Latest from Waitangi Day

Editorial: Labour slow to clear ground for Maori voice

Fittingly, New Zealand's political year always begins with formalities on marae, first at Ratana, then at Waitangi.

Key: 'I'm not going to gatecrash'

Prime Minister John Key says he will not gatecrash Te Tii Marae if he is not wanted after Ngapuhi elder Kingi Taurua said the Government should be denied entry.

PM will back TPP on marae

Prime Minister John Key says he will promote the merits of the TPP free trade agreement on the lower marae at Waitangi.

Audrey Young: PM transcript release a small victory

The PM's Office has finally agreed to release transcripts from his post cabinet press conferences, and Audrey Young says it's a small, but important, victory.

Rants & Raves: Waitangi Day celebrations

We enjoyed the group of willow trees in Tuff Crater, Northcote, with their nesting kingfishers and rosellas.

Mike Hosking: Little too new to try going off page

I think Andrew Little might have had his first Tony Abbott moment at Waitangi last Friday.

Editorial: Sovereignty - it's nothing for us to fear

If the Waitangi Tribunal is right in saying the chiefs of 1840 did not cede sovereignty when they signed the Treaty, the reason was probably that they had more practical concerns on their minds.

Audrey Young: Little's captain's call a sensitive issue

Andrew Little made something of "a captain's call" on Waitangi Day when suggesting notions of greater Maori sovereignty should not be dismissed.

Drivers comforted man as he died

Onlookers who rushed to a crash scene on a rural road northwest of Auckland tried to comfort the driver before he died in his upturned car.

Warning: 'Get ready to sit in traffic'

Motorists are urged to take care on the busy roads this holiday weekend, particularly after a spate of road crashes yesterday thought to be caused by wet conditions.

John Key breezes on to Te Tii Marae

Prime Minister John Key and Government ministers have been welcomed on to Te Tii Marae without incident.

Dita De Boni: Book cuts revive zombie warning

Last year, two notable New Zealand economists warned of dire consequences if our regional economies were allowed to run down from "benign neglect".

Claire Trevett: No froth as Little avoids the 'small beer' issues

Very few NZers vote on the basis of knighthoods, writes Claire Trevett. Public support for knighthoods tends to depend more on who is awarded them and their behaviour than the title's historic origins.

Raniera Tau: This is the year of Ngapuhi

Imagine if Ngapuhi had settled in the 1990s, as Ngai Tahu and Waikato Tainui did.

Editorial: Biculturalism doesn't need late convert

Gareth Morgan enjoys an argument and has the wealth to indulge his views. But his latest adopted cause - biculturalism - isn't needed.

Pressure goes on Ngapuhi to settle

Government ministers have upped the pressure on Ngapuhi to get on with their settlement in the lead-up to Waitangi Day - and even the Governor-General got in on the act.

Te reo no longer silenced

Several generations ago, children who dared to speak te reo Maori at school were cruelly silenced.

Flavell warns PM: You're on your own

Former Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples joked about putting his body on the line to protect the Prime Minister at Waitangi, but successor Te Ururoa Flavell won't be following suit.