Bob Edlin: When safety notices are ignored, councils might turn to rahui.....

When safety notices are ignored, councils might turn to rahui – or maybe risk-takers should be told not to bother with an SOS

Tauranga city authorities might be musing on whether they should have tried a rahui to keep people off Mount Maunganui beach and Moturiki Island at the weekend

Bob Edlin: Two bodies blessed by kaumatua at crash scene (presumably in partnership with Police) were tourists

Another day has passed without an explanation from the Police Media Centre about the assistance provided by iwi at the site of a helicopter crash near Battle Hill.

A press release last Thursday, issued in the name of the Kāpiti-Mana Area Commander, Inspector Renée Perkins, said “a significant recovery operation” had taken place the previous day to recover both the pilot and passenger from the crash site.

It said:

Bob Edlin: Health workers are kicking off their day with a karakia....

Health workers are kicking off their day with a karakia, but Act MP ensures it is in their own time and not compulsory

The National Public Health Service has been getting along – it seems – on a wing and a prayer.

The Platform’s Tina Nixon drew PoO’s attention to the spiritual side of the service’s daily rituals and routines in an interview with Act MP Todd Stephenson.

Matua Kahurangi: Another rāhui, this time for a natural death on a walking track

Firstly, I am sorry to hear that someone lost their life while walking the Taranaki Falls Track. My thoughts are with their family and loved ones. A sudden death on a popular walking track is tragic, and it deserves compassion, dignity, and respect.

However, it needs to be said. Why on earth is a rāhui needed when someone passes away from natural causes?

Bob Edlin: DOC, a fire-ravaged national park and the healing powers of rahui....

DOC, a fire-ravaged national park and the healing powers of rahui – but who decides we need 10 years of such healing?

PoO today was minded to check out a bit of conservation legislation and wonder why it is not likely to be as effective as a rahui.

Bob Edlin: Have Councils ceded to iwi the power to tell you (without explanation) to stay away....

Prayers and prohibitions – how councils have ceded to iwi the power to tell you (without explanation) to stay away

Police officers, fire fighters and ambulance staff were not the only people called in when one person died and another was seriously injured after a vehicle fire in the Lower Hutt suburb of Taitā a fortnight ago. People granted the power to impose a “keep out” prohibition for cultural and spiritual reasons were brought in, too.

A Lower Hutt Council spokesman was quoted as saying:

Matua Kahurangi: Enough of this rāhui bullsh*t

When did iwi decide who can and can’t fish?

Over the weekend, the Otago Daily Times ran a story with the headline “Rāhui in place after body found on Wairau Bar.” Curious, I Googled the Wairau Bar and found it is in Marlborough. Sure enough, Stuff also carried the same story.

Stuff quoted a post made by local iwi on Facebook:

Matua Kahurangi: No swimming, no fishing, no voice

New Zealanders need to wake up. A spiritual decree has just shut down hundreds of kilometres of public coastline, and almost no one dares question it. Why? Because it’s wrapped in the untouchable cloak of tikanga Māori.

Bob Edlin: Maori monarch declares waterways off-limits

Maori monarch flexes muscle to make waterways off-limits but we muse on the matter of legality.

The Waikato and Waipa Rivers have been declared off limits during Level 3 of the Covid-19 emergency, prohibiting food gathering and all recreational activities on the waterways..

Elsewhere around the country people have been barred from going to some beaches by vigilante groups who set up checkpoints to impede the public.

In the case of the two rivers, the prohibition has been imposed by a former truck driver who now rejoices in the title of Māori King Tuheitia.

NZCPR Weekly: Tribal Control of the Coast

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we examine the concern that access to our beaches could be blocked if tribal groups gain control of the coast, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Frank Newman warns about the increasing use of rahui and the threat it poses to public access to the coast, and our poll asks whether you believe the coastal claims process as it stands is a barrier to those who wish to object to the claims that have been lodged.

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Frank Newman: Rāhui to you too

Rāhui. It's becoming an important word. It's also been in the news a lot lately. To place a rāhui on something is to restrict or prohibit access, normally temporary to allow replenishment.

This is quite different from a Wahi Tapu, which is a reserve empowered by the Historic Places Act 1993 and is defined as a place sacred to Maori in the traditional, spiritual, religious, ritual or mythological sense. These tend to be site specific but may be an area.