From the GM

E ngā uri o Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, tēnā koutou katoa!

We have a very busy and exciting year ahead.  To those that attended and/or provided written comments to us on our draft Five-Year Plan, thank you – the responses confirmed that we were largely on the right track, but there will be changes and tweaks following your contributions.  Once the amended Five-Year Plan is confirmed by the Trust, next up for sign off is the annual plan and budget for 2019-20.

One of the key messages to come out of our consultation was the need for an iwi calendar so our members that live outside our rohe can plan to come down to walk their whenua, swim their moana and roto and reconnect with whanaunga.  Once the annual plans have been approved, we will look to provide such a calendar through our various communication channels, including the website, so iwi members can plan to travel to our rohe.

An exciting event occurring in November this year is the Tuia 250 commemoration which provides an opportunity for our iwi, and our Kurahaupō whanaunga, to tell our story of that first contact with Europeans. We are looking to join our Ngāti Kuia relations on the water with a waka to mark the occasion, so stay tuned as that project develops.

The new financial year will see us begin concept planning for our first pahi project, as developed by our Marae Development sub-Committee – and this is likely to be a building at Rotoiti/St Arnaud. The pahi concept is based on a traditional Ngāti Apa tikanga brought into the modern context that reflects our historical semi-nomadic lifestyle. It will be a multi-use facility that will be an obviously Māori building but will probably not look like a traditional marae. Once this facility is in place, we will look to develop other facilities of varying types across our rohe that can be used by the iwi to anchor us to our important places.

This year we will also look to broaden our educational offerings and to target funding towards achieving other iwi goals.  On the commercial front, the iwi is set to partner with other Tauihu iwi to develop mussel space in the Tasman and Golden Bay areas and now that Stage 1 of the Woodbourne transaction is completed with our Kurahaupō whanaunga, we look forward to investigating options for Stages 2 and 3.  Both of these developments provide us with a tribal footprint in our area and solid income streams to sustain us into the future.

You will see a new look across our communications this year, including rejigged pānui (hardcopy and softcopy) and a redeveloped website. 

There is much more in the year ahead for the iwi, and the Trustees and office team look forward to working hard to achieve your aspirations for our iwi.

Kia ora rā

Simon Karipa