TE RUNANGA O NGAI TAHU REPORT

T e R u n a n g a o N g a i T a h u R e p o r t

4 September 2011

Report from the August TRoNT Meeting

1. OVERVIEW
Ka toko mai te matapouri o roto i a au
He hauhaketaka ano i tenei hotoke
Ko ka kauheke, koroheke ko karo atu ra
Ki te ara whanui i a Hinetitama
Ko te rau toroa o Te Ati Awa ko Ta Paora me ka takawaeka no roto mai i a Kati Moki nei me Taranaki ra ara ko Takuta Tom Ellison ratou ko Te Iwi Taiaroa haere, haere, haere koutou.
Whiti te Po oho mai te Ao
Tena tatou katoa
Our host for the August meeting was the Onuku Marae and they were very hospitable as was the small town of Akaroa.
The dominant kaupapa for our meeting were the final quarter reviews of the Office and NTHC as well as the respective annual plans. Below are a few other matters raised during the meeting.

2. NGĀ WHAKATAU A TE RŪNANGA
In August, Te Rūnanga received end-of-financial-year Quarterly Reports from the Office, Ngāi Tahu Holdings (NTHC) and Whai Rawa Fund Ltd (WRFL). Summaries of the quarterly reports from the Office and NTHC will be distributed to Papatipu Rūnanga via Epānui. Te Rūnanga also discussed and confirmed dates for the annual general meeting and Hui–ā-Iwi.

Whai Rawa Quarterly Report and monitoring report
Te Rūnanga was presented with the WRFL Quarterly Report for the period April-June 2011, as well as a monitoring report. As expected the key performance indicators with respect to new members was not achieved, with only 63 new members in the quarter. Te Rūnanga were comfortable with the report, knowing the targets have not been meet, partly due to ramifications of the earthquake, but also because the targets were ambitious to begin with.
Newborn membership made up 74% of the new members in this quarter. Newborns only made up 38% of new members in the same quarter last year, which indicates the newborn incentive is inspiring parents to sign up their children early. It was suggested that rūnanga take a more active role to increase membership. There were 15,978 members at the end of financial year and Funds Under Management reached $18.3m.
Although not reached in this quarter, the key performance indicators received in the WRFL Statement of Corporate Intent (SCI) were set at the same level for next year. Also changes were made to the Whai Rawa Trust Deed to amend errors in the previous Deed.
Te Rūnanga also approved the deferral of distributions to members until March 2012 to avoid extra administration costs and to ensure members have a reasonable opportunity to update their tax rates.

The Office Quarterly Report and monitoring
This report showed that the Office end of year results, including Ngāi Tahu Communications, finished slightly under budget. Overall expenditure for the year to 30 June 2011 was $21.3m compared to budget of $22.6m. A number of projects were delayed due to the earthquake, and some budget savings were made to fund earthquake recovery projects. Highlights of the quarter included establishing a strong relationship with CERA, the closing of the Mō Tātou exhibition at Otago Museum, supporting Te Waihora Management Board to give evidence to the Lake Ellesmere Water Conservation Order and the preparation of new te reo resources including Destination Reo, a Google maps application that assists whānau to access te reo learning services as well as retail outlets that support the use of reo. The Office SCI was also received and approved by Te Rūnanga. The focus of the Office SCI was the alignment to Te Rūnanga strategic priorities and Papatipu Rūnanga aspirations.

New Policy
Te Rūnanga received and approved a paper about a new policy regarding Insider Trading to ensure the legal safety of NTHC and Office staff. The new policy means certain staff will have to seek permissions to buy and sell certain shares traded on the stock exchange if there is any suggestion that they may have access to inside knowledge.

Office budget overview
Te Rūnanga received and approved a discussion paper about the Office budget for 2011/2012. The approved budget is $26.2m, which is $3.6m more than last year reflecting improved NTHC performance and asset growth. Te Rūnanga agreed that Te Here would report on the use of the certain funds not yet allocated to specific projects during the year.

Hui-ā-Tau/Hui-ā-Iwi
Te Rūnanga had a discussion about the 2011 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and arrangements for the next Hui-ā-Tau or Hui-ā-Iwi. Te Rūnanga decided the 2011 AGM and report to whānau will be held on Saturday 26 November from 10am – 12.30pm at a Christchurch venue. Also a decision was made to hold Hui-ā-Iwi in November 2012, Te Here will advise on the suitable location and venue.

