Maori and Pasifika students struggling with choices

As the number of Maori and Pacific Island students completing NCEA increases, there are concerns the subjects they choose aren’t the best for tertiary success.
Jacob Phillips (Ngapuhi) completed his level three NCEA studies in 2006 but had to sit level two literacy unit standards to gain university entrance.
Unfortunately for Jacob the unit standards were different [...]

Auckland governance – hear ye, hear ye. Or not.

The proposed restructuring of Auckland’s local government has divided public opinion and sparked a great deal of outcry. Some worry their rural area will become slave to city interests while others fear restructuring is merely the first step towards privatising Auckland’s assets, worth $28 billion. Underlying much resistance is concern over lack of representation in [...]

New programme to develop Māori information literacy

University librarians are developing a project that aims to foster Māori information literacy in school-leavers.
Pūnaha Pānui Kōrero will eventually be available on personal computers and mobile phones as a series of interactive learning games.
Moheka Williams is a Māori liaison librarian at Waikato Institute of Technology (WINTEC) and part of the team developing the programme. [...]

Democracy shrunk, no questions asked

Changes to Auckland’s governance have polarised MPs and seen thousands marching in the streets, but the Government is defending the way it has gone about things.
Associate minister of local government John Carter says the process is “democracy at its best” but others have their doubts.
Green MP Sue Kedgley says the Government has “shrunk local democracy [...]

New graduate diploma in Pacific journalism in 2010

By Sarah Urlich
The growing need for Pacific journalists will be addressed with the introduction of a new journalism programme at AUT.
The Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism, which was announced at last Friday’s PIMA conference, is a one-year qualification aimed at training journalists to report in the Pacific region.
The course, which will start in 2010, will work parallel to [...]

Debate over Pasifika artists’ music royalties

Pacific Island and Maori songwriters and composers are not being well served by APRA, a music royalty collection society, according to Pacific event organiser Stan Wolfgramm.
Stan Wolfgramm, director of Style Pasifika and Drum Productions, which produces TV3’s Pacific Beat Street, used the PIMA conference to advocate for the rights of Pasifika artists and the role [...]

Cancer research for Maori women

Two new separate studies aim to discover why Maori women are more likely to die from cancers of the breast and uterus than non-Maori, by looking at barriers to women getting treatment.
Dr Beverley Lawton of the University of Otago, and Dr Lis Ellison-Loschmann of Massey University hope to find out why Maori women are less [...]

Skilled interpreters in short supply

A lack of trilingual interpreters means Maori deaf are missing out on experiencing their culture.

Maori women underpaid and undervalued

Maori women are yet to achieve pay equity, according to the 2008 Human Rights Commission’s Census of Women’s Participation.

Last year, Maori women earned less than women of all other ethnicities, and just 86.1 per cent of the average Pakeha woman’s salary.