Supreme Court finds riverbeds can be included in Māori customary marine title
The Supreme Court has found riverbeds can be included in Māori customary marine title - if other legal tests are meet. Māori news reporter Pokere Paewai spoke to Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira.
Tags:
To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following:
See terms of use.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- RNZ News
Twenty years of 'Bird of the Year' in one book
The Australasian Crested Grebe won Bird of the Century in 2023. Photo: Dave Thomas E koekoe te tūī, e ketekete te kākā, e kūkū te kererū - The tūī chatters, the kākā cackles and the kererū coos. That is a whakataukī (proverb) mentioning just three of the 80 birds - and one bat - included in the new Bird of the Year book. Writer Ellen Rykers, the former campaign lead, told Saturday Morning that New Zealand's largest book publisher, Penguin Random House, had asked Forest & Bird to turn the competition into a book subject. "At the time, I was part of the team organising Bird of the Year and, with my background in science writing, it just sort of seemed like a natural fit for me to take on this project," she said. Rykers said the book was a "feast for the eyes", with more than a dozen illustrators, who were selected, "not only because they draw beautiful birds, but because they also are dedicated to supporting conservation through their work". "Even if you don't dive into the words, it's just beautiful to look at." Photo: Supplied / Penguin Books New Zealand To decide which native birds - and bat - were included, Rykers went back through the last 20 years of the Bird of the Year competition and chose ones that had interesting stories - whether they be related to the competition - from television host John Oliver and rumours of Russian interference to controversial mammalian infiltration or their histories. "I mean, it's all fun and humorous, but there is that kind of serious undertone," she said. "More than 80 percent of our native birds are at risk or threatened with extinction, but at the end of the day, I hope that people read it and fall in love, and feel hopeful, because a lot of the stories are about people who are out there on the ground, making a difference." Ellen Rykers Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Rykers added the three main things threatening our manu were predators, habitat loss and climate change. However, she said the Bird of the Year competition had become a fundraiser for Forest & Bird, particularly in 2023, when the pūteketeke, also known as the Australasian crested grebe, was named the Bird of the Century , after a campaign by Oliver. The competition raised more than $1.2 million . "Forest & Bird didn't really have any idea, ahead of time, exactly the scale of the campaign. We knew that it would be beyond anything that we'd ever seen before and we knew that there would be sort of international aspects, but we didn't realise that he'd be paying for billboards on the busiest intersection in Tokyo and on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. "That really propelled quite an unknown bird - an under the radar bird or an 'underbird' - into the spotlight." A shot from US comedian John Oliver's segment on New Zealand's Bird of the Year on 5 November 2023. Photo: Screengrab Rykers said it did not start out that way. "It didn't raise any money back in 2005, when it started, but it has become a way for people to express that love for birds, by supporting them financially, as well as with their vote." The competition had also grown considerably since then. "I think partly it's because we're a nation of birdlovers and we have named ourselves after one of our national birds, so it's really part of our identity as New Zealanders, but we also don't like to take ourselves too seriously, so there's that cheeky quality, I think, that really appeals. "Those two kind of things, I think, have really propelled Bird of the Year to become a fixture on our annual calendar." There had been scandals in the competition - even to the origin of Bird of the Year , which was when RNZ's Morning Report had suggested getting rid of the daily bird call. "This provoked such an outrage," Rykers said. "Michael Szabo, who was the communications manager at Forest & Bird at the time, took notice of this and he listened to all these people sending in messages about all the birds that they loved. "He had come across this concept of a Bird of the Year competition working in Europe... and he thought, 'Okay, this is a great opportunity to give this a go here in New Zealand'." Including the pekapeka-tou-roa - or the long-tailed bat - was another one. "There was a Forest & Bird staff member, Debs Martin, who had been campaigning quietly for its inclusion for a long time. "At the same time, a high school teacher, Peter Wills, he had the exact same idea. 'Why don't we put the pekapeka-tou-roa in Bird of the Year ?', and so he and his students, and a bat expert took on that campaign. "We only have a couple of native bat species, so there's never going to be a Bat of the Year , but they face many of the same threats that our native birds do." There had been voting scandals - in 2015, two teenage girls tried to rig the results in favour of the kōkako. In 2018, one person voted for the shag more than 3000 times, while in 2017, fake email accounts were created to bolster support for the white-faced heron. In 2020, about 1500 fraudulent votes were cast for the kiwi pukupuku, but Rykers said the first scandal actually happened in 2010. "Somehow, it infiltrated an online community of people really passionate about the kākāriki. "At the time, the Bird of the Year website was admittedly quite flimsy... and they just saw this huge explosion in votes that was someone manipulating the numbers. "They were quite nervous about admitting that and so they didn't actually say anything until the year after." Voting for the 2025 Bird of the Year competition will open on 15 September. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
9 hours ago
- RNZ News
Extra firefighters called in to house fire in Palmerston North
