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Articles on Māori culture

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at New Zealand Parliament beside senior cultural adviser to Parliament Kura Moeahu during a Māori welcome ceremony. AAP Image/Mark Coote

The Voice: how do other countries represent Indigenous voices in government?

Despite the claim ‘there is no comparable constitutional body like this anywhere in the world’ many countries have similar institutions to the proposed Voice.
Members of the Referendum Working Group and Referendum Engagement Group during a Voice to Parliament press conference. AAP Image/Matt Turner

What Australia could learn from New Zealand about Indigenous representation

The proposed Voice to Parliament is a First Nations advisory body. The way New Zealand have ensured Māori representation in Parliament could be a better way to approach Indigenous self-determination.
In the case of mānuka honey, there are serious questions about what authenticity actually means. from www.shutterstock.com

Mānuka honey: who really owns the name and the knowledge

While industry bodies fight over who can claim that their mānuka honey is authentic, Māori interests are often left out of the debate.
The extinction of important animal resources such as the moa reverberated culturally for centuries after the birds’ extinction. John Megahan / Wikimedia Commons

Dead as the moa: oral traditions show that early Māori recognised extinction

Tracing extinctions that happened centuries ago is difficult. But in New Zealand, the last place to be settled some 750 years ago, ancestral Māori oral traditions retain clues about lost species.
Tāne Mahuta is New Zealand’s most sacred tree, but its days will be numbered if it is infected with kauri dieback disease. from www.shutterstock.com

Lord of the forest: New Zealand’s most sacred tree is under threat from disease, but response is slow

A pathogen is killing kauri trees in New Zealand and now threatens an ancient, sacred giant. The response to the biosecurity incursion pales in comparison to recent threats to agricultural crops.
Wild horses, known as brumbies, in Australia. Shutterstock.com

Friday essay: the cultural meanings of wild horses

From 30,000-year-old cave paintings to The Man From Snowy River, wild horses have always been part of human culture. As Australia debates what to do with ‘brumbies’ in mountain environments, it’s time to reconsider their place.
Despite the Treaty of Waitangi, acts by both the British Crown and successive New Zealand governments have had detrimental effects on the Māori population. AAP Image/SNPA Pool, David Rowland

New Zealand’s indigenous reconciliation efforts show having a treaty isn’t enough

Reconciliation efforts were established in New Zealand 30 years ago to tackle grievances stemming from government initiatives that have seen Māori lose both resources and power.

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