A human rights group in Aotearoa New Zealand has welcomed support from several Pacific island nations for West Papua, which has been under Indonesian military occupation since the 1960s.

West Papua is a region (with five provinces) in the far east of Indonesia, centred on the island of New Guinea. Half of the eastern side of New Guinea is Papua New Guinea.

West Papua Action Aotearoa claims the Indonesian occupation of West Papua has resulted in serious human rights violations, including a lack of press freedom.

Catherine Delahunty, the group’s spokesperson, says many West Papuans have been displaced as a result of Indonesia’s military activity.

In an interview with William Terite on PMN’s Pacific Mornings, the environmentalist and former Green Party MP said most people did not know much about West Papua “because there’s virtually a media blackout around this country”.

“It’s an hour away from Darwin [Australia], and yet, most people don’t know what has been going on there since the 1960s. It’s a very serious and tragic situation, which is the responsibility of all of us as neighbours,” she said.

“They [West Papuans] regard themselves fully as members of the Pacific community but are treated by Indonesia as an extension of their empire because they have all these natural resources, which Indonesia is rapidly extracting, using violence to maintain the state.”

Delahunty said the situation was “very disturbing”, adding there was a “need for support and change alongside the West Papuan people”.

UN support
In a recent joint statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the leaders of Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Sāmoa and Vanuatu called on the global community to support the displaced people of West Papua.

Delahunty said the Pacific island nations urged the UN Council to advocate for human rights in West Papua.

She also said West Papua Action Aotearoa wanted Indonesia to allow a visit from a UN human rights commissioner, a request that Indonesia has consistently denied.

She said Sāmoa was the latest country to support West Papua, contrasting this with the “lack of action from larger neighbours like New Zealand and Australia”.

Delahunty said that while smaller island nations and some African groups supported West Papua, more powerful states provide little assistance.

“It’s great that these island nations are keeping the issue alive at the United Nations, but we particularly want to shout out to Sāmoa because it’s a new thing,” she told Terite.

“They’ve never, as a government, made public statements. There are many Sāmoan people who support West Papua, and I work with them. But it’s great to see their government step up and make the statement.”

Historically, the only public statements supporting West Papua have come from American Sāmoan congressman Eni Faleomavaega, who strongly advocated for it until he died in 2017.

Praise for Sāmoa
Delahunty praised Sāmoa’s support for the joint statement but voiced her disappointment at New Zealand and Australia.

“What’s not encouraging is the failure of Australia and New Zealand to actually support this kind of joint statement and to vigorously stand up for West Papua because they have a lot of power in the region,” she said.

“They’re the big states, and yet it’s the leadership of the smaller nations that we see today.”

In September 2024, Phillip Mehrtens, a pilot from New Zealand, was released by West Papua rebels after being held captive for 19 months.

Mehrtens, 39, was kidnapped by West Papua National Liberation Army fighters in February 2023 and was released after lengthy negotiations and “critical’ diplomatic efforts by authorities in Wellington and Jakarta.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Affairs Minister Vaovasamanaia Winston Peters welcomed his release.

Papuan rebels seeking independence from Indonesia have issued threats and attacked aircraft they believe are carrying personnel and delivering supplies for Jakarta.

The resource-rich region has sought independence since 1969, when it came under Indonesia’s control following a disputed UN-supervised vote.

Conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian authorities have been common with pro-independence fighters increasing their attacks since 2018.

The Free Papua Movement has conducted a low-intensity guerrilla war against Indonesia, targeting military and police personnel, along with ordinary Indonesian civilians.

Human rights groups estimate that Indonesian security forces have killed more than 300,000 West Papuans since the conflict started.

But the Indonesian government denies any wrongdoing, claiming that West Papua is part of Indonesia and was integrated after the controversial “Act of Free Choice” in 1969.

Manipulated process
The Act of Free Choice has been widely criticised as a manipulated process, with international observers and journalists raising concerns about the fairness and legitimacy of the plebiscite.

Despite the criticism, the United States and its allies in the region, New Zealand and Australia, have supported Indonesia’s efforts to gain acceptance in the UN for the pro-integration vote.

Human rights groups, such as Delahunty’s West Papua Action Aotearoa, have raised “serious concerns” about the deteriorating human rights situation in Papua and West Papua.

They cite alarming abuses against indigenous Papuans, including child killings, disappearances, torture, and mass displacement.

Delahunty believes the hope for change lies with the nations of Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. She said it also came from the younger people in Indonesia today.

“This is a colonisation issue, and it’s a bit like Aotearoa, in the sense that when the people who have been part of the colonising start addressing the issue, you get change. But it’s far too slow. So we are so disappointed.”

Republished with permission from PMN News.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

There are questions about what the future of media will look like for Pacific media platforms in the wake of the axing of TVNZ’s Sunday and Fair Go programmes along with the proposed closure of Newshub.

