Latest news with #Henare
Scoop
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Homelessness Told Through The Eyes Of A Wāhine Māori
, Henare te Ua Māori Journalism Intern A last resort turned into a social experiment then an art project, and is now a short documentary called HOME - where a well-travelled wāhine Māori proves that home is what you make of it. Teiti Nepia has lived many lives as a chef - including directly under Uluru in Outback Australia or in Brooklyn, Wellington - but she still struggled to find a forever home. Her entire immediate whānau moved across the ditch and Nepia tagged along, but after her mother's passing and 10 years in Ahitereiria, she felt the need to leave. When the wāhine born in the late 60s returned to where she first moved to in the 90s - Island Bay - she lived with a friend until she found a long-term place to stay. "After a few months of trying to look, I just couldn't find something I could afford," Nepia said. She had attended interviews for flats and house sharing, but the people who had advertised rooms were 30-years younger than Nepia. "Although I'd make a pretty cool flat auntie, I don't think they want to live with their auntie, it wasn't really appropriate." Viable flatting options were slim, so she looked into one-bedroom studio spaces, but the weekly rent prices were too high. "Even though I could have afforded $400 a week, it would have taken out at least 60 plus percent of my hard-earned wage, my income, and it didn't sit right with me." For the summer of 23/24, Nepia took her trailer-hitched e-bike to various locations between Princess Bay and Ōwhiro Bay in Pōneke and set up camp while documenting her journey with a young camera crew. From public spaces to beaches to people's gardens, Nepia would hunker down in each spot for a night or three beneath the stars. Reading the cosmos was something she had learnt while living in the Outback in her swag. And since her Mum passed away, she finds solace in looking at the stars. Although she was already 'good at camping,' her five-months outdoors was a form of art activism, peacefully resisting the 'high cost of living and unsustainable market rents.' According to the 2023 Census, an estimated 112,496 people - or 2.3 percent of the census - usually resident population were homeless/severe housing deprivation. Census data revealed there were more homeless women than men, with more than 57,000 women without a home. Meanwhile, a study by Ihi Research has also found that four out of five homeless women in Aotearoa were Māori, with some being as young as 15-years-old. "You can see with your own eyes, the situation." But Nepia's short documentary called HOME puts a different spin on homelessness. Instead, she shows people how to respect the land while being homeless, and how to do it without leaving a trace. Nepia said homelessness is not just about those sleeping on the streets in the CBD, but it is those who are freedom camping and the people living in their cars. "What happened to me was that I had this sort of 'activism' ignited in me, because I was so upset with the state of my country and more particularly, the state of my generation. "My generation was a generation where our parents were Māori, our parents were urbanised, and so my parents were encouraged to move away from where they had come from." Nepia's mum was from Ruatoria and her Dad was from Nūhaka. Both were native te reo Māori speakers, but when Nepia's parents moved away from the east coast, the language and connection to the whenua were lost, she said. Nepia is already planning her next documentary, and without spoiling it, she aims to follow the same kaupapa of camping freely outdoors, understanding other people's view on market rents and the cost of living while reconnecting with her parents' whenua - but she wants others to join her. "The premise is to come around aunty and help take Aunty T home." Since November, Nepia has been living in a social housing precinct developed by Kāinga Ora called Te Ō. "I feel so lucky to have got a forever home." HOME by Teiti Nepia will have its world premiere at the Doc Edge film festival, which begins next month. The film is automatically eligible for the Best New Zealand Short category. The winner of this category will receive an Oscar consideration for 2026.
