The one where I admit I don’t know what those M9 legends are talking about.
Aperira/April 1, 2025
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Kia ora e te whānau,
Nau mai, hoki mai ki Te Arawhata, the newsletter helping us all to keep up with, connect with—and just ruddy enjoy—te ao Māori ia wiki, ia wiki.
Kaupapa Māori news, events, and recommendations you don’t want to miss coming right up, including an instagram follow to restore our faith in social media.
Then I’m sharing a story about an interaction I had last week with the crew organising the new M9 show. You know when you’re in a convo with someone and they say something you don’t really understand but you kinda gloss over it and then they continue and you’re suddenly so deep in a conversation you’re not sure how to admit you don’t actually know what they’re talking about? Hope so, cos that’s where we’re starting with this one 😅.
Here we go!
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TALK OF THE TĀONE
🗞️ to keep you in the know
‘He kapu tī māu?/ Want a cup of tea?’ Us too. Always. And preferably at this reo Māori cafe in the future.
Casual Healing and Mā just released a new waiata for anyone feeling hypersensitive.
For Māori keen to switch from the general to the Māori roll, these guys reckon now would be good.
Julian Dennison’s new ride has wings.
This pakihi Māori/Māori business is stocking up for easter and we will be taking our supporting role very seriously 🍫.
The Crown have issued an apology to Ngātu Hāua which is hard (and important) to read.
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*LOCALS’ KOKONGA
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Great kaupapa Māori events happening across Aotearoa
Me Anga Whakamua – Facing the Future exhibition
20 March-15 June I Wellington waterfront I By @nzportraitgallery
This poignant and evocative exhibition weaves together striking portraits and heartfelt testimonies of tāngata whenua, delving into the profound impact of the first encounters between Māori and Europeans in Aotearoa. An absolute must-experience e hoa mā!
Image: Diane Stoppard, Papanui Polamalu, 2019, Silver gelatin print, Courtesy Hihiaua Cultural Centre
‘50 Years On’ exhibition opening at Te Tuhi
6 April I Pakuranga I By @tetuhiart
Te Tuhi have been working with Maori and Pasifika artists since their foundation in 1975. Come and see the hidden archive trails—photographs, documents, and ephemera—that have been quietly collected for fifty years no less, along the way. Arts lovers, these are your people!
Māori All Blacks v Scotland
5 July I Semenoff Stadium, Whangārei I By @māori_allblacks
Celebrate 25 years since the Māori All Blacks last faced Scotland in this historic international rugby clash!
Mighty Moa Hunt
April School Holidays I Great King St, Dunedin I By @tuhuraotagomuseum
Did you know this museum has one of the best moa collections in the world? Go on a Mighty Moa Hunt around the galleries and look carefully at our fossils and skeletons to unlock the secrets of these fascinating extinct birds.
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KETE FILLER RECOMMENDATIONS
💓 to add some cultural inspo to your wiki
Better the Blood pukapuka/book
A tenacious Māori detective is caught in a clash between culture and duty as she hunts for a killer and, even though crime scares me, I want to read about it.
336 pages I $26.99 I Te reo Pakehā with kupu Māori
Layton Robertson instagram
This master kaiwhakairo/carver is dedicated to reviving the ways of old. Watching his mahi is mesmerising and a guaranteed algorithm improver.
Free I Te reo Māori and te reo Pākehā
Let’s talk about Ai season two
An R18+ series that talks about ai in an uber fun, healthy, and educational way. This is a great option for young (& a bit older) adults trying to figure it all out.
30 mins I Free I Te reo Māori and te reo Pākehā
Ako tv show worksheets
The gameshow every reo Māori learner has imagined themselves on has worksheets WITH WHAKAUTU/ANSWERS and we just found out…
30 mins I Free I Te reo Māori
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KŌRERO
🗣️ to share the ups, downs, and in betweens of the connection journey
*The one where I admit to M9 legends, I don’t know what they’re talking about.
When Mihi from the comms team for M9 got in contact to list their new event, ‘Te Ōhanga Māori: A Pathway to Prosperity’ with us, I was both excited and embarrassed.
Excited because I’ve been to M9 events before; they invite 9 A-list kaikōrero Māori to speak on big, important kaupapa and they’re always inspiring, educational, and brilliant.
Embarrassed because I didn’t exaaaaaactly know what ‘te ōhanga Māori’ was—and it was becoming increasingly clear by the way Mihi was frothing over it, that I definitely should have.
As she moved on to image specs and link preferences, I carried out a quick under the tēpu/table Te Aka search which confirmed we were talking about the Māori economy, but I was still a little rangirua/confused.
Between date and venue confirmation, ngā kupu/the words ‘Māori prosperity’ were coming up a lot —which sounded simple, but became increasingly complicated in my mind as I tried to think of safe statements to add to the conversation.