Economist and political commentator Filipo Katavake-McGrath says the recent changes are monumental and media will need to adapt to changing audiences.

“Commercial news is expensive … the cost of maintaining a series of transmitters around the country is huge.

“So one of the big challenges facing the broadcast sector here and around the world is trying to get people to switch off radios and to switch on computers so that everything can be done down the broadband lines, which would be significantly cheaper.”

Katavake-McGrath says shifting to a streaming or digital service could even the playing field for services like Radio Apna, Whakaata Māori, Coconet and Tagata Pasifika Plus.

‘A massive buffet’
“Today, as people use YouTube and Facebook a lot more, where they’ve got just a plethora of things that they can click in and out of, our news world might become more like that as well, where there’s just a massive buffet, and on that buffet, PMN sits with exactly the same prominence as TV1 news.”

More than 3.3 million people listen to commercial radio each week, with Pacific audiences making up 8 percent of that audience.

Speaking at last year’s Pacific Media Fono, veteran Tagata Pasifika executive producer John Utanga said: “We make content for us, and we put the faces, voices and issues of Pacific people on screens made by Pacific people for Pacific people.”

Pacific Media Network (PMN) chief executive Don Mann says media entities must be “brave and courageous” in their decision making.

“The worst thing we can do is just trundle along, doing the same old, same old, and end up just being an irrelevant organisation where our community are elsewhere, while we’re still sitting in an old way of doing things.”

Regional matters
Last week, ABC hosted the inaugural Pacific Australia Media Leaders Meeting. Mann was there, and says that on top of changing audience consumption and loss of revenue, Pacific media are facing a whole different level of concerns.

“We heard from an executive, I won’t name them for privacy reasons, who was talking about just the right to exist as a media entity and the threats and the pressure that they were under from the country’s military and political leaders,” he says.

“For other Pacific leaders, they were discussing the impact of foreign countries competing in their space and trying to act as a media agency in the middle of two major entities that are vying for power in their space.”

Mann says there were many layers of discussions, from trying to get working laptops, possibilities around subscription-based platforms, and AI content.

Local and long term plan
Closer to home, Mann says the government needs to have a long term strategy for how media is created for all the various communities in Aotearoa.

“What is the future government policy, irrespective of who’s in power . . . whether it’s Māori media or ethnic media or right across the board, what’s the coherent government policy on funded content moving forward?”

Disclaimer: Pacific Media Network is operated by a charitable trust and uses a mixed funding model with revenue coming from both public entities as well as commercial sources.

Khalia Strong is a Pacific Media Network senior reporter. This article was first published by PMN and is republished here with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Network (PMN) has continued its transition into the “Moanaverse” with a new digital home for its news and media

PMN said in a statement it was pleased to reveal its new website that “ensures the future of Pacific storytelling, radio and news media continues to connect with its growing online audience”.

Pacific communities were at the heart of the new website www.pmn.co.nz, said CEO Don Mann.

“PMN’s new digital platform is all about serving the Pacific community. The stories we share deserve an online space that upholds the mana and respect of Pacific people,” he said.

“We have an obligation to provide a digital home that best serves the interests of the Pacific community.”

The redesigned site makes it easier to discover its brands — Niu FM, 531pi, PMN News — and its 10 language programmes all in one place.

Included in the refresh was a branding approach that seeks to connect and be relevant with an increasingly digitally savvy Pacific youth audience.

The project was completed within a year and was led by web agency Daylight Group, the team behind award winning site The Spinoff.

“We liken our online space to a digital version of a kupega or upega: a net that seeks to contain Pacific knowledge that sustains us and to share this koloa across the Moanaverse,” Mann said.

The main colour tapa black is an intentional neutral backdrop that “holds the vibrancy of our islands”.

The site is said by PMN to be mobile-friendly, optimising the display for any screen size so content can be accessed “on the go”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Dozens of Pacific Islanders and Palagi defied the bitterly cold wind and rain for a peaceful “remember the Dawn Raids” march along Auckland’s Ponsonby Road at the weekend.

The Savali ole Filemu march recognised the anxiety which currently faces overstayers, and the pain still felt from the Dawn Raids.

Tongan community leader Pakilau Manase Lua said coming to New Zealand to improve their lives should not be a crime.

“They took a risk, OK, they broke the law, but so is breaking the speed limit. It’s not a criminal act to come here and try and find a life,” he said.

Holding a photo frame of his late father, Siosifa Lua, Pakilau said they would remember those who had never got justice for how they were treated.

“We came to build this country, and we’re still building this country, and how are we treated? Like dogs!”, he shouted.

‘Those days are over’
“Those days are over. Our children are here. The generations that build this country are here.”

Labour’s Papakura candidate ‘Anahila Kanongata’a-Suisuiki says being an overstayer had personal consequences when her grandfather died in 1977.

“My mother was still an overstayer here, and she had to make a decision … return to Tonga to say farewell to her father, or remain here, for the betterment of the future of her children.”

