Monthly Archives: February 2022

Aotearoas new red light setting is up against the most transmissible variant of Covid-19 to date. Is it up to it? National Correspondent Katie Kenny reports.

The new Covid-19 protection framework, known as the traffic light system, was designed to slow the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19. Now, in the face of a new and more infectious variant, were sticking with it to see us into this phase of living with the virus.

As of January 23, following the detection of Omicron in the community, New Zealand is at the most restrictive red setting.

This isnt a lockdown. With vaccine passes, most parts of life can continue as usual. Domestic borders are open, workplaces and schools are open, you can visit cafs and bars, and go to the hairdresser and gym.

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The main restrictions involve wearing masks on transport and at most public, indoor venues, and limiting gatherings to 100 people if everyone has a My Vaccine Pass.

These are the rules that will apply even when there are as many as tens of thousands of cases a day.

For a country that got through the initial period of the pandemic with the lowest Covid-19 mortality in the OECD, high levels of personal freedoms, and relatively good economic performance, the dramatic shift in strategy can be disconcerting.

Our approach is comparable to how many European countries have dealt with Omicron. So, will it make any difference?

Covid-19 modeller Professor Michael Plank says while well still see cases go up rapidly, the public health measures in place during the red setting will help slow the spread of Omicron.

We know mask use makes a significant difference, as does limiting larger gatherings.

Hes reluctant to commit to numbers, but says these measures could reduce transmission by 20 per cent or even 30 per cent, compared to unmitigated spread.

Even relatively small changes in behaviour can make a big difference over time, because they reduce the rate of exponential growth.

We know a flattened curve means New Zealands healthcare system has a better chance of coping with demand. It also reduces the number of infected people who have to take time off work to isolate.

In places like South Australia and Queensland, we saw daily case numbers grow from single digits to over a thousand in about two weeks. But in Aotearoa, nearly a fortnight on from those initial community cases, weve managed to delay the start of the exponential growth phase.

On the eve of Waitangi weekend, cases were climbing, but not with the speed weve seen overseas.

On January 23, the seven-day rolling average of community cases was 25. On February 4, it was 128.

James D. Morgan/Getty Images

A Covid-19 drive through testing clinic in Byron Bay, Australia. (File photo)

We have several advantages over even Australia. The main one, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has repeatedly highlighted, is our ability to roll out booster shots ahead of widespread community transmission. (New South Wales, for example, was already grappling with Delta when Omicron arrived in December.)

Two doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine offers less protection against symptomatic Omicron than with Delta, according to data from the United Kingdom Health Security Agency. But double-vaccinated people are still well protected against hospitalisation and death.

A booster dose offers greater protection against transmitting Omicron to others and further reduces the chance of more serious infections.

As of Friday, February 4, more than 94 per cent of the eligible population over 12 were double vaccinated, and 36 per cent over 18 were boosted (boosters arent yet available for those younger than 18).

On top of restrictions and vaccinations, peoples behaviour will dictate the rate of Omicron spread, Plank says. But thats also the hardest thing to predict.

Restrictions are one thing, but its possible people will decide to avoid riskier activities or delay them or find alternatives.

New Zealand was notoriously compliant with lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. According to Google mobility reports, the countrys first level 4 lockdown saw a staggering drop in Kiwis accessing parks, shops, restaurants and workplaces even places deemed essential during the period. It was a similar story nationwide in August 2021.

Kathryn George/Stuff

New Zealanders have generally followed lockdown rules closely during the pandemic. Now, many continue to stay home, even when thats not required.

But would we still reduce our movements, even if we didnt have to?

Approaching Christmas, people in Britain lost their appetite for eating out as Omicron spread. The number of seated diners was at its lowest level since restaurants reopened indoors in May, after a winter lockdown.

Its possible we'll see similar or even more caution exercised in New Zealand as cases rise.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands is currently easing some of the toughest Covid-19 restrictions in Europe. This is despite rising case numbers but in response to waning public support for the measures.

In a blog post for Otago Universitys Department of Public Health, Professor Nick Wilson and others wrote: New Zealanders may also take an Omicron outbreak more seriously than the populations of other countries and hence be more vigilant than expected with mask use (including using higher quality masks, such as N95s), physical distancing and such measures as working from home.