The Spinoff
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Spinoff
The many inconsistencies in Te Pāti Māori MPs' haka suspensions
Parliament's privileges committee has reminded everyone why it is customary to call it 'powerful' by suspending three Te Pāti Māori MPs for the haka heard around the world. But, what exactly were they punished for again? Listening to Judith Collins on RNZ's Morning Report, it seemed clear why she (and the other governing party MPs making up a majority on the privileges committee) thought it necessary to hand down an 'unprecedented' 21-day suspension to Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. 'To try and stop and interrupt a vote of parliament while members of parliament are trying to cast their votes in a debate is an extremely serious matter. We have not done this lightly,' she said. That's fine, in so far as it goes. But, there's a couple of problems with this explanation for the committee's decision and related sanction. First of all, here's what the privileges committee decided unanimously just two months ago in respect of a fourth MP who participated in the haka, Labour's Peeni Henare: 'Mr Henare's conduct in stepping on to the floor of the chamber to participate in the haka while a vote was being taken did obstruct or impede the business of the House, as the vote was not able to continue. Our view is that this is undoubtedly disorderly behaviour. However, we find that Mr Henare's actions do not amount to a contempt.' So, why were the actions of Te Pāti Māori MPs in delaying the vote on the Treaty Principles Bill such an egregious contempt that they deserve the heaviest sanction ever handed down, while the actions of Peeni Henare weren't even regarded as being a contempt at all? After all, the four combined together to 'try and stop and interrupt a vote of parliament', yet three get heavily punished for doing so while one isn't even found 'guilty' of any contempt at all. Secondly, and perhaps more seriously, the privileges committee majority didn't actually say that they were punishing the MPs just for 'stopping and interrupting a vote of parliament'. Rather, they claimed 'there is no question' that the actions of Te Pāti Māori MPs while conducting the haka 'could have the effect of intimidating other members'. That's because, to get to the floor of the House to perform the haka, Te Pāti Māori MPs walked past and then stood before (or, 'approached') the Act Party's MPs. Saying there is 'no question' that having a haka performed in front of you could be 'intimidatory' seems a bit out of touch with contemporary New Zealand understandings. You might think that some serious engagement with tikanga – the meaning and purpose of haka as a performative mode of communication – is required before reaching such a conclusion. However, this engagement was something that the majority of the privileges committee resolutely turned their faces against: 'It is not for this committee to determine the role of tikanga Māori within the rules and established practices of the House…' As such, the haka was reduced to nothing more than some loud chanting and gestures done in the face of MPs the participants disagreed with, potentially causing those MPs to feel physically intimidated. That unquestioning acceptance of the intimidatory nature of haka also seems out-of-step with the constant claim that the House of Representatives is a place for 'robust debate'. This is the standard defence given every time there is TV coverage of MPs shouting invectives at each other across the floor, often to the point where the words of the person speaking on a matter cannot be heard. Politics is adversarial! Emotions run high!! Being an elected representative means being tough enough to take the licks and still keep on fighting the good fight!!! And so on, and so on. All of which might lead one to ask whether the committee's decision and sanction was not (just) about the haka performed last December. Rather, as the committee majority notes, 'we intend to leave members in no doubt that the behaviour discussed is not acceptable, and that the intimidation of other members of the House is treated with utmost seriousness'. A translation of this might be that the governing majority of MPs are demanding that Te Pāti Māori will ' respect my authoritah ' by complying with the rules of parliament as they see them as being, or else. Whether the committee's stance then has much of a disciplining impact on Te Pāti Māori's MPs remains to be seen. After all, there's not much that an opposition MP actually can achieve in the House anyway. You can't win any votes. And making speeches or asking questions of ministers is only as effective as the publicity that it gets. All of which pales in comparison with the attention that the protest haka received – amplified now by the martyrdom granted to those who had the temerity of practicing their culture on behalf of those who elected them.
RNZ News
28-04-2025
- RNZ News
Flaxmere's biggest champion: Henare O'Keefe
Henare O'Keefe is adamant that Flaxmere is on the up, and his part in that is no small matter. The Hawke's Bay town has had a reputation for crime and violence, but that hasn't stopped Henare from promoting it as a place of opportunity. Late last year a major new housing development of 500 homes was announced, while another development between the Government and Hastings District Council will see a new senior housing development built in the southwest corner of Flaxmere's town centre. Getting more housing into Flaxmere to meet a growing population has been one of Henare's focuses, and he has become the face of one of the new housing developments. He is renowned for his hands-on approach to addressing violence and empowering the disadvantaged, whether through his work in prisons or setting up the marae-based Māori youth court in Flaxmere. Serving as a Hastings District Councillor for 15 years, Henare was honoured with the Queen's Service Medal in 2011 for all of his community work. Henare talks to Kathryn about his life's work. Taneshia Gill with Henare O'Keefe, a former Hastings District Councillor. Photo: Lauren Crimp / RNZ