The government apologised for the Dawn Raids in 2021, and the Labour Party is now promising an amnesty for overstayers of more than ten years, if elected.

But Polynesian Panther activist Will ‘Ilolahia says these political promises are too little, too late.

“We’ve got a deputy prime minister that’s a Pacific Islander, and now they’re bribing our people to vote for them so they can stay in. Sorry, you’ve missed the bus.”

Green Party candidate Teanau Tuiono agrees more should have been done.

“Healing takes time, it takes discussion, and it’s not just something that you can just apologise for and then it ends.

“Yes, the Dawn Raids apology was a good thing, but we also need to have an amnesty for overstayers and pathways for residency. Because let’s be clear, that amnesty could have happened last year.”

Mesepa Edwards says they are continuing the legacy of the Polynesian Panthers’ original members.

“I’m a 21st Century Panther. What they fought for, back in the 70s and 60s, we’re still fighting for today.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau, Auckland came alive with music, glitz and glam for the first live Pacific Music Awards in two years last night.

The annual ceremony has been held online for the past two years due to covid-19 restrictions.

Fa’anana Jerome Grey was selected as the recipient of the Manukau Institute of Technology Te Pukenga Lifetime Achievement Award.

Grey’s iconic song We Are Samoa became the unofficial anthem of the country and his legacy was celebrated through a tribute performance by Brotherhood Musiq and Resonate.

Grey’s honour came at the end of the night, but up first was the Ministry for Pacific People’s Special Recognition Award, the three winners being Ngaire Fuata, Tagata Pasifika and Niu FM-Pacific Media Network.

PMN CEO Don Mann said that since its establishment in 2002, Niu FM has nurtured many well-known Pacific media personalities.

“It’s a radio station, it’s a multimedia platform but it’s more than that, it’s a gateway for Pacific people to realise their talent,” he said.

“You look at Sela Alo and Sandra Kailahi who’s had time at various media entities so it’s more than just a place than just a media outlet — it’s bigger than that.”

Topped the charts
Just over 30 years ago, Rotuman Ngaire Fuata topped the NZ music charts with her reindition of the 1967 Lulu hit “To Sir With Love”.

Nowadays, Fuata has carved out a successful career in television, particularly producing the flagship Pacific current affairs show Tagata Pasifika.

Futua said having a career in the music or television industry required focus and dedication.

“It takes determination, a determination to do a job and do it right and if I say I’m gonna do something I’m quite committed and driven to complete the job and that’s really important to me.”

East Auckland artist Jarna Parsons, known professionally as Jarna, was awarded the Phillip Fuemana Award for Most Promising Pacific Artist.

Jarna said she was pleased she had plucked up the courage to give music a go during her teens.

“I’ve always just loved music — with family we always did karaoke and that, and I actually didn’t start until the end of high school — I didn’t think anything of it. But then I thought, I might as well give it a go.”

‘Being different is okay’
Samoan metal band Shepherds Reign took out the Creative New Zealand Award and the band members were shocked when they were announced as the winners.

However, Shepherds Reign’s Filivaa James and Oliver Leupolu said that although the majority of Pacific people did not gravitate towards metal or rock, being different was okay.

“There’s always room to do crazy things no one’s done before. I think that’s the biggest message is just don’t be afraid — do whatever you want to do, just like what we did, even our parents were against us but we still went against it, so do what you want to do.”

The inaugural Arch Angel Independent Artist Award was presented to lilbubblegum.

The 18-year-old released his debut single “af1” in 2019, and it quickly became an online sensation during New Zealand’s first covid lockdown in the autumn of 2020.

The viral hitmaker said that pursuing your dreams as a new music artist came at a cost.

“I think the biggest challenge is definitely the tall poppy syndrome, especially in New Zealand, because when you’re doing something different people want to pull you down. You might not be bothering them but they just don’t know — that’s just the way it is in New Zealand.

“I feel like it’s slowly shifting with the newer generation but there’s a few people that feel that way and it’s the hardest thing coming through as a new artist.”

Several first-time finalists won their respective categories including Anthem who were recognised with 531pi Best Pacific Gospel Artist, while Sam V and Lisi were awarded Best Pacific Soul/RnB Artist and Niu FM Best International Pacific Artist respectively.

Passion the driver for rapper
Rapper Lisi, who was born in New Zealand before moving to Australia at the age of three, said having a music career was never part of his plan.

“My dreams weren’t to be a rapper, but I always loved rapping and I guess it just shows passion gets you a lot far in life — the passion for rapping that I had it made me want to start making music and now I’m reaching heights that I’d never thought I’d reach. So yeah it’s massive,” said Lisi — real name Talisi Poasa.

For their work on The Panthers soundtrack, Diggy Dupé, choicevaughan & P. Smith were recognised with the MPG/SAE Best Producer award.

