Chairman’s Report – Special General Meeting
December 2016
“Mā te huruhuru ka rere ai te manu” (It is with feathers that the bird shall fly)
E mihi kau atu ana ki te runga rawa mō ōna Manaakitanga ki runga i a mātou I tēnei rangi ka tae atu ki a tātou e noho tahi nei I raro te tuanui o tēnei tō tātou whare tupuna a Karangahape, nō reira nau mai, haere mai, piki mai kake mai.
E mihi kau atu ana ki ngā tini aitua e hinga nei, e hinga atu rā, koutou ki a koutou
Moe mai, moe mai, takoto mai haere okioki rā.
Hoki mai ki a tātou ngā maramara o rātou mā, huri noa
tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.”
As Chair of the Kahukuraariki Trust and on behalf of the Initial Post Settlement Governance Entity (PSGE), I would like to present the Trust’s first report on the activities undertaken over the past 12 months.
As our role is a temporary one; our goals were to receive the assets as described in our Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa Wai 116 and Wai 258 Deed of Settlement, set up the administrative infrastructure, fiduciary accountabilities, financial systems to manage those assets, to establish and have operational, our new website.
Financial Highlights
We received part payment of the settlement funds from the Office of Treaty Settlements. The majority of these funds have been invested with our bank, for the most productive interest rates achievable.
Operating Highlights
We contracted a Project Coordinator to assist the Initial PSGE with the work required to achieve our goals for this year. Her efforts speak volumes in maintaining our forward momentum and the continuous dialogue between the Crown agencies and the Trust Board.
Debt
We settled a long outstanding account with Jackson Russell Lawyers. Their firm agreed to represent the Trust through the negotiation, ratification and settlement process on the unwritten korero of past Trustees, Kaumatua and Kuia; many of whom are no longer with us, that they would be paid once settlement was reached.
This has been the largest expense that the Initial PSGE has incurred but one that needed to be honored.
Contingent Liabilities - There are two contingent liabilities
Due to the interruption of the Third reading of the Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa Settlement Claims Bill, the following contingencies are yet to be met.
1) the Elections which will be held sometime in June 2017 and;
2) legal costs for the return of the Trust assets from the Government.
Looking Ahead
The Trust is entering an exciting phase and whilst we are still in the infancy stage; we are building the foundations by which the permanent Trustees will work from. We have taken a proactive approach. Our steps have been small but they are no fail achievable first steps.
We envisage co-opting people onto the sub-committees established by the Initial PSGE who have the desired business and commercial acumen that would assist the Trust growing the impetus to date.
Conclusion
When one ventures into the sustainability and economical management of our Iwi assets, one has to invest wisely to make a healthy return, and these decisions have to be made with the best advice available even if it has to be paid for, for it is the outcomes achieved on which the Trust will be measured.
We are setting the foundations for the future. The message that we would like to leave you with is simple, if you have a “solid foundation, you can’t go wrong with the building”.
We need good, long term growth strategies. We are currently investigating all possibilities and probabilities to gauge how best we can utilize the assets being returned to the Iwi under the management of the Kahukuraariki Trust Board.
Whilst the Initial PSGE won’t be making these decisions, we believe that the information and data collected will assist the permanent Trustees with their pathway to an exciting future for the Iwi of Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa.
Ko tēnei te ripoata tuatahi mō ngā Tarahiti tiaki i ngā taonga I riro mai i te karauna,nō reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.
David Manuel
Heamana Kahukuraariki Trust