As an early indication, Google reports to January 28 against a baseline of early 2020 show New Zealanders are going out for shorter amounts of time and visits to retail, recreation and workplaces are slightly down.

Unlike Australia, Aotearoa has had the opportunity to apply increased public health measures to lower the Re value of the outbreak, Melbourne-based New Zealand epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely says.

Remember the R number? Its the average number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to. The R0 is essentially the R number when theres nothing to stop the virus. And then theres the Re, the transmission rate once the virus is spreading in the community, but there are obstacles in place to slow it down.

Using a simple mathematical model for illustrative purposes, Blakely outlined two potential scenarios in a population the size of Victoria.

The first, depicting the virus being allowed to spread through the vaccinated population without additional public health measures, the second, with measures similar to New Zealands red setting being introduced at 50,000 daily new infections.

Keep in mind, infections include undiagnosed and asymptomatic cases.

The former scenario sees an Re value of 2.5. With additional public health measures (such as boosters, mask-wearing and limiting large gatherings), the Re is reduced to 1.5. The first wave is sharp, and steep. The second peaks lower and cases are spread over a longer time period.

To be clear, this is just to give us a sense of how turning up restrictions can flatten the curve, which in turn reduces the maximum load on health services. What happens in New Zealand may well be very different.

The sort of restrictions New Zealand already has in place, potentially capping the Re at 1.5 from the get-go, could nearly halve the peak of our wave, Blakely says. But the number of people infected by the waves end is not that much different.

While the idea of 50 per cent or more of the country getting Covid sounds scary, he says theres no need to panic. As long as you protect your vulnerable they can hunker down and get boosted you can allow it to wash through the young, fit and healthy in a managed way.

He adds public health measures mean were unlikely to see the number of Covid-19 cases in hospitals peak at 4000, as early estimates suggested.

More recent modelling for an Omicron variant outbreak of Covid-19 in New Zealand by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation suggests hospital admissions could peak at 2790. But Blakely is more optimistic.

The peak in New South Wales saw 2800 people in hospital on any given day. Victoria peaked at 1200, he says. I suspect youll peak at 1000. Or, if you flatten the curve well, perhaps 500-700.

Its too difficult to say at what point cases will level off. As the expected, significant minority of people who worked from home and avoided crowds through the peak reappear, its possible theyll be oxygen to smouldering embers of the outbreak. This will prolong the wave, but at a more manageable level.

No one can really, totally remove themselves from society, Plank says. I think were likely to see a peak and then a rapid decline.

Some have asked: Would lockdowns make a difference?

Weve previously used lockdowns successfully to eliminate the virus, Plank says. We also used them in response to the Delta outbreak to give us time to get vaccination numbers up.

Were not in that situation any more. Yes, were in the middle of a booster roll out but within a month, the vast majority of adults will be eligible for theirs. So were within striking range of high booster coverage, too.

ANDY MACDONALD / STUFF

A Covid-19 pop-up testing station at the Tahuna Beach Holiday Park.

In coming weeks and months, we can also expect to see more border cases coming into the community.

The issue with a lockdown is: what would be the exit plan?

So, what does all of this mean in the long term?

The Atlantics James Hamblin in February 2020 posited that roughly 40 to 70 per cent of the world would get infected with the virus that causes Covid-19. In December 2021, as a tidal wave of Omicron swept across the US, Hamblin referred to his initial prediction as an understatement.

The prediction was based on a basic model of herd immunity thresholds for a respiratory virus but not one that managed to evolve and re-infect people as quickly as SARS-CoV-2 has, he wrote.

Hes quick to point out infection isnt the same as sickness, and not all sickness is the same. This disease can feel like nothing, or it can send you to the ICU for weeks, only to leave with permanent organ damage.

WARWICK SMITH/Stuff

A vaccination centre in Palmerston North.

Populations with high levels of vaccination will be less affected by Omicron. But in the US, for example, thousands of preventable deaths are occurring largely as the result of people declining vaccination.

Out of self-interest, I ask Plank: If I dont catch Covid-19 in the next three-to-six months, does that mean I could avoid it, forever?

