Indigenous leadership in healthcare is one way for Indigenous peoples to exercise sovereignty over their health. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the establishment of the Māori Health Authority (MHA) was grounded in a decades-long imperative to address Māori health inequities and operationalise te Tiriti o Waitangi within the health system. However, the populist National-led coalition government formed in November 2023 included the abolishment of the MHA in their first 100-day plan and eventually disestablished it in February 2024.

Māori and Pacific researchers are working hard to transform our research system to enable Māori and Pacific postgraduate students to thrive in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Yet barriers remain, and each new postgraduate generation inherits evolving challenges and opportunities to navigate. This paper is written for Māori and Pacific people who are about to enter the postgraduate STEM space, recognising that we need our own words to help future students to navigate this journey.

Sāmoan cultural motifs are more visible than ever. These motifs carry stories of our ancestors as they navigated the vast moana in search of new lands. Those same ancestors created the tatau to store valuable information of our people. Now, Sāmoan people and culture are internationally visible throughout popular culture, from Hollywood superstars such as The Rock Dwayne Johnson to NFL legends Troy Polamalu and the movie Moana. As a result, debates have increased on who should be allowed and not allowed to wear the tatau. Interestingly, much of the tatau discourse is led by non-Sāmoan academics or Sāmoans who do not wear the tatau.

To address the freshwater crisis in Aotearoa New Zealand, regional councils must give effect to a relatively new term, Te Mana o te Wai, which is based on a very old word: “mana”. While local understandings are emerging, questions remain among Māori about what Te Mana o te Wai means. This conceptual article reviews the literatures to discuss and define Te Mana o te Wai. Four types of mana emerge from the scholarship: mana comes from the atua; mana is a spiritual power; mana is a generative power, and mana is the authority to control. There is also a fifth aspect: mana is a power that can be taken. The answer to the question of what Te Mana o te Wai means lies in the old words.