Your fluency in speaking te reo is well known, although I understand that you were not a native speaker. What motivated you to learn and how do you maintain your fluency?
I was born in the 1970s and my parents did not encourage speaking Māori because their parents – my grandparents - were the generation that got in trouble for using their native language.
I always wanted to learn because we had Samoan neighbours and those children spoke two languages. I wanted to be bilingual like they were. I mostly reported in English while working at RNZ and I had to work to keep my fluency.
In 2007, I was asked to coach other reporters in te reo pronunciation and I tried to do it gently. I made recordings of my own voice so they could learn from those and they are still being used for training now.
When I moved to Te Karere we had to write our stories in English and Māori because there are subtitles. You learn to think in both languages.
You attended St Augustine's [now Cullinane] College, which seems to have been a place of transcendence for many young men who went on to achieve excellence in a number of fields. Was there something in the school drinking fountains or did you just have good teachers?
We did have good teachers – it was a Catholic school so there were those Christian principles of kindness practised there.
There was one teacher – Father Paul Bergin who was the first to teach me te reo Māori. He was Pākehā but he was very fluent and he encouraged me. I took an options class and wanted to study the language in fourth form [Year 10] but my parents were still opposed. They thought I would do better in the world if I studied other subjects. Father Bergin went to see them and persuaded them that I should learn.
It was a game-changer because if he hadn't done that I would not have started my career with Awa radio and progressed through to Te Karere.
Of all the stories you have covered are there any that have stayed with you and what made them memorable?
There have been so many but it is the Whanganui stories that have been the most significant for me.
Te Awa Tupua [Whanganui River Claims Settlement Bill] being passed into law and the Ngati Rangi settlement last year.
I went to Rēkohu [Chatham Island] to cover the Moriori Deed of Settlement in February this year and that was very memorable.
If you were to pursue another career path what would you like to do?
I would like to teach. I would like to teach te reo Māori and I would also like to teach media studies.
Is there a boss or co-worker who has especially encouraged or influenced your career and what did you learn from them?
There have been many but it was the people at Awa FM who were willing to give me a chance when I was a teenager. I was the only person under 40 who came to the meetings when the station was starting up in 1990.
I did a bilingual show with a boy named Joshua Williams where we talked about St Augustine's news and when I went back to school, we found that everyone had been listening.
Joe Reo who founded the station gave me my first chance to host a show on my own. I think there was a lot of dead air but I loved it.
Also, when I was 11, I wrote a letter to the Whanganui Chronicle about people mispronouncing the name "Whanganui" and the editor published it – I'm grateful for that as well.
Where did you study for your journalism qualification?
The New Zealand Broadcasting School in Christchurch, where I specialised in announcing and radio programming.
What are your iwi affiliations?
Ngāti Rangi, Ngā Rauru, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Hauā.
Now that you're home, which Whanganui activities are you looking forward to during the summer?
I will be working but I plan to spend time having barbecues and spending time with whānau. My father Eddie still lives here and he's very happy to have me home so I'll be spending time with him, my sister and nieces and nephews.
