“Feeding our tamariki lunch at schools may never pass the cost-benefit test, because an exclusively market-driven appraisal is anchored in money, not manaaki.” — Dr Pounamu Jade Aikman, in his book 'W...

"I was deeply unhappy. I think people looking in from the outside would have thought: 'Oh, he’s got it together,' but there was no one coming to put this fire out." — Former firefighter Jemarl Paerata...

“I was in all the orchestras, all the choirs, all the barbershops, everything. I think it's quite cool that I never went through any period when I was thinking: ‘What would I like to be when I grow up...

“When I started being exposed to te reo Māori, learning it seemed like a natural progression rather than a radical idea.” — Rituraj Sapkota.

“I like to keep a low profile. I wouldn't go so far as saying I'm an introvert, but I prefer being in the shadows to being in the light.” — Leon Heketū Blake, a leading reo teacher, translator, and co...

“Without elders they can see and a history they can access, each generation of Pacific Rainbow people can feel as though they’re the first to navigate sexuality, culture, family and faith.” — Andre Af...

“I got to do what I wanted to do right from the very beginning — to contribute to a kaupapa of our storytelling that I knew was growing. And to be able to investigate the Māori world, and at the same ...

In this extract from Terri Te Tau’s debut novel, 'The Valley of Unlikely Acquaintances', a community hui has been called to discuss a tūpāpaku found in a cave in the forest, and scientist Lydia is rel...

Māori communities must be "central to the kōrero around whether or when we could or should pursue a project like huia de-extinction.” — Terri Te Tau, author of ‘The Valley of Unlikely Acquaintances’.

“In South Africa, I had learned Afrikaans, Latin and Zulu at school, so it was just a natural thought that as a new Kiwi, I needed to learn te reo Māori out of respect for Indigenous people.” — Barb C...

“As I leaned into the dissonance of the past, I realised that learning te reo had become a salve that smoothed away the spiky edges of my defensiveness.” — Marcel Currin on how learning te reo changed...

“I always approach the storytelling like I'm cooking a meal for everybody. I want there to be some sense of satisfaction and some sense of warmth.” — Actor and comedian Bailey Poching on his solo stag...

“Releasing a kiwi is a privilege. There is a sense of homecoming. As Matua Tom Roa says, kiwi are the ‘manu whenua’. The originals.” — Paul Ward, founder of the Capital Kiwi Project, on returning kiwi...

“What I remember from those first reo classes was realising that my monolingual, monocultural upbringing was not the only way of seeing the world, and that learning a language as an adult is hard.” — ...

“As a learner, it’s easy to become overly cautious about the language. We can get bogged down in the seriousness of te reo Māori, in the formality and solemnity of it, the oratory, karanga, and karaki...

An extract from Atakohu Middleton’s newly published collection ‘Waka Aroha: He kohinga pakipoto’ — the first sole-authored book of short stories in te reo Māori, written for adults.

“Living rurally, I knew an ambulance would take 45 minutes. It wouldn’t get here in time.” — Shelley Burne-Field on trying to save her husband after his heart stopped.

“For Te Awa Tupua to be more than a bicultural compromise, it must become a platform for the genuine exercise of Māori authority over ancestral lands and waters.” — Hemopereki Hoani Simon.

“People like David Seymour like to frame what we’re doing as selecting medical students based on race. No, that’s actually the issue we’re trying to correct — historically our admissions processes hav...

“If those poisoned men can keep standing up for their people and lands while sick and tired, the rest of us can stand with them.” — Catherine Delahunty on the continuing fight for redress by sawmill w...

“I told them right from the start that I'm serving my ancestors, so anything that I feel offends the ancestors, I'm not going to do it.” — Opetaia Foa‘i, on working with Disney to make 'Moana'.

“The way Cook overlaid English names on Te Waipounamu, Te Ika-a-Māui and the other islands that make up ‘New Zealand’ was (and continues to be) a powerful means of claiming intellectual and political ...

“That kind of blew my mind, because it was so gross. Just the thought of somebody taking you from your land, your environment and your family, and placing you in this foreign environment where you’re ...

“We all want children to be safe online. But when policy responses focus primarily on prohibition, we need to ask whether we’re addressing the causes of harm, or simply treating the symptoms.” — Dr Je...