I dont think Covid will go away, he says. I think well be dealing with it in the community for the foreseeable. The level of threat it poses has already diminished thanks to the vaccine. And it will continue to diminish as people have immunity from both vaccines and prior infections.

But that doesnt mean it wont be a public health issue, and that we can forget about it. This wont be the last variant well see.

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Covid-19: What does the red light setting actually do to combat the Omicron outbreak? - Stuff.co.nz

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson confirmed a New Zealand delegation "will attend the environment session and participate in the negotiation of the assembly's decisions".

The session will be based out of Nairobi, Kenya, with delegations able to attend online and in person.

A decision had not yet been made on how the New Zealand delegation would attend, the spokesperson said.

Aotearoa has recently chaired a working group on plastic pollution and it is hoped an internationally binding commitment to help combat plastic pollution can be made at this session.

New Zealand is a founding member of the programme and a national delegation has participated in every assembly meeting.

Since it began in 1972, Aotearoa has contributed over $9.7m to the programme.

"The success of UNEP's work highly depends on the contributions made by Member States...UNEP's work supports global action on environmental issues that have transboundary impacts, like climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution," the spokesperson said.

"UNEP also conducts capacity-building work in developing countries, including in the Pacific, to improve environmental outcomes for our region...It produces world-leading reports on the state of the global environment too."

UNEP has universal membership from all member states in the United Nations.

RNZ

Link:

New Zealand to 'participate in negotiations' at United Nations environment assembly - Newshub

The research can inform how targeted cancer drugs are developed. Photo / Supplied

A new research programme in Auckland is investigating how rare cancers can be better diagnosed and treated.

The programme, for Auckland's Regional Cancer and Blood Service, is part of an Australian-based clinical trial called the Cancer Molecular Screening and Therapeutics (MoST), and is the first of its kind in New Zealand.

Cancer patients who have exhausted other treatment options can have their specific cancer analysed using genomic profiling, to determine if other more targeted therapies are available.

Based at Auckland City Hospital, the programme is in collaboration with the University of Auckland and genomic profiling company Foundation Medicine, part of healthcare company Roche.

Genomic profiling is a diagnostic tool that interrogates a cancer sample at the genetic level, allowing oncologists to look into each person's cancer more deeply.

This then provides clues towards the cancer's specific genetic make-up, allowing clinicians to treat the cancer in a more targeted way, says genomic profiling lead for Roche in New Zealand Stuart Ryan.

"Cancer can be defined in terms of the genetic changes that make it grow and divide," he said.

"And if you can identify those genetic changes, it gives you the opportunity to be able to look at what treatments could be used to target that particular genetic change."

Studies using genomic profiling aim to identify genes that change in cancer, so drugs can be developed to target and suppress those changes, allowing patients to live better and longer.

"As this technology develops and we find more and more genetic changes in cancer, pharmaceutical companies like Roche are developing drugs that target these different genetic changes."

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"Those drugs are generally much more effective than a generic therapy like chemotherapy, as opposed to something that directly targets the genomic change in someone's cancer."

In one example, a New Zealand farmer underwent genomic profiling after two failed therapies for advanced lung cancer.

"In that particular case, the patient had exhausted all other available therapies and the test was able to identify a particular genetic change, and there was a targeted therapy available to treat that genetic change," Ryan said.

"That patient is now, after three years going on that drug, well and healthy and living life to the full."

The programme was the first step in researching how the technology worked in a New Zealand setting, he said.

"What we're here to do is support Auckland Hospital and the university to be able to achieve their goals, and look at how we can bring this technology to New Zealand quicker."

The research programme began last year with the first test result taken in October.

Auckland Hospital's principal investigator Dr Michelle Wilson, a medical oncologist and service clinical director for Cancer and Blood Research, says 17 patients have now consented to genomic testing of their cancers.

"We're aiming to do at least 200 in the next two years, but that's just our starting point," she said.

"We're mainly concentrating on rare cancers and that's where it started in Australia focusing on rare cancers, particularly where we don't have good treatment options."

"This is not going to cure people, but it's about trying to ensure people live longer and live better."

