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The funding will be used to make structural upgrades including improvements to two of the Rangitīkei settlement’s main buildings.

A new pou whenua has been installed at the beginning of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing to recognise the cultural significance of the landscape and protect hikers.

“We’ve had a rough time over the last 12 months. At a time like this, the opening of Te Ara Mangawhero is much needed,” the district’s mayor says.

Central North Island iwi Ngāti Rangi is offering housing opportunities to tribal members in the iwi’s first housing development.

Weston Kirton says costs will go up, regardless of which new service delivery model the council chooses.

Hauora providers say the free clinics revealed the severity of dental health issues among Māori and the extreme need for access to treatment.

Members of three central North Island iwi are preparing to elect their first board of trustees since signing a $28.5 million Treaty settlement.

Manawa Energy’s proposal for a wind farm near Taihape could be on a fast path to construction.

The final cost is expected to come in at between $73.5 and $74.2 million, with Whanganui ratepayers paying 27.5 percent.

Whanganui River iwi are banding together with councils, DOC and others to avert a potential biosecurity disaster.

Ngāti Rangi says the community has drawn together, the iwi had fought to find a way to keep the mills going.

Ruapehu District councillors are seeking advice on the consequences if they refuse to run a binding poll on its Māori ward on at next October’s election.

More than half of the 45 district, city and regional councils have voted in the past month, with all but two choosing to retain their Māori seats for the 2025 elections.

Ruapehu mayor Weston Kirton says he is deeply concerned as around 230 jobs are on the line.

Councillors left no doubt about their own feelings at a community meeting in Ohakune on their Ruapehu Māori ward.

A rural council that hit its debt ceiling while expecting relief from Three Waters cash is warning that the cost of water services is about to balloon.

A collection of freshwater gold clams were discovered after guests left a lodge in Ōwhango, in the central North Island.

The New Zealand Defence Force is moving ahead with a $490 million expansion and upgrade of housing at its military training base in Waiouru.

Recyclables will be collected weekly at the roadside, hand-sorted and disposed of by contractors.

A community effort to create more space for whitebait to spawn in the Whanganui River came up against an unexpected snag.

Pay for elected council members hinders local government’s ability to attract and retain qualified councillors, a mayor says.

The new rates are determined “with a lot of difficulty” but the increase aligns with the public sector.

A Whanganui marae leader is hailing a “brave decision” by Whanganui District Council to set aside $3.5 million in its 10-year plan for marae upgrades but says social media backlash has been “vile”.

Emma Rawson-Te Patu said the immediate priority for her two-year tenure at international organisation was decolonising public health globally.

A major provider of school lunches fears the government’s new $3 limit for most students will see them eating more pre-packaged and processed food.

National Park is the current name for the village on the western edge of Tongariro National Park but iwi researchers claim Waimarino as the original name.

Rangitīkei mayor Andy Watson is keeping a close eye on the issue of scale in new entities that could be set up to run water services.

The repeal of water service reforms has left some councils with significant debt problems, a district mayor says.

The relationship between Māori and the Whanganui council today is “vastly different” compared to 29 years ago, mayor Andrew Tripe says.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi’s members’ bill to scrap GST on food has been drawn from the ballot, but a National MP says the government has other plans.

Iwi and residents of National Park have a long wait ahead for a decision on a bid to have the central North Island village renamed Waimarino.

The latest request from local iwi to change the name of National Park Village and the nearby station to Waimarino is a chapter in a long tale.

A close-knit community in the central North Island is divided over an iwi bid to change its name.

A speaker accused of insulting Winston Peters and Shane Jones at Rātana is being investigated by the government department he works for.

Local government leaders have addressed the paepae at Rātana with messages of support, laying down a plea for Māori to make their political views understood.

Iwi leader Ken Mair says the turnout in Whanganui of hundreds of people in December is just the start.

Whanganui and neighbouring iwi will travel to Ngāruawāhia to meet with the Kiingitanga over concenrs about the new government.