“If you don’t have the repertoire, you’re just gonna sing Pokarekare Ana over and over.” — Kawiti Waetford, opera singer and Māori lead at NZ Opera.

“So many people tell me that I'm moving too fast for my age.” — Opera singer Samuel Mataele, 19, is the youngest winner of the Song Quest in its 70-year-history.

“Our urgent challenge is to preserve language as a human activity. It's not a job for a bot.” — Tainui Stephens

“Sometimes you just brace yourself and decide to cope with racist attitudes to get the medication, or the appliance, or to join your friends for a birthday dinner.” — Aroha Gilling.

“So often, Māori know what’s happening on the whenua or moana long before agencies do. This means their mātauranga, expertise and leadership are critical to our preparedness, response, and recovery.” ...

“That was one of the hardest things about Wī entering our lives. I’d had Āniwa all to myself for years. My rock, my person. Now she was someone else’s.” — Tīhema Baker from his new book ‘One Day a Tan...

“In that moment with my son, I was standing on the edge of a line that must not be crossed. But so many other Māori men have crossed it.” — Tīhema Baker, author of ‘One Day a Taniwha’.

“Part of being a great parent is being a great partner. Everything in your life will go better if the mother of your children is happy, well, and well supported.” — TikTok star Louis Davis, in an extr...

“Cultural safety is actually an optimistic idea. It assumes that we can learn about one another, that doctors can examine their assumptions and change, that patients can teach us, and that encounterin...

“If you only see one thing about our people, I want to leave you with an impression that we are people of goodness. We look after our partners. We look after our kids. We look after the moana and the ...

“Pacific peoples are now predominantly urban, and our youthful age profile positions us as a critical part of the future workforce, tax base, and leadership pipeline.” — Fonoiā Jemaima Tiatia-Siau and...

“The mataku, or fear, of being rejected from the one place you’re told and feel you truly belong is real and somewhat paralysing.” — Lizzie Dunn.

“Rather than chasing the need to belong through assimilation and engaging in the ‘model minority’ myth, we migrants can choose ‘unbelonging’. To unbelong is to deliberately reject the terms by which t...

“Even in my academic work, I try as much as possible to write in an accessible way, especially when you're dealing with iwi whānau histories, because even if it's for a PhD, it's really for whānau as ...

“Within Māori framings of the past, Cook has become one of the most potent symbols of empire and its bitter and enduring legacies.” — Historian Tony Ballantyne, author of ‘Captain Cook and the Unsettl...

"Whenever Cook Islands Māori languages week rolls around, I get a sense of dread. I know that’s probably not what some of you want or expect to hear. But it is my reality." — Tepaeru Minster.

“The gap between the government’s insincere words and its willingness to take real action mirrors the coalition’s approach to Māori.” — John Hobbs on New Zealand’s inaction on Gaza.

“When the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill was resoundingly defeated at its second reading in parliament, it seemed like Te Tiriti was safe. It was not.” — Jack Potaka.

"It is not impolite to name racism, to document it, or to organise against it. What is impolite is telling a New Zealander of 30 years to go home. What is indecent is a cabinet that shelters him." — M...

“Mandarin-speaking communities are so familiar with Winston, we have nicknamed him 'Lao Pi'. Lao Pi is like that grumpy neighbour everyone knows is a problem. Except he’s not a random neighbour. He is...

“Does the state belong only to those Māori who are willing to minimise their culture, and to think and reason in public life according to someone else’s culture?” — Dominic O’Sullivan.

“The fear of Māori having a place at the table outweighed both the evidence and the truth about what the law actually did.” — Environmental planner Tina Porou on the government’s decision to remove Ma...

“We have a right to the best healthcare and the best health outcomes that are available. And we have a right to be part of creating the solutions when those rights aren’t being met. So advocacy needs ...

“Deborah had no idea her words would spend years waiting in a garage before pushing a young Māori boy to see what was possible, ultimately starting a journey that carried him straight to her doorstep....

“Māori do grieving and supporting whānau and death better than any other culture that I know. But we don't, as whānau, engage in the planning side of things to make the rest of it easier.” — Julie Her...

“It is time to abandon a European-style ‘lock it or lose it’ approach to conservation.” — Elizabeth Macpherson and David Jefferson.