Fellow artist Kings was named for NZ Music Commission Best Pacific Male Artist, and received both the NZ On Air Radio Airplay Award and NZ On Air Streaming Award for his track “Help Me Out” featuring Sons of Zion.

Kingdon Chapple-Wilson, aka Kings, said the awards were an opportunity for him to reconnect with his both his Māori and Samoan identity.

“I think for us, especially for me, my mum was a solo mum, so for her the culture aspect – she was adopted into a Pakeha family so it was really hard for us to identify and so it’s awards like these — its events like these that help to ground somebody to ground me to ground myself into Pasifika, into Māori into who we are.”

Melodownz & Summer Vaha’akolo won NZ On Air Best Pacific Music Video directed by Tom Hern and Timēna Apa, while Kas Futialo received the award for SunPix Best Pacific Language for the album Grandmasta Kas.

Onehunga-based hip hop crew SWIDT took out three awards for Flava Best Pacific Group, Base FM & Island Base Best Pacific Hip Hop Artist and APRA Best Pacific Song for “Kelz Garage”.

Tomorrow People were honoured with One Love Best Pacific Roots/Reggae Artist as well as the Recorded Music Te Pukaemi Toa o Te Moana Nui a Kiwa Best Pacific Music Album for their album 21.

Group member Tana Tupai said that throughout the 10 years of its existence the band had had its fair share of ups and downs.

“Everyone says they don’t do the music thing for awards which is true but just like anything we just worked really really hard. I’m so proud of our team, we sacrificed so much. When I mentioned before about internal struggles they were real. We’re just really proud of the music we’ve put out there.”

Lockdown challenges overcome
Soul and RnB singer Emily Muli, who won Best Pacific Female Artist for her track “Break”, said she did not expect to win the award, despite coming from a strong musical background.

“I came from a Tongan family, I grew up in a Tongan church so it’s not like I had a choice to sing.”

Cook Islands sibling group Samson Squad took home the SunPix People’s Choice Award for Best Pacific Artist.

Tautape Samson said trying to create music during lockdown was a challenge.

“We didn’t expect anything this time around. During covid it was a very hard time for us to produce new music so with the award, with all our friends, fans and supporters really backing us despite covid and everything, I guess we’re for the people and with the people, and we just want to thank the people as well.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific journalism educators are worried that the global covid pandemic has threatened media development programmes in a vast region of island microstates at a time when expertise in health and climate change reporting has never been greater.

The news media industry in some countries has recognised this need and is trying to boost resources and human skills.

New Zealand, for example, earlier this year unveiled a $50 million plan to help the local media after it suffered a huge hit after the start of the pandemic last year with a massive layoff of journalists and a closure of publications, especially magazines.

One of the innovative features of a new initiative announced by Broadcasting and Media Minister Kris Faafoi, himself a former journalist with Pacific heritage from Tokelau, is a Public Interest Journalism Fund with one of its targets being to assist indigenous Māori, Pasifika and “diverse voices” journalism.

The fund will finance an ambitious Te Rito programme to train 10 Māori and five Pacific Islander journalists a year in digital, broadcast and print media in an industry partnership established under the umbrella of the Treaty of Waitangi partnership.

Other programmes in the Pacific also assist journalism development, such as the United States and Philippines-based Internews/Earth Journalism Network, which trains journalists in climate change skills and strategies and publishes their work.

Ironically, while these developments have been unfolding, Pacific journalism education has gone into retreat since the covid crisis began.

‘A cruel irony’
While New Zealand has the largest metropolitan Pacific Islands population in Oceania with more than 381,642 comprising 8.1 percent of the total 5 million (according to the 2018 census)—matched only by Fiji (890,000) and Papua New Guinea (8.8 million)—none of its six journalism schools cater specifically for Pacific Islands media students.

A decade ago, the country’s largest media school, Communication Studies at Auckland University of Technology, boasted both a Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism catering especially for the country’s independent Pasifika news media industry and a Pacific Media Centre (PMC) research and publication unit.

But the diploma programme was phased out four years ago and the PMC, which ran an award-winning Bearing Witness climate change journalism and documentary making programme with partners in the Pacific under a “voice of the voiceless” banner, was left in limbo by the school management this year after the founding director retired at the end of last year.

“It’s a cruel irony that at a time when Pacific journalism is at the crossroads—if not on its knees—and needs to be better understood to be helped and strengthened to face new challenges, specialised Pacific journalism and research programmes in one of the centres of excellence in the region face an uncertain future,” said Fiji journalism educator and Associate Professor Shailendra Singh. “It just feels sad and surreal.”

Dr Singh’s own institution, the Suva-based 12-nation regional University of the South Pacific has just embarked on an innovative new programme, a BA degree in communication and media with options in business and marketing.

Media analyst Dr Gavin Ellis, a former editor-in-chief of The New Zealand Herald, argued in his weekly Knightly Views column that the PMC ought to be “re-established as a stand-alone trust”.

“It should continue its original remit … It may be time, however, to find a new university or industry partner,” he added.

Urged renewed commitment
The Australia Asia Pacific Media Initiative (AAPMI) lobby and training group wrote to the AUT university’s vice-chancellor and unsuccessfully urged the institution to renew a commitment “at a time when Pacific journalism is under existential threat and Pacific programmes suffer from under funding”.

This retreat on campuses has contrasted with renewed energy by the New Zealand media industry to boost Māori and Pacific journalism to provide better cultural “balance” in the legacy media.

In July, the new $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund over three years unveiled its first cycle of grants for stories examining a wide range of community issues—such as an in-depth revisiting of a documentary, Inside Child Poverty, made a decade earlier with considerable impact.

The fund also provided $2.4 million for the setting up of Te Rito, the first comprehensive kaihautū, or journalism cadetship scheme for Māori, Pacific and “other communities traditionally under-represented in media”.

A significant feature of this scheme is the unprecedented collaboration between Māori Television, a state-funded public broadcaster; Pacific Media Network (PMN); Newshub-Discovery Channel; and New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME), the country’s largest print and oneline publisher.

PMN chief executive Don Mann welcomed the collaboration, saying it aligned with his organisation’s mandate to help train a “pipeline of excellent Pacific broadcasters and multimedia journalists”.

He added: “Te Rito provides sustainability in provision of best-practice Pasifika multilingual journalism but, more importantly, it allows the network to play our part in rectifying the significant under-representation and imbalance within the journalism sector on behalf of the Pasifika community.”

Critical shortage
Māori Television head of news and current affairs Wena Harawira echoed this view, saying the partnership would address the critical shortage of te reo Māori speaking journalists.

“It’s incredibly important that New Zealand’s journalism landscape is rich with Māori stories created by Māori, in te reo Māori, for everyone,” she said.

Te reo Māori is one of New Zealand’s three official languages – the others being English and sign language. But while Māori make up 16.5 percent of the population, only 4 percent of the country speaks te reo fluently, although its popularity is growing fast.

News media carried advertisements this month to recruit a Te Rito project manager who would be given “a unique opportunity to shape the future of journalism” in New Zealand.

Educators hope that universities take the cue and renew their earlier support for diversity journalism.

First published by In-Depth News (IDN), the flagship agency of the nonprofit International Press Syndicate. This is published as a collaboration between IDN and Asia Pacific Report. The writer, Dr David Robie, is editor of Asia Pacific Report, founding editor of Pacific Journalism Review and former director of the Pacific Media Centre.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Hakeagapuletama Halo walks into the courtroom. He is a head taller than most, dressed in a crisp white shirt. He has a nervous smile and bright, eager eyes.

Known as Hake to his family and friends, this is not the first time he has detailed the abuse he suffered at Lake Alice. But, as part of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, it is the first time he’s been able to do so publicly.

He said there was no warning or explanation the first time he received electroconvulsive shock therapy, just one week after arriving at the Lake Alice Institute.

“They called my name out. I went freely and walked up the stairs of Villa 7 because I did not understand, I thought it was something to help us patients, but I had a funny feeling something was not right.

“Dr [Selwyn] Leeks and three other staff members were there. They did not ask me any questions or explain anything to me. They just put me on the bed.”

Halo remembered seeing a bed with a small machine on a trolley, with electric earphones that were wet and placed on the sides of his head.

“I looked up at their faces, they were pretty mean looking and that made me feel something was going to happen. I asked Dr Leeks if this was going to hurt and he said, “yes, it is”. I cried and said, “I don’t want it please”.”

Lost consciousness
With no muscle relaxant or anaesthetic, the staff held him down as the volts went through his body and he lost consciousness.

The next time it happened, it was a shock to discover that he remained conscious and felt everything, saying it was like being hit by a sledgehammer.

“The pain was so bad, that when a person was lying down, when they turned it on, I could feel myself actually sitting up. Your body is off the bed… you’re straining to raise your arms but they’re holding you down. And they turn it off, that’s when you’re crying…without the mouthguard, a person would end up biting his tongue off because of the pain.”

The shocks were administered three or four times before the child was taken to a different room to recover, but the effects would be felt for days.

A terrible secret
Halo said everyone knew what was going on, but it wasn’t talked about.

“Us kids, we know that somebody’s always getting ECT because you can hear the screams from upstairs coming downstairs to us kids. In the lounge, in the sitting room, TV room, you can hear them screaming, even the workers that are working around there.”

He says while most of the staff and workers were white-skinned, there were a few cleaners that were Pacific Islanders.

“They can hear it. They’re doing their jobs and crying at the same time because they know what’s going on.”

In addition to the electric shock treatment, the children were injected with paraldehyde, a medicine that was used to treat convulsive disorders.

Halo said they had different amounts injected, based on their behaviour, such as not listening or fighting, even laughing too loudly.

