Self-governance success for Te Puke trust
Titiro whakamuri, haere whakamua: Thanks to the foresight of their predecessors, a group of whenua
Māori owners have transitioned to self-governance of their land and just completed their first full kiwifruit harvest.
In the 1980s, explains trustee Tina Ngatai, the owners of Te Puke block Pukaingataru B12 agreed to reserve all rental income to support their long-term goal of returning the land to owner-led governance.
It took around 40 years, but eventually they had close to a million dollars in the bank, the global kiwifruit market was booming, and there was an opportunity to develop a joint venture with kiwifruit producer Seeka.
“It’s wonderful that the owners and trustees made that decision then, because now we have a kiwifruit orchard – but we wouldn’t have been able to fund that if we hadn’t retained those rentals for more than 20 years,” says Tina.
The trust is now in its fifth year of that partnership with Seeka, sharing both costs and profits 50-50. And with more than 48 hectares of land, the trustees are also beginning to explore both expansion of the kiwifruit enterprise and other aspirations for the land.
They recently commissioned a study on what the land would have been like in pre-European times and are starting conversations on what the future might look like.
“It’s an interesting exercise,” says Tina. “One of the things that came out was that we’d like to see birds flying above our land and hear their calls. At the moment it’s all flat green rolling pasture – it’s lovely, but there’s nowhere for the birds to rest. “We’d like to find a way to restore some of the gullies to natives, create biodiversity corridors and return the land to something that benefits the moana,” says Tina.
The orchard isn’t far from Te Awa o Ngātoroirangi Maketū Estuary, which was once an important mahinga kai and is now being actively restored to health after decades of degradation. “Logic dictates that our groundwater probably flows straight down to the estuary, so we’d like to ensure that what comes off our land and flows onwards is as clean as we can get it,” she says.
While the kōrero about the future has already started, Tina says it’s really about what the next generation of trustees and owners want to do – but now they are self-governing, it’s entirely up to them.
Leaving a good governance legacy
Tina had the advantage of 30 years’ experience in whenua Māori governance and knew what needed to happen to transition their block to self-governance. But there were still multiple challenges, she says.
Trust governance transitioned from the Māori Trustee to owner trustees in August 2024 when both parties were prepared and ready for it.
Tina says after the Māori Land Court issued the order the Te Tumu Paeroa Trust Coordinator supporting them was hugely helpful, making sure they had everything they needed to start the new chapter for their whenua.
Tina says the most important thing to do is make sure you have all the right building blocks in place, including an accountant and a bank account, so you can confidently go into self-governance.
“Getting good governance training is really important to start with. If you’re going to take over, you need to make sure you’ve sorted how you’re going to manage the money, have good processes, have good advisors,” says Tina.
“It took us about three months to open a bank account under these new rules – I’ve never signed so many forms in my life.”
Tina says though that putting this all in place is a key step in the self-governance transition.
“I don’t think any trust, even if you’re just a little lease block, should go and try and manage it on their own and do their own accounting, because there’s nothing worse than your relations accusing you of taking money because you didn’t know how to keep your books. It’s helpful to have accountants to cushion you from that.”
It’s important to consider readiness for self-governance, says Tina. It could be that being administered by the Māori Trustee is the right thing for some at the moment – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be involved.
“You should still be involved, turn up to the meetings, know what’s happening and be holding them to account.”
Being in whenua Māori governance can be tough sometimes, says Tina, but it’s about the next generation of owners.
“I do it for the love of my people and because I’m trying to leave a legacy for my children and grandchildren. I think that’s why we all do it.”
The self-governance journey
Owners can choose to take on responsibility for governance of the whenua from the Māori Trustee at any time. The technical process of transitioning to self-governance is simple enough: owner support, replacement trustee election and Māori Land Court orders confirming appointment of the new trustees.
However, every group of owners is on their own unique self-governance journey. The steps required will depend on the numbers of owners, the complexity of the land being managed, future aspirations of owners, owner-trustee skill set and sometimes, unfortunately, the financial position of the trust.
Currently, between 10 to 15 trusts complete the transition each year.
Pictured above: Four of the owners of Pukaingataru B12 are now proudly administering the block. From left to right: Simon Barakat, Tina Ngatai, Richard Tumarae and Airini Hepi.