A new iwi liaison advisor seconded from Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi to South Taranaki District Council is already being talked about as a model for other tribes.
Te Kāhui o Ngaa Rauru has sent its kaimahi Tama Pokai to work 20 hours a week at STDC, to strengthen the iwi-council relationship and help councillors and staff serve Māori communities better across the district.
Both parties say it will make the council more efficient and if successful the role might be replicated for the district’s three other iwi.
Bringing his whanaunga to the council this week, Ngaa Rauru’s Mike Neho said Pokai was a “kanohi kitea” – a face seen in the community.
Neho predicted his success would provide “he tauira” – a formula and precedent – for STDC along with Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāruahine and Taranaki.
All three iwi were at Hāwera Memorial Hall to support Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi and Pokai at his pōwhiri.
Rukutai Watene of Ngāti Ruanui said iwi were now blessed with people able to fill influential roles in councils.
“We never had this when my grandparents and that were around, you know? It was just cup of tea and biscuits and that was it.
“All the old people in the old days, they were very, very skilled in what they did – but they didn’t have the English equivalent to go with it.”
Watene said Pokai, his council boss Reg Korau and other Māori staff made it easier for hapū and marae to be heard – and to be comfortable approaching council.
“He waha reo mō mātou kei roto rā.” [They are a voice for us in there.]
Phil Nuku of Ngāruahine said whakawhiti kōrero – the exchange of ideas and information – was leading to new fruit at STDC.
“If you can effectively give them another view then they have a different outlook, and they can make decisions that’re more for everybody – rather than just one grouping of people.”
As collective Māori rights and obligations are carved away by central Government, Nuku said progress would continue in South Taranaki because of real-world ties between tangata whenua and those inside councils.
“You know they’re home people too, they know us. That’s what makes things a lot easier, that they already have that understanding – they grew up with us, a lot of them.”
Councillor Tuteri Rangihaeata said if the secondment model developed between Te Kaahui o Ngaa Rauru and council worked for iwi it could provide a model for involving others, such as young citizens.
“Because let’s be fair this is an old boring place. It’s not attracting youth and if you look around the council we’re all pretty old.
“We’ve got to look at how we attract our rangatahi into this place and make it approachable for them: approachable, engaging, exciting.”
The council’s pouherenga-a-iwi Reg Korau said he, Pokai and other colleagues guided councillors and staff “to understand what it is to work with our iwi” for effective decision-making.
“Ko te mea ka whakanui nei i te ao Māori ki roto i te kaunihera, me te manaaki anō ki a rātou te kāhui kahika, ngā kaikaunihera – tātou nei māngai o te rohe.’
“Hei arataki, hei manaaki, hei atawhai, i tō tātou nei tikanga, i ō tātou nei reo ki roto i te kaunihera.”
“Knowledge is power: the more understanding we have the more comfortable we’re all going to feel when we make decisions, because they’re made with clarity, versus speculation.
“Our big focus is to make sure that everyone feels comfortable in both spaces. It’s not just about us council people being comfortable on a marae, it’s about our iwi coming into the council and feeling comfortable.”
STDC’s chief executive Fiona Aitken said hiring Pokai would boost council efficiency, as had the district’s two Māori electoral roll wards.
“It will help make us more efficient at making decisions, because we have that viewpoint readily available to us all the time.
“We have that representation of our iwi at the decision-making table, both at the strategic level, at the governance level, and also at the operational level for us as staff doing the mahi.”
Tama Pokai said he’d already heard of many ambitions that hapū and marae want supported by council, but one stood out above all – land back.
“Kua riro whenua atu, hoki whenua mai.”
Two years ago STDC returned to Ngāruahine – specifically its hapū Ngāti Manuhiakai – a 16-hectare block adjoining Te Ngutu o te Manu Reserve which the iwi had regained under its 2016 Treaty settlement.
Pokai said Ngaa Rauru was focused on Nukumaru Recreation Reserve on the coast between Waiinu and Tuuaropaki, home of the historic marae Waikaramihi.
He said after five years back home working with Te Kaahui o Ngaa Rauru, he was seeking new challenges.
“One whakaaro we’ve always had is it’s better to be inside the glasshouse influencing the growth, rather than outside throwing stones.”
Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