Submissions have more than quadrupled on an iwi proposal to change the name of National Park village and railway station in the central North Island.

Relocating a controversial war memorial from a historic Whanganui reserve is expected to be lengthy process due to the “sensitive issues” involved. The 158-year-old Weeping Woman monument will be removed from Pākaitore after objections to its inscription condemning upriver Māori for “fanaticism and barbarism”. Pākaitore Historic Reserve Board chair Jay Rerekura said the Reserve Board decided to remove the monument

The country’s oldest war memorial will be removed from an historic Whanganui reserve following objections to an inscription condemning upriver Māori for “fanaticism and barbarism”.

It’s not clear when Waimarino suddenly became just “National Park”, but iwi are calling for the tourist village to be given its historic name back.

An iwi bid to change the name of National Park back to Waimarino has been accepted by the Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa NZ Geographic Board.

Whanganui is the last council in the Manawatū-Whanganui region to establish Māori wards.

The majority of those who took part in a council survey want to see Māori wards introduced in Whanganui.

The council said it has received more than $4.2m to build resilience to the impacts of climate change and recover from Cyclone Gabrielle.

The longest suspension bridge in Aotearoa will be built as part of the infamous “missing link” of the Mountains to Sea trail in the central North Island.

Overburdened, understaffed, under-resourced, under the pump – all are words used to describe Whanganui Hospital’s strained emergency department.

Iwi of the Whanganui River expect a new strategy unveiled on Friday will reform resource management in the catchment.

The long-term strategy to address the wellbeing of the Whanganui River system will be unveiled on Friday.

Regional Development and Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty says the redevelopment of Whanganui Port sets the scene for continued economic growth and will build vital resilience for the…

Whanganui will have Māori wards if its council gives weight to a public meeting strongly in favour of guaranteeing Māori representation.

After decades away, one of the last survivors of the historic Hatrick riverboat fleet has returned to the awa.

Whanganui District Council is backing a forecast for high population growth as a starting point for its next 10-year plan.

Rates in some of the poorest areas of Whanganui will increase by nearly 20 percent, while affluent suburbs will see rates rise only 0.5 percent on average.

Rates in Whanganui will rise an average 8.3 percent following the adoption of Whanganui District Council’s annual plan on Tuesday.

Whanganui District Council has voted to keep the aviary at Rotokawau Virginia Lake open, despite heartfelt opposition from several councillors concerned about the birds’ welfare.

A new process for handing over the spiritual component of Te Matatini – the premier event for Māori performing arts – has been enacted at Rātana Pā.

A Whanganui resident says flooding danger in the riverside marae community of Pūtiki is a tragedy waiting to happen.

A delegation of Whanganui River Māori is travelling to the United States to support North American Indigenous leaders and tribes of the under-threat Colorado River.

Te Tai Hauāuru MP and Speaker of the House Adrian Rurawhe will not stand for the Māori electorate in October’s general election and will instead move to the Labour Party list.

Climate change has become a critical focus for Māori agribusiness Ātihau-Whanganuiorporation. It has set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent before 2028. The collective of…

The cost of rural rail transport must drop, Ruapehu mayor Weston Kirton says, as Taumarunui reinstated as a stop on the main trunk line.

Paul Diamond spent 18 years “searching for traces” of the circumstances surrounding the sensational 1920 shooting in Whanganui of returned soldier and poet Walter D’Arcy Cresswell by Whanganui mayor…

A flight school in Whanganui is expecting to more than double its number of trainee pilots within the next year.

The tragic and scandalous story of a 1920s shooting, a blackmailer, and a mayor outed as homosexual is being revived as part of Aotearoa’s LGBTQI history.

More than 300 people turned out to a community meeting in Whanganui last night to fight plans to sell water from an artesian bore near Whanganui River.

For the first time in its history, women in New Zealand’s Parliament will have an equal share of seats in the House.

The impact of Covid-19 on Māori will be under the spotlight in new research that aims to improve future pandemic responses.

