‘The Coast has been battered for years by decisions made by those who don’t live there and don’t have any connection to the place. It started early.’

Based on his investigative Newsroom series, Aaron Smale’s Tairāwhiti: Pine, Profit and the Cyclone goes deep into the region’s struggle with colonial legacies and environmental mismanagement.

Through personal stories, interviews and critical analysis, Smale uncovers the multifaceted impacts of pine plantations, land confiscation and climate events of increasing severity on a landscape and its people.