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“Through my education, I’ve been able to honour and affirm my Sāmoan heritage in spaces where my grandparents feared that being seen as Sāmoan would only hinder me.” — Dr Sarah McLean-Orsborn, Pacific Studies lecturer.
“It is the spiritual relationship that is so often missing in scientific reports, and that I hope will be highlighted in the next IPCC report.” — Professor Sandy Morrison.
“Papua continues to be imagined primarily as a strategic zone for national ambition, rather than as a homeland shaped by Indigenous relationships to land and food.” — Laurens Minipko.
“Programmes that have supported thousands of whānau are suddenly under review. Contracts that provide stability for workers hang in limbo.” — Jaye Wainui.
“I’m on another path, and I really need to see this through. Even though it’s quite moke moke, you know, it’s quite lonely. However, we’re there now, we’ve found our way.” — Betty-Anne on relaunching her career as a solo artist at 60.
“What we report on isn’t new, but the urgency of the need is only increasing.” — Charm Skinner, te ao Māori policy analyst, on this year’s State of the Nation report from the Salvation Army.
“It is remarkable that our country has commenced recognising Indigenous ancestors in some significant lands and waters. It’s time to be next-level courageous with general conservation and environmental law.” — Jacinta Ruru.
“Now that I’m inside the belly of the beast, I can see that there’s a lot of goodwill, but there’s also a lot of anxiety.” — Dr Safua Akeli on her work at a German museum grappling its colonial history.
“Mum’s an artist because she loves painting, and Dad’s a rugby coach because he loves rugby. So, that’s a huge reason why I want to pursue what I love, not just find a job.” — Maia Joseph, Black Fern and medical student.
“We spent years speaking to people in all sorts of places, from Rotary Clubs to historical societies and business conferences. Basically, we’d talk to anyone who wanted to know the story.” — Kerensa Johnston on the fight for the Nelson Tenths.
Paakehaa generally need to be more aware of the history of conservationism as colonisation in this country and also as a relatively conservative movement that often sought to maintain environmentally destructive Paakehaa society and norms through an ideology of separation.
“Two Māori combined may just get their point across, but one Māori alone often goes unheard.” — Aroha Gilling.
“Whatever my original idea was for the book, it didn’t stand a chance against the spiritual thirst I had for kawakawa green to spill across my life and work, which was the desire to respond to the deaths and violence of Auē.” — Becky Manawatu on writing Kataraina.
“For all intents and purposes, Forest & Bird waged a media and political war on Ngāi Tahu and the Crown during negotiations.” — Martin Fisher.
“Within the marae gates, one conversation comes up time and time again: What should we do about sexual abusers, including paedophiles and intimate partner abusers, who want to speak on the paepae tapu?” — Te Aniwaniwa Paterson.
“When we’re feeling vulnerable, with negative self-chatter going round and round in our heads, the fear of making a mistake stills our tongues.” — Atakohu Middleton talks to Awanui Te Huia about how negative self-talk can undermine efforts to learn te reo.
“My first response to going inside Kohitere was one of anger and disbelief… Anger that no one understood that the offenders of today were almost always the victims of yesterday.” — Tā Kim Workman reflects on his long career in the criminal justice system.
“The trouble is, medicines sit inside real lives. And for many whānau, those lives include multiple conditions, inconsistent access to care, and long gaps between clinical reviews.” — Brandi Hudson.
“The alternative rules-based order could be crafted to open political spaces for substantive participation by Indigenous peoples as peoples of inherent agency. They could participate as shareholders in public authority, not as stakeholders to be consulted.” — Dominic O’Sullivan.
“Lots of people in our society are happy to have vast amounts spent on the mass imprisonment of our Indigenous population. It’s an industry. And the industry relies on society thinking that this is the only way.” — Paula King.
“When the prime minister spoke at Waitangi he set out a terribly distorted view of the country’s founding document.” — Carwyn Jones.
“Every ancestor that has ever lived is still a part of your family. Their physical absence doesn’t alter their ongoing impact on your life. One of the beauties of living a brown life is to know you’re never alone.” — Tainui Stephens.
“They were unwitting participants in the violence of colonisation, imperialism and capitalism, just as we, their descendants, continue to be today.” — Catherine Knight on her settler ancestors.
“She began life as Narua, and she was Narua when she passed. In between, a wrong was corrected. The mana of her name was restored.” — Maureen Sinton.
Alongside the many critiques of government policies that we published in 2025, we also ran many pieces about fortitude, accomplishment, and optimism. These are the stories that we’d like to leave you with over the summer. Stories of restoration, resistance, and hope.
“The arguments to exercise caution with DNA are valid, if a bit doom-laden. But there is another perspective that we need to consider, and that’s the power of DNA to reconnect those Māori who don’t know their whakapapa.” — Atakohu Middleton, who found her sister through DNA testing.
The Jevon McSkimming affair “is yet another distraction, a smokescreen, from some truly worrying developments at the other end of the criminal justice sector”. — Denis O’Reilly on the soaring prison muster (and its soaring costs), and the meth crisis.
“The relationships that schools and kura have with Māori endures despite directives from the right-wing.” — Awanui Te Huia.
