The latest Salvation Army State of the Nation Report 2026 presents a litany of excuses for the sorry state of New Zealand's social statistics, in particular, those relating to Maori. The report is divided into sections covering children and youth, work and incomes, housing, crime and punishment, and social hazards. Each section ends with a Te Ora o Te Whanau lens view. After the section on children and youth comes the following:     "The over representation of Māori tamariki and rangatahi...

Politicians make mistakes. They are human. Decisions must often be made with inadequate information. It is easy to be wise in retrospect. We should be understanding. What we should not be forgiving is reckless decision-making — when politicians ignore the safeguards designed to prevent foreseeable errors and then refuse to take responsibility for the outcome. Officials are not always correct, but when ministers choose to disregard official advice, they should be accountable for the...

A new university-backed study claims Māori food insecurity is “not the result of individual choice or lifestyle” but a “direct and ongoing consequence of colonisation”. It is a claim that sounds humane and progressive — and one that creatively explains everything while proving very little. No fair-minded person denies that history matters. The problem is that colonisation is treated not as one factor among many, but as the decisive and permanent cause of present-day outcomes. It becomes an...