While genomic profiling is normally a self-paid test, there would be no cost to the patient through the clinical trial.

An important aspect of the study was also the insight gathered from interviewing patients, Wilson said.

"One of the exciting things about this project beyond just the genomic testing is that it has a lot of qualitative research it asks the patient a lot about what they want and what they expect," she said.

"That's going to give us really valuable information about how best to move genomic testing forward as well, because we have the patient voice which is so important."

Beginning in Syndey in 2016, MoST research is now underway in multiple sites across Australia. While Auckland City Hospital is the first New Zealand public hospital to take part in the research, Wilson hopes it will also grow throughout the country in the future.

"The aim is that with what we learn we will be able to make it a permanent part of what we can offer to people on a wider scale."

Auckland University professor in molecular medicine and pathology Cristin Print describes the programme as an "energetic partnership" between the university, Auckland DHB and Roche.

The programme was funded throughout its set-up phase with funding from each of the three parties and a grant from the university's Centre for Cancer Research.

Print said the programme was the fastest way to bring the benefits of genomic precision medicine to Auckland patients.

"By including ethically approved research at the centre of this trial, we learn more from every patient about the genetic re-wiring that drives tumours."

Go here to see the original:

New cancer research programme uses genomic profiling that can give patients a second chance - New Zealand Herald

The New Zealand Originals 1905-1906 tour squad, Bill Cunningham is in the back row, third from left. Photo / PA Images

All Black No 82 William 'Bill' Cunningham was born in the small Waip village of Rangiaowhia, about 4km east of Te Awamutu, on July 8, 1874.

Cunningham was born into a rather famous family tree with grandfather Thomas being a New Zealand whaler, trader and founding father; aunty Kate Wyllie (nee. Halbert) was a New Zealand tribal leader; uncle Otene Pitau was a New Zealand Mori leader; uncle Wi Pere was a Mori Member of Parliament; sister Reremoana Hakiwai was a New Zealand cook and community leader, among many other relatives from future generations like author Witi Ihimaera, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa's curator Arapata Hakiwai and former All Black Tu Wyllie.

One of 'The Originals' in 1905-1906 that toured Britain, Cunningham moved to Waihi at a young age.

He played his rugby for Waihi West who were then under the boundary of the Auckland Rugby Football Union.

Cunningham moved to Auckland in 1902 and represented the City (Auckland) and Ponsonby clubs.

He played for Auckland from 1899 until 1913.

Cunningham was a lock, considered to be a "powerhouse scrummager", although he was just 180cm tall and 92kg a big man for the time.

He made his debut for New Zealand against Wellington in 1901 at age 27 but his international debut wouldn't come for another four years, against Scotland at Edinburgh.

Cunningham wasn't selected for New Zealand in 1904 but continued to appear for Auckland.

This was the year of the first Ranfurly Shield match.

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Due to Auckland's unmatched provincial record at the time they were given the shield.

The first shield challenge was against Wellington, and although Auckland had not lost at home in six years, Wellington defeated them 6-3, forfeiting the shield.

The same season, Cunningham and Auckland defeated the British Isles 130, with Cunningham scoring a try.

As "The Originals" were formed in 1905, Cunningham was recalled to the New Zealand squad.

They set off on-board the Rimutaka, for a six-week voyage to the British Isles.

"The Originals'" played 35 games on their tour and lost only one. Cunningham took the field in 23 of these.

New Zealand scored 976 points and conceded 59, still today known as one of the greatest ever All Blacks sides.

Cunningham played 39 All Blacks matches (1901-1908) which included nine tests, playing prop in one and lock in the other eight, scoring one try.

His total of 22 All Blacks points (matches and tests) consisted of two tries and eight conversions.

A goal kicking lock, something that Wallaby John Eales normalised almost a century later, Cunningham also represented the New Zealand Mori side between 1910 and 1912.

It was said by plenty of other players that "there was none like Cunningham".

In Lindsay Knight's biography of Cunningham for the New Zealand Rugby Museum it said:"With his 45 games for Auckland, 39 including nine internationals for his country and matches for North Island (1902 and 1908) and for New Zealand Mori Cunningham finished with the rare feat for a player of his times of more than a century (103) of first class games.

