E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e nga karangatanga maha, tēnei te reo whakamihi atu ki a koutou! Nau piki mai, nau kake mai ki te kohikohinga kōrero nei, e kī ai ko Te Ranga Huatau!

Ko Te Ranga Huatau he pātaka kai o te kupu o te kōrero. Ko te hakaputanga nei he karanga ki ngā kaipānui kia hīkina te mānuka, te wero, arā, ko te whai i te Tino Rangatiratanga, i te Mana Māori Motuhake. Ehara te takonga a te Māori i te tako ngāwari, inā hoki mō mātou ngā tauira ture Māori i Te Herenga Waka e noho, e ako ana ki te mura o te ahi. He nui ngā raruraru e pā atu ana ki te iwi Māori, ko te hia o ngā ringa whao o te hakaputanga nei kia tohu i ngā wero o ēnei wā, ā, kia whakamārama me pēhea tātou e hīkina i ēneinā wero. Ko ēnei ringa whao e poupoua, e hamahama ana te kōrero: e tāmara mā, hīkina te mānuka!

This edition of Te Ranga Huatau is a challenge to all readers to “hīkina te mānuka” (to take up the challenge before us). To rise together and strive for Tino Rangatiratanga and Mana Motuhake. The journey is far from easy, especially for us Māori law students at Te Herenga Waka who are navigating complex terrain. We face ongoing challenges as Māori, both within the classroom and beyond, in today’s political climate. Within these pages, our writers delve into these challenges and offer pathways on how we can rise together to meet them. The call is simple: stand strong, take on the challenge, and work together to achieve Tino Rangatiratanga and Mana Motuhake.

The second issue of Te Ranga Hautau takes up the tono laid by its predecessors: to provide a platform for the ideas, opinions and experiences of tauira ture Māori. A second publication is a significant accomplishment, and is a reminder of the magazine’s relevance and longevity. Our whāinga is for Te Ranga Hautau to be our kete mātauranga, a place for creating, weaving and storing the kōrero and whakaaro of this generation for the future.

This year’s theme arose in response to the social and political climate of 2024, which has seen a new wave of Māori movements. These movements were spurred by a raft of policy threatening the position te ao Māori, tikanga Māori and Te Tiriti in Aotearoa's constitutional framework. The legal, environment and health spheres were particularly impacted. 

E mihi kau ana ki ngā kairaranga o tēnei putanga. We want to express our gratitude to all those who gave time, thoughts and expertise to this kaupapa. It is truly appreciated. 

To the writers who generously contributed their insights and stories, this magazine would not exist without you. To Huy, Maea, Tearani, and Quincy, your expertise and creativity made this possible, and we are truly grateful for your contributions. To Aria, your leadership of the content team and your talent for connecting with people has been invaluable. To Taipari, our thanks for guiding the magazine’s kaupapa and for your mahi on the editorial team. To Hēmi, the toka tū moana of this magazine, we give our heartfelt thanks and appreciation. Your knowledge, hard work and passion has enriched and shaped this magazine. To Keeley and Tessa, your guidance during the production process was invaluable. We couldn't have done this without you. Ko koutou e whakatinana te mana me te mauri o Te Ranga Huatau. E mihi ana, e mihi ana, e mihi ana.

Te Ranga Huatau is made possible because of the support of our hapori whānui. We would like to thank our sponsors Whaia Legal, Chapman Tripp and Bell Gully. We would also like to thank the Māori Law Review for providing an online platform for our publication for the first time.

Hei whakakapi, ka huri ngā whakaaro ki tō māua rōpū o Ngā Rangahautira. To tauira ture Māori, continue to share your thoughts, experiences and ideas - they are particularly valuable in the current climate. The foundation of Te Ranga Huatau lies in the collective strength of our voices. Let your voices carry into the future of Te Ranga Huatau and beyond. 

Ngā Mihi,

Kaea and Katie Wells <3

A note from Hēmi Daly:

A couple months ago, my partner’s mum, Ronda, was in town and we were having a kai. Ronda is a Māori lawyer, and spent some time at Vic during her uni days. One day, Moana Jackson came in and gave a beautiful kōrero about recognition of Māori legal systems and Te Tiriti - all those causes that we’re still fighting for today. At the end of his lecture, Ronda put her hand up and asked something to the effect of “all of that sounds great, but what do we do?” Moana’s reply: “That is for you to work out”. When she told me that story, I couldn’t help but laugh - I’d asked the same question to Justice Joe, and received the same cryptic, slightly frustrating answer. 

I’ve spoken with her about it since, and here’s what she had to share for us:

At the time of that korero with Moana, I was vexed with our reality as Maori, living in a loud alien space that muffled our voices. By that, I mean we could not see his vision he was articulating. But he was needed for that very reason, to articulate what was unseen at that time. But time, growth, youthful enthusiasm, children, are the hope of things to come – seeds planted by Moana and others that they may bear fruit, and bear fruit they have. 

There was the kōhanga reo movement, and then kura kaupapa. There was the Māori Legal Service in Wellington, those first steps towards the concept that Māori could provide their own legal service – manned by Moana himself. I was a founding member of what remains the only Māori law centre in New Zealand: the Ngai Tahu Māori Law Centre. These are part of Moana’s vision and the filling in of gaps to realise his words. What we see now is a unity of thinking and vision that has culminated in what Moana saw. The key point is that our voice is heard, in the highest spheres of the land, at all levels in this land. We must speak, like our tupuna who speak through us, tino rangatiratanga in action. What a taonga.

We spend five years at law school (or six, if you took the scenic route like me) learning more about how and why the law is broken than what the solutions are – a frustrating position for students already burdened by existential dread. Guest lectures by the likes of Pā Moana and Justice Joe and courses like the tikanga and Tiriti papers provide rare glimpses of hope, but generally create more questions than answers. But then, one day after countless essays, you wake up realising that not only do you now have opinions, but that you have your own solutions too. Of course, that doesn’t magically happen, just as nations do not just come into existence one day with perfected law. First, you – we – have to do the working out. These pieces are that working out; they represent Ngā Rangahautira’s answer to Pā Moana’s wero. We hope that you enjoy reading them.

Author: Kaea Hudson

View all posts by Kaea Hudson