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ABSTRACTBetween 2001 and 2021, the eight iwi of Taranaki entered into Deeds of Settlement with the Crown. These settlements, which saw the Crown acknowledge and apologise for its historical breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, also served to extinguish the rights of Taranaki Māori to seek further redress from the Crown. The Treaty Settlement process over, Taranaki Māori and the many non-Māori that have settled in the rohe (tribal territory) are left to themselves to deal with any lingering tensions, ongoing enmity and forms of structural injustice stemming from the settler-colonial process. This paper is not about the formal processes of colonisation or Crown-initiated attempts to atone for the past through the Treaty Settlement process. Rather, this paper concerns the painstaking work of change undertaken on the ground by local people, Māori and non-Māori alike. It concerns the ‘small stories’ of colonisation, the myriad endeavours of local people working for change in local contexts. In particular, the article concerns the fight for Māori wards on Councils in New Plymouth and South Taranaki, and the extraordinary work done by ordinary people in attempting to forge some kind of future of togetherness in a region riven by the violence of colonisation.

Between 2001 and 2021, the eight iwi of Taranaki entered into Deeds of Settlement with the Crown. These settlements, which saw the Crown acknowledge and apologise for its historical breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, also served to extinguish the rights of Taranaki Māori to seek further redress from the Crown. The Treaty Settlement process over, Taranaki Māori and the many non-Māori that have settled in the rohe (tribal territory) are left to themselves to deal with any lingering tensions, ongoing enmity and forms of structural injustice stemming from the settler-colonial process. This paper is not about the formal processes of colonisation or Crown-initiated attempts to atone for the past through the Treaty Settlement process. Rather, this paper concerns the painstaking work of change undertaken on the ground by local people, Māori and non-Māori alike. It concerns the 'small stories' of colonisation, the myriad endeavours of local people working for change in local contexts. In particular, the article concerns the fight for Māori wards on Councils in New Plymouth and South Taranaki, and the extraordinary work done by ordinary people in attempting to forge some kind of future of togetherness in a region riven by the violence of colonisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is sometimes claimed that the use of preferential voting facilitates more effective representation of under-represented groups than that generated by the first-past-the-post (FPP) system, particularly in combination with higher district magnitude. This claim is tested using unique observational data. Local government elections in New Zealand are conducted using either the single transferable vote (STV) or first-past-the-post, providing the opportunity to compare representation of women and Indigenous Māori across the two sets of councils. When combined with higher district magnitude, STV may sometimes promote the election of women, but has no effects on the election of Māori. The advantages of high district magnitude STV in promoting descriptive representation are counteracted by lack of coordination in candidate nomination and voting because these local electoral contests are predominantly nonpartisan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I outline the existing legislative options available and rationale for Māori representation in local government. I suggest that the arguments and rationale against Māori representation have been exacerbated by a lack of clarity around local government’s duties and obligations stemming from the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. In the second part of this article, I explore more recent arguments by Māori for representation and involvement in local government decision-making on the basis of being mana whenua, which means to have territorial authority and power associated with the possession and occupation of tribal land. This argument foregrounds specific iwi (tribes) as holding territorial authority and therefore rights to representation and involvement in decision-making sourced in tikanga Māori (Māori law), over and above other Māori who live in that area. I examine in detail the Rotorua District Council’s establishment of the Te Arawa Partnership Board in 2015 and argue that this Board and its first election results provide unique insights into the relationship between Te Arawa people living in and outside the district and has implications for broader conversations about the rights of Māori living away from their tribal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the introduction to her journalists guide to reporting Māoridom, Pou Kōrero author Carol Archie, a Pākehā and a journalist, agonises over how to describe non-Māori and comes up with 'other New Zealanders'. "Pākehā" won't do,' she says, 'because it has come to mean New Zealanders with European ancestry. 'Non- Māori' is negative and says what we're not, rather than what we are... an tauiwi (meaning foreigner) can offend those who still aren't tangata whenua but who still feel we belong to nowehere else but Aotearoa New Zealand."

A content analysis of editorial items about Māori issues and the Treaty of Waitangi in 14 Suburban Newspaper publications in Auckland and Northland found a low proportion of articles about these issues, despite high proportions of Māori resident in several areas served by these publications. Stories included a higher proportion of apparent news releases compared to a national sample of non-daily papers. Māori perspectives came largely from sources representing pan-Māori non-government organisations; Suburban Newspapers used a low proportion of iwi and hapu sources compared with other community papers. Use of te reo Māori was low, and there were no signs of attempts to support readers in learning or increasing their understanding of te reo Māori. This article concludes that Māori and non-Māori readers are poorly served by the poverty of Suburban Newspapers reporting of Treaty and Māori issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the Maori construction of a national Maori identity by the Maori media, and by Maori radio in particular. It then suggests that this is creating a Maori nation within the state of New Zealand. This is an important development for Maori and for the future of New Zealand society. The article suggests that Maori are creating a fully developed identity as required by the radical democratic theories of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, and, as such, will provide a practical case study of their theories.

The NZ news industry—owners, management and education sectors—has long agreed that the news media requires more Maori journalists. The industry has long recognised an imbalance does exist, whatever its characterisation. But the solution is not as simple as it seems.