Growing Maori businesses and cultivating iwi assets is the focus of the Maori Business Growth Programme, run by business development group The IceHouse. Twenty-two individuals gathered for a workshop in Auckland recently, made up of Maori business directors from small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and iwi trustees, and coming from as far north as Kaitaia and as [...]

Social media and smart phones are closing the digital divide between Māori and Pakeha, according to the Māori Internet Society.  Chairman Karaitiana Taiuru (Ngāti Kahungunu, Kai Tahu) says mobile phones with internet access and sites such as Facebook have made new media more accessible. The digital divide refers to the gap between people who have [...]

For a whole year, Auckland University student David Green watched the TV3 news every day. The only positive Māori story he can remember was about iwi donating money to research sea slugs. “It’s poor,” he says. “I believe [Māori news] coverage is generally negative.” New research from Massey University that supports Green’s view has shown [...]

A world-first event is set to bring two cultures together with an inaugural Māori-Indian hui being held in Rotorua next month. The event, organised by the Hindu Council of New Zealand (HCNZ) and the International Centre for Cultural Studies (ICCS), has been in the pipeline for a month and aims to bring together people from [...]

Poor treatment of Maori, bias from employers and continuing discrimination against Asians are the key race relations issues facing New Zealanders, says the Human Rights Commission. This year’s theme for Race Relations Day on March 21 is Aotearoa: A fair go for all. Sam Sefuiva, principal advisor on race relations at the commission, says the [...]

Holistic farming methods used by Māori for hundreds of years outdo today’s organic production, claims a venture promoting the added values of traditional production. Te Waka Kai Ora is the collective that created the Hua Parakore brand and the world’s first indigenous Maori verification system for kai atua – pure, healthy kai . Percy Tipene [...]

  An evening of stunning body art by both local and international artists was somewhat masked by shambolic and flustered organisation skills of those in charge. The New Zealand Body Art Showcase was a grandiose display of creativity, color and culture that tickled the senses of an enthusiastic audience on Saturday night. Onlookers were captivated [...]

Some AUT staff are critical of the university for not including in its courses enough discussion on race relations, despite AUT having a strategic plan to develop a culture of inclusion. The 2007-2011 plan says the university will provide opportunities for cultural awareness and reflect the “significant and growing populations of Māori, Pasifika, and Asian [...]

New Zealand schools are failing to teach the values of our national document, the Treaty of Waitangi. The latest New Zealand curriculum review undertaken by the Education Review Office says schools are taking an active approach by encouraging bicultural understanding, but the Treaty of Waitangi is an area of teaching that needs to be addressed [...]