Asia Pacific Media Network
Members and supporters of the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) held a pre-Christmas “Kai and Kōrero” networking lunch at the Whanau Community Centre and Hub today.

 

Plenty of laughter and fresh ideas for 2025 were shared by about 25 community advocates, academics, activists, journalists and broadcasters from a host of action groups that share the hub along with some diverse media organisations, including the Fiji Centre and the Rotuman Fellowship Group.

 

Teaming up with APMN’s usual suspects, participants included Polynesian Panthers founder Will ‘Ilolahia, Pouhere Taonga Heritage outreach adviser Antony Philiips, Waitakere Ethnic Board member and disability advocate Vincent Naidu, social sciences professor Camille Nakhid, former Fiji Daily Post publisher Thakur Ranjit Singh, Dark Times Academy co-founder and trainer Mandy Henk, Whakaata Māori digital producer Te Aniwaniwa Paterson, PMN social media activator and EBM Artistry founder Ernestina Bonsu Maro, and human rights lawyer Keeara Ofren.

 

Among the diverse Aotearoa ethnicities represented were American, Cook Islands, Fijian, Filipino, Pākehā, Papuan, Rotuman, Samoan, Tongan, and Trinidad and Tobago.

 

Whānau hosts Rach Mario and Nik Naidu welcomed the participants, APMN chair Dr Heather Devere spoke of a very successful year for this fledgling NGO, organiser Del Abcede paid a tribute to the hub and spoke of the activities of about 20 groups based out of the centre, and deputy chair Dr David Robie said it had been a challenging year for journalists and “truth to power”. He told an “inspirational story” about Australian-Lebanese broadcaster Antoinette Lattouf who had just been named as one of the country’s 10 top “shitstirrers” by the independent Crikey news website.

 

David also presented Rach, Nik and the Hub on behalf of APMN with a Kanaky flag as a symbol of “independence” activism in response to neocolonialism in the Pacific region. 

 

Meri Kirihimete!