"Cunningham was noted for his cheerfulness and his determined optimism.

"Once when he had given chase to a noted sprinter in a vain attempt to stop a try he was asked by his teammates as the conversion was being taken why he had bothered when his task was so hopeless. 'Because,' replied Cunningham, 'he might have dropped dead'."

George Gillett, a former New Zealand rugby and rugby league player, also from the Waihi area, had stated that Cunningham was a tough player.

"Our old friend Bill Cunningham, and a number of other old players I could mention, would scorn the idea of any medical attention on the field of play and would pass caustic remarks to others who availed themselves of such attention."

In 1907, during his international career, Cunningham had married Ethel Minnie Dance of Waihi and the same year, their only child William Henry Cunningham was born. Sadly, he passed away at 1-day-old.

Cunningham wasn't just a rugby player; he had also been an axeman, a miner and a freezing works labourer all which would have pushed his case as a strong scrummager.

On September 3, 1927, Cunningham passed away from acute meningitis. At the time he was working at an Auckland freezing works.

Members of the New Zealand, Auckland, New South Wales and Thames Rugby Unions attended Cunningham's wake while 1890s New Zealand representative Fred Murray, and fellow 'Originals' Gillett, George Tyler and George Nicholson were the pallbearers for their fallen friend.

Cunningham was laid to rest at Hillsborough Cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in Auckland, which overlooks the Manukau Harbour. He was 52 years old.

An Auckland rugby jersey was thrown on top of his casket, a representation of his service and commitment to the jersey and region buried with his colours.

Here is the original post:

Rugby: Bill Cunningham one of New Zealand's 'Originals' - New Zealand Herald

7 February 2022

New Zealand has started consultations on a proposed income insurance scheme that would support workers made redundant, laid off or forced to step aside because of a health condition or disability.

The scheme has been designed by the Government, Business New Zealand and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and would provide 80% of a persons usual salary for up to seven months, up to the current Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) cap.

Finance Minister Grant Morrison says the scheme is an enduring solution to protect people and the economy after job losses.

As New Zealand moves beyond the economic and social impacts of COVID-19, there are important lessons to be learned from the way we were able to support one another through an unprecedented series of challenges, he said.

During covid, the Wage Subsidy Scheme and Resurgence Support Payment was primarily focused on keeping people in their existing jobs and supporting businesses most directly affected by the pandemic.

Our proposed scheme provides economic security to individuals directly, and supports them to transition into a good, new job, as opposed to economic support packages which keep people in their existing job even if that role is no longer viable, Mr Robertson said.

The scheme would be administered by ACC and would be funded by levies on wages and salaries, with both workers and employers paying an estimated 1.39% each.

The consultation closes on April 26.

Read the rest here:

New Zealand consults on income insurance scheme - Regulatory & Government - Insurance News

Steve Maharey is a Director and was formerly the Vice-Chancellor of Massey University and a Labour Cabinet Minister.

OPINION: Many years ago, I talked with a senior German government official about his view of New Zealand. He had just flown to New Zealand and while on the plane he had been reading briefing papers.

He gained the impression that New Zealand was a rich nation. But upon arrival he quickly formed another view. New Zealand he said, was good at keeping up appearances.

What he meant by this quaint phrase was that we managed to look well-off when in fact we were not.

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Relatively, of course, it is nonsense to say New Zealand is not a rich country. We are ranked around the middle of OECD nations and we (well, many) have a lifestyle that most countries envy. There are plenty of countries worse off.

But this is not the point. It is not a matter of how many nations we are richer than, it is a question of whether we can afford our collective aspirations.

Right now, those aspirations are on stark display. Every day, I read in the media demands for greater investment in infrastructure, climate change mitigation, the environment, housing, health, education, welfare payments, the arts, science, superannuation, conservation, sport the list goes on and on and on.

There may be areas that do not warrant immediate attention but most do. Our health sector, for example, had underlying conditions before Covid, it is now on life support. The same can be said for many items on the list.

The answer for some is simple raise taxes. There is merit in this argument even if only to ensure those on higher incomes pay a fairer share.

