Photography: Amalia Osborne. Hair & makeup: Lisa Matson. Indira wears TK Taito.
Broadcaster Indira Stewart is one of those people who seems to fit more into a day than the rest of us. Not only is she a journalist, a mother of four and a part-time law student, but behind the scenes, she’s also a devoted “Polyfest mum”, doubling as a hair and makeup artist, costume assistant, fundraiser, caterer and also a cheerleader for the annual festival that holds a special place in her heart.
“Polyfest is a huge deal in our house,” says Indira, 40, speaking to Woman’s Day during a break in filming on a busy Thursday afternoon. “It kind of takes over at this time of year, just as it did when I was a kid.”
The Tongan-born TVNZ journalist and former Breakfast presenter, who also has Fijian heritage, lives in Auckland with her husband Hayden, plus their blended family of Jedeiah, 17, Iszak, 16, Caysha, 16, and Noomi, seven.
Next week, Jedeiah and Caysha will be taking to the stage at the ASB Polyfest at the Manukau Sports Bowl and their mum – who also performed at the event when she was just a teen – will be backstage as usual, joining all the other mums in helping their kids get ready for their performances, which have been months in the making.
Indira describes the festival, which features traditional Polynesian music, dance, costume and cultural speech competitions, as “a joyous, joyous celebration”.
She grins, “It’s so nostalgic for me to help out because I remember my own aunties and mum doing that when I was that age. It brings back village life, in a way, with all the mamas sitting together, all weaving costumes, everyone making food and selling raffles, and all those other little things to keep it going.
“It’s an amazing thing to be part of and for me, as a young person, it just strengthened sisterhood. No matter what ethnicity you were, everybody was doing Polyfest together and it’s still like that. It’s just a beautiful thing.”
In 2023, Indira Stewart – who came runner-up to Matt Saunoa on the third season of NZ Idol in 2006 – even joined her son Iszak’s Avondale College performance on stage and sang with other parents. It was a moment she’ll never forget.
“There’s a word in the Tongan language, māfana, which means an exhilarating feeling or outburst of emotional joy. Being up there on stage, being a Polyfest mum, I cried because I felt this māfana on stage and many other parents were crying too. It’s a memory I’ll never forget.”
This year’s event holds a particular significance as it’s 50 years since Polyfest’s inception and to mark the milestone, Indira has made a two-part documentary, lifting the lid on its fascinating history and the people behind it. She and TVNZ camera operator Rewi Heke, who co-directed the doco, were endlessly moved by the amazing tales they uncovered along the way.
“The story of Polyfest being started by school students and teachers in 1976 has always been told, and that’s true, but it was happening during a time of Māori activism and the Dawn Raids,” explains Indira. “This was probably the most contentious time politically for Pasifika people ever.
“The biggest thing for me was learning about the kotahitanga [unity] between Māori and Pasifika people from that time, and it coming together with Polyfest. There were whānau hiding Pasifika kids in their whare to keep them safe from the officers at night. Māori and Pasifika were not only embracing each other, but protecting each other too.”
Making this documentary feels “full circle” for Indira as it was at Polyfest 25 years ago where she got her first taste for journalism. As a 13-year-old Auckland Girls’ Grammar School pupil, she was too shy to join one of the performing groups, so she instead decided to write about them for a social studies project.
“We were only supposed to choose one of the groups to write about, but I found it so interesting, I wrote about all five,” she smiles. “It got published in the school mag.”
Two years later, this led to her being one of several students selected to report on Polyfest for the Tagata Pasifika current affairs show. She can remember going to the TVNZ studios to audition and feeling awed by how flash it was.
She loved the experience, but the talented musician – who’d planned to become a music teacher – says if anyone had told her then that she’d end up working in broadcasting as an adult, she probably wouldn’t have believed them.
“As a young Tongan girl, I never saw anyone that looked like me on mainstream TV,” tells Indira, who is passionate about the importance of diversity and representation in the media. “I look back now, and I know I loved to write stories and I loved to tell stories, but the world on TV just looked so different. Everyone had a short, straight bob and I had this long, curly island hair. I just couldn’t see it was something that was open to me.”
But Indira loved reporting on Polyfest and says it was this opportunity that kick-started her journalism career. She studied communications, before working in Australia, across the Pacific and at RNZ, then moving to TVNZ as a Breakfast newsreader in 2020.
In 2023, she stepped into a reporting role and is now part of the network’s in-depth news team, which investigates the big issues. Having the chance to pitch her own stories and follow subjects that also feel extremely important to her is a privilege, says Indira, who admits the more civilised hours are a welcome relief after Breakfast too.
“I loved the job, but getting up at 3am for years left me feeling pretty weird. It was like I was permanently hungover.
A few months after I finished, my husband said to me, ‘You’re a nice person again!’” And she loves being at home in the mornings to help her kids get off to school. “One of my most favourite memories
from my childhood is the conversations in the car with my dad, so I love doing that now too, having these lovely chats on the way to school.”
Life at TVNZ
Indira admits it’s been a tough time at TVNZ, with many of her colleagues losing their jobs amid widespread restructuring. But she says she’s hugely grateful for still being able to do what she loves best – shining a light on and lifting up marginalised voices in our own society.
Her recent series Gang Mums followed a group of female gang members and is one of the highest-rating news series on TVNZ+.
“The past couple of years have been hard because we’ve lost people that we really care about and really respect,” admits Indira. “We’ve lost pillars in our house, people who were leaders or with really significant and respected roles in the newsroom, and people we’re really good friends with.
“But I feel like now when I see how much our industry is shrinking, the privilege of still being here, doing what we’re doing, has a different kind of weight. We bury our heads in the stories that we know will be meaningful and impactful. It’s a huge privilege to be able to tell New Zealanders’ stories.”
Indira Stewart’s two-part documentary starts with ASB Polyfest: The Untold Legacy premiering Monday 31 March on TVNZ+, with part two coming Monday 7 April.
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