Widely nown as June Jackson, Kahurangi Temuranga Batley-Jackson was chief executive of the Manukau Urban Māori Authority (MUMA) from 1986 to 2009, and the longest-serving member of the New Zealand Parole Board from 1990.
In her role as MUMA’s first CEO, Jackson (Ngāti Maniapoto) became known for her fierce advocacy for urban Māori and her readiness to take on anyone who stood in the way of the economic improvement of the community she represented.
Incorporated in 1986, MUMA is one of a founding group of pan-tribal organisations across New Zealand that set out to foster the economic, social and community development of Māori living in the cities.
She led the urban Māori authorities’ challenge of the Māori Fisheries Settlement allocation model, attending Privy Council hearings in London. The final settlement set $20 million aside for urban Maori of the $700 million in assets, a sum she viewed as paltry.
Years later she told The Spinoff she continued to think that and that the tribes had accomplished little with the fisheries settlement since then.
Appointed fisheries commissioner
"I think there are more out of the tribe than in, so if you're not in the tribe you don't get the benefits. A small conclave of people manage the resources in the tribal areas.
"For all these people who are out here [in Auckland], how do they benefit? They don't. But if you stay in the wā kāinga [at home] and you're in the know and controlling the dough you do. I don't think we've got the formula right."
She said then that among the tribal elite, her views had often led to her being snubbed.
"I didn't care - that just made me worse. I was quite a warrior in my day, I was never frightened of any bugger. I talked about how selfish they were. I told them straight."
She was eventually appointed a Waitangi Fisheries commissioner and chair of the Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust when it was formed in 2004. Te Putea is responsible for administering the $20 million fund set up specifically for urban Māori under the fisheries settlement
Appointed to the National Parole Board in 1990, Dame Temuranga spent over 20-years working with criminals through the Parole Board and at Ngā Whare Waatea Marae.
In the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services. In the 2010 Birthday Honours, she was knighted, becoming a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori.
Born Temuranga Batley to King Country farmers Huinga and Barney in 1939, Dame June (the name she was given by teachers who couldn’t pronounce Temuranga) grew up in Mahoenui, near Te Kuiti. She went on to attend high school at Hukarere College and moved to Wellington in her late teens for work. It was there she met her husband Bob Jackson, a wharfie of Ngāti Porou descent.
The couple, both strong community leaders and ardent advocates for the rights of urban Māori, had three children, including MP and broadcaster Willie Jackson. In 1971, they moved their family north from Porirua to Māngere, South Auckland for Bob’s job, and it was there that the movement for the rights of urban Māori really took off.
From her early working days as a cleaner to her role as the longest-serving member of the Parole Board, Dame June’s CV covered an array of jobs over the years, including her work with disabled children, time as head of a security firm, a stint as a store detective and work with domestic abuse victims.
Major Māori agency
Honing in on initiatives that tackled poor education, health and employment, June and Bob Jackson, alongside other urban Māori leaders in Auckland, formed the Manukau Urban Māori Authority in 1986. They also acquired a space in Māngere for Ngā Whare Waatea Marae, a place for urban Māori to feel welcome.
In the two decades Dame June headed MUMA, she grew the organisation to become the major Māori agency in South Auckland. She oversaw the creation of a gymnasium, a credit union, a driving school, a funeral home, a food bank and a kohānga reo. The authority’s work was also recognised at a central government level, through its procurement of major government contracts in the health, restorative justice and social service areas. MUMA’s marae-based reintegration programme for whānau recently released from prison was particularly well-regarded.
She is survived by her sons Willie and Vaughan and daughter Rowanne and mokopuna.
Nō reira e te māreikura, e Dame Temuranga June Batley-Jackson, moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā.