This commentary proposes that the decision to hold findings from te ao Māori and biomedicine in productive tension—rather than resolving them into a single integrated account—is not a methodological preference but a constitutional obligation grounded in the te reo text of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Drawing on the ontological turn in research methodology and on recent Waitangi Tribunal findings, the commentary argues that the two texts of the Treaty/Tiriti constitute two different worlds of reality: the English-language version enacting a hierarchical transfer of sovereignty; the te reo text enacting complementary, coequal spheres of kāwanatanga and tino rangatiratanga.

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.

This article explores some of the infl uences shaping early childhood Māori language education in Aotearoa New Zealand. By drawing on Garcia’s socio- historical stages of language orientation it parallels Māori language socio- historical developments and the linguistic conditions within which Māori language regeneration efforts reside. Also drawing on Waitangi Tribunal fi ndings these are juxtaposed as developments in Māori language education. In the New Zealand context, public policy has been slow to keep up with the pace of change, much less support or work with these fl ax- roots movements.