Ngāi Te Rangi recently completed its first Financial Literacy workshop at Te Awanui Hauora Matakana Island in the weekend.
These workshops are designed to assist Hapu, marae and other organisations and Trusts of Ngāi Te Rangi with Financial Information and knowledge that would be of benefit to them.
Covering the different areas of finance, from the different Tax Status groups, GST to understanding balance sheets .
The workshop was facilitated by the Settlement Trust, and is in alignment with the Ngāi Te Rangi Strategic Plan of ensuring ngā uri o Ngāi Te Rangi are well resourced to realize their economic well-being.
The next Workshop is planned for February 2016.

Name: Matetahatika (Mate) Samuels
Age: 35
Hapu Representitive for : Te Ngare
Occupation: Youth Mentor
 
What is your whakapapa? Grandparents and parents.
Ko Whakamarurangi raua ko Mere Hamiora oku matua tipuna. 
No Ngāi Te Rangi māua.
I te taha o toku māmā ko Nelly Walters toku kuia.
No Te Rarawa ia.
Ko Herepete Toi Marsden toku koroua.
No Ngai Takoto ia.
Ko Materepo raua ko Marlene Samuels oku mātua.
Tokorua ōku tuahine.
Tokowha ōku tuakana.

Where did you grow up? And your fondest childhood memory.
I grew up on the beautiful Matakana Island.
My fondest memory is swimming at the wharf all summer.

What did you want to be when you were a child?
Just like my Dad.

What it is the best piece of advice  you have ever received?
The greatest thing you can do for your children is  love their mother.

One thing about you people would be surprised to know?
I made it into University with no previous qualifications(currently completing my Primary Teaching Degree).

What do you enjoy doing for leisure?
Mahi mo taku Hahi, Spending time with my wife and  5 children,Rugby,League and being a referee for the BOP Rugby Union.

What music do you  currently have  playing in your car?
The Manhattans,UB40,Israel Houghton.

Māori spoken word Poet Te Kahu Rolleston has been given the well- deserved opportunity to attend the Banff Centres Indigenous Writing Programme in Canada next month.

Te Kahu will gain invaluable tutoring and mentoring and also have the opportunity to showcase his works at the conference. For Te Kahu, who is the mokopuna of Melbo and Te Kahu Roretana, son to Te Uta, he has:

• Aotearoa National Poetry Slam Competition Winner in 2014
  
• Graduated from the University of Waikato with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours, double majoring in Maori and Pacific Development and Maori Media and Communications.
  
• Kairanga Pao, uplifter of poetry for the Toimata Foundation at Te Aho Tu Roa – a programme in Te Reo Māori working with Kohanga Reo/Puna Reo, kura, Wharekura and communities to embrace Maori culture,language and wisdom
  
• Performed at various  events in the rohe and nationally
  

These are amazing feats from our boy from Matakana Island.

Ngāi Te Rangi congratulates Te Kahu and we look forward to hearing about the trip and  following his bright future.

The Port of Tauranga is about to commence the deepening and the widening of the Tauranga Harbour shipping channels.
Port of Tauranga staff will be available at the following locations to answer questions about the dredging programme that is to commence in October.

Tuesday 8 September :     Club Mount Maunganui(Boardroom), 45 Kawaka Street Mount Maunganui                                                 2.30pm-4.30pm.
Thursday 10 September:  Armitage Hotel (Domain Room) 9 WIllow Street, Tauranga                                                                                2.30pm-4.30pm


For further information on Ngāi Te Rangi's involvement in the dredging please contact 
Reon Tuanau and Kia maia Ellis (Resource Management Unit) at Te Rūnanga o Ngai Te Rangi iwi Trust  (07)5753 765.
                                                

The construction of the new Maungatapu underpass  that will be built on State Highway 29A and will connect to Welcome Bay Road begins early next month.
Members of the Ngāti He hapū of Maungatapu  were present at the first turning of the sod for the new underpass on Tuesday. 
The underpass will separate state highway and local traffic, reducing congestion at peak times and making travel safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

The dignitaries and guests were reminded  of the cost of the project in terms of the land from its Maori owners and set aside for the roading project.

“It was taken fifty years ago,” says Ngai Te Ahi Kaumatua Huikakahu Kawe, “so there's been many tears shed over this land.

The representatives of the three hapu today are the children and grandchildren of the people from which the land was taken

The Project is expected to be completed by mid 2017.
The link below gives you a interactive view of what the new underpass will look like.

http://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/hairini-link/ 

On 2 July, Ngāi Te Rangi were given the  opportunity to host Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Honorable Bill English, along with the  Minister of Social Development Anne Tolley for a presentation of the Government’s 2015 Budget.

This was an opportunity for Ngāi Te Rangi to demonstrate its political astuteness and engage with the Crown, rangatira ki te rangatira. It also provided an opportunity for Tauranga Moana and our strategic partners to challenge the Minister on how the government’s budget will support the objectives of iwi and the Tauranga community.

Simply put, the Government’s objective is to increase surpluses and reduce debt and the key to achieving that is to reduce the Government’s ‘customers’ or ‘socially dependent people’. The less customers; the less expenditure; the greater the surplus. But in order to reduce the number of customers , the government first needs to understand the customer. Therefore the Government has dedicated $52 billion in 2015/16 to addresssing social matters; health, justice, education and welfare.

Ngāi Te Rangi trustee, Turi Ngatai, challenged the Minister to work with iwi, specifically asking the question “how can iwi access the funding to assist the government to reduce it’s customers”, (acknowledging that many of the customers that the Government is refering to are likely to be our iwi members/Māori).

