“Sensible, precautionary investments will do much to help us manage climate change’s worst impacts on our health, saving the country’s health budget and our wellbeing well into the future.” — Lucy Cassels.
“It’s unhelpful to think of Indigenous people as idealised, perfect creatures. To do so is to separate us from the flaws, and thus the humanity, that we share with all human beings.” — Nīkau Wi Neera.
“All I want to do is keep carving without trampling on anyone’s mana. I kept hearing ‘mahi tapu’ being bandied about, and I thought: ‘All right, what is this mahi tapu that people say wāhine aren’t supposed to take part in?’” — Ngaroma Riley.
“The underachievement and disengagement of Pacific students is like the tangled net that needs to be untangled. Through effective leadership, I believe we’ll find solutions that can untangle those issues.” — Dr Tufulasi Taleni.
“Music has a unique and positive effect on our brains and bodies: it releases the bonding hormone oxytocin and feel-good endorphins. Music also increases neuroplasticity, the brain’s capacity to learn throughout life.” — Atakohu Middleton.
“New Zealand must actively challenge Israel over its systemic violence, which has now escalated to the killing of civilians in Lebanon and Iran.” — John Hobbs.
“Over the past two years, our global reputation for fierce independence and commitment to human decency has been seriously betrayed.” — Gregory Fortuin.
“When the river bursts its banks, or drains are popping manhole covers, that’s the river talking to us. It’s telling us: Hey, you’ve constrained me, you’ve constricted me, and I’m screaming and shouting about that.” — Dan Hikuroa.
“It is one of the rare times that Māori have been less impacted by a disease than Europeans and provides a clear example of how much better Māori do when we are able to exercise self-determination and control our own lives.” — Professor Margaret Mutu, on the Māori response to Covid-19 in 2020.
“I notice it as they come through to the university. They’re a different breed. They are very confident in who they are and where they’re from, and they live comfortably in their own skin.” — Professor Margaret Mutu on one obvious sign of Māori progress over the last 30 years.
Arts “revolutions aren’t made at the Met, they’re made on marae and in towns like Te Kaha by people driven by a love of reo, whenua and whakapapa.” — Jamie Tahana, who produced the podcast series ‘Pūtātara: Revolutions in Māori Art’.
“Brain health isn’t something that we only worry about in old age. We need to be thinking about brain health all through our lives.” — Dr Etuini Ma‘u, dementia researcher and senior lecturer in psychological medicine.
All the feels. So grateful to know and work with @tiwaiwaka.bsky.social 🫂❤️🩹
This is a beautiful piece by Professor Jacquie Kidd. Looking forward to reading her memoir ‘Ngākaurua: My experience of cancer, identity and racism in Aotearoa’ when it comes out in a couple of weeks.
Privileged to know Jacquie
Fascinating and important
I am looking forward to celebrating with you e kare and reading your memoir @tiwaiwaka.bsky.social 🖤🤍♥️ ngā mihi nunui for this koha and tōu mātauranga tohatoha x
Excellent read
"Sometimes being racist is as simple as being silent."
Inaction is an active choice, not the absence of action. We must not pretend otherwise. Ngā mihi for sharing your wisdom e hoa. @tiwaiwaka.bsky.social
While I'm yet to have the privilege of meeting @tiwaiwaka.bsky.social IRL, I've been a huge admirer of hers forever. My heart is broken by the news, but I know that her whānau are holding her up & her tūpuna will be ready when she is. Lots of love, Jacquie. Can't wait to read your pukapuka ❤️
PPS: Please (financially) support @etangata.bsky.social (if you can afford to). There isn't another outlet like it in Aotearoa. I have learned and continued to learn so much from the stories it publishes. It's such an important platform.
“I would try hard to find jobs that ensured I’d have people around me who spoke te reo and encouraged it. I’ve been very deliberate and intentional about that.” — Hone Hurihanganui, teacher and composer of waiata and haka.
“Tīpene has such a rich history and legacy, and many of the old boys were upset when it closed in 2000. Its closure had left an unfinished chapter in the school’s story.” — Kimiora Kaire-Melbourne, director of the documentary ‘Tīpene – A Legacy Reborn’.
“We were told that a large number of our classmates had complained about being forced to sleep communally and subjected to learning things that they considered irrelevant to their nursing programme.” — Jacquie Kidd, on the tentative first steps to introduce Māori concepts into nursing.
“Living while dying, grieving while anticipating, good days and appalling days, happiness and despair, all co-exist quite comfortably within te ao Māori.” — Jacquie Kidd, on how whakapapa has guided her since she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Tautoko🙏🏾✊🏾❤️.
“For all the discussion of Pacific empowerment in New Zealand, the conversation rarely extends to how Pacific political influence might be exercised within the current electoral system.” — Law lecturer Sione Tekiteki.
"Te Tiriti protects culture because without culture, we are devoid of humanity." — Dominic O’Sullivan.
