Source: NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi 

NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is calling on the Government to help the Tokoroa community after Carter Holt Harvey confirmed the likely closure of the plywood plant in the town.

“This is another body blow to a community already reeling from the loss of jobs at the OJI Fibre plant. 100 secure, well-paid jobs are being lost. The Government must act now to help,” said Wagstaff.

“It’s not just the workers directly impacted by this change who will feel its effect. Their families, communities, and the local economy have already suffered due to job losses.

“These workers could face a brighter future if the Government were to genuinely commit to delivering a just transition for Tokoroa. The skills and talents of workers don’t need to be lost if we could build sustainable industries that provide well-paid jobs.

“This Government lacks the political will to invest and seems content to sit by and watch these workers and the Tokoroa community suffer.

“These job losses are the latest in a trend of large employers closing their operations in New Zealand. Unemployment is rising. Businesses are not investing. Working people are suffering. Yet there is no plan except cuts and empty promises.

“With a different approach, different outcomes are possible. It’s time to change track, and invest in communities like Tokoroa, and not let them fall further behind,” said Wagstaff.

Visitors will find a beautiful ode to measina (taonga/treasure) at the upcoming free exhibition Lupe I Vao Ese (LIVE), opening its doors to the public on 17 September 2025, at Auckland Central City Library for all Aucklanders to enjoy.

The title “Lupe I Vao Ese” is Samoan for “doves in different pastures” and highlights the journey of measina, the cultural treasures of Moana Oceania. Auckland Council Libraries Curator, Pasifika, Pamata Toleafoa, says this exhibition has been two years in the making and it is a delight to finally be able to share this with Aucklanders.

“With Lupe I Vao Ese, we’re aiming to inspire people to treasure their cultural heritage. Measina are inseparable from Pasifika identity, carried across oceans and generations as communities migrate and adapt. These treasures both influence and are influenced by the diverse contexts they inhabit, adapting alongside the people who uphold them.

“This exhibition challenges the idea of measina/taonga as something only displayed at festivals, ceremonies or preserved behind glass,” adds Pamata. “We want to encourage our visitors to honour measina as active companions that continue to shape daily life, memory and belonging. Measina reside in the hearts, hands and memories of Pasifika peoples. As indigenous communities migrate and establish themselves in new environments, their measina accompany them, inseparable from identity.”

Along with the precious physical items known as measina, on loan from the Moana Pasifika Network and Auckland Council Library staff members, the exhibition showcases Pasifika heritage ranging from archival material and illustrations to photography from the 18th and 19th century to today. The measina on display range from Tivaevae (a form of quilting), Kato (woven baskets or bags), Masi (tapa cloth in Fiji used in ceremonies, gifting, weddings and chiefly gatherings) and Ie Toga (finely woven mat in Samoan culture) to name a few.

Auckland Council Libraries Head of Library and Learning Services, Catherine Leonard says exhibitions of this nature are vital for our communities in Tāmaki Makaurau, which are so diverse.

“It’s important to us, the Central City Library, to offer exhibitions that are diverse and represent the communities of Tāmaki Makaurau. Lupe I Vao Ese celebrates Pasifika heritage and creates opportunities to connect and enrich ourselves culturally. It’s a unique experience for the entire whānau that will leave you feeling inspired.”

This free exhibition is open from 17 September 2025 to 6 March 2026 at Auckland Central City Library. Wider Lupe I Vao Ese activities listed below:

Tāmaki Untold: Measina at Home with Edith Amituanai: https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/events/2025/09/lupe-i-vao-ese-measina-at-home/

Central City Library, Saturday 20 September

Edith Amituanai is a New Zealand–born Samoan lens-based artist in Tāmaki Makaurau. Her work explores how environments shape identity, focusing on Samoan transnational communities. In this talk, she reflects on the domestic interior—particularly the “front room”—as a kind of stage, and how these spaces connect to the exhibition Lupe I Vao Ese (doves in different pastures).

Lupe I Vao Ese (LIVE) at Play: Celebrating Auckland Heritage Festival: https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2025/09/auckland-heritage-festival-2025-auckland-at-play/

LIVE at Play Artboards: https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/events/2025/08/lupe-i-vao-ese-live-at-play-artboards/

Eastern Viaduct, Wynyard Quarter, Monday 4 August – Monday 29 September  

Celebrate a crossover between the Auckland Heritage Festival 2025 and Lupe I Vao Ese | LIVE at Play – an artboard satellite exhibition highlighting people with their measina in their communities.  

Lightboxes  

Te Komititanga and Darby Street, Wednesday 17 September – Sunday 5 October

A creative take on this year's Auckland Heritage Festival theme of “Auckland at Play” which highlights Tangata Moana using Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.

