This week close to 100 Ngāti Maniapoto descendants attended a unique wānanga with government agencies to discuss development opportunities.
The Ngāti Maniapoto Marae PACT Trust ran the event aimed at looking at opportunities for Maniapoto marae and whenua, as well as governance.
Trust chairman Rori Stafford said his people had dreams for the betterment of their people and he hoped the wānanga would make their dreams a reality.
Stafford was elated that the wānanga went ahead after three years of waiting due to Covid 19.
More development for Ngāti Maniapoto on its way.
“We asked government agencies to come and meet with us, and we asked ‘How can you help us?’. Now we wait and listen to their presentations,” Stafford said.
Seven agencies presented their services at the Te Kotahitanga marae in Ōtorohanga. Trust Waikato, Inland Revenue, Te Kooti Whenua Māori, Kāinga Ora, Internal Affairs, Te Puni Kokiri, and Community Waikato representatives all spoke.
Pressure of rising living costs
Land issues including climate change were hot topics on the agenda along with inflation and high living costs.
“Our families struggle to live week by week. The pressures of rising living costs are terrible and we need these agencies to help us,” Stafford said.
For Te Kooti Whenua Māori, Maria Graham said she felt privileged to be welcomed to share how they could help whānau., “I believe this is an important gathering where we can teach what the Māori Land Court is about, how to apply to us, and how to start a land trust,” she said.
The Maniapoto Marae Pact Trust (NMMPT) was set up in 1981 as a charitable trust aimed at improving the holistic well-being of Maori and those people living in the tribal area of Maniapoto.
Manu Barrett, one of the Maniapoto participants, was concerned about power prices in the King Country being disproportionately higher than the rest of the country and he wanted to get some more visibility on this issue.
Sheree Maia Muraahi, another participant, wanted the ancestral house rebuilt.
“We are here to learn how to apply and prepare documents for government support,” she said.
‘Let’s get ready’
Ngāti Maniapoto- Te Nehenehenui has completed its settlement deed package, which includes financial redress worth about $177 million. It provides new relationship agreements with Crown agencies, transferring 36 sites back to Maniapoto as cultural redress and the first right to buy Crown land in the future.
The settlement gives recognition by the Crown of the Maniapoto story, the Treaty breaches, and a formal apology for those breaches.
“Firstly, the land that will be returned, although small, is still being returned to us,” Stafford said.
“Now the big job is here. Let’s get ready.”
These whānau will celebrate this weekend’s 150th anniversary of Te Tokanganui-ā-Noho marae in Te Kūiti followed by a Crown apology from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as part of the Ngāti Maniapoto settlement.