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Tāmaki Makaurau by-election can be formally held

Tāmaki Makaurau by-election can be formally held

RNZ News30-07-2025
Oriini Kaipara (left) and Peeni Henare.
Photo:
YouTube / Newshub, RNZ / Angus Dreaver
The Tāmaki Makaurau by-election can formally be held, with the Governor-General issuing the writ today.
The 6 September by-election was triggered by the death of Te Pāti Māori MP
Takutai Moana Tarsh Kemp
.
The party has chosen
former broadcaster Oriini Kaipara
to contest the seat.
Labour list MP
Peeni Henare
, who held the seat from 2014 to 2023, will stand again, as will Hannah Tamaki for Vision New Zealand.
National, ACT, New Zealand First, and the Green Party have decided not to field candidates.
Nominations for candidates close at noon on 5 August, and the last day for the return of the writ naming the successful candidate is 28 September.
The by-election is not affected by the Electoral Act changes recently announced by the government.
People can enrol to vote in the by-election if they are eligible to vote in New Zealand elections, are of Māori descent, and have lived in the electorate for more than one month.
Voters enrolling or updating their details after Wednesday will need to cast a special vote.
However, voters of Māori descent who are on the general roll will not be able to change to the Māori roll before the by-election is held. They will be able to change rolls afterwards.
The Electoral Commission said it expected to have more than 120 voting places in a range of locations across the electorate.
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Education Minister cut Māori words from future junior books, documents reveal
Education Minister cut Māori words from future junior books, documents reveal

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Education Minister cut Māori words from future junior books, documents reveal

Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Education Minister Erica Stanford has imposed a near total ban on Māori in new additions to a series of books used to teach five-year-olds to read. An Education Ministry report shows Stanford decided in October last year to exclude all Māori words except for characters' names from any new books in the Education Ministry's Ready to Read Phonics Plus (RtRPP) series. The paper showed the decision was driven by concern Māori words were confusing for children learning to read English though evidence of that was mixed. Stanford told RNZ the decision affected only 12 books that would finish the series, after which the series, including 27 books with Māori words, could be reprinted. The ministry's report said: "Under this option, we would not include kupu Māori in all phases of the RtRPP scope and sequence for any future books. The 13 RtRPP books currently in development do not contain any kupu Māori, apart from character names." It was not clear in the paper whether the books would be reprinted. "As noted above, the RtRPP resources are expected to have a lifespan in schools of approximately 10 years, so it would take several years for the books containing kupu Māori that are currently in circulation to be replaced in practice." The document showed Stanford also instructed the ministry to develop a teaching sequence in the English curriculum to help teachers prepare children to read Māori words from their second year at school. Stanford told RNZ that would stop teaching children in mainstream classrooms to pronounce and read Māori from being "left to chance". The ministry's document said currently from Year 4, Māori words were included in the curriculum with increasing frequency and complexity. Stanford told RNZ she considered rewriting the 27 books that contained Māori words to retain only the proper nouns in Māori, but later decided against it. 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So it would be consistent to keep one language only in very early Year 1 decodable books, except for names." The ministry's paper said the Ready to Read series was designed to teach the reading of English "and the sound-letter correspondences in English". "Our advice to schools is to teach kupu Māori in RtRPP books as "told" words. The foundational skill of phonic decoding within the resoruces is based on the English language and students are not expected to decode the kupu Māori," it said. The paper warned the options could result in pushback from schools. "If we discontinue the use of kupu Māori (apart from character names) in RtRPP books, there may be a negative response and media attention. [REDACTED] In particular, recalling existing books has the potential to generate pushback." The minister wrote in response: "It's only in Year 1 decodable books that teach English and it would align with the approach taken in te reo decodables. Te Reo would be introduced immediately after the use of decodable stops which is typically end of Year 1 early Year 2 where students move on to journals." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

Here's what we know about the 3,145 candidates running in local elections
Here's what we know about the 3,145 candidates running in local elections

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There's an abundance of Johns, Mikes and Davids, plus other scintillating statistics about the people vying for your vote. Nominations have closed, hoardings have popped up on roadsides and candidates are out and about, actively seeking your vote: it's officially local elections season. But what do we know about the 3,145 individuals running for 1,639 vacancies in 607 elections across 77 councils (some of them multiple times)? We trawled through the data – which LGNZ handily pulled from nomination forms into a couple of spreadsheets – and here's what we found. There are so many Johns, Mikes and Davids Scroll through alllllll the people standing in this year's local elections and some names will keep cropping up. John, Michael/Mike and David/Dave are the most popular names. 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Pretending the internet doesn't exist won't protect our young people from harm
Pretending the internet doesn't exist won't protect our young people from harm

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timean hour ago

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Pretending the internet doesn't exist won't protect our young people from harm

As parliament's inquiry into the online harm encountered by young New Zealanders gets under way, there are concerns it will follow the same rushed process that resulted in Australia's social media ban for under-16s. New technologies that upend long-established ways of communicating often spark concern over how to ensure young people use these tools safely. We all want young people to be safe, and to grow up to be responsible citizens, but too often these concerns manifest in the form of punitive measures that seek to control young people, rather than teaching them the critical thinking and emotional skills they need to use new forms of media safely. 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