Stories by Moana Ellis

A major provider of school lunches fears the government's new $3 limit for most students will see them eating more pre-packaged and processed food.

A Whanganui school lunch contractor says kaupapa Māori suppliers could be out of the picture under the government's new free school lunch model.

National Park is the current name for the village on the western edge of Tongariro National Park but iwi researchers claim Waimarino as the original name.

Whanganui council is seeking ratepayer support to sell $16 million of assets in the next year to keep its rates increase to 10.6 percent, but is not yet sure which ones.

Rangitīkei mayor Andy Watson is keeping a close eye on the issue of scale in new entities that could be set up to run water services.

The repeal of water service reforms has left some councils with significant debt problems, a district mayor says.

The relationship between Māori and the Whanganui council today is "vastly different" compared to 29 years ago, mayor Andrew Tripe says.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi's members' bill to scrap GST on food has been drawn from the ballot, but a National MP says the government has other plans.

Iwi and residents of National Park have a long wait ahead for a decision on a bid to have the central North Island village renamed Waimarino.

The latest request from local iwi to change the name of National Park Village and the nearby station to Waimarino is a chapter in a long tale.

A close-knit community in the central North Island is divided over an iwi bid to change its name.

A speaker accused of insulting Winston Peters and Shane Jones at Rātana is being investigated by the government department he works for.

Local government leaders have addressed the paepae at Rātana with messages of support, laying down a plea for Māori to make their political views understood.

Iwi leader Ken Mair says the turnout in Whanganui of hundreds of people in December is just the start.

Whanganui and neighbouring iwi will travel to Ngāruawāhia to meet with the Kiingitanga over concerns about the new government.

Submissions have more than quadrupled on an iwi proposal to change the name of National Park village and railway station in the central North Island.

The country's oldest war memorial will be removed from an historic Whanganui reserve following objections to an inscription condemning upriver Māori for "fanaticism and barbarism".

It's not clear when Waimarino suddenly became just "National Park", but iwi are calling for the tourist village to be given its historic name back.

Hundreds of cancer patients each year will be saved the stress of travelling to Palmerston North for treatment with the opening of Whanganui Hospital's new chemotherapy unit.

An iwi bid to change the name of National Park back to Waimarino has been accepted by the Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa NZ Geographic Board.

Whanganui is the last council in the Manawatū-Whanganui region to establish Māori wards.

The majority of those who took part in a council survey want to see Māori wards introduced in Whanganui.

The council said it has received more than $4.2m to build resilience to the impacts of climate change and recover from Cyclone Gabrielle.

The longest suspension bridge in Aotearoa will be built as part of the infamous "missing link" of the Mountains to Sea trail in the central North Island.

Overburdened, understaffed, under-resourced, under the pump - all are words used to describe Whanganui Hospital's strained emergency department.