Nurses and tauira from around the Aotearoa will descend on Auckland this week for the annual Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa hui-ā-tau and Indigenous Nurses Aotearoa Conference.
Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa NZNO's annual Indigenous Nurses Aotearoa Conference takes place at Te Mahurehure Marae in Tāmaki Makaurau.
This year’s theme, Huraina Te Matarau, is about unmasking the many faces and invites people to examine the layers and masks that they have carried through life in order to survive, belong, or succeed, and to reconnect with the essence of who they truly are.
It is preluded by the Te Rūnanga Tauira Hui-a-tau and professional development training day tomorrow before getting into the Indigenous Nurses Aotearoa Conference from Friday to Sunday.
It will include a celebration of Māori nursing with the 9th annual Pharmac Tapuhi Kaitiaki Awards - Māori Nurses Awards - on Saturday night and on Sunday the 2027 recipient of Te Akenehi Hei Memorial Award will be announced.
Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says one of the things she wants to unmask is the racism and prejudices against Māori nursing tauira.
"We can’t get our students into nursing programmes because people don’t like the look of them and this is what it really boils down to," she says.
"They are facing barriers before entry, during the programme and when they graduate. There’s this whole system failure that is not supporting nurses to get through."
About 33% of Māori nursing students in Aotearoa New Zealand drop out before completing their three-year degree. This attrition rate is higher than the overall student dropout rate of 20% to 25%, severely limiting the growth of the Māori nursing workforce.
Nuku says more support is needed for Māori tauira to thrive in a system that seems to be stacked against them.
"We need more Māori nurses to come through the system but the system is the problem. How do we support better access to kaiako? Hopefully while we hui in Tāmaki we can wānanga some of these struggles with the tauira Māori who are affected by it and ways to resolve them."
Grounded in Te Ao Māori, the conference acknowledges that we are born whole - connected to whakapapa, wairua, and identity - yet many become disconnected through systems, expectations and lived experiences that require adaptation and self-protection.
The conference challenges people to move beyond performance and appearances, encouraging authenticity, accountability, and healing. It creates a space where Māori can stand fully in their identity without apology or fear, while also fostering honest conversations about integrity, leadership, belonging, and cultural truth. At its heart, Huraina Te Matarau is about returning to self, returning to whakapapa, and recognising that beneath every mask, truth remains.