Workshops:

Create your own work inspired by Auckland Libraries’ Pasifika Heritage Collections. All workshops take place at Ellen Melville Centre. Bookings required.

Weaving workshop – Thursday 25 September, 11am–1pm
Zine making – Saturday 27 September, 2pm–4pm
Diorama making – Friday 3 October, 11am–1pm

Proudly sponsored by the City Centre targeted rate.

The Palestine Forum of New Zealand (PFNZ) strongly endorses the Sumud Flotilla, a global civil society initiative sailing to break the illegal blockade on Gaza and deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid.

The flotilla embodies sumud, steadfastness in the face of genocide, siege, and collective punishment imposed on the Palestinian people. While governments around the world have failed to act decisively, ordinary people are uniting across continents to demand justice, freedom, and dignity for Palestinians.

The Palestine Forum of New Zealand calls on the Government of New Zealand to:

• Publicly support the Sumud Flotilla and affirm the right of safe passage to Gaza under international law.
• Demand that Israel end its illegal blockade of Gaza immediately.
• Join the growing number of countries implementing sanctions and accountability measures against Israel.
• Provide diplomatic protection and humanitarian backing to ensure the flotilla’s safe arrival in Gaza.

“Gaza has endured decades of siege, repeated bombardment, and now a genocidal war. The Sumud Flotilla is a beacon of hope that challenges impunity and demands action. New Zealand cannot remain silent; it must stand with the flotilla and with Palestine,” said [Spokesperson’s Name], on behalf of the Palestine Forum of New Zealand.

New Zealand has a proud record of moral leadership, from standing against apartheid in South Africa to declaring itself nuclear-free. It is time for our government to once again be on the right side of history and take urgent action to support the people of Gaza.

End the blockade. Support the flotilla. Stand with Palestine.

Maher Nazzal

Palestine Forum of New Zealand

Almost all parents (86%) tell their donor-conceived children about their origins, with single parent (89%) and same-sex parents (96%) the most likely to do so.

Four out of five parents tell their donor-conceived children about their biological origins, according to new research out of Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.

The researchers surveyed 374 parents of children aged from seven to 18 years, and conceived through donor eggs, embryos or sperm, asking whether they had told their children they were donor-conceived. See Fertility and Sterility. (ref. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0015028225017984?dgcid=coauthor )

“We were pleased to find that 86 percent of parents had shared this information with their children, although think there could be a responder bias, where people who hadn’t shared this information with their children may have been less likely to respond to the survey,” says Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Cindy Farquhar CNZM, who is also clinical director of Fertility Plus at National Women’s Hospital.

The survey was sent out to 1,300 parents who had used clinics for conception and captured the first cohort of donor-conceived children who could legally find out the identity of their donor, under the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology (HART) Act 2004, at the age of 18. For background, see Value of disclosing donor conception explored (June 2024).

When people use fertility clinics, they are advised to share with their children from an early age that they were born with the assistance of a sperm, egg or embryo donor. The survey aimed to find out how many did so and why or why not.

International research associates early disclosure with the child being better able to integrate donor conception into their sense of identity. They are also less likely to feel stigmatised and distressed.

Lead author Dr Karyn Anderson, a doctoral candidate, says that heterosexual couples were less likely to share this information with their children, with 82 percent disclosing, whereas for same sex couples or single women disclosure rates were higher.

“Even so, not all single and same-sex parents disclosed, it wasn’t 100 percent,” says Anderson.

Of 94 single-parent respondents, 84 (89 percent) had shared their children’s donor conception origins with them and of 54 same-sex couples, 52 (96 percent) had told their child or children.
Most parents shared the information with their children when they were under ten years old, which accords with international recommendations, according to the paper published in Fertility & Sterility.

The survey found parents shared information with their children at all ages, although more than half did so before their children were ten and the average was just under seven years old. Children with whom information was shared later didn’t necessarily react more negatively than those told earlier.

Around half of respondents said they were in contact with the donors.

The researchers held a hui to share the results and discuss the issues of donor conception in New Zealand with people who were donor-conceived, as well as researchers and fertility clinics.

“Some people told beautiful stories about meeting their donors. Other people were angry they hadn’t been told of their donor conception origins as children,” Farquhar says.

The team is now conducting a series of interviews with parents who took part in the survey to get a deeper understanding of how they are building families.

The researchers are recommending that clinics follow up with parents after they have had their children, offering support with how to disclose and with linking with donors or same-donor siblings and their families.

For people who would like to find out the identity of a donor, they should contact the clinic where they received the donor sperm, egg or embryo.

Read the study: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0015028225017984?dgcid=coauthor