“Paraldehyde is just like another way of giving us a hiding. Using the injection, it is painful, the pain is bad. The child is walking like a pregnant lady sometimes, swaying from side to side, coming out of the sick bay with his pants still halfway down, crying his eyes out – and that’s only for 5cc.”

One teacher trusted
There was one teacher who he trusted at the school, who will later testify as part of the hearing.

“She said to me, ‘you don’t belong here’. She gave us advice, encouragement and counselling. I had not done anything big or really wrong, just the shoplifting.”

Many buildings have been demolished since the institute was closed in 1999. Photo: Fergus Cunningham 2011

A child’s plea for help
Halo wanted to tell his mother about the abuse, and tried to come up with a coded way to tell her.

“I write in my letter in English that everything is alright…they said I have to write my letters in English and take it into the office and leave it open like that for them to read.”

After his earlier attempts to draw a sad face weren’t accepted, Halo learned he had to draw a person with a happy face, but included a speech bubble saying his true feelings.

“I wrote just a short few words in Niuean, saying mum, electric shock, so painful to me. Or, Mum, the people have given me electric shock… injection… I am crying.”

Years later, he would try to recreate these drawings in his journals.

When asked why his mother did nothing at the time, he said there was a language and cultural barrier.

“Because my mum was not an English speaker, she did not know how to get help or intervene…she felt powerless.”

This was not the first time speaking English as a second language had been a barrier.

Misunderstood from the early years
Born in Niue, Halo sailed to Sāmoa on the Tofua, then flew to New Zealand with his grandparents, who raised him for many years.

He had epilepsy as a baby but grew out of it as he got older.

When Halo started at Richmond Road Primary in 1968, he could only speak Niuean.

“I did not understand anything the teacher was teaching. I did not do my homework because I did not understand my teacher and I did not speak in class….I felt totally lost. It was pretty hard to find friends, so I just kept to myself.”

The teachers thought Halo had a disability and put him in a class for children with special needs, where he would act up. When he was 8, an incident with a relief teacher at Beresford Primary that would change his life.

“We were practising songs, and I wasn’t singing properly, just trying to sing but not really good and not participating properly and my teacher got upset…so she came and took me out of the classroom.

“I was scared about being locked in this dark room. I tried to push on the door to push it open and let myself back in, and my hand accidentally went through the glass door.”

Cut his hand severely
He cut his hand severely and was taken to Auckland Hospital by ambulance.

The school report said he violently punched the window but the scars on the palm of his hand prove he did not punch the glass, but was pushing on it.

After this incident, Halo was seen as being violent, and was referred to St John’s Psychiatric Hospital in Papatoetoe.

From there, he spent a few months in Niue, before returning to New Zealand and moving between several schools, his behaviour worsening after the death of his grandfather when he was 10 years old.

He appeared in the youth court because of a shoplifting offence, and was sent to Owairaka Boys’ Home in October 1975.

“I was put in a secure room for four days. I had to stay there for a long time because I was so upset. They were worried I would run away. I was lonely,” he says.

“In the secure room there was a bed, a toilet, and sometimes another kid was put in the same cell. When that happened, we had to share the toilet and we had to eat in there too. I did not like that room.”

Some children targeted
Along with physical violence, the staff were strict and some children were targeted more than others.

“The boys that had to do the cleaning and cooking did not go to school. I was one of those kids. I had to do the jobs. I had no choice.”

He was then referred to Lake Alice, a mental hospital in the Manawatu District that had been converted for youth.

“My [grandmother] and my birth parents were told they were taking me to Lake Alice to go to a school there. They were not told that it was a mental hospital. They never knew the true story.

“My mum did not speak good English at all and there were no Niuean interpreters. She signed papers because they told her they were taking me to a school.”

Arriving at Lake Alice on 6 November 1975, Halo said he was surprised and scared.

“My first impression was “bloody hell, what is this place? What sort of place? This is not a school, this looks like a prison!”

Some not documented
An estimated 300 teenagers were admitted to the institute across the six years it was operating, but there are thought to be at least a hundred more who were not documented, with some children younger than 10.

It wasn’t until after Halo was discharged in 1976, when his grandmother arranged to legally adopt him, they discovered he had been made a ward of the state.

“The interpreter at that meeting explained to my Mum [grandmother] what a State Ward meant. My Mum had not understood, and no one had ever interpreted for her, that the state had the rights of guardianship over me.”

Thinking back to the start of the year when he was referred to Lake Alice, Halo said his Mum had not understood the social worker at the time.

“There were no interpreters there to assist my Mum in this conversation. The social worker thought my Mum wanted social welfare to have full control and have me under their guardianship,” he says.

“However, my Mum was misunderstood. She had asked him to please look after me, while I was in care. The social worker thought she was saying `please take Hake and make him a State Ward’.”

Halo says if a Niuean interpreter had been present, he may not have been returned to Lake Alice, or later referred to Carrington Hospital in Auckland.

Now elder in his church
Halo is an elder in his church and attributes his healing and strength to his faith.

His epilepsy returned after his time at Lake Alice, making it difficult for him to hold down a job, although he did work at a facility packing plastic bottles, but found the static electricity a trigger for his traumatic memories.

He is on a benefit, but says the Ministry of Social Development is trying to get him onto the jobseeker benefit.

When asked about whether an apology would help, he said he didn’t need a personal apology, but wanted to see an acknowledgement of how Pacific Islanders were treated.

“The state should have explained to me and my parents what a State Ward was and what happens to a child who is a State Ward. If they could not understand English, they should be offered an interpreter. The state should tell us the truth about where our children are going and what is happening to them.

“Looking to the future, if I was told a grandchild of mine had to go into an institution, I would say ‘no way’. Our children have to be with us, not in institutions.”

At the hearing, a handful of survivors were present to support Halo, Paul Zentveld acknowledged those who could not be there.

“All these many years when no one but a tiny few believed us. Officials of Government did not really care what happened to us as children while in Lake Alice in the 70s. We have done many things over the years, including alerting the United Nations and here we are.

“We stand before the survivors of Lake Alice, ready to tell our story publicly for the first time. Those who cannot be here are here in spirit.”

But the man responsible for the mistreatment of hundreds of children, may never be held to account.

‘I represent a man incapable of instructing me’ – lawyer for Dr Selwyn Leeks

Hayden Rattray, counsel for Dr Selwyn Leeks, appeared via Zoom to deliver the news many were expecting.

“Dr Leeks is 92 years old. He has metastatic prostate cancer … heart disease, chronic kidney dysfunction.

“Dr Leeks is neither aware of the matters of the inquiry nor cognitively capable of responding to them. The reality is I represent a man incapable of instructing me.”

Rattray referenced an assessment in April by neuropsychologist Dr Sarah Lucas, which also reported signs of Alzheimers and dementia.

As a core participant in the inquiry, Dr Leeks has the right to give evidence and make submissions, however, “by virtue of his age and cognitive capacity, manifestly incapable of doing either”, Rattray explained.

Assisting Counsel Andrew Molloy said, along with Dr Leeks, other parties needed to be held accountable.

“While numerous eyes have been cast over these events over the years, we’ve never previously pulled together the strands to compile as full a picture as we can … While individuals may have spoken of this here and there, their voices have never been heard collectively by us as a society.”

Queen’s Counsel Frances Joychild said the inquiry was exposing a “collective shame”.

“It’s an inquiry into a dark and shameful seven year episode in the history of state care for vulnerable children in this countr …. The  damage to the national interest is impossible to calculate.”

The Lake Alice hearing runs for two weeks. Twenty survivors are expected to give evidence, along with former staff members, medical experts and police witnesses.​

More information:
​The Royal Commission will examine abuse and neglect of children and young people in residences run by the state between 1950 and 1999.

The scope of the inquiry covers abuse that happened in State care such as foster care, police cells, court cells or police custody, schools or special schools, disability care or facility, youth justice placement or at a health camp.

They are also looking at abuse that occurred in faith-based settings such as a religious school or church camp.

Witnesses can speak anonymously about sexual, physical and psychological abuse and the effects it has had on them in later life.

The Pacific Investigation encourages Pacific survivors to continue coming forward and engage with the Royal Commission of Inquiry.

To contact the Pacific Investigation, please email: Reina.Vaai@abuseincare.org.nz or call us on 0800 222 727.

For further details please see www.abuseincare.org.nz.

Pacific Investigation hearing dates: July 19-30, 2021

Hearing location: Fale o Samoa, 141r Bader Drive, Māngere, Auckland 2022

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

AUT City Campus. Image: AUT

One of AUT’s Pacific research centres has been without a director since the end of last year and a lack of clarity around its future is causing division among staff and supporters. Teuila Fuatai reports for The Spinoff.  

SINCE 2007, AUT’s Pacific Media Centre has built a considerable portfolio and solid reputation for its research and reporting on issues throughout the Asia Pacific region, and as a training ground for Pasifika journalists and academics.

However, a month after veteran Pacific correspondent and researcher Professor David Robie retired as director late last year, the centre was packed up without any formal notification or explanation to the remaining AUT staff members associated with it.

The move prompted a social media outcry among supporters and regional journalists, who raised concerns about the centre’s closure and the lack of communication from the university.

A photo of the packed up PMC sent to David Robie. Image: Café Pacific

However, in response to queries raised by The Spinoff, AUT’s head of the School of Communications Dr Rosser Johnson denied that the PMC was being closed, and reiterated that the contents of the PMC office had been packed up and relocated to a new space beside other key departments elsewhere in the AUT’s communications department.