Were they talking about whenua/land back? Ian Taylor? Was this a pakihi Māori/Māori businesses thing? Plans for flash marae? Flax mill resurgence? Or was this some official concept, like capitalism, that everyone else knew about and I had somehow missed?
‘Yo! You good?’ I was yanked back to the conversation by Mihi. ‘I was saying, that’s the lot! Unless you have any more pātai/questions?’
I grimaced as I realised I had to fess up. ‘Perfect, just a quick one,’ I replied, ‘What’s te ōhanga Māori?’
Not a flicker of judgement crossed her face (I know because I was very defensively searching for it). ‘You know what?’ she said, ‘I’ll get the experts to explain it for you, I’ll email something through this ahiahi/arvo.’
‘I’ll also need you to repeat all of those details we just confirmed,’ I added (some frustration detected after that one).
For anyone else who kind of gets the gist, but could also def do with a little clarity on what a thriving Māori economy looks like and means for us all, here are some of the speaker CliffsNotes Mihi sent me:
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What in the hika does Māori economic prosperity actually look like?!
From The Honourable Nanaia Mahuta
Former Minister of Local Government and Māori Development (and first wahine Māori to rock a moko kauae in that beehiive)
“Dear Lizzie, I hope Te Arawhata is going well, I think it’s the best pānui out…” Ok, M9 say I can’t add that (sticklers for ngā ture/rules, these guys). Here’s what she really said:
“Economic sovereignty - which will only be achieved if iwi Māori remain committed to a collective vision that reflects our diverse needs taking us from poverty to prosperity. We need to move forward with urgency, boldness, and clarity of purpose.
From Te Kahukura Boynton
Former broke student, now Director of Māori Millionaire with a list of mindblowing achievements too long for this intro.
“Prosperity to me looks like our whare being strong, sustainable and warm. Hauora - both mental, and physical. Strong whānau relationships. Intergenerational healing. It looks like mokopuna decisions, sowing seeds for the next generation. It feels like abundance and overflow.
When we are thriving as a people - our financial fruits are a natural byproduct of this. When we are operating from overflow and abundance, our natural state as Maori - as opposed to scarcity - we are making decisions rooted in our future, not our past.”
From Professor Matthew Roskuge
Economist, Rutherford Discovery Fellow, Director of Te Au Rangahau, Associate Dean Māori at Massey Business School, enthusiast of parrots and geckos.
We want our rangatahi to have good qualifications, we want healthy whānau; warm, dry houses; better jobs; flourishing Māori businesses taking on the world; and we want our assets managed in a way that is consistent with our aspirations for our people, and our own ancestral values of love, respect, dignity, kinship, and integrity.”
—Quote from Te Ururoa Flavell (KPMG, 2016)
“In 2025, prosperity for the Māori economy isn’t just about more money - it’s a richer story of success that weaves together strong finances, vibrant culture, thriving communities, and a deep respect for our land. It’s shaped by a Māori way of living and leading. It looks like whānau with the resources, including financial, to live their ambitions, holding rangatiratanga over their lives and mana motuhake as a collective. It includes good housing, good jobs, education opportunities, nation building and opening further pathways to a future where Māori thrive as Māori.”
Te Wehi Wright
Lawyer specialising in strategy, policy, engagement, and cultural capital, advisor to the Māori All Blacks, and a bunch of other things, none more important than being a proud pāpā.
“Māori prosperity to me is us realising our limitless potential. Living our lives free and without restraint according to our worldview and shaped by our environment. It's not a metric defined by the system, but a strong sense of cultural, emotional and spiritual identity and freedom to live as we choose, as whānau, hapū and iwi. The way in which Māori participate in any economy should ultimately support us to achieve that level of prosperity as a people.”
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Ok fam, so te ōhanga Māori is kinda everything we were all thinking mushed together, nē?
Of course, in true Ngāti Nerd style, this extra information has left me feeling in no way satisfied and in fact only created more pātai in my mind;
How do we get to this prosperous place? Who is involved? How can I contribute? What does it mean for Tangata Tiriti—and for the rest of the world? And how do I convince THAT uncle at our next whānau dinner that he should be on board?
Mihi has the patience of a saint, but this might be taking it a bit far, so I reckon I should probably just go to the show.
Come with? We should probs prep beforehand at Tanuki’s with a big Asahi and those deep-fried mozarella sticks. Seems like the tika/right thing to do… see ya there!
Te Ōhanga Māori: A Pathway to Prosperity’ is happening April 10 at Aotea Centre in Auckland CBD. You can book your tīkiti here.
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That’s us fam! What should we write about ā tērā wiki/next week? Reply to let us know!
For now, kia pai te rā, and may we always, always admit we don’t know what someone’s talking about before it’s too late 💓. Starting from now 😉.
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