Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time - 28 June 2025

Rest in peace, Takutai Tarsh Moana Kemp

Having only just celebrated her 50th birthday, Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp sadly passed away this week. She had been diagnosed with kidney disease last year and was receiving treatment. She was on the waiting list for a transplant. The assumption has been that she succumbed to her illness.

Ani O'Brien: A Week Is A Long Time - 14 June 2025

A NZ Politics weekly wrap-up

Total system failure resulted in teen’s death and no one wanted to talk about it

In January 2023, in New Zealand, a 17-year old girl died of starvation alone in emergency accommodation and wasn’t found for two days. When her distraught parents arrived to see her body a police officer scolded them for using her name and female pronouns because she “identified as a boy”. This was the final insult to injury for parents who had fought New Zealand social services (government and NGOs) over their child for years…