Local government newcomer Andrew Tripe has ousted two-term mayor Hamish McDouall and will lead a Whanganui council that has gender equality.

Māori are being urged to get their local government voting papers in as soon as possible, with voting closing at 12pm this Saturday.

A Whanganui iwi leader says a plan to extract and sell 750,000 litres a week of groundwater from a bore near the Whanganui River is stealing and confiscation.

Nearly 100 people have found jobs as part of the Whanganui port upgrade Te Pūwaha.

Mayoral hopefuls in Ruapehu and Rangitīkei are overwhelmingly in support of Māori wards but the three Whanganui contenders are divided, according to a new survey canvassing all 291 mayoral candidates…

A mayoral candidate has been released from prison after serving a sentence he evaded for years.

The Whanganui police area commander says plans for a new police hub are progressing and a revised completion date will soon be set.

Scott Phillips is satanist and an “extreme wedding” celebrant. He’s also standing for Whanganui District Council.

A mayoral candidate convicted after threatening to burn down an RSA and attack Parliament with explosives is in custody in Whanganui Prison on a charge relating to the 2018 conviction.

A district council is installing dozens of isolation valves across a water network to help solve the mystery of massive water losses.

A last-minute flood of nominations has filled every seat on Horizons Regional Council and district councils in Ruapehu, Whanganui and Rangitīkei – but not every vacancy will be contested.

With fewer than 24 hours before nominations for October’s local body elections close, people are being encouraged to get their nominations in.

With just days to go, district councils in Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei have not received enough nominations to fill their chambers.

Early stages of work on the Whanganui port upgrade are running over budget because of a new way of working under the legal status of the Whanganui River.

A singer-songwriter and educator is throwing his hat into the ring for the Whanganui mayoralty.

The impact of Māori mental wellbeing services and a community effort to prevent suicide in Whanganui, Rangitīkei and Ruapehu left a visiting minister “quite emotional”.

A district mayor says the local government sector is ready to launch into a future that embraces more youthful members, Māori and climate change action.

Elijah Pue Pue said his campaign would focus on economic development, the climate emergency and removing red tape to boost housing and community wellbeing.

A major new exhibition about the Whanganui River and its people opens on Monday, showcasing new taonga and ancient treasures from its previously unseen Taonga Māori collection.

Māori bread baked in Whanganui using a starter bug handed down over generations will feature on the world stage in a Unesco project.

Labour MP Adrian Rurawhe could become only the second Māori to take on the role of Speaker of the House.

A national science challenge study of Māori brain health will draw on whakairo (carving), karakia (prayer and incantation), mōteatea (chanted song-poetry) and other traditional sources to understand…

An iwi health research institute is calling for rongoā Māori to take its “rightful place” in the way Aotearoa cares for people.

A new mental health crisis response team will be established in Whanganui with $3.5 million from the Proceeds of Crime Fund.

The amount of cargo being shipped through Whanganui is set to triple with new investment to boost coastal shipping around the country.

A Māori public health advocate and researcher has become the first indigenous woman appointed to lead the World Federation of Public Health Associations.

Whanganui District Council has delegated the city’s Mayor to lobby for a Green Party member’s Bill to reduce alcohol harm.

Iwi say they are fed up with being wrongly accused of being a barrier to progress.

An Australian politician is consulting with iwi on how they gained the protection of legal personhood for the Whanganui River with the aim of extending protections across the ditch.

A Ruapehu District councillor says efforts will continue to put in place a plan for Three Waters reforms that protect property rights and community voice.

A central North Island iwi leader says hapū want their own authentic stories taught in the Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum.

A Whanganui iwi leader says the government’s decision to ease Covid-19 measures at this time is a disgrace and shocking.

Historic sites in and around Tongariro National Park are to be restored by Ngāti Tūwharetoa hapū as part of a new Jobs for Nature project.

The number of people with Covid-19 in Whanganui Hospital is climbing as the hospital also deals with a growing number of cases among staff.

