Tūhoe Economic Summit

A very successful hui was held to examine the economic prospects for Tūhoe – the inaugural Tūhoe Economic Summit. Our iwi is at a cross road. Tūhoe have received $67 milion which is held by an interim post settlement Trust until Tūhoe decide what they should do. The big question facing Tūhoe is how do we handle going from seeking a settlement to what shall we do with the settlement? This was one of the major themes at the Summit.

Highlights - Sir Tipene O’Regan who negotiated the first of the Treaty Settlements talked frankly about the challenges Ngāi Tahu have faced; their need to acknowledge that just having tikanga does not qualify you to administer tens of millions of dollars. He said they are still grappling with issues. They needed a central organisation strong and united to take on the bigger issues but it was also necessary to develop the political, economic and cultural autonomy of the hapu.

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Representation

Each governance organisation in Tūhoe gave the hui an insight into their vision for the future. Certain themes did emerge. There is a realisation that there needs to be a central, iwi wide organisation strong enough to handle iwi wide issues. Just how this organisation is to be structured the hui felt needs more discussion.

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Congratulations

The Trust board wishes to congratulate the Tūhoe Fisheries for their initiative and for the strength of their contribution to the summit. Thanks also to Matt Te Pou who was the Summit Chair. The Trust Board made a contribution in both funding and technical assistance. We look forward to the next Summit.

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Bright Future

We also provided the communications for the conference, and participated and came away impressed. We have a new generation of leaders coming through who are well educated. In smaller forums group we listed Tūhoe assets and we were surprised to realise how many Tūhoe are now academics in our universities and over 40% of us speak te reo. Even with the settlement money our people and our culture are our greatest asset.

Future Summits - The Economic Summit is part of a series of summits looking at issues facing Tūhoe. We will keep you posted.

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Consultation

Your Board also realises that this move to post settlement means we must look at the future of the Tūhoe - Waikaremoana Māori Trust Board. The Board has determined to enter into a two year consultative process on how you the beneficiaries want your assets to be managed. Currently the Trust manages the assets but future settlements will be managed by a structure yet to be decided. We know some are so sure how they want the Trust to function that they do not believe any consultation is necessary! Being a statutory Trust we must consult our beneficiaries. We cannot transfer any assets without the express agreement of you, the beneficiaries.

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New Investments Manager

We also welcome on board our new commercial investments manager Franceen Reihana, her tipuna was Mauri Biddle (nee Pakohai). She has a business background and has her own Property Investment Company in Tauranga. Her brief is to ensure that all the Trust Board’s commercial properties and assets are making the return that they should be. First, she must do a major review of all the commercial investments and properties. Keep an eye out on our website for Franceen’s reports on your assets. Fascinating stuff!

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Tūhoe Elections

We remind beneficiaries that your ballots must be returned by 31 July. As this is an election supervised by TPK there can be no exceptions. On our website there are answers to common questions such as can you register now? Answer, no. All voters were required to register by 31 May 2009.

As happens in all elections a few ballots are sent to people who have deceased. As this is the first ballot for more than one district in the fifty years of the Trust Board, until this year there has never been the need to remove names. It has been a mammoth job to check the roll and we wanted to be sure we did not remove beneficiaries who were entitled. We also urge you all to keep your details updated otherwise we cannot find you.

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Grants and Scholarships

Education has always been a priority for the Trust Board. This week we distributed over 200 grants to those Tūhoe who are seeking a higher education and those who are at boarding schools. Over $175,000 has been distributed in grants and scholarships. We congratulate all our recipients.

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A Tūhoe Surgeon!

One of the recipients is a young up and coming Tūhoe doctor, Pūāwai Thomas (23), her nanny is Te Ringamautama; her third time to receive a Trust grant and her fifth year of medicine. Pūāwai decided she wanted to be a doctor when at 15 she went with her Koro to the Gisborne hospital. She saw major communications problems between the doctors and her Koro and decided to make a change. At the moment Pūāwai is training in surgery and has decided that’s precisely what she wants to do.

The names of all scholarship and grant recipients are posted on our website www.tuhoe.iwi.nz

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