Māori Trustee sends message of support following Cyclone Gabrielle

‘Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the flooding and devastating weather event. I want to thank the incredible volunteers and organisations who have worked tirelessly to support whānau and business owners in the affected regions,’ said Dr Severne.

‘We have strong communities, and it is in times like this we see the value of manaakitanga.’

Dr Severne said that initially our focus has been on ensuring kaimahi were located and safe, but now our attention has turned to contacting tenants across all regions to check on their wellbeing and identify what support they may need to both immediately and in the future to get their operations back up and running.

As many owners do not live on or near their whenua, we will be reaching out to owners in the next week to keep them up to date with what we have learnt and what we are doing to support tenants and the whenua.

Due to the national state of emergency, we have postponed several meetings of owners that were scheduled in the Gisborne region.

Our senior leadership team has also been in contact with government agencies, including Te Puni Kōkiri, MPI and the Māori Land Court to identify how we can share resources to best support owners and tenants.

‘The process of assessing the long-term impact on whenua and property is going to take time, however we are working hard to ensure we contact those impacted so we can get a full assessment of any damage,’ says Dr Severne.

In the meantime, if any tenants need urgent assistance we encourage them to contact us on 0800 943 682 or via email [email protected]