Whanganui District Council’s approach to climate change has helped the city win international recognition for the seventh time.

The Ministry of Education says 170 of the Whanganui, Manawatū and Taranaki’s 176 primary, intermediate and secondary schools reported cases among students or staff in the 10 days to Monday.

An iwi collective working across four North Island regions fears there are many cases they don’t know about.

Flocks of kererū, kākā and tītī could make a comeback in the central North Island if a tribe’s vision for a 2700ha ‘inland island’ sanctuary moves ahead.

The Department of Conservation has closed the Whanganui River to kayakers and canoeists on the upper and middle reaches after four paddlers tested positive for Covid-19.

Covid-19 is spreading fastest among children and teens in the Whanganui and Rangitīkei Covid-19 outbreak as the region faces the second-lowest rate of child 5 to 11 vaccinations in the country.

Māori uptake of first and second vaccinations has stalled as Covid-19 vaccination teams meet “a final wall of resistance”, says a Māori health analyst.

Eleven new Covid-19 cases have been found in the rural Rangitīkei area of Marton, bringing the number of active cases in the Marton outbreak to 20.

The museum’s famed collection of taonga Māori will be overseen by a Māori curatorial collective in the first arrangement of its kind in Aotearoa.

Whanganui city’s economic development agency wants to see locals swiping right on a new matchmaking app set up to pair local businesses with skilled workers.

A $16 million marae renovation programme is drawing to a close, with a third of marae in the west of the North Island, the top of the South Island and the Chatham Islands benefiting from major…

Māori health providers are holding back on Covid-19 vaccinations for children in the face of growing anti-vaxxer protest in the wider Whanganui region. A Te Ranga Tupua iwi collective mobile team and residents in Raetihi. Photo: Supplied / Te Ranga Tupua That is despite the area recording the second-lowest rate in the country of vaccinations for children aged 5 to

A mobile Covid-19 team in Rangitīkei will head into back-block farm stations in the drive to close the vaccination gap for Māori as the country braces for Omicron.

Māori communities at a dangerously high risk of Omicron spread need more support to prepare for isolation, infection and illness, researcher Rāwiri Taonui warns.

An iwi is searching for a storage area for food and basic supplies as it prepares to support the Whanganui community through the widely expected Omicron outbreak.

A Covid-19 Māori health analyst says more than 106,000 vaccinated Māori are not eligible for a booster shot until after 1 March – too late to protect against the expected Omicron surge.

A Covid-19 Māori health analyst is calling on the government to prioritise Māori and Pasifika children in the 5-11 years vaccine rollout or risk the consequences of a “brown pandemic”.

Whanganui iwi Tūpoho is opening the region’s first Covid-19 saliva testing clinic tomorrow, as part of a community approach it hopes will be picked up around the country.

An iwi collective’s Covid-19 campaign to lift Māori vaccination will go out on the front foot with an online information blitz to tackle hesitancy about vaccinating children.

Whanganui River iwi concerned about the risk of collision between canoeists and jetboaters are to put a team of monitors on the water to ensure the safety of river users.

Thousands of Rātana followers, politicians and dignitaries have been asked to stay away because of the threat of Covid-19 and most traditional activities have been called off.

A leader of an intensive effort to boost Māori Covid-19 vaccinations says nurses are in short supply and it’s time to look at training more Māori.

Planning will get underway to enable the tribal river wānanga the Tira Hoe Waka to go ahead in 2023 after being axed for two years running.

The two-week journey down the Whanganui River for the River tribes has been happening every year since 1988, but has been axed for the second year running because of the threat of Covid-19.

The Awa FM Executive Committee is pleased to present the station’s Annual Report 2020/2021. You can download the reports here. Don’t forget to register for the Awa FM Annual General Meeting being held next week, Wednesday 22 December at 11am via virtual webinar! Find more information on the AGM below or register here. Annual General Meeting for Te Reo Irirangi

A Covid-19 Māori health analyst is urging Māori to “take action and work together” to reduce the impact of expected Delta outbreaks as the country begins travelling.

