Mata Reports: Grief and Anger – The Unsolved Murder of Joanna Sione-Lauaki

Four months after her body was found on a Northland beach, Joanna Sione-Lauaki's murder is unsolved. Her whānau is desperate for answers -- and they want cruel rumours to stop, so they can grieve.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

“Insulting to everybody”—former Minister for Treaty Negotiations Andrew Little shares his views on the Treaty Principles Bill, the realignment of Te Arawhiti, the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora, and the inquiry into state abuse.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The mother of the three missing Marokopa children tells Mata Reports she believes a recent exchange between a pig hunter and her daughter was a cry for help.Watch the video version of this story here.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In 2022, Perenara McAllister was killed in emergency accommodation. It was captured on CCTV and seen by witnesses, but police refuse to charge the man who stabbed him. His parents speak out about their fight for justice.Watch the video version here.Early one Saturday evening back in March 2022, Ange McAllister’s phone started buzzing from a number she didn’t recognise.She wasn’t feeling well and was trying to rest, so she ignored it. But the caller was insistent, ringing and ringing, so Ange eventually answered.What she heard was a jumble of words, and the sound of tears and distress.As she comprehended what was being said, and the message sunk in, Ange’s world collapsed.She stumbled into the lounge to tell her husband, Noel, what she’d just been told: “Perenara’s dead.”Their 30-year-old son – the matāmua (eldest) of their Te Puke whānau; the boy who’d grown up at the marae helping Noel mow the lawns, and had gone off to chase his dream of becoming a farmer before a brain-injury turned his life upside down – had been stabbed to death.But even though he was killed in front of witnesses and the incident was captured on CCTV, the whānau is still seeking answers, still desperate for someone to take responsibility.Police arrested a man at the scene that night and issued a press statement saying charges “are being considered”.But soon after, the man – who could be heard on the CCTV admitting to stabbing Perenara – was released without charge.Perenara (Tapuika) died moments after a chaotic, violent incident at emergency accommodation near Hamilton.He had tried to intervene to calm the situation and protect a woman. His whānau were told by police he had done the right thing and died a hero.But that did not take away the pain of their grief, or their frustration over the outcome of the investigation.“The head detective came here maybe a week [after the tangi] … and they told us that our son did what any decent person would do but they’re not going to charge the guy, they’re letting him go,” Noel told Mata Reports. “We were in shock.”The McAllisters say police told them it was self-defence, but after watching the CCTV they disagree.“We watched it and that confirmed to me that they’d made a mistake,” Noel said.Perenara’s mother, Ange, said watching the footage was difficult. “I was so proud of our son because the whole time he was calm and where other people stood back and did nothing, he did something. There’s no way it was self-defence.”…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Treaty lawyer and former Mana Party candidate Annette Sykes discusses the amendments to the Marine and Coastal Areas Act, and Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris shares how it will impact his electorate and his first year in Parliament.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Te Rūnanga o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori co-chair Rawiri Wright discusses Te Wiki o Te Reo, and Taxpayer Union Executive Director Jordan Willliams shares his views on the Treaty Principles Bill.Te Rūnanga o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori co-chairperson Rawiri Wright discusses Te Wiki o Te Reo, and Taxpayer Union Executive Director Jordan Willliams shares his views on the Treaty Principles Bill.Over the weekend, Te Rūnanga o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori co-chair Rawiri Wright shared a transformative experience with his two sons, Kereama and Manawa.The three received their mataora at Ruamata Marae.The pursuit of te reo Māori has been a form of activism for Rawiri and his whānau, and reviving mataora is another expression of that activism. Their mokopapa was held on the 42nd anniversary of the Māori Language Petition being delivered to Parliament and on the eve of te Wiki o te Reo Māori.Wright told Mata there were more people speaking Māori now than there had ever been, but the proportion of Māori speakers as a percentage of the total population of Māori was declining."That's a concern for me," he said."We're close to a million people now. But the proportion of us, so if you take that 24 percent of us are speakers of Māori to one degree or another, that means that there are just under 250,000 Māori who speak Māori."Now, that's more Māori who have ever spoken Māori if we look back in history."Then you add to those the non-Māori who are speakers of Māori and, you know, that paints another picture."But it talks to me about the ongoing dislocation of the majority of Māori from te ao Māori."Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Mata is at the tangihanga of the seventh Maaori monarch as the motu descends on Tuurangawaewae to pay their respects. We speak to Waikato Tainui Communications Manager Jason Ake, broadcaster Rangi Pokiha, and Waikato communications strategist Amomai Pihama.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In this new video investigation from the Mata Reports series by the Aotearoa Media Collective, Mihingarangi Forbes and Annabelle Lee-Mather visit Kawerau and hear warnings about the fast-track legislation.Watch the video version here.As the country debates the merits of fast-track legislation, Mata Reports looks at an early example, one that took place in Kawerau under the 1954 Tasman Pulp and Paper Company Enabling Act.The government of the time, committed to industrial development, led to the paper industry boom enabled by an abundant supply of raw material from maturing pine forests, planted decades earlier around the war.But with the jobs and the profits came the issue of waste. Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill owners were looking for somewhere to dump industrial waste and soon after they decided they had found the perfect place.Te Kete Poutama, an area of land on the outskirts of Kawerau, to the eye it looked like it wasn’t being used - a convenient place to pipe sludge, other than the Tarawera River which had become known as the Black Drain.Despite the resistance from some Māori who believed the whenua and the nearby lake Rotoitipaku was significant and historic – the captains of industry had the law on their side.“When [my parents] tried to argue with the people involved they said, ‘Well … there’s nothing you can do’,” says Tomairangi Fox, of Ngāti Tūwharetoa ki Kawerau.Back in 1954, Parliament had passed the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill Enabling Act, which fast-tracked its construction and gave the company sweeping rights to use land and waterways.Decades on the boom days are well and truly over, the unemployment rate is nearly three times the national average and in 2018 New Zealand Index of Multiple Deprivation in the Bay of Plenty found Kawerau as one of the most deprived communities.And with the growth in automation and newsprint in decline, the jobs Kawerau families relied upon had all but disappeared.The mill is gone, too, with paper production cut in 2021, leaving hundreds jobless.Meanwhile the original owners of the land used as a dumping ground have been left wondering whether their whenua can ever be restored – and who will pay.The owner of the mill when it ceased operations, Norwegian-owned Norske Skog Tasman, has gone into liquidation.The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has asked engineering experts to consider a “closure plan” for the dump site, and Norske Skog says money has been left aside to cover the proposed rehabilitation work.But Fox and many others are concerned about the future of their whenua…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Kaipara District Councillor Pera Paniora speaks about her council’s decision to scrap its Māori ward, and commentators Hinurewa Te Hau and Meka Whaitiri discuss the latest in politics.After the Kaipara District Council voted to suddenly disestablish its Māori ward, Pera Paniora speaks about her seat being scrapped and how the vote unfolded amid loud protests.Earlier this month Kaipara District Council became the first local government body to scrap its Māori ward after the government passed legislation ordering councils with Māori wards to either axe them or hold a referendum in the 2025 elections.But it has been reported the move by the Kaipara District Council (KDC) could end up costing them more than $100,000 in legal costs, after it opted to scrap the ward before ratepayers had the opportunity to cast their vote in a referendum. Ngāti Whātua are taking legal action requesting a judicial review in the High Court.Pera Paniora, who held the seat for the KDC Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori Ward when it was disestablished, by a six to three council vote (with one abstention), told Mata the move was sudden, and consistent with a string of moves the council has taken to shut out Māori voices.She estimated about 300 people were at the council meeting and calling for the Māori ward to be kept, including members from Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei (in Auckland) and from Northland iwi Ngātiwai, Te Roroa, Ngāpuhi."The writing was on the wall from the time that I've faced in amongst this council of elected members in the last approximately two years, and so it wasn't surprising for me," Paniora said."But I was quite overwhelmed by the tautoko and the support that we received from all of our mana whenua, iwi and hapū during and throughout the day."It was a real show of kotahitanga - unity and solidarity - throughout that day."Paniora believed the council held the meeting in a way that deliberately excluded those there to support keeping the Māori ward."The rest of the elected members had tried really hard to ensure that there was no room in the building - so that building had been chosen specifically to exclude our people - the blinds were put down so they couldn't be seen and the windows were all closed so that they couldn't be heard…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Labour MP Willow-Jean Prime discusses the opposition to 7AA and the Ngāpuhi hīkoi to Parliament, and Green MP Tamatha Paul shares her views on military boot camps.On Monday, Ngāpuhi representatives led a hīkoi to Parliament in opposition to the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act.Currently, 827 tamariki in state care whakapapa to Ngāpuhi.Ngāpuhi walked out of the National Iwi Chairs Forum, attended by the Prime Minister and a number of other government ministers, on Friday.Labour List MP in Northland, and spokesperson for children and youth, Willow-Jean Prime said Ngāpuhi are hōhā."They are hōhā with policies and legislation that this government is driving and the impact that that is having on Māori, and included in that is, of course, the repeal of Section 7AA.""There are no Māori that have submitted to the select committee who have said, 'We support the repeal of Section 7AA', they are all opposed."On 29 July, 10 youth offenders, aged between 15 and 18, began at the government's new boot camp pilot in Te Papaioea - Palmerston North. Nine are Māori.Rangitāne Māori education expert Professor Meihana Durie, a descendant of Rangitāne from the hapū of Te Rangitepāia, was surprised about the lack of consultation with his hapū. Had consultation occurred, his hapū could have stated they believed other things could be done to better the lives of vulnerable rangatahi, he said.Oranga Tamariki acknowledged it should have engaged with mana whenua earlier, but remains committed to the programme, despite damning findings into the Whakapakari boot camp, and others raised in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details