Coming up on Te Karere... An investigation is underway by the Hurricanes into the women's team haka calling the coalition government rednecks. Fertility rates in NZ are at an all time low which is set to have flow on effects for our ageing population. Māori film maker Lee Tamahori's new film The Convert premiered in Auckland last night. 05 March 2024 Tēnā koutou katoa, and welcome to Te Karere. An investigation is underway by the Hurricanes into the women's team haka calling the coalition government rednecks. It all happened over the weekend when Hurricanes Poua performed their haka in round one of the Super Rugby Aupiki season. The leader of the haka called out "karetao o te kāwana kakīwhero" or "puppets of this redneck government". The haka refers to “Toitū Te Tiriti” and aimed at the coalition government's policies on te reo Māori and breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Doctors want more work done to increase birthing rates in Aotearoa and it's set to have a flow on effect with the ageing population. As of last year birth figures are 19,000 more than deaths. However, Māori are consistently higher than that for women in Aotearoa. Timoti Tiakiwai has more. We're unable to provide subtitles. The cost of living has caused households to make major sacrifices. Stats NZ has released a survey which looks into data between the end of June 2019 to the end of June 2023. Spending habits have changed significantly. Communication costs, like buying that new cell phone, are down for example, as is recreation and culture spending which includes our hobbies and travel. It's all so we have more to fork out for essentials. During the four year period spending dropped almost ten percent and just on three percent. Here's where it's gone up a lot. Housing and household utilities spending jumping 15.5 percent to almost four hundred dollars a week. Food's risen significantly too up close to 30 percent to 300 dollars. And transport spending, including filling up the car, is up 16.5 percent to more than 250 dollars a week. Threats to the free school lunch programme has educators at Te Kura Māori o Ngā Tapuwae urging David Seymour to look at the evidence that it does help kids in class. The school says free school lunches has contributed tremendously with their 100 percent NCEA pass rate. If children are full, the brain will be able to learn. If children come to this school and they're still hungry then they won't be able to learn so under the free lunches in school programme we've seen positive results. The programme "Ka Ora, Ka Ako" provides free healthy lunches to more than 220,000 kids, that's about a quarter of all students. Education Minister David Seymour is set to review the nationwide programme, claiming it's a waste of money. An Auckland University study found the programme improved nutrition for 7.3 percent of students who did not have sufficient access to food at home. After the break, Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono joins us live to give an update on the latest in politics. Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono joins us live to give an update on the latest in politics. Thank you for joining the show today. We're unable to provide subtitles. Māori film maker Lee Tamahori's new film The Convert premiered in Auckland last night. This historical drama is starring Hollywood actor Guy Pearce and Māori actress Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne. The story is based on the first Europeans arriving to Aotearoa in the 1830's at the height of Māori sovereignty. Marena Mane has more. We're unable to provide subtitles. The world's biggest shearing and wool handling competition was held in Masterton over the weekend. Amongst all the excitement is the Māori vs Pākēhā category in this historic Golden Shears annual event. Kruze Tangira has more. As it was said, this is the best competition in New Zealand. Since 1961, Golden Shears has been operating and one of the toughest categories of the competition is the Māori vs Pākehā. This competitor says... It's a category to highlight the relationship between these two cultures and also sponsored by Wairarapa Moana. The relationship is the focus. And the benefits are endless. It's a competition for competitors to showcase their shearing skills. Oone of the best from the weekend was Leon Samuels. Entered in three events, there was only one thing keeping him going. Golden Shears 2026 will host the world championship here in NZ. Kruze Tangira, Te Karere. After the break we have the weather. To the weather now. That's all we have for today. Turou Hawaiki. Captions were made possible with funding from Te Māngai Pāho. Copyright TVNZ 2024.