Ruapehu District Council is proposing a sinking lid policy for pokie machines and venues.

A Covid-19 researcher says opening the Auckland border has exposed nearly half of the Māori population to the risk of contracting Delta – and children could be the biggest spreaders.

The 15th of December is D-Day for the Ranga Tupua iwi collective as it scrambles to protect vulnerable communities in the central plateau, Rangitīkei, South Taranaki and Whanganui against Covid-19.

The Ranga Tupua iwi collective will use millions of dollars of government funding to send mobile units into isolated, rural and vulnerable communities to help them prepare for Covid-19.

Up to 33 health workers employed by Whanganui District Health Board will be stood down on pay and may lose their jobs because they have not been vaccinated against Covid-19.

A Ngāti Rangi leader says housing is a top priority for the central North Island iwi.

Six people are standing for two positions on the board of one of the biggest farmers in the country, the Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation.

The government and Whanganui River iwi have jointly appointed a new Pou Tupua to act and speak on behalf of Te Awa Tupua, the special status accorded to the Whanganui River.

Aotearoa New Zealand is leading a world-first event at Expo 2020 Dubai to support the resurgence of Indigenous and tribal economies.

Māori voters will only be able to vote for Māori ward candidates in the 2022 local elections if they are already on the Māori electoral roll – and the next opportunity to switch rolls is currently…

A new courthouse will be built in Whanganui with “community-led wellbeing” central to its design, Justice Minister Kris Faafoi announced today.

Māori advocates will march against Ruapehu District Council in Taumarunui in protest at what they describe as the minimising of Māori representation, participation and “an undertone” of institutional…

Whanganui River iwi leaders have performed a dawn ritual in Dubai to dedicate Aotearoa New Zealand’s immersive pavilion “experience” ahead of the opening of the six-month world trade exposition.

Seven mayors, the regional council chair and seven tangata whenua representatives are setting up a working group to develop a regional climate action plan for Whanganui-Manawatū.

Ruapehu District councillors are to hold a workshop to help decide whether to open meetings with a karakia or any prayer, after a councillor walked out in protest at a karakia.

A Regional Film Office has been established in Whanganui to stimulate economic growth, support local film industry talent and potentially help grow Whanganui as a regional screen production hub.

Whanganui and Manawatū can expect more hot days and fewer frosts, less rain in the east but more and heavier rain in the west, and more floods, according to a new climate risk assessment.

The second meeting of the Horizons Regional Council’s Climate Action Joint Committee this week has been hailed as a milestone in the council’s response to climate change and its partnership with iwi.

Horizons Regional Council is proposing two new Māori constituencies for its local election in October next year, each with one elected member.

The national strategy of vaccinating against Covid-19 through general and mass events is not working for Māori, a Covid-19 researcher says.

A Māori wards advocate says Ruapehu District Council’s refusal to lift its proposal for Māori ward seats from two to three is “another example” of why Māori turn their back on participation in local…

A collective of iwi is urging Māori to take their whānau for Covid jabs without delay.

The Ruapehu District Council is being asked to increase the number of Māori seats under its representation proposal.

The gap between Covid-19 vaccination rates for Māori and the general population in Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei is expected to narrow as Whanganui DHB’s pro-equity strategy gathers pace.

An iwi-owned research institute has received $5m in health research funding for a programme to drive better health outcomes for Māori.

Māori landowners are being called to a whenua Māori conference in Whanganui next month to identify and support land development and economic opportunities.

Covid-19 vaccinations for entire communities in rural Whanganui have begun.

Many people are living in an extreme state of stress and the mental health services sector is “overwhelmed”, a new community-led strategic group for suicide prevention says.

Group of local and Crown entitities is meant to aid Whanganui region, but draws fire from iwi leader.

Hapū and iwi of the Whanganui region will each have a curator-in-residence under a concept being explored by the Whanganui Regional Museum.