But as anyone who has done the sums knows, there are not enough high earners to bridge the gap between national income and national aspirations.

That gap can only be bridged if we have the kind of economy that earns more, allows for higher incomes and sees New Zealanders able to pay more tax.

Wealth on its own will not solve our problems. The United States is the biggest economy in the world and is home to the highest proportion of rich individuals but almost every aspect of its society is crumbling for lack of investment.

The wealth must be shared, and the Government of the day needs the kind of resources that allows it to invest in the areas we will all benefit from.

This is not an easy argument to make. Those on the right of politics might argue for more wealth, but they have an aversion to paying tax even while they lambast governments for not doing enough.

Those on the left seem more focused on spending what wealth there is rather than earning more.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Steve Maharey is a former Cabinet Minister and vice-chancellor of Massey University.

We need to come to an agreement on the need to earn more, pay more tax and support governments to invest in our collective wellbeing.

One of the catchphrases to come out of Covid is Build Back Better. For me this has two elements. The first is that we should focus on quality not quantity. In tourism, for example, lets focus on a smaller number of tourists who spend more.

The second is a more productive, higher-earning economy. We are, for example, a food producing nation. But a casual assessment would suggest we earn about a third of what we could from land and sea because we produce too many commodities and too few finished value-add food products.

How do we make the shift? If Covid was our collective mission over the past two years, our economy now needs to have the same attention.

Leadership from government is essential. A sense of shared purpose between government and business is fundamental.

What we do not want is for anyone to believe that we can pay for our collective aspirations with the economy we currently have.

Ever since the reforms of the 1980s, New Zealanders have hoped for a more inclusive and prosperous future. Perhaps now, in the shadow of Covid, we might decide that the reward for the sacrifices made will come from working together to create the economy we need.

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New Zealand needs to make more money if we're to reach our goals as a nation - Stuff.co.nz

In a rare moment, Auckland Central Green MP Chle Swarbrick and Deputy National leader Nicola Willis have found common ground on aspects of New Zealands housing inequality, including the accommodation supplement.

The accommodation supplement is a payment which helps New Zealand families on low and middle incomes cover their housing costs if they meet certain income and cash-reserve criteria.

Swarbrick took issue with the supplement, and told Breakfast it was going directly into the pockets of landlords, there is thorough research on this now."

And Willis agreed: "Well that's right, one of the major challenges with the accommodation supplement which was made to help people pay their rent, is that there is evidence against it gets passed on to landlords, it doesn't drive new housing supply John.

That's why I promote, let's give community housing providers direct capital funding to build more homes for lower income tenants.

"Direct capital funding."

Thats something we can largely agree with, and it's something that's within the Green's homes for All policy in 2020, Swarbrick said.

Willis said more affordable homes needed to be built for low-income tenants.

Swarbrick also urged that the housing problem was happening right now.

"Whats going to happen in the next year for renters in particular, 1.4m New Zealanders who are living, as we all know, in far less higher quality places than those who own their own property.

Read the rest here:

Rare moment Greens and National agree on NZ's housing 'challenges' - 1News

The conversations that New Zealand families had sitting around the dinner table on February 6, 1974, were contrasting.

For Pita Tipene, 13 at the time, his parents were criticising then Prime Minister Norman Kirk for stripping away the significance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Others were excited a new era may have begun.

The Labour Government had changed Waitangi Day to New Zealand Day to reframe the day on which Mori and the Crown signed the foundational document of Aotearoa in 1840.

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History remembers the name change as a bid to bring a greater sense of nationhood to the country, so that Mori, European, and every other culture could come together under one flag and celebrate as one people.

RICKY WILSON/Stuff

Ngti Hine leader Pita Tipene says the foundations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi are still yet to be met.

But Tipenes whnau saw the change in a different light.

Tipene, chair of the Waitangi National Trust Board and leader of Ngti Hine, says he was too young at the time to understand the significance of the name change.

What got put in the newspapers and into Google searches is a little bit different to what was happening here.

Hindsight is God's gift to fools, I wouldnt have realised at the time.

Just 14 years prior, the Waitangi Day Act of 1960 declared that February 6 be known as Waitangi Day and would be observed nationally although not as a public holiday.

