pā
Hundreds of people from around the motu are expected to descend on a Northland pā this weekend to remember one of the most famous battles fought on New Zealand soil.
The Battle of Ruapekapeka Pā, the final engagement of the 1845-46 Northern War, pitched an estimated 400 Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hine defenders against a force of about 1600 British troops and Māori allies.
Despite its inconclusive ending, the battle's effects are still felt in Northland today - and the military innovations it spawned were used for decades afterwards, even in the trenches of World War I.....
See full article HERE
Homelessness Worsens in Aotearoa – And Māori Communities Are Bearing the Brunt
New Zealand is facing a deepening crisis in housing and homelessness – one that cuts straight to the heart of whānau wellbeing and rangatiratanga.
Recent national data and community reports show that the number of people living without safe, secure homes continues to grow. The latest estimates suggest thousands of people are enduring severe housing deprivation – meaning they are forced to live in crowded, unstable, or unsafe places, or without shelter at all. This includes people sleeping rough, in cars or improvised shelters, and in overcrowded or uninhabitable dwellings.
For Māori communities, the homelessness crisis is not an abstract statistic – it is a lived reality for too many whānau. National research shows Māori are disproportionately affected by homelessness, particularly wāhine Māori. In fact, more than one-third of women experiencing homelessness identify as Māori, highlighting an urgent need for responses that are grounded in tikanga and community priorities....
See full article HERE
Articles:
Matua Kahurangi: Marise Martin turned moko kauae into a costume
Propaganda:
Moana Jackson — Visionary, Warrior for Justice, Māori Legacy
Homelessness Worsens in Aotearoa – And Māori Communities Are Bearing the Brunt
New Zealand is facing a deepening crisis in housing and homelessness – one that cuts straight to the heart of whānau wellbeing and rangatiratanga.
Recent national data and community reports show that the number of people living without safe, secure homes continues to grow. The latest estimates suggest thousands of people are enduring severe housing deprivation – meaning they are forced to live in crowded, unstable, or unsafe places, or without shelter at all. This includes people sleeping rough, in cars or improvised shelters, and in overcrowded or uninhabitable dwellings.
For Māori communities, the homelessness crisis is not an abstract statistic – it is a lived reality for too many whānau. National research shows Māori are disproportionately affected by homelessness, particularly wāhine Māori. In fact, more than one-third of women experiencing homelessness identify as Māori, highlighting an urgent need for responses that are grounded in tikanga and community priorities....
See full article HERE
Articles:
Matua Kahurangi: Marise Martin turned moko kauae into a costume
Propaganda:
Moana Jackson — Visionary, Warrior for Justice, Māori Legacy
Wednesday January 7, 2026
News:
Te Pati Maori co-leader Rawiri Waititi is the highest-spending MP - in terms of Parliamentary Service funding
A new Taxpayers' Union briefing paper shows he spent almost 275-thousand dollars over the past 21 months.
It shows Labour's Damien O'Connor came in second - and the Greens' Huhana Lyndon third.
News:
Te Pati Maori co-leader Rawiri Waititi is the highest-spending MP - in terms of Parliamentary Service funding
A new Taxpayers' Union briefing paper shows he spent almost 275-thousand dollars over the past 21 months.
It shows Labour's Damien O'Connor came in second - and the Greens' Huhana Lyndon third.
Union Policy Analyst Austin Ellingham-Banks says total MP spending reached 15-million dollars for the period, on travel, accommodation and transport.
But he says some spend far more than others, with no line-by-line tally to show why....
See full article HERE
More on the above here > A Peek into the Books: MPs’ Expenses in Numbers
Articles:
Geoff Parker: What Tribal Governance Would Mean for Ordinary Māori
Anonymous: Extracting the Self - A Survivor’s Account of Spiritual Coercion
John Robertson: Skin Is Not a Badge of Virtue or Vice
Propaganda:
Te Reo on the Road — A Big Kaupapa for Māori Visibility and Safety
Education in 2025 — A Year of Change, Challenge and Māori Resistance
Te Mana o te Takutai Moana — Standing for Ancestral Rights
Te Pāti Māori aims to unite, not divide, says co-leader
Dame Naida Glavish — Te Reo, Mana and Leading With Heart
But he says some spend far more than others, with no line-by-line tally to show why....
See full article HERE
More on the above here > A Peek into the Books: MPs’ Expenses in Numbers
Articles:
Geoff Parker: What Tribal Governance Would Mean for Ordinary Māori
Anonymous: Extracting the Self - A Survivor’s Account of Spiritual Coercion
John Robertson: Skin Is Not a Badge of Virtue or Vice
Propaganda:
Te Reo on the Road — A Big Kaupapa for Māori Visibility and Safety
Education in 2025 — A Year of Change, Challenge and Māori Resistance
Te Mana o te Takutai Moana — Standing for Ancestral Rights
Te Pāti Māori aims to unite, not divide, says co-leader
Dame Naida Glavish — Te Reo, Mana and Leading With Heart
Tuesday January 6, 2026
News:
Iwi partnership behind new DOC development in Invercargill
Between 60 and 80 Department of Conservation staff will be housed in a new office in Invercargill by the end of 2026.
The new building, currently under construction on the corner of Kelvin and Spey streets, is part of a development led by Ngāi Tahu through Hokonui Rūnanga and Murihiku Regeneration.
News:
Iwi partnership behind new DOC development in Invercargill
Between 60 and 80 Department of Conservation staff will be housed in a new office in Invercargill by the end of 2026.
The new building, currently under construction on the corner of Kelvin and Spey streets, is part of a development led by Ngāi Tahu through Hokonui Rūnanga and Murihiku Regeneration.
