Conference speakers
Tauira Professional Development Day speakers
Kura Moeahu, QSO
Te Kāhui Maunga, Ngā Ruahine, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Mutunga, Taranaki-tuturu, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Toa
Kura Moeahu has strong whakapapa connections to the Wellington Region and Taranaki. Raised amongst his mother’s people of Waiwhetu Marae. A tribal leader for his people he is currently the Chair of Waiwhetu and Pipitea Marae, Te Rūnanganui o Te Āti Awa, Atiawa Toa FM Radio and the Harbour Island Kaitiaki Board. A board member of Creative NZ, Deputy Chair of the Wellington Māori Cultural Society. Kura also holds a number of directorship and advisory roles.
A Cultural Advisor and Consultant who has a strong a background in Māori governance, Strategic Planning, Treaty of Waitangi Facilitator, Iwi Engagement, as well as the Tumu Whakarae/Principle Advisor Māori in Parliament, overseeing and ensuring tikanga Māori is upheld and promoted within Parliamentary Services. Highly sought for his knowledge in mātauranga Māori and local iwi knowledge in the Wellington region. A true orator of his people and steeped in ancient karakia, whakapapa, kōrero tuku iho.
In 2022, he was honoured with Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian Award and the Te Awe Māori Business Network Awards for his service to the community. Kura was also acknowledged and received the Companion Queens Service Order in the 2023 New Years Honours.
Fluent in Te Reo Māori, passionate storyteller and composer of many waiata about his people and takiwa. Both he and his wife Alishia are a formidable couple, often seen leading many functions throughout the Wellington region, on parliament, as well as at local, regional, national and international events.
Kura has a strong commitment to the long-term wellbeing and sustainability of Te Āti Awa Taranaki Whānui identity and presence through the empowerment of Te Reo Māori me ona Tikanga. He believes in achieving a balance between his Te Āti Awa Taranaki Whānui identity, continued learning, professional advancement and empowering others to achieve their true potential. Kura is inspired by the legacy of proud mentors who worked selflessly to protect their whānau, hapū and communities and who educated their children to achieve the highest standards in their chosen endeavours. Kura is committed to performing his best to benefit of ngā iwi katoa.
Both Kura and his wife enjoy spending time together with whānau, friends, especially their mokopuna.
John and Orewa Ohia
Fifty-four years have passed since the 70's and it’s an honour to find that a new generation of young people want to hear our stories from the times when we stood as young Nga Tamatoa to 'fight back' for things Māori. We did it in a different way - a loud, proud and fearlessly determined way, the likes of which governments of the time and the people of Aotearoa had never seen before.
Our numbers were few although we had branches throughout the motu. We were the young people who’d had enough of the domination of pakeha governments and institutions.
In Auckland there was a group hitting the headlines. They were passionate, smart, proud, and active. They were Nga Tamatoa. John was a founding member of the Auckland group.
In Hamilton a smaller group, mostly students would set up with the tautoko of Hana Te Hemara, Syd Jackson, Linda Smith and eventually the wider the Auckland group.
Being a part of Nga Tamatoa was, at times, tough going especially when our own decried what we were doing. But it was also a good feeling to stand shoulder to shoulder with other young Māori to fight for our whenua, our reo, a better future for our tamariki, our health and our 'ahuatanga Māori’. It’s an even better feeling to see the victories we’ve had and the things we’ve taken back.
Nga Tamatoa: The modern-day warriors of their time who dared to:
- confront governments and conservatives
- publicly expose injustice head-on.
- challenged the status quo of the time where things Māori were being sidelined and suppressed.
- create slogans to express our intentions, such as 'Māori Control of Māori Things'
- stick up for rangatahi/taiohi/tamariki Māori being suspended and expelled from schools
- say that te reo Māori is a taonga that should be taught in our schools, protected and even celebrated
- say that being Māori made us feel strong and awesome
- that we had no intentions ever of laying our heads on 'that smooth pillow' and dying off.
Orewa Barrett-Ohia
Annette Sykes (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Mākino)
Annette is a human rights lawyer specialising in the rights of indigenous peoples to promote their own, separate systems of law. She has a strong focus in her career on all aspects of law as they affect Māori, especially constitutional change. Admitted to the bar in 1985, Annette was the first wahine Māori lawyer to appear as counsel in the Waitangi Tribunal for the Te Reo Māori claim in 1986.
She has been an active member of the New Zealand Criminal Bar, the Family Courts Association and Te Hunga Rōia Māori, (Māori Law Society). She is also an advocate in the specialist jurisdictions of the Waitangi Tribunal, Māori Land Court and Appellate courts as well as the other general courts of New Zealand.
Annette is renowned for her social activism and founding membership of protest movements against the New Zealand government on issues affecting Māori, and this has been an active part of her career and community advocacy. These direct-action strategies have led to government policy change such the Te Reo Māori movement and petition in the 1970s, and were part of drafting the legislation for the Māori Language Act 1987.