Rather than give the money to the government organisations in Tauranga, work with iwi and their hapū who better understand the ‘customer’ and are better placed to meet those needs. This is would be a win win position for the Government and Iwi. Iwi/hapū build the capability and capacity of whānau which in turn reduces the customers of the Government. The Minister agreed that this is possibly the better solution, but noted that the difficulty is getting this approved.

What that says, is that this outcome could be achieved, but will require a considered and consistent effort on behalf of iwi. One of the many important conversations to be had in the future.

Since October 2014 1353 new registrations for Ngāi Te Rangi have been recieved making a TOTAL of 6602 registered members.

Since March 2015 289 new likes to the Ngāi Te Rangi Facebook

Since March 2015 2805 visits on the Ngāi Te Rangi Website

According to the 2013 census figures, 12,924 people affiliate to Ngāi Te Rangi.

Continue to share the facebook page and website with your friends and whānau so they can connect and be kept up to date with all the latest news and events at www.ngaiterangi.iwi.nz.

The Wāhine Maori Entrepreneurs Conference was held on 13 to 14 July in Tauranga with Mabel Wharekawa-Burt (Ngāi Tamawhariua, Te Rereatukahia) as the Conference Chair. Ngāi Te Rangi Trustees, Ngareta Timutimu (Ngāi Tukairangi, Hungahungatoroa), Ngaraima Taingahue (Te Whānau a Tauwhao ki Rangiwaea) and Margaret Broughton (Ngāti Tauaiti) attended and said the conference gave a voice to highly capable Māori women who have the courage and vision to pursue business pathways.

 “The women illustrated what is possible and what we as Māori can offer to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace” said Ngareta.

Our Trustees all agreed that the conference has inspired them to bring new fresh ideas to their hapū, and challenges them to utilise everything they learned from key note speakers such as Marama Fox, Jacqui Ranui, Rahera Ohia, Makaia Karr along with Ngāi Te Rangi’s own business owners Pirihira Mc Math (Ngāti He) and Leisa Nathan (Ngāi Tukairangi).

Ngāi Te Rangi Trustee Mate Samuels (Te Ngare, Ngāti Tauaiti, Ngāi Tuwhiwhia) has recently returned from representing  the Bay of Plenty as a referee at the Gold Coast Carnival- Secondary Schools Rugby Tournament in Australia.

Mate was selected along with 7 other New Zealand Referees to participate in the Rugby Carnival that saw over 40 secondary school teams from across Australia and New Zealand compete in the week long tournament.

Te Wharekura o Mauao, were the first Māori Immersion School to attend the Carnival in it’s 25 year history, with many uri of Ngāi Te Rangi represented in the team.

Mate decided to take up  the whistle two years ago and progressed rapidly through the grades refereeing premier rugby in his first year and being a regular premier ref for 2015. He was recently handed the Bay of Plenty first division senior final between Arataki and Rangiuru and has been selected to be an assistant referee in this years national ITM cup.

“Reffing is a great opportunity for anyone who may not be able to commit to playing anymore, but still wants to contribute to the sport” says Mate.

He encourages more Maori to give refereeing a go as there is great opportunities now to earn a living and travel the world. If you are interested in a career in refereeing contact Pat Rae on  pat@boprugby.co.nz.

Often there are commonly asked questions of our trustees or managers. We will provide an answer to such questions in our e panui. Our first commonly asked question is below:

Why do we have two iwi trusts?

During the time of Te Hononga (hapū treaty negotiations forum) whilst Ngāi Te Rangi were still in treaty negotiations with the Crown, the idea of having one Ngāi Te Rangi tribal entity was promoted. That certainly was everyone’s preference.

ENGARI, near the end of the negotiations process we learnt that the Crown’s criteria did not allow Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Te Rangi Iwi Trust (‘Rūnanga’) to be the receiver of our treaty settlement assets because it is a Charitable Trust. The Crown had specific criteria for the receiving entity, and that is why a new trust called the Ngāi Te Rangi Settlement Trust (‘NST’) was established.

The discussion then turned to the idea of how we could “consolidate” the two trusts, so that eventually we would only have one tribal entity. ENGARI, we then learnt that consolidation was also not possible because the Rūnanga and NST do not have the same beneficiaries.

Why? Because Ngā Pōtiki negotiated their own settlement and a trust called Ngā Pōtiki a Tamapahore Trust was mandated as the receiving entity. Ngā Potiki are still members of the Rūnanga because along with the other Ngāi Te Rangi hapū, they are beneficiaries of the 2004 Fisheries Settlement and the Rūnanga was the Mandated Iwi Organisation to receive and manage the Fisheries Settlement on their behalf.

NŌ REIRA, since we learnt that consolidation was also not possible, the focus then turned to:

1.     Establishing a single governance model; and
2.     Creating efficiencies around the operations of Ngāi Te Rangi

1. above was achieved in September 2014, through a iwi wide postal vote where 94% voted in favour of the single governance model. The outcome is that we now have 11 Hapū Community representatives elected to govern NST and those same 11 reps govern the Rūnanga, with the addition of 2 trustees for Ngā Potiki.

INĀIANEI, we are currently in the process of progressing 2. above and part of that mahi was to develop and confirm a 25 year strategic plan which was endorsed on 14 June. That brings us to our current state of play which is discussing how to effectively and efficiently implement the strategic plan. We will continue to keep you updated on our progress.

PONO MĀRIKA, this is a short answer to the pātai!

ME MŌHIO, the strategic plan has many other layers to its implementation. It is not just about the iwi trusts, it is about the individual, whānau and hapū and all the related organisations and businesses. This answer is focused on the specific commonly asked question of why do we have two iwi trusts.