21/06/2026
THE BATTLE FOR THE AIRWAVES: MĀORI RADIO IS A TREATY REMEDY, NOT A FUNDED PROGRAMME.
In New Zealand politics, the Māori language is often referred to as a taonga or treasure.
But a recent funding crisis served a blunt reminder to the Crown: protecting te reo Māori is not an act of goodwill — it is a legal obligation.
Proposed funding cuts in 2025 by Te Māngai Pāho (TMP) triggered alarm from the iwi radio network, Te Whakaruruhau.
Legal advice sought by its leadership delivered a clear conclusion, Māori radio is a Treaty settlement mechanism and undermining this would breach the Crown’s obligations to Māori.
After mounting pressure from the sector and the threat of legal action, the Government responded with a $48 million broadcasting package in Budget 2026.
The immediate risk was averted, but the dispute exposed a bigger issue: what is the Crown's responsibility to ensure the survival of te reo Māori?
THE LEGAL FOUNDATIONS
The answer lies in the Treaty of Waitangi and decades of litigation.
"The Māori language is protected under Article Two," says veteran advocate Piripi Walker.
"Suppressing, misappropriating, or prohibiting its use breaches Māori rights to exercise their authority and use of Te Reo."
The legal foundation for Māori broadcasting was established by Ngā Kaiwhakapūmau i te Reo and the New Zealand Māori Council, culminating in a landmark 1993 Privy Council decision.
The ruling confirmed and reinforced te reo Māori as a taonga and reinforced the Crown's duty to actively protected.
That duty includes the continuation of iwi radio.
Ngā Kaiwhakapūmau i Te Reo has made it clear that if those protections are weakened, legal action remains an option.
FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL
For iwi broadcasters, funding negotiations have never been on equal terms.
"How high do we have to jump?" asks Peter-Lucas Jones, Chairman of Te Whakaruruhau and CEO of Te Hiku Media.
"If you want funding do this — jump, jump, jump. That's what negotiating is like."
Jones argues that Māori broadcasting receives only a small share of the public purse.
While costs have risen steadily, baseline funding for iwi radio stations has not kept up with inflation.
Today, many stations operate on annual funding of around $650,000 - $690,000.
"The majority of funding goes to Pākehā media; we receive only the minimum," Jones says.
"It is only right that we stand up and fight."
The proposed cuts in 2025 would have reduced funding by as much as 30 per cent.
Te Whakaruruhau says that would have forced some stations to scale back services or cease broadcasting altogether.
Recruiting staff is also increasingly difficult. Fluent Māori speakers are in high demand across the public and private sectors, often commanding salaries beyond what community broadcasters can afford.
MORE THAN RADIO
Iwi radio stations evolved from the Māori language revival movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
In Wellington, Te Upoko o Te Ika became New Zealand's first permanent Māori radio station in 1988, bringing te reo Māori into everyday life.
Today, iwi radio stations continue that role but its mission has evolved as community hubs, digital innovators, and cultural archives.
"We must remember how we store our information," says Jones.
"Radio stations hold our stories like our meeting houses—places where we assemble to discuss issues."
Many stations now run apps, social media channels, digital archives, and language technology projects.
Some are helping develop Māori language AI tools and translation systems.
Yet their traditional role is still important.
In isolated communities, iwi radio is often a primary source of information during civil emergencies.
"In the event of a cyclone or earthquake, we broadcast all essential emergency updates," says broadcaster Erana Keelan-Reedy from Radio Ngāti Porou on the East Coast.
"People know if roads are closed or if parts of the territory are flooded, our station will know what's happening."
The station also carries the daily news of community life, from public notices and events to the local and tribal matters that larger media organisations rarely cover.
THE FIGHT CONTINUES
The Budget has provided breathing room, but sector leaders remain cautious.
Jones believes the government is failing to meet its Treaty obligations by channeling money through a funding agency he says lacks transparency and imposes its own priorities.
He wants more direct funding for frontline broadcasters so it isn't swallowed up by administration and bureaucracy.
For those who helped build the network, the debate goes beyond funding. It tests New Zealand's commitment to protect one of its founding languages.
"The ultimate dream is to grow our language to its fullest potential—for a bilingual nation in New Zealand," says Walker. "There is no end game."
Perhaps that is the real lesson of this dispute.
Te reo Māori won't survive because governments occasionally write larger cheques.
It will survive because each generation chooses to speak, teach, and protect it.
Funding matters. Treaty obligations matter.
But in the end, the future of the language rests with those determined to keep it alive.