“I made the decision that we were going to get all our staff of Pacific heritage in the same sort of place, which is on this [12th] floor,” Dr Johnson said. “We’ve got five staff of Pacific heritage – one won’t be moving because he’s in a department that’s on another floor. The rest are going to come up to here in the School of Communications.”

Dr Johnson also said the decision to relocate the PMC from the space it had always occupied was made by the school’s “senior leadership team”.

Staff connected to the PMC were only notified via email after it was done. Senior lecturer and PMC research associate Khairiah Rahman, said it “would’ve been nice” to have been notified about the shift beforehand.

An AUT staff member for 15 years, Rahman’s involvement with the PMC spans nearly a decade and she is also a member of its advisory board. She said the lack of information to staff members like herself has fuelled concerns about the school’s intentions for the PMC’s future.

She said too that the absence of a succession plan for Dr Robie’s replacement prior to his retirement had been particularly worrying.

“Ideally, [the transition] should be seamless. But Professor Robie retired at the end of last year… and we didn’t have a ready successor. I think it’s not a matter of blame but of strategic planning. Was it up to him [Dr Robie] or was it up to the university?” 

Former PMC designer Del Abcede, Former PMC director David Robie and Tagata Pasifika journalist John Pulu. Image: PMC

According to Dr Robie, he had tried several times to engage with the school regarding a transition plan in the past few years, but nothing had happened. Dr Johnson, however, attributed the delays to the impacts of covid-19.

By September last year, a decision had been made by senior leadership staff “that we weren’t going to do anything new before the end of the year,” he said. The process was delayed again by this year’s lockdowns, he added.

An internal advertisement was circulated among AUT staff over the past week seeking “expressions of interest” for the role of PMC director. Those keen to apply had until Friday March 26.

Chair of the PMC’s advisory board and an associate professor at AUT’s School of Social Sciences and Public Policy, Dr Camille Nakhid, said she was disappointed about the lack of information being offered to staff members like herself. Dr Nakhid also believes the role of PMC director should be advertised externally to attract a range of qualified candidates.

“I understand… we may move things in a different direction, but we do not know what that direction is,” Dr Nakhid said. “We [the board] do wish for a reinvigorated PMC but we are concerned that the direction in which they take it will be to the detriment of the Pacific and Pacific communities and other communities with whom the PMC works.”

Dr Robie, who is the founding editor of the research journal Pacific Journalism Review and continues to publish work through various outlets, has been critical of the treatment of the PMC since his departure from AUT. He is adamant those with long-standing links to the centre – like Dr Nakhid and Rahman – not be sidelined in planning for its future.

“On every parameter, the centre’s done incredibly well,” Robie said. “If they follow through with the team they’ve got, I see a great future.”

A multi-disciplinary research unit, the PMC focuses on media and communication narratives in the Asia Pacific region and has a special focus on communities and journalists that have been marginalised or censored by authorities and power structures.

Prior to its move, the centre also housed a range of outlets enabling students and academics to publish and promote their work, including the award winning Pacific Media Watch, which was co-edited by a journalism student every year and helped foster the careers of Pasifika journalist Alistar Kata and RNZ journalist Alex Perrottet.

Dr Robie himself brought considerable experience to the centre, having lived and worked extensively in Papua New Guinea and Fiji, and covered significant human rights and media abuses throughout the region over a 40-year career.

The PMC had been established as an outlet to continue that work and for journalism students to research and cover regional issues largely neglected by New Zealand’s mainstream media, such as West Papuan human rights abuses and electoral corruption in Fiji. 

The PMC Project – a video made by Alistar Star, a former PMC student contributing editor on the Pacific Media Watch internship.

Don Mann, chief executive of the Pacific Media Network which runs 531 PI and Niu FM, said the PMC’s current transition period was an opportunity for AUT to assess other ways it could strengthen Pacific media.

“First and foremost, I think to have an organisation that stands for what PMC was originally set up for – a watchdog organisation that protects the freedom of journalism and its role in the democracy – is very worthy,” he said.

“I think the issue which AUT is possibly facing is whether that’s AUT’s role.”

Moving forward, Mann said a focus on developing Pacific people in media and journalism at AUT would be great to see. The underrepresentation of Pacific people who are experts in their communities in media spaces has been a problem for far too long, he said.

“It would be a really opportune time for AUT to look at a centre of excellence for developing Pacific people in broadcasting, new media, journalism and multimedia.

“You look at where our office, Pacific Media Network, is based in Manukau,” Donn said.

“Within walking distance, we’ve got MIT, AUT and Auckland University. The question I’d be asking if I was in AUT is: What’s our plan to engage with diverse communities? What’s our plan to engage with Pasifika communities? What’s our representation at AUT of Pasifika people? I’d be taking this opportunity to look at all those issues.”

Teuila Fuatai is a freelance journalist specialising in social and cultural issues. This article was first published by The Spinoff and is republished here with the permission of both The Spinoff editor and the author.

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