Notable Pictures

Restoring Hope provides a rare opportunity to witness the restorative justice process unfolding as it happens, a process that is not only making forgiveness possible, it’s offering victims a voice while helping offenders understand the human cost of their crimes.

In the 1970s, many Māori and Pasifika children ended up in state care on flimsy charges. Some received shock treatment. Entomologist Oliver Sutherland, co-founder of civil rights group ACORD, tried to expose what was going on.

A traumatic childhood accident left Tupou Neiufi with a permanent disability. But in the water, she feels invincible. Already a world champion Paralympian, Tupou has the Commonwealth Games podium firmly in her sights when self-doubt and some unexpected hurdles make her contemplate quitting the sport for good.

Tongan-born Fuavao arrived here in 1975 on a medical visa. On a night out he was questioned by police. Soon afterwards the family were subjected to a dawn raid and Fuavao's parents were imprisoned as overstayers. Fuavao still carries guilt about the deep shame experienced by his parents. Tagata Pasifika reporter Alice Lolohea mixes Fuavao's story with footage of the government's historic 2021 apology to the Pasifika community at Auckland Town Hall.

As a child, Jessica Apanui (Ngāti Porou) knew that she was Māori, but “didn’t know what that meant”. Disconnected from her whakapapa, she sought an escape from a violent childhood through methamphetamine. Instead she found herself robbed of her mana. After years of addiction, she makes a commitment to breaking the cycle of trauma and healing for the sake of her tamariki.

Thanks to the All Blacks, the Ngāti Toa haka 'Ka Mate' has become a famous expression of Māori culture. But dodgy haka attempts are widespread online, raising the issue of cultural appropriation. Seeing non-Māori casually interpret a tradition that for farmer Ngaroimata Morgan "represents us as a people...it kinda hurts a little bit".

On the serene shores of Aotea, Great Barrier Island, an ecological crisis is silently unfolding. Beneath the water, Caulerpa brachypus, an invasive algae species, rapidly spreads like a creeping shadow. This toxic invader disrupts the delicate balance of the island’s marine ecosystem, endangering not only marine life but also the ancestral fishing practices that have sustained the island’s community for generations. Will we let it smother the future of this marine sanctuary and all of Aotearoa?

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care followed on from another big investigation of state abuse in Aotearoa. Kararaina Rangihau (Tūhoe, Te Arawa) is the daughter of John Te Rangiāniwaniwa Rangihau, the chairman of the committee who delivered Puao-te-ata-tu, The Daybreak Report — a damning 1986 look at institutional racism in state care.