A “surge” of people are lining up for Covid-19 vaccinations across the Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei districts as vaccination teams prepare to ramp up the rollout with the expected arrival of one…

Whanganui Regional Museum is searching for its first Māori curator.

Horizons Regional Council has signed off a 10-year transport investment plan that prioritises fixing roading problems in and around Palmerston North and speeding up inter-regional road travel.

A district council is trying to solve the mystery of why hundreds of thousands of litres of drinking water is disappearing every day in a small mountain town.

Marae trusts have been studying digital technology as part of a $24 million plan to connect hundreds of marae around the country with broadband.

Iwi leader Ken Mair is calling for an independent investigation into what he describes as “disgraceful” use of police force against Māori.

Whanganui has lost the opportunity to introduce Māori wards at next year’s local body elections but Mayor Hamish McDouall says iwi may get seats this year on key council committees.

Māori health providers in Whanganui will begin vaccinating Māori and Pasifika aged 50 and older against Covid-19, and Whānau aged over 16 who live with them will also be offered the vaccine.

Manawatū District Council came to a virtual standstill today as councillors and staff faced more than 150 tangata whenua demanding one thing: a Māori ward.

Māori wards supporters are planning a final push to show Horizons Regional Council they want Māori wards next year.

Māori voters who responded to a Horizons Regional Council survey overwhelmingly support bringing in Māori wards next year.

Tangata whenua grappling with a deluge of environmental and water reforms say setting up “super-entities” to deal with water would widen the gap between Māori and decision-making.

A Ruapehu District councillor left over 12-second speech, saying that he prefers “politics and religion did not mix”.

Iwi and iwi health providers pushing for earlier Covid-19 vaccination for Māori over the age of 50 are at the same time searching for ways to deal with vaccine hesitancy.

Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall says the two-year government review into the future of local government will find major systemic issues but local decisions should continue to be made locally.

Whanganui District Health Board is considering earlier vaccination for Māori over the age of 50 in the third tier of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout starting in May.

Whanganui District Council and iwi are looking at partnering in a joint initiative to address the housing crisis recently described as horrific by local iwi.

Whanganui District Council’s property and services committee has agreed unanimously to change the name of the Opera House to include an ‘h’ in Whanganui.

A Bill giving councils power to write off rates arrears, make unused Māori land unrateable, and allow multiple homes on Māori land is a start to a wider conversation about Māori land, a Ruapehu…

A Māori-led programme for at-risk mothers and their babies in the Whanganui district is an example of allowing community health practitioners to design local services that are relevant and meet…

Iwi representatives will be appointed with full voting rights to a new committee formed by the Whanganui-Manawatū Regional Council, Horizons.

Half the general practitioners in Whanganui plan to retire within five years, sparking a search for new doctors for the region.

Whanganui District Council favours a proposal to replace the city’s failing Velodrome with a $20 million roofed facility.

Whanganui is aiming to join 38 cities recognised, hoping to become New Zealand’s only UNESCO Creative City of Design.

New research released today shows that 93 percent of Māori in Aotearoa experience racism every day, and even more – 96 percent – say racism is a problem for their whānau.

Hundreds of cancer patients each year will be saved the stress of travelling to Palmerston North for treatment with the opening of Whanganui Hospital’s new chemotherapy unit.

Whanganui and neighbouring iwi will travel to Ngāruawāhia at the weekend to meet with the Kiingitanga and other iwi concerned about the plans of the new coalition government.

Whanganui council is seeking ratepayer support to sell $16 million of assets in the next year to keep its rates increase to 10.6 percent, but is not yet sure which ones.

A Whanganui school lunch contractor says kaupapa Māori suppliers could be out of the picture under the government’s new free school lunch model.

The mill, which employs 230 people across two sites in the central North Island, announced it was closing due to high electricity prices.

A wind farm near Taihape big enough to power 150,000 homes could be on a fast path to construction.