However, Kirk announced in 1973 that the following year the day would be known as New Zealand Day and that it would become a national public holiday.

The commemorations at Waitangi in 1974 were nothing short of pageantry, with Queen Elizabeth II in attendance for the celebrations, which included the show, Aotearoa, depicting the country's journey towards nationhood with parts played by people of many cultures.

However, New Zealand Day proved to be short-lived.

Stuff

Queen Elizabeth II and then Prime Minister Norman Kirk at Waitangi on New Zealand Day, 1974.

Following Kirks sudden death in 1974, and the National Partys rise to power under Robert Muldoon, the Waitangi Day Act of 1976 put an end to Kirks vision.

But Tipene says the New Zealand Day vision was flawed from the beginning.

People in our community thought it was a whitewash and trying to water down Te Tiriti and what it means to tpuna.

They were trying to appease middle New Zealand.

Kelly Hodel/Stuff

Kaumtua and Professor Tom Roa says there were mixed feelings about New Zealand Day among Mori.

Kaumtua and Mori and indigenous studies Professor Tom Roa, of Ngti Maniapoto and Waikato Tainui, was studying at Victoria University at the time.

He remembers mixed perspectives across Moridom about the name change.

I do recall some of our people welcoming this inclusiveness. There was a genuine Mori euphoria, there was hope for a better society and if there was hope at recovering, then lets try it.

However, he also remembers others viewing the name change as another way for the Crown to ignore the promises of Te Tiriti.

KATHRYN GEORGE/STUFF

Stuff's NZ Made/N Nu Treni project: When the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, Mori owned more than 66 million acres of land. By 1975, almost 97 per cent had been sold or taken. (Last published February 1, 2021.)

New Zealand Day was a Crown construct. It may have had all the good intentions in the world, but it ignored the Mori partners.

Naming it New Zealand Day gave it a preference to the English. Had the proper treatment been made to consult with the treaty partners, the day would have remained Waitangi Day.

Still, Roa says he appreciates what Kirk was trying to do.

By separating Treaty issues from a day of unity, Kirk was trying to bring the nation together as a whole, but it is impossible to separate the two, says Roa.

The issue is Te Tiriti o Waitangi was an agreement between the rangatira Mori who signed the treaty of the time and the Crown, but over time the Crown made all the decisions.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi was a promise of the future, he says, but changing the name of the day marking its signing without consultation and moving forward without understanding what the Treaty represented and meant to Mori was the wrong move, Roa says.

I grew up with the stories and saw that, in the early days, there was real promise, Roa says. But then those who saw opportunities through using the war machinery of the most powerful country at the time, they didnt want to share with Mori the riches of this land, and the promise of Te Tiriti was destroyed. I think were still suffering the effects today.

I think people like Pita and I, I would call us fortunate in that our parents talked to us about this, our elders shared with us as it was important for us to know.

John Bisset/Stuff

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is about the promise of a future for all, like Aria Patangata, pictured at a Waitangi Day celebration in 2020.

The mana of [Waitangi] and the rangatira there who first signed the Treaty are somewhat diminished when we say its New Zealand Day, but the mana is strengthened when we say Waitangi Day.

Tipene says there have been huge strides in respect for the Treaty since he was sitting at that table with his whnau 50 years ago.

There's a wider understanding of what Governor William Hobson declared when the Treaty was signed, Tipene says.

When Hobson said He iwi tahi ttou at Waitangi when the Treaty was signed, he wasnt saying we are one people, says Tipene. He was saying we are two people, one nation.

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Im one, and one of many, who really appreciates the significance.

Its the signing of a document that set the foundations of a nationhood that certainly havent been reached but we are on a journey where New Zealanders are changing in their hearts and minds.

Some still view February 6 as a day for the beach or a public holiday to do as you please, but Tipene says all New Zealanders should take the time to think about the past, how its impacted the present, and where Aotearoa wants to be in the future.

All New Zealanders should be thinking about what it meant in 1840, and what it means now in 2022 and beyond.

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How the good intentions of 'New Zealand Day' diminished the mana of the Treaty - Stuff.co.nz