Mole News

After years of hectic digging and investigating, the Mole has finally retired. We thank him for his wonderful service. Our "Breaking Views Updates" monitor race relations in the media, picking up where he left off...  

Iwi corrects New Zealand Geographic Board
Ohakune-based iwi Ngāti Rangi has corrected the New Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) on their recent incorrect spelling of Ohakune as “Ōhakune”.

Chairman Che Wilson said he was shocked and disappointed that the NZGB failed to consult with Ngāti Rangi during the name change process.

Mole News

Financial disputes schemes failing Maori and Pasifika
The government-approved disputes schemes to which people wronged by a bank, insurer, or lender can appeal for help are hearing too few complaints from Māori and Pasifika New Zealanders.

When Dr Carla Houkamau from the University of Auckland evaluated the responses of a small sample of Māori participants in financial capability courses she found some people were deterred from engaging with banks because they saw them as racist.

Mole News

Significant Health Research Council grant for Waikato researcher
The Health Research Council has awarded Dr Rawiri Keenan 2019 Career Development Awards.

Dr Keenan is looking at cultural competency and equity in primary care and has the Foxley Fellowship worth $224,727.

Mole News

Why not to have Maori Wards
A few days ago, Western Bay District Mayor Garry Webber shared his views about why Western Bay should have a Maori ward.

......The Mayor correctly notes that the law enables ratepayers to demand a poll when a Maori ward is proposed, but not when geographical wards are created or modified.

Mole News

Business embrace of kaupapa Māori is real
Many companies have been incorporating Māori initiatives into their advertising and making themselves more kaupapa Māori-friendly.

Spark launched its first Te Reo Māori narrated advertising, Vodafone released its Say it Tika app with Google to help correct the pronunciation of Māori place names, and Stuff introduced macrons for Māori words on its site and in newspapers.

Mole News

Wellington Māori with "tenths" arrangement look closely at court judgement
The Wellington Tenths Trust is looking closely at a landmark Supreme Court ruling that the Crown must honour a land deal agreed with Nelson Māori in 1839.

The Wakatū Incorporation, representing the descendants of Nelson Māori, successfully argued that the terms of the land deal, that they should receive a tenth of the land bought by a settler company, was valid. The Supreme Court found the government had acted as trustee in the arrangement and owed fiduciary duties to reserve the land.

Mole News

Memorandum of Understanding between RNZ and Māori Network

An historic partnership agreement was signed today between RNZ and Te Whakaruruhau O Ngā Reo Irirangi Māori, the network of Māori radio stations.

The Memorandum of Understanding will see both organisations working together for the benefit of the different audiences they serve.

Mole News Archive

From the NZCPR archives by Dr Muriel Newman
Race-based Water Rights a Step Closer
Water is being targeted by the Maori elite as the next resource to control. The influential Iwi Leaders Group is pushing ahead with their demand for a proprietary right to freshwater. They want a preferential allocation – in perpetuity – that can be commercialised. They say it’s their right under the Treaty of Waitangi. But it’s not – it’s just another attempted money grab and unfortunately our political leaders are allowing them to get away with it.

Mole News Archive 3

31 January 2016

From the NZCPR archives by Michael Bassett: 
The Waitangi Industry

There are few futuristic ideas that have lost their sheen as quickly as the notion that settlements of Maori grievances would improve New Zealand’s race relations. Our ancestors were sceptical. There were inquiries into grievances in 1921 and 1927, and Prime Minister Peter Fraser told Maori in the 1940s that he would settle the eleven sets of identifiable grievance that Maori had against the Crown. Several “full and final settlements” were made between 1943 and 1947. But most of the money paid to Maori trust boards was wasted.

MOLE NEWS ARCHIVE 2

Legal threat ahead of council funding vote

The head of a panel that selects Auckland Council's Maori advisers threatened councillors with personal legal action over a vote to release ratepayer money.

Tame Te Rangi, the chairman of the Independent Maori Statutory Board's selection panel, made the threat in a letter to Auckland Council's chief executive, Stephen Town, on July 24.

Mole News Archive

 Taranaki hapu heads to High Court over land claims

A South Taranaki hapu has headed to court in a bid to have its land rights and mana retained.

The Araukuku hapu, which falls within the domains of Ngaruahine and Ngati Ruanui iwi, lodged an application with the High Court at Wellington on Friday, after it was denied an urgent hearing about its claims by the Waitangi Tribunal last week. The hapu is seeking a High Court review of the decision.