Annette has also been a strident advocate for ‘te pani me te rawakore’. The poor and dispossessed have been an important driver of her work as a lawyer in Rotorua, and she has lived daily with the realities of the poor, marginalised and homeless.
Annette has been practicing law since 1984 and currently has her own law practice in Rotorua, Annette Sykes & Co Ltd. She is also an Adjunct Professor lecturing a Tikanga Law paper with the Law Faculty at the University of Auckland. This is a full circle highlight of her career as a commitment to teach a new generation of lawyers, to enable the inculcation of Tikanga Māori as the first law of this country.
Donna Awatere
Coming soon
Beverly Te Huia Ellison
Ngāti Kahungunu/Ngai Tahu
Bachelor Midwifery, PGDip HSc, Master Public Health, PhD Candidate.
Manager Health: Kahungunu Health Services Manager. Academic in Māori.
Health: Recipient of Emerging Leaders Award Health Research Council.
Guided by Hinetiwaiwa - clinical research working with Māori midwives, hapu mama and their whanau, implementing ‘He Tohu o Kukunetanga’ - A Māori gestational calendar.
Passionate about ‘living, learning and our Tangata’.
Ebony Komene
Ko wai au?
He uri ahau nō Te Arawa, Ngāpuhi, me Tainui.
Ko Komene raua ko Taiatini ōku whānau ingoa.
E noho ana au ki Whangārei inaianei.
Ko Ebony Komene tāku ingoa.
Ko nēhi rāua ko kairangagau ahau, e mahi ana ki Waipapa Taumata Rau.
As a Māori registered nurse, doctoral candidate, and professional teaching fellow at Waipapa Taumata Rau (University of Auckland), I am dedicated to advancing the Māori nursing workforce. My background is in primary healthcare and research nursing. I also support coordination in Te Tai Tokerau (Northland), as well as national coordination, research, and evaluation of the NP/EN Workforce Development Programme.
Together with my colleagues, we are committed to developing and strengthening the Māori and Pacific nursing workforce in primary healthcare. My research endeavours to illuminate the taonga that Māori nurses are to the future wellbeing of whānau, hapu, me ngā iwi katoa.
I am honored to be a recipient of the Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga PhD scholarship, through which I am researching taonga tuku iho—the inherent and inherited contributions of Māori Nurse Practitioners in Primary Healthcare.
Hilda Halkyard-Harawira
He uri au nō Ngāti Haua ki Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whātua, Te Aupouri me Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. He Karani Māmā, he kaiako, he kaihoe waka ama. Kua tono au mō te turanga tuarua o Ngāti Haua ki Whangape.
He rauhuia o Te Aho Matua 1993, he mema motuhake o Te Runanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori.
Mahi Hāpori
- He mema o Ngā Tamatoa
- Pacific Peoples Anti Nuclear Action Committee
- Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific
- Waitangi Action Committee
- Te Kawariki
- Women's Refuge Kaitaia
- Co-founder of Aniwaniwa Kohanga Reo
- Te Rangi Aniwaniwa Kura Kaupapa Māori
- Te Wānanga o Te Rangi Aniwaniwa
- Rangaunu Sports Club
- Kaiwhakahaere o Te Kōtiu He Kāhui Tumuaki o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Tai Tokerau mai 2015.
- He mema o National Action Plan Against Racism.
- Currently a Māori ward councillor in Far North District Council.
Kaupapa Ngākaunui ki a au
- Aku mokopuna
- Kia tautoko nga mahi o rātou mā kua para te huarahi mō tātou o Te Rarawa, Muriwhenua whānui.
- Kia u ki Te Reo Māori, te mana whenua, mana moana, mana motuhake o Ngāi Māori.
- Takahi te kaikiritanga me ngā ārai ki te mana motuhake.
- Kia tū Te Hiku MEA-Māori Education Authority hei whakamaru i ngā kura Reo Māori o Te Kainga.
Ngā mihi
Linda Munn
Ko Kopukairoa te Maunga
Ko Waitao te Awa
Ko Maataatua te Waka
Ko Nga Potiki te Iwi
Ko Romainohorangi te Tupuna
Ko Tahuwhakatiki te Marae
Ko Linda Munn ko au
I also whakapapa to Ngati Manu no Karetu and Te Atiawa ki Kai Tahu
Artist Biography – Linda Munn
Linda Munn was guided and mentored by a group of strong and forward thinking Wahine who were key members of the Black Women’s Movement Aotearoa and Tamatoa and subsequently became involved with numerous protest events. The land Movement, Anti-nuclear demonstration’s, Springbok tour and Hikoi to Waitangi, these were all significant in the reclamation of Māori culture, Te Reo, Whenua, basically not to be treated as 2nd class people on our own land.
In 1989 the idea of Māori being able to fly their own Kara (flag), being inspired by the First nations and rightful owners of Australia, who had flown their own flag since 1974. Te Kawariki ran a flag competition, from which evolved and what is now as the Tino Rangatiratanga Kara.