In Committee
Te Rūnanga received the end-of-year quarterly report from Ngāi Tahu Holdings Corporation. For the June quarter NTHC recorded a Net Operating Surplus of $12.4m, which is $3.5m ahead of forecast. Ngāi Tahu Seafood performed strongly during the quarter, and Ngāi Tahu Property was just above budget. However the earthquakes had a negative impact on tourism operations. A summary of the NTHC quarterly will be distributed to Papatipu Rūnanga via Epānui.
Te Rūnanga also approved the NTHC SCI, and extended the NTHC delegated financial authority from, in some instances, $15m to $50m. There was also discussion on the Ngāi Tahu and Te Tau Ihu iwi Boundary Coastline agreements and the co-governance arrangements for Te Waihora.

3. BUDGET ISSUES The strategic matters surrounding the budge were considered in a discussion paper with a greater emphasis on the longer term strategic objectives of the budget. There has been plenty of activity with Te Here reviewing the current programme and attempting to align the runanga aspirations with Te Runanga’s work programme. Even in this year’s allocation some funding has been held back in anticipation of strategy development in a couple of key areas.

Budget Allocation for FY 2011/12

Core existing programmes - $22.3m
Increased Whakamahi to $240k (Rūnanga) - $0.8m
Marae Fund (Rūnanga) - $1.00m
Tribal properties/environmental grant (Rūnanga) - $0.3m
Health and well-being (estimate) (Whānau) - $0.3m
Ngāi Tahu Research Centre (Whānau) - $0.1m
Hui-a-iwi (Whānau) - $0.1m
CERA Advocacy (if required) - $0.1m
Reserve/Contingency – to be allocated post development of strategies and business cases - $ 1.2m
TOTAL
$26.2m

The Te Rūnanga strategic priorities agreed at the meeting were in the principle direction of:
- Achieve allocation of 1/3rd whānau, rūnanga, iwi by 2015
- Capped central expenditure and increased direct distributions (including Pūtea Whakamahi)
- Devolvement and decentralising services where appropriate in line with building rūnanga/regional capacity
- Equity across regions

Limit role of the centre to:
- Governance and representation
- High level political influence. National advocacy influence and monitoring of Crown
- Hub for specialist and support services (not all ‘in-house’)
- Facilitation and enabler services
- Promoting consultation, transparency and communication
- Provider of agreed tribal programmes

Rūnanga priorities will be as follows:
- Marae development
- Whānau development
- Economic development
- Cultural development
- Environment
- Rūnanga capacity
- Restoration and research

This is quite a significant decision and encapsulates a number of the principles this runanga has been promoting for the past few years. Below is how the distributions may look over the coming financial years.

The Distribution
Firstly the following is being assumed in terms of NTHC business plans (excludes relativity)
2011/12 - $26.2m
2012/13 - $27.8m
2013/14 - $29.5m
2014/15 - $31.5m
2015/16 - $33.4m

Baseline budget
Based on work to-date we anticipate the retention of existing programs and our baseline budget i.e. including existing commitments and without any new programs/projects is $22.3m for 2011/12. This baseline budget can be allocated as follows:

                        2011/12 BASE                    2011/12 %                      2015/16 TARGET

Ngāi Tahu Whānui $6.6m 29% $11.1m
Rūnanga $4.8m 21% $11.1m
Iwi (TRoNT & Office) $11.0m 49% $11.1m
TOTAL $22.3m 100% $33.4m

The iwi portion is already assumed fixed. Therefore, in terms of budget allocation, the strategic driver is to achieve equality – initially between Whānau and Rūnanga and ultimately with the Iwi allocation. This could be achieved as follows:

Initial increase to Rūnanga of $1.8m and subsequent distribution increases split evenly between Rūnanga and Whānau i.e. a further $1.0m each.
Alternatively Rūnanga /Whānau equality could occur over the next few years and the initial allocation be based on Te Rūnanga’s assessment of strategic priorities.

