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Te Putahitanga o Te Waipounamu celebrates the distinguished service of whānau champions across the South Island who have been awarded Queen’s Birthday honours. “We pay special tribute to Claire Aitken – who has been a steadfast advocate for tangata whaiora…

  Kia ao ake te rā, he tio, he keo, he hauhunga Let the day dawn with freezing cold, ice and frost This week the sharp bite of frost has greeted us throughout Te Waipounamu.   Window-screen iced over, the crisp…

  Health is a state of body.   Wellness is a state of being. There has been a lot said about the so-called Wellbeing budget this week. To my mind, wellbeing is just the English name for Whānau Ora. Wellbeing is…

Te Taumata – the iwi stakeholders for Te Putahitanga o Te Waipounamu – has today announced the appointment of a new Chairperson for its Board, Tā Mark Solomon.   “We are delighted to confirm the appointment of Tā Mark as…

  In my former life working in parliament between 1999-2015, I was frequently horrified at the banter that went on in the House, which was normalized as parliamentary privilege, the apparent right to say whatever one wanted. To even identify…

Media Release FOR RELEASE, 19 May 2019 Family and Sexual Violence: Whānau have the solutions Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu welcomes the Government’s announcement today of funding of $320 million to break the cycle of family and sexual violence, but…

  The young curled shoots of rarauhe emerging from the ground are sometimes generically referred to as ‘pikopiko’; a term commonly used as a metaphor for the younger or next generation of people. I started the week off in incredible…

Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu is thrilled with Hon Eugenie Sage’s announcement this week that the Government is putting $360,000 of funding from the Waste Minimisation fund towards a project that will result in more computers in the homes of…

Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu – the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency for the South Island – welcomes the announcement of $98 million to be invested in initiatives aimed to reduce Māori recidivism rates. A pre-budget event at Ngāwha Prison today…

After the earthquakes Dad shifted out from Shirley and the land of the Red Zone to Kaiapoi.  In many senses it was a coming home – home to where we’d had our childhood; days spent roaming down Raven Street and…