In calling on Parliament to deny ratepayers the right to veto council decisions to create racially-based political structures, Local Government New Zealand reveals just how totally out of touch they are with the views of the overwhelming majority of ratepayers, Don Brash said today in response to a press release from LGNZ.

The Auckland Council is seeking feedback on a 10-year budget and Auckland Plan 2050 and tucked in there is a whole series of questions on Maori identity and wellbeing.

On Thursday, Hamilton mayor Andrew King dropped his plan to get the city council to consider changing the name of the council to the Kirikiriroa City Council.

“Words” spoken between Crown/Maori Relations Minister Kelvin Davis, Finance Minister Grant Robertson, and Environment Minister David Parker on Monday prompted Stuff reporter Jo Moir to surmise on how the battle lines are drawn between coalition partners on water rights.

A mass haka at Waitangi at 3pm on Friday, March 9, 2018, probably timed for the 6pm news, will kick off the first national tribal rebellions day.

Last year Councillors in Palmerston North, Kaikoura, Manawatu, Whakatane and Western Bay of Plenty districts decided that ratepayers on the Maori electoral roll would be forced to vote in separate Maori wards.

We challenged the Councillors and voters overwhelmingly voted "No" to separate Maori wards. 

Our sincere thanks to the many volunteers who tirelessly worked on behalf of the cause.

Campaigners in Manawatu, Western Bay of Plenty, and Whakatane have taken sufficient signatures to their respective councils to trigger polls on proposals for Maori wards in their areas.

Closing the gap between Maori and everyone else in terms of inequality in education, incarceration, poverty and employment was how the news media reported New Zealand’s national day on Tuesday.

At Ratana Pa last Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern kicked off the political year when she said “we will never have fulfilled our obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi or the prophesies of Ratana” until “we” have improved Maori social indicators.

Two iwi have quietly been paid huge top-ups, totalling $370 million, to their supposed "full and final" Treaty of Waitangi settlements, Stuff reported today. Waikato-Tainui received $190 million and the South Island's Ngai Tahu $180 million – more than they originally settled for in 1995 and 1998, respectively.