The Tino Rangatiratanga Kara is uniquely Maori in its design, it also acknowledges all the whanau and those who were key to the tikanga, korero and who have fought side by side for the Kaupapa.
Munn’s artistic practice reinforces the principles of Tino Rangatiratanga by applying ancestral knowledge to explore the metaphysical and spiritual aspects of Māori tikanga. She works primarily in paint but also works in sculpture, using Uku (clay), wood and stone. She is currently working on public works centred around Nga Potiki cultural elements.
Her artistic passion centres on resistance, community, the protection of women and children against Domestic Violence, and the sharing of knowledge.
Aroha Ruha-Hiraka
Ngāti Awa, Ngai Tūhoe, Te Arawa, Tūwharetoa
Taurangi te kupu whakaari, he mana tangata, he one matua
As a registered nurse prescriber, Aroha Ruha-Hiraka is passionate about Te Ao Māori and applying her knowledge of Te Ao Māori into practice. Te reo me ōna tikanga is the foundation of her nursing practice and forms the basis of her delivery of health services for whānau.
In 2017, Aroha graduated from Awanuiārangi kaupapa Māori nursing degree as a registered nurse. The tikanga Māori component of her degree helped her gain the confidence to apply Māori frameworks into practice when working with whānau. Growing up with Te Reo as her first language and through kōhanga reo and kura Kaupapa, Aroha believes health interventions are already within pūrākau and traditional Māori practices.
As a new graduate nurse, Aroha was named the 2018 joint winner of the national Young Nurse of the Year Award. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation's annual award celebrates nursing at an excellent level and recognises that recipients have reached a high level in their everyday work. She was nominated by her employer, where she worked as a new graduate, for her competent use of te reo me ōna tikanga in practice.
Aroha is studying to become a Nurse Practitioner and plans to continue working amongst her whānau, hapū and iwi in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. Te Kura Maengenge, watch this space.
Renae Eaves
Ko Maungaharuru te Maunga
Ko te Ngarue te Awa
Ko Tangitu te Moana
Ko Tangoio te Marae
Ko Ngati Tu (Marangatuhetaua) te hapu
Ko Renee Eaves toku ingoa
I am a Registered nurse practising within Mental Health and Addictions in the Hawkes Bay, working along side whaiora and their whanau through their recovery journey. I have a passion for supporting the development of our Maori nursing workforce and within my mahi I have the privilege to work alongside Tauira during their clinical placements as a clinical facilitator. I provide education and clinical skills, and identify learning opportunities that support the application of theory to practice within the Art of mental health and addiction treatment.
My most recent professional achievements include the completion of clinical leadership programs through Whitireia and Nga Manu Kura o Apopo. The learnings I have gained from these courses have allowed me to step into my own mana and stand in spaces that support the wellbeing of myself and my whanau, whaiora and whanau, tauira and my teams. In addition I am proud to be a current student at Te Wananga O Aotearoa working towards a diploma in Indigenous Art, nga mahi a te Whare Pora.
Tungia te ururua,
kia tupu whakaritirito
te tupu o te harakeke.
Clear away the undergrowth so the new shoots of the harakeke can spring up.
Rangi Blackmoore - Tufi
Ko Maungataniwha te Maunga
Ko Tāpapa te Awa
Ko Ngātokimatawhauroa te Waka
Ko Mangamuka Marae te Marae
Ko Ngāpuhi te Iwi
Rangi completed her nursing degree in Te Matau a Māui (Hawkes Bay) at Te Aho a Māui (Eastern Institution of Technology). She moved to Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) to start her nursing career which began in rehab stroke under the NETP program.
Rangi decided she wanted to become more specialised, this is where she began her career in the perioperative department. Whilst working in the perioperative department under women's health, Rangi identified and experienced culturally unsafe practices. She wrote an article based on lived experiences “A safe environment for Māori patients, starts with a safe environment for Māori Nurses” which highlights the isolation and tokenism Māori nurses experience. This article was published in the NZNO perioperative journal and generated the first letter to the editor in 5 years. Rangi also won best article of the year at the Perioperative Nurses conference 2022 Christchurch and the article has since been republished in Kai Tiaki 2023.
Rangi is now employed as a Kaiārahi Nāhi Clinical Nurse Specialist under the Māori health team working with Māori patients on the planned care pathway awaiting surgery. She is one of two proxies for the Tāmaki Makaurau region for Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa.
Karyn White (née Jamieson)
Ngāti Porou
Karyn is a dedicated Duty Nurse Manager at Gisborne Hospital. She holds a Master of Nursing Science and has an extensive work history spanning 14 years at Gisborne Hospital, including 12 years as an Emergency Nurse before transitioning into management. Karyn is passionate about mentoring and guiding other Maori nurses into leadership roles, reflecting her commitment to fostering growth and excellence within the nursing community.