Josh Wharehinga

Tenei te mihi maioha ki a koutou I tenei wiki katuarehe, te wiki o te Reo Maori! Local elections are in full swing! There have been a lot of meetings we have been invited to and it’s great to see our community so interested and active in our district council elections! This week in council ...

Saying ‘We as an elected council are in charge of a lot of things’ is a huge understatement. From the state of our council owned infrastructure, to our community amenities like parks and cemeteries, to operating with fiscal responsibility; Councillors are directly responsible for a lot. We are also responsible for a lot of things ...

Over the weekend I had the privilege to attend two awesome events. Firstly, the book release for the Reo Māori translation for our own Witi Ihimaera’s book, Bulibasha. Titled Puripāha, the translated version was created also by one of our own, Ruth Smith. The cover art was created by yet another of our own, Erena ...

I had the privilege of being a presenter for the Bronwyn Kay Sports Gisborne Tairawhiti 2019-2021 Sports Awards over the weekend. The awards ceremony was filmed at Rangai in small parts over several days during the last week. The multiple time slots were in order to comply with the government public health measures. All of ...

At the forefront of everyone’s minds right now is the vaccination programme. Slowly but surely we are getting our numbers up. I want to applaud the staff from Ngāti Porou Hauora, Tūranga Health, Tu Mai Tairawhiti and Hauora Tairāwhiti for making vaccinations accessible and being open to go everywhere to make it happen. I also ...

Tēnā tātou e te whānau, nga mihi nui ki a koutou I tenei wiki, Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, me teneki marama, ko Māhuru Māori. Huge greetings to us all for this week, Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, and for this month, Māhuru Māori. Kia kaha te Reo Māori. I want to commend ...

I’m really looking forward to attending the Young Growers event on Thursday at Kaiaponi Farms. Tairawhiti has always punched above our weight in every aspect and this holds particularly true for our hard working rangatahi and horticultural sector. I wish the participants luck! There are no council meetings this week, however there was one huge ...

As always around Anzac Day I remember those who have served and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in war. It’s quite bittersweet. I think with pride of my own family who have served in the wars. I think of the great stories we have about the Maori Battalion. But I also think about how ...

We’re back into Level 2 lockdown from midnight Sunday to midnight Wednesday. Our health professionals need time to track any potential community transmission and to roll out testing in order to confirm what our country’s true situation is. I love that our country strives to be guided by the facts and actual information. Our national ...