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1 week ago | 
teaonews.co.nz | Kelvin McDonald
Artist Dr Fiona Pardington (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Ngāti Kahungunu) is celebrating a magical week, filled with tears of joy. Currently, in New York, the celebrated photographer has confessed to feeling more than a little emotional about her latest honour. Pardington, who is Aotearoa’s representative at the 2026 Venice Biennale, was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to photography in today’s King’s Birthday Honours.
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1 week ago | 
teaonews.co.nz | Kelvin McDonald
This year’s Te Matatini Festival set a new standard for cultural celebration and community impact, according to a newly released report on the national kapa haka competition held in Taranaki in February. Staged in Ngāmotu New Plymouth, Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga delivered a $24 million boost to the region’s economy and attracted the most diverse audience in its history, the report found.
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1 week ago | 
teaonews.co.nz | Kelvin McDonald
Auckland couple Karalee Tangiau (Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara) and Quincy Tangiau (Rarotonga, Niue, Papua New Guinea) are confident the construction company they built from the ground up can meet the demands of supplying Air New Zealand.
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2 weeks ago | 
teaonews.co.nz | Kelvin McDonald
A hidden gem in central Tāmaki Makaurau is gaining fresh attention, as locals and visitors are encouraged to discover the striking murals—celebrating the history and stories of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei—tucked away in a lesser-known laneway within Te Tōangaroa, the city’s first urban tangata whenua precinct. Dockside Lane, located across from the Woolworths supermarket on the corner of Quay and Tangihua Streets, features a range of stunning artworks.
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2 weeks ago | 
teaonews.co.nz | Kelvin McDonald
Waikato business Deep Dive Division has won Māori Company of the Year at the NZ Hi-Tech Awards in Wellington on Friday. “We’re really proud to be the only Māori and Pacific commercial and scientific dive company in Aotearoa,” said Courtney Karalus (Ngāti Hauā, Waikato Tainui), accepting the award.
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2 weeks ago | 
teaonews.co.nz | Kelvin McDonald
ACT Party leader David Seymour will become Deputy Prime Minister next weekend, as part of the coalition agreement between National, ACT and New Zealand First. If Thursday’s exchange with reporters over Māori- and Pasifika-focused budget funding is any indication, there are interesting times ahead. Asked by Whakaata Māori reporter Māni Dunlop for his “response to the Labour Party saying $1 billion of Māori funding has gone from this budget,” Seymour’s reply was blunt.
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3 weeks ago | 
teaonews.co.nz | Kelvin McDonald
The government has revealed plans to improve access to urgent and after-hours healthcare services across the country in a pre-budget announcement on Sunday. $164 million has been allocated to the task over four years. “Strengthening urgent and after-hours care is an important part of our government’s plan to ensure all New Zealanders have access to timely, quality healthcare,” Health Minister Simeon Brown said.
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3 weeks ago | 
teaonews.co.nz | Kelvin McDonald
One of New Zealand’s largest iwi has condemned transport officials for quashing the use of “Taihoa” and “Haere” stop-go signs within its rohe, denouncing the move as racist. “This is not about rules - it’s about racism,” Ngāti Kahungunu chair Bayden Barber stated in a release on social media on Friday evening. The iwi, which has a head office in Hastings, wrote that it is dismayed that officials are adamant the reo Māori-only sign breaches traffic control rules.
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3 weeks ago | 
teaonews.co.nz | Kelvin McDonald
Māori Wardens will get a $1.5m annual funding boost in this year’s budget. The increase in baseline funding takes total government funding for Māori Wardens to $2.7m per annum. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka highlighted the “great work” Māori Wardens do to support communities and safety in a release this morning, ahead of Thursday’s budget. “Māori Wardens offer a friendly face when times are tough.
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1 month ago | 
teaonews.co.nz | Kelvin McDonald
Wellington creative Preston McNeil (Te Arawa, Tainui) has wife Faye to thank for the inspiration behind his latest creation - a bright red, carved pouaka reta (letterbox) - that’s a sensation online. “She’s like, ‘make us a letterbox, we need a cool letterbox.’ “That was the design brief from my wife,” says McNeil. Almost 100,000 TikTok views later, McNeil can’t believe the reception his “flash” letterbox has received. “It’s just kind of gone crazy.