Smoke rising above Main Street Palmerston North. Photo: Supplied Firefighters are battling a house fire in central Palmerston North. The blaze was reported at 3:53pm Sunday and the Main Street house was "well involved" in flames, when crews arrived, a Fire and Emergency spokesperson said. A third crew have been called in. Initially, two nearby houses were reportedly on fire, but firefighters investigating the second house found it was not on fire but and smoke there was caused by a pot on the stove. Photo: Supplied Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Christchurch City Council to vote on Erebus memorial
Cracroft Reserve in Christchurch, which has been chosen by council staff as the preferred site for a National Erebus Memorial. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee Christchurch City Council will next week vote on whether to offer Cracroft Reserve in Cashmere as a potential site for the National Erebus Memorial. It would remember the 257 people killed in an Air New Zealand plane crash in Antarctica in 1979. Some of the victims' families have endured a decades long wait for a memorial and hope the emergence of a Christchurch site will eventually put an end to years of controversy and delay. A plan for a memorial in Auckland's Dove Meyer Robinson Park divided opinions with objectors claiming it would change the tone of the gardens. It was ultimately abandoned in 2023 after cyclone damage and land instability meant it was no longer safe to build on the site. Several sites have been considered in Christchurch, with the Ōtākaro Avon riverbank in the central city, the St James' Church grounds in Harewood and Cracroft Reserve in Cashmere shared with families as potential memorial sites last month. Christchurch City Council will vote next week on whether to offer Cracroft Reserve in Cashmere as a potential site for a National Erebus Memorial. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee Council staff are now recommending Cracroft Reserve be formally offered to the Ministry for Culture and Heritage as a potential location. In July, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage said it was seeking feedback from the Erebus families on each of the sites and said no decisions had been made about locating the memorial in Christchurch, nor which of the potential sights may be selected. In a report, council staff said while Auckland remained the preferred location for many family members, prolonged delays in securing a viable site there had led to consideration of alternative locations. "Ōtautahi Christchurch, with its deep connections to Antarctic exploration and strong culture of remembrance, presents a respectful and practical alternative. Through the offer of a potential site, the council now has an opportunity to support a nationally significant project that honours the memory of those lost in New Zealand's worst civil disaster," the report said. Christchurch City Council will vote next week on whether to offer Cracroft Reserve in Cashmere as a potential site for a National Erebus Memorial. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee Cracroft Reserve was the preferred site for a memorial after "robust investigation" involving the council, mana whenua and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, followed by independent site assessment. The reserve on the Port Hills had multiple potential memorial locations, good accessibility and amenity and an excellent outlook, council staff said. "Cracroft Reserve in Cashmere offers a peaceful, elevated setting with expansive views and strong cultural and experiential qualities," the report said. Mana whenua had expressed support for the site, and no cultural sensitivities had been identified that would prevent a memorial being established. Staff recommended the offer remain open for a 12-month period to enable further investigation, visits and engagement with family members. The reserve on the Port Hills is said to have multiple potential memorial locations, good accessibility and amenity along with an excellent outlook over Ōtautahi Christchurch. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee Erebus National Memorial advocate and aviation chaplain Richard Waugh said Christchurch was the next logical place for a memorial if a site could not be found in Auckland. "Especially because of it being the Antarctica gateway and the aircraft was due to land back in Christchurch, so in one sense it would be ironic and rather special if the memorial was to land here with the 257 names," he said. "I know the families right back from 2016 when I first instigated the memorial said they wanted a site that was appealing and attractive, that was accessible and not in a cemetery." Waugh said he was happy to be guided by the Christchurch City Council but wanted to see a memorial built as soon as possible. "It's been a nine-year process to get to this point so I'd be rather disappointed if we're looking at another two or three years before the memorial is built," he said. "It would be great to have it ready for November 2026 so I'd be a strong advocate from a pastoral perspective for the Erebus family members for urgency to be given once the site has been determined." Christchurch is the world's main gateway to Antarctica, with around 100 flights departing from Christchurch Airport, each year. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee Phil Stewart, who lost his aunt Dawn Matthews in the disaster, said he would be happy if a memorial was built at the Christchurch reserve. "I'm getting very frustrated and fed up that Auckland hadn't been able to come up with anything and I'm particularly annoyed that there's been zero political support, either from the council or from the government, instead of helping try to get this over the line," he said. Stewart said he hadn't been to Cracroft Reserve recently but had been shown a presentation about the location and thought it met the requirements. "Probably the top criterion for us was a place for quiet contemplation and I think that absolutely ticks the box for that so I'm very happy with that if it ended up there." He said 45 years on, he really just wanted to see a memorial built. "I was relatively young when this disaster happened and I'm in my 70s now, and there'll be a lot of people who have since passed away still waiting for a memorial, including my brother, he died a couple of years ago and never got to see a memorial for our aunt." Christchurch City Council will vote on whether to recommend Cracroft Reserve as an official option for the Erebus Memorial at a meeting next Wednesday. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