DOC Southern South Island operations director Aaron Fleming said the new facility was “designed to support shared aspirations for conservation, community engagement, and all things naturing, in partnership with Ngāi Tahu”.....(paywall)
See full article HERE
$1.2 million award to pioneer Indigenous-led antiviral discovery
Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland senior lecturer Dr Natalie Netzler has secured a prestigious Mana Tūānuku Research Leadership Fellowship worth $1.2 million over four years, to lead Ancestral Wisdom, Modern Science: Indigenous-Led Discovery of Antiviral Therapies.
Her work will weave together Indigenous medicinal knowledge and cutting-edge virology to identify novel antiviral treatments for viral diseases such as dengue, Zika, and measles - conditions that disproportionately affect Pacific communities and currently have no approved antiviral therapies.....
See full article HERE
Articles:
Geoff Parker: He Puapua and New Zealand 2040 - The End of Equal Citizenship
Peter Bassett: From Impartiality to Instruction - How Journalism Rewrote Its Own Rules
Matua Kahurangi: How Waipareira survived deregistration by paperwork and power
Pee Kay: Wishful Thinking
Sprinkling Māori Words as a Form of Social Signalling
Geoff Parker: Aotearoa - A Name And A Choice
Propaganda:
Māori culture goes from being ‘awkward’ to in demand for domestic tourists
My ancestors were colonisers - Max Rashbrooke
Opinion: Courthouses in Crisis — Is Justice delayed, Justice denied? - Matthew Tukaki.
99th Aotearoa Māori Tennis Championships in Rotorua: Winners, results and highlights
$1.2 million award to pioneer Indigenous-led antiviral discovery
Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland senior lecturer Dr Natalie Netzler has secured a prestigious Mana Tūānuku Research Leadership Fellowship worth $1.2 million over four years, to lead Ancestral Wisdom, Modern Science: Indigenous-Led Discovery of Antiviral Therapies.
Her work will weave together Indigenous medicinal knowledge and cutting-edge virology to identify novel antiviral treatments for viral diseases such as dengue, Zika, and measles - conditions that disproportionately affect Pacific communities and currently have no approved antiviral therapies.....
See full article HERE
Articles:
Geoff Parker: He Puapua and New Zealand 2040 - The End of Equal Citizenship
Peter Bassett: From Impartiality to Instruction - How Journalism Rewrote Its Own Rules
Matua Kahurangi: How Waipareira survived deregistration by paperwork and power
Pee Kay: Wishful Thinking
Sprinkling Māori Words as a Form of Social Signalling
Geoff Parker: Aotearoa - A Name And A Choice
Propaganda:
Māori culture goes from being ‘awkward’ to in demand for domestic tourists
My ancestors were colonisers - Max Rashbrooke
Opinion: Courthouses in Crisis — Is Justice delayed, Justice denied? - Matthew Tukaki.
99th Aotearoa Māori Tennis Championships in Rotorua: Winners, results and highlights
This Breaking Views Update monitors race relations in the media on a weekly basis. New material is added regularly. If you would like to send Letters to the Editor in response to any of these articles, most media addresses can be found HERE.
8 comments:
Has Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland senior lecturer Dr Natalie Netzle found that playing while music to kauri trees didn't work, so the University has found a new way of extorting and wasting taxpayer's money.
I bet nothing useful will appear from this in my lifetime, or my children's.
7th The maori proclivity to live for the present and spend up, as demonstrated by Waititi, goes further to explaining the disparity between the general wealth of maori and other colonist descendants than most other excuses.
I nearly choked on my porridge this morning. The Herald published Geoff Parker's recent musings on the use of the term Aotearoa, complete with acknowledgement of BV. Whether the notably mild article is sufficiently forceful to encourage more interest in BV remains to be seen.
So, the Herald published Geoff's piece on the awful "A" term for our fair Country. Great, now it would greatly improve the newspaper's standing and maybe its coverage if it were to publish a number of Geoff's other articles in full. I'm thinking the Jan 3 offering: " He Puapua and New Zealand 2040 - The End of Equal Citizenship" would be a good start.
It astonishes me that so many maori have the idle time and free money to fritter days at Ruapekapeka. I suppose any action which cotributes to the insurgency movement is regarded as worthwhile spend. Do descendants of the Brit friendly tribes dare attend?
Of course many maori have housing difficulty. Landlords are concerned by the number of hangers on and fear intimidation by them in case of complaint. Modern rentals with their insulation, extractor fans, meth risk, pet right, high standard expectation become a major maintenace liability with many tenants. Bonds are a farce as effectively small, not govt gauranteeed and ex tenants vanish and /or often with threatening associates.
"Homelessness Worsens in Aotearoa – And Māori Communities Are Bearing the Brunt".
All the money floating around in the "Maori economy" and various trust, it will again be the taxpayer who bears the brunt of sorting it out.
It never ends.
To Ray S: And ....it will never end. When NZ tax payer funds dry up, it is expected another source (perhaps foreign) will take over. A very wrong assumption. Inevitably, the pall of extreme socialism will cloak the land in darkness.
9th Doubtless Franklin ratepayers are gratified to know they are helping pay for a maori indoctrination programe for Board members. Intimidation by threat of cancellation is assisted by close knowledge of the subject persons.
If the self righteous antics of the Kaipara maori ward member contributed to the vote against, she has met her obligation to society. I wonder what her sentence would have been if she were not stunningly good looking. The Police must get very dispirited.
It apparently dawned on the Herald that in publishing Geoff Parker's very mild criticism of the use of Aotearoa they had departed grossly from their relentless pro maori stance. As amends they published 9th an artful Letter to Editor which began by commending Parker then continued to advocate for Aotearoa! I often wonder if maori studies students practise such responses as part of their course.
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