Te Pūtea Whakamahi
The target is either $400,000 or $450,000 ($400,000 in “today’s $ i.e. adjusted for CPI) in 2015/16 as follows:

FINANCIAL YEAR $400k target $450k target
2009/10 169 169
2010/11 194 194
2011/12 240 250 2012/13 280 300 2013/14 320 350 2014/15 360 400
2015/16 (TARGET) 400 450 2011/12 (total cost) 4,320 4,500
2011/12 (increase) 824 1,004

Assuming an initial allocation to Rūnanga of $1.8 million, the above can be accommodated well within this. We have assumed an increase to $240k given we also anticipate an environmental grant of circa $11k per Rūnanga.

4. ELECTIONS FOR THE KAIWHAKAHAERE AND DEPUTY IN SEPTEMBER

• Nomination for Kaiwhakahaere:
  i) Mark Solomon (no challenger)

• Nomination for Deputy Kaiwhakahaere:
  i) Elizabeth Cunningham
  ii) Matapura Ellison
  iii) Lisa Tumahai

5. NTHC

As reported last month the NTHC have some exciting challenges ahead particularly in their property portfolio. We can discuss their annual result and statement of corporate intent at the meeting.

6. TE WAIHORA
In late 2010, the Minister for the Environment requested advice from both Canterbury Regional Council (ECan) and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu (Te Rūnanga) on the measures required to address the degradation of Te Waihora. In response to this request, a joint bid called Whakaora Te Waihora was developed and proposed a substantial intergenerational clean-up programme executed by Ngāi Tahu/Te Waihora Management Board and ECan. A proportion of the Whakaora Te Waihora proposal has subsequently been confirmed (confidentially) as part of the Crown’s Freshwater Clean Up Fund over the next two years.

Discussions have also progressed during the past few months towards developing an agreement with ECan to ensure the effective management of the Whakaora Te Waihora programme. More recently this has culminated in the development of a wider co-governance agreement on matters relating to the lake and catchment in a framework of ki uta ki tai, driven by the need to protect, enhance and improve the management of water within the catchment.

This progression firstly builds on the pre-Settlement aspiration to achieve co-governance of Te Waihora (land and water) with the Department of Conservation and the Canterbury Regional Council but that could not be achieved at the time of Settlement due to the Crown’s nervousness to recognise iwi rights in water.

Secondly, and importantly within a contemporary context, this proposal significantly builds on the Te Waihora Management Board’s commitment to and success of several projects including the Te Waihora Joint Management Plan, Te Waihora Lakebed Access Agreement (Commercial Fishing), a joint lake opening consent application with ECan, multiple restoration projects, creation of the Horomaka Kōhanga Customary and Recreation area, and amendments to the Te Waihora Conservation Order to include Ngāi Tahu values.

This next step towards the implementation of a large scale restoration programme and enduring co-governance relationship is consistent with Te Waihora Management Board and Ngāi Tahu aspirations in a partnership based model of ki uta ki tai.

These initiatives have been progressed by Te Waihora Management Board as the mandated Advisory Board to Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu on matters relating to Te Waihora, on behalf of their representative papatipu rūnanga – Te Taumutu, Ngāi Tūāhuriri, Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke, Koukourarata, Ōnuku and Wairewa Rūnanga.

This includes an $11M contribution from the government and ongoing funding support from Te Runanga.

Lake Ellesmere to get $11m clean-up

New Zealand's most polluted waterway, Lake Ellesmere, will get an $11 million clean-up.

Environment Minister Nick Smith said the Government would put $6.1m towards the plan for the lake, also known as Te Waihora.

Environment Canterbury will fund $3.5m, Fonterra $1.3m, Ngai Tahu $500,000 and the rest would come from the Selwyn District Council, Waihora Ellesmere Trust and Lincoln University and local volunteers.

The Lake Ellesmere Water Conservation Order has been overhauled to change the period the lake can be open, to require stronger protection of the lake's outstanding features and officially recognise the dual name.

The changes take effect on September 22.

"This plan involves changes to the Water Conservation Order, millions of dollars to fund clean-up work, changes to farm practices in the lake's catchments, reiparian [lake-side bank] planting and relationship agreements to keep the work programme on track," Dr Smith said.

He said it was the most significant fresh water clean up project New Zealand had under-taken.
"It has taken 50 years for it to get into this mess and it will take a long-term commitment to put it right."

Lake Ellesmere covers 180 sq km. Other large lakes with pollution problems are Rotorua, 80 sq km, and Wairarapa, 77 sq km.