This article was first published on RNZ.
Rugby superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, former Labour Minister Dover Samuels, and waka stalwart Joe Conrad are among the Māori on this years King’s Birthday Honours List.
Thirty-one Māori received honours this King’s Birthday, making up 16 percent of the list.
Whangārei-based breast cancer surgeon Dr Maxine Ronald is to be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to breast cancer treatment and research.
Ronald (Te Kapotai ki Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Hine) was feeling totally overwhelmed by the honour.
“It’s obviously a huge honour but it’s also a massive surprise. I don’t think anyone who does work like this really expects to be recognised in any way. We just kind of do this because we have a passion or we see a need and we’re in the right place at the right time.
“I mean honestly I feel a little bit uncomfortable accepting this award as an individual just because of all the people who are also doing the same mahi and who have supported me to be able to do the mahi that I do.”
She thanked Dr Nina Scott, Hei Ahuru Mowai the National Māori Cancer Leadership Group, Breast Cancer CURE and the Breast Cancer Foundation for supporting her work.
Receiving the honour sent a message particularly to wāhine Māori that there were people working hard to improve outcomes for them, she said.
“There’s no denying that recognition like this helps to connect people which is a really important part of our mahi in breast cancer research and any work that we’re doing for breast cancer for Māori, because we need to connect with multiple different groups. There’s some people in the community doing amazing things, it’s not just hospital specialists and cancer specialists and researchers.”
Ronald said the part of her work that she is most proud of is connecting with wahine and their whānau through her clinical work as a breast surgeon.
“I get a lot of satisfaction from being able to support all women through their breast cancer journey, but for Māori women their often very appreciative that there’s someone who might understand where they are coming from and that’s really lovely to make that connection.”
There are more and more Māori surgeons coming through the system and Ronald is hopeful some of them will work in the breast cancer space so she can definitively shed her unenviable title of Aotearoa’s only wahine Māori breast cancer surgeon.
“You just worry about being... positioned as the ‘only’ because you really have to question why are you the only there really should have been more a long time ago.”
Her last message to wāhine Māori was not to be scared about getting screened for breast cancer. It was always scary to get a breast cancer diagnosis, but the earlier it was detected the more treatable it was, she said.
Dr Alishia Rangiwhakawaitau Moeahu is to be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her work in the Māori cultural space in the Wellington region.
Moeahu (Ngāti Awa, Ngā Tūhoe, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Hikaairo, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Porou) spoke to RNZ from Tokyo, where she and husband Kura Moeahu travelled to support Te Rūnanganui o Te Āti Awa and the Hutt City Council’s relationship with their Japanese sister city Minoh.
Although it was a huge surprise, she was humbled to receive the NZOM on behalf of Ngāti Awa and the many iwi she proudly belongs to.
“I feel this is not a recognition I carry alone and there are so many people that I pay tribute to, a collective that have contributed to this honour. I think of my whānau, I think of my Kuia that I was raised by in Te Teko.”
Wellington is often a busy place with many organisations and government departments requiring cultural support and Moehau acknowledged the members of Te Puharikiriki group who support her mahi.
Moehau is particularly proud of working with mōrehu (survivors) of abuse in care during the National Apology of the Crown.
She coached a group of female mōrehu to learn and perform the karanga at both the dawn ceremony and national apology.
“To allow them that safe space to learn the karanga and to stand strong and proud to deliver the karanga at the ceremony... in Parliament. And just providing them with that manaakitanga and building their confidence in that space that was a huge honour for me.
“[It was] also quite emotional as well to learn about what these mōrehu have gone through in New Zealand and to be quite honest I was oblivious until we actually got involved. We hear about things when we grow up, but we don’t actually know the full impact it has and some of them are our whānau.”
Last year Moeahu completed her PHD, something she said was a huge challenge while she continued her cultural work.
She thanked everyone who had supported her through the process and said she plans to continue working with her husband’s iwi Te Āti Awa and with her own of Ngāti Awa.
“So my role now is giving back... not only am I enjoying serving but I’m enjoying giving back to the community,” she said.
Pita Tipene is to be a Companion of the King’s Service Order for his contribution to his community through governance as a Māori leader for more than 30 years.
Tipene (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Te Tārawa) credits the honour to his parents, kaumatua, kuia and wider whānau who, from a young age, taught him that serving his people was both a duty and reward in and of itself.
“When I was being raised, our parents always spoke in te reo Māori and so we grew up being bilingual, bicultural, having gone to Motatau school and having a generation of kaumatua and kuia who are very much still part of our hearts and minds today and who handed us values of humility and service to the people before service to one’s self.”
“All of those values that we hold dear to and, and certainly I hold dear to, have been reflected throughout my life and that there is no fulfilment that is more important than serving your own people and doing your best to put your shoulder to the wheel to improve the circumstances of your communities.”
Tipene grew up on a small dairy farm in Opahi, just south of Moerewa, and is the third youngest of 11 children.
He has been the chair of the Ngāti Hine Forestry Trust for 20 years, helping grow and transform the financial assets, chaired Te Kotahitanga o Nga Hapū Ngāpuhi for 16 years and has presented to the Waitangi Tribunal on behalf of Ngāti Hine and Ngāpuhi since 2010.
Tipene has also deployed his governance expertise in a number of roles overseas like attending international indigenous forums as a Māori leader including APEC in 2023 and 2024 as the international Indigenous Economic Development Forum keynote speaker.
He is a member of the National Iwi Chairs Forum and has chaired the Manuka Charitable Trust, which protects Manuka as a taonga in the global market.
Tipene credited his strong education at St Stephen’s School for opening his eyes to a world outside of Motatau and the North.
“Coming from Motatau, you know, you never really went to Auckland or very rarely. So St Stephens was another great part of my life journey that I savour and remember with much fondness...
“It gave me, I suppose, a more national and even international outlook on how big the world really was,” Tipene said.
Read the full list of King’s Birthday Honours recipients
- RNZ