Prime Minister John Key has reinstated a Cabinet committee dedicated to Treaty of Waitangi settlements - the first time such a committee has existed since Jim Bolger was Prime Minister more than a decade ago. Mr Key will chair...

For a man who once rated himself as a bit of an underachiever, leading the New Year Honours is a startling experience. Professor Ngatata Love has been made a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services...

Hone Hikitia Te Rangi Waititi has been many things in his 88 years - soldier, farmer, land company trustee and company chairman. But most importantly, "John the Major" has worked to keep the young people and families in the remote...

Mabel Wharekawa-Burt won her first talent quest aged 4 at the Waihi Soundshell. "I sang a song called Mahi's Making Eyes at Me and can still remember the dance to accompany the song," she says. Born in Katikati, the rural...

Pakeha-Maori relations ended the year on a high and hopeful note after the volatility and uneasiness of past years. Any lingering mistrust has been put aside, at least for now, with the Maori Party and its five MPs signed up to National's...

Leave it to the NZRU to end a relatively good rugby year with the bewildering decision to axe the NZ Maori. Interestingly, few media commentators have cracked down on this piece of chicanery. Most reviews have leaned towards a...

Accusations of bias have been levelled at a judge who excused herself from a Waitangi Tribunal inquiry after claimants investigated her whakapapa (ancestral) links to the region. Judge Stephanie Milroy has stepped down after four...

Waikato-Tainui has been told it cannot restructure tribal bodies collectively worth $570 million unless it gets the nod from its parliament, Te Kauhanganui. The tribe's executive body, Te Arataura, was taken to the High Court at...

Massive pipes will soon capture the sound of Maori music as the country's largest instrument gets a major overhaul. Last year, Auckland Town Hall's 18-tonne organ was taken apart for restoration work in Germany. However, as part...

The largest surviving collection of 19th century Maori-language letters is now available online and the stories they tell give life to mass land sales and cheeky requests from Maori women. The Alexander Turnbull Library's new manuscripts...

Prime Minister John Key says Maori are "very important stakeholders" in discussions on water allocation, but has stopped short of saying they have ownership rights to water. Mr Key made the comments yesterday during his first formal...

Professor Veronica Strang has given us a very good analysis of the issues surrounding privatisation of natural resources such as fresh water. >>Vanessa Strang: Privatis

Two arms of Waikato-Tainui were in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday. Both the tribe's parliaments say they alone have the power to decide whether restructuring which affects $500 million of assets should go ahead. Justice...

There has been a call for more consistent messages about the dangers of bedsharing with babies after an inquest into the deaths of seven babies yesterday. Auckland University professor of child health research Evan Mitchell said...

The practice of parents sleeping with babies is expected to be held responsible for New Zealand slipping down the cot death rankings after a Wellington coroner's inquests into the deaths of seven young babies yesterday. "This is...

The health and wellbeing of Maori teenagers is improving, according to research issued yesterday, but disparities with their Pakeha peers remain. Compared with Pakeha students, Maori students were more likely to experience socioeconomic...

Children under the age of one are at most risk of being abused in New Zealand, which has one of the highest rates of child maltreatment deaths in the developed world. Research shows that the younger the child, the more likely they...

Maori TV's three-part series on Sir Howard Morrison, He Kotuku Rerenga Tahi , offers a welcome change from frenetically over-edited documentaries to a straightforward invitation to sit back on the sofa and enjoy an in-depth chat. Last...

Sixty years ago, on Wednesday December 10, in the wake of the horrors of World War II, the Holocaust and the treatment of those whose countries were occupied, the world's nations gathered in Paris to adopt the Universal Declaration...

One of Tainui's most respected leaders has filed an injunction at the High Court in Hamilton against the restructuring of tribal bodies. In an update to nearly 200 parliamentary representatives, Te Kauhanganui parliamentary chairman...