New directions, new leader for Te Nehenehenui

Peter Douglas is the new chair of Te Nehenehenui.

TNN group chief executive Sam Mikaere announced on Tuesday morning that Peter had been elected into the position.

Former chair Bella Takiari-Brame was elected as deputy chair.

Their appointments were confirmed at the first meeting of the initial trustees of Te Nehenehenui on Tuesday, following elections held in July-September.

Peter spent his first day on the job, Tuesday, touring the King Country, viewing Maniapoto cultural sites.

He spoke to King Country News that evening, briefing us about his aspirations for his new leadership role.

“We’re at a point now where we’ve completed the treaty settlement.

“We don’t want the Treaty settlement to define us, but ... it gives us the opportunity to do more than we were able to do in the past.

“We can communicate more. We can contribute more. We can do more. But we’re going to be sensible about it and we’ve got to do things in ways that ... are most relevant to people.

“There are all sorts of things we could spend our money on or lose our money on.”

Peter said the first job was to set priorities.

“Once we’ve prioritised them, to what level do we do those sorts of things?  How do we ensure that what’s available to people, that they may be unaware of, that might be better utilised?

“How do we create something that our people want to be involved in, and want to connect with?”

We asked Peter whether TNN was likely to open an office in an overseas location, such as Queensland.

“I don’t know about that. A quarter of our people live in Hamilton and another 25 percent live in Auckland … I don’t know whether or not having an office anywhere is the best way to deal with these things, these days.

“A lot of the things that you and I do these days don’t require us to go to an office. And you still have to go to some places for physical things, but there are all sorts of other things these days that you can get by using the internet,” Peter said.

“You don’t want to say, ‘we need to create a whole lot of new physical facilities now just because we can’.”

That said, “We have responsibilities to our people, wherever they may be,” he added.

In the post-settlement era, it was important for the tribe to regain a sense of confidence after what had been a “destabilising, unsettling” Treaty process, Peter said.

“The best way I think to do that is to demonstrate that it’s a competent organisation that doesn’t panic, that consolidates its assets and has a long-term plan. And we’ve got one of those.

“In the meantime, we should be doing something for the neediest parts of our community, the young and the old.

“But I think the message we want to give people is that we’re getting everything in order, now that we don’t have to worry about some of the things that we’ve been working on for such a long time.
Iwi could expect more clarity going forward.
“The Treaty settlement process doesn’t allow things to be as clear to everybody as they might like,” he said.
We asked Peter how he personally aspired to balance the future of Maniapoto for the next 100 years via corporate success and dealing with issues of poverty today.
“My hope is that if you’ve got a successful corporation, it’s a means to an end,” he said.
“How you do that takes some thinking. Do you give people a dividend? I don’t know that that’s the right way to do things.
“I think you’ve got to deal with the need we have. You’ve got to deal with the things that are particular to Ngāti Maniapoto, to help people connect or reconnect with where they come from, so that they can identify and be proud of those connections.
“At the same time, you want to be making money that allows you to do things with it.”
He said it was important to work out the best way to contribute to help alleviate those needs. “I think it’s wrong to say, ‘how do you use your settlement to deal with poverty?’ It’s more like, how do you use your settlement to help people deal with poverty?”
There was nothing controversial about the change of chair, Peter said.
“[The former board] was an establishment board. It’s now an elected board. So that’s the difference.
“Bella and I are a team now.”
Peter said his being based in Wellington would not create issues.
“I’m going to travel to the meetings. I’m the chairman of the board, not the general manager.
“Lots of people do that with lots of things.”
Nor was it likely to be an issue that a number of board members also lived elsewhere.
“Most of our work is carried out by our organisation.
“The job of the board is to provide direction and there are occasions where the trustees would be involved in other things, but not in the day-to-day running of an organisation.
“We need to be aware of the things that are relevant to our people. We need to be aware of the environment and the circumstances we’re operating in.
“We’ve got a lot of talented people. We’re going to call on different contributions from all of them, but ... I don’t think you need to have fourteen other people coming in to do the work of the organisation, when their job is to provide direction,” Peter said.
King Country News can conclude this story with comments from former leader of the Maniapoto Māori Trust Board, revered kaumātua uncle Tiwha Bell, who was in that role for 14 years.
Uncle Tiwha – speaking via former MMTB chair Keith Ikin, said, “Boy, tell those fellas, ‘Get on with the job. And make sure that you do it for the people’.”