TRONPnui Trustee Report – Feb 2015

TRONPnui Trustee Barry Soutar has provided the following report for the monthly Hikurangi Takiwā Hapū Collective​ hui scheduled for āpōpō…

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Haere atu ra e te autaia ki runga ite Takapau-a-Maui, ki nga tihi tane/wahine e tu ana hai tohu whakamahara ki a Nehe ma. Whakapiri atu ki a ratau kua nunumi ra ki te rori ki Te Reinga.
E Api e kore ano e rangona i to reo Nati e mirirmiri ana ki te taringa. Kai te paheke to momo i nga wharua o Waiapu. Na reira Korou, haere atu ra!

My apologies, but having attended the tangi for the last three days I have had to return to Auckland for family and work. I had originally intended coming to Whareponga for the Cluster meeting and signalled Manu accordingly. Here is brief report on TRONP activities.

· This is election year and new trustee/directors for the parent board must be in place by October. Hence, the election process commences from April.

· With the passing of the Chair, it is likely that appointment within the board of a new chair will occur at the next meeting Tues 24th Feb. Our trust deed may not require us to immediately seek a replacement trustee from Rohenga 2. Such a requirement is likely to be redundant anyway since full elections are about to start.

· It is our collective responsibility to ensure that as many of our whanau are registered with TRONPnui for voting purposes. And we should also encourage the best of our skilled people to offer themselves for election. My plea to you all is to help ensure that the relative skill level on the board is increased for the next round to benefit Ngati Porou.

· Ngati Porou Holding Company – is on-track with delivery of the agreed dividend to the parent ($2,000,000 for the year ending June 2015). It has superseded earnings expectations over the last quarter, but warns us proper measurement should only apply across the full year as peaks and troughs in equity markets are well-understood to occur monthly. They also acknowledge the gap between the dividend versus the size of need in Ngati Porou and will work closely with the parent and Toitu to explore further options to leverage all opportunities to increase support.

· Each of the subsidiary business units (farms/forest/fish) have been undergoing some reviews against performance and a certain amount of re-organising of governance has taken place where appropriate to sharpen the business. Integrating all of these into a single business strategy taking account of the wider needs of Ngati Porou economic development and personnel development is the current challenge underway.

· Toitu – has exhausted its expenditure for the year and consequently has volunteered to reduce its board costs by 50% essentially reducing meetings to bi-monthly. 89% of its annual distributions have gone to marae grants. The remaining 10% was allocated to a range of smaller projects including: building a spoken reo archive; aligning a single Ngati Porou reo strategy from the existing multiple versions; C Company; marae coordinator; and a $30k contestable fund.

· Hauora – East Coast Health Review has determined that it is at a critical and difficult juncture in the process that won’t be easy to progress and therefore a more time is needed to develop, consider and undertake all options/steps to reach an agreed solution. Likely completion is August, 2015.

· A major project is underway to build a 5-year financial model in order to test whether there is a more efficient way of managing our money flows in order to increase benefit for the tribe. Of course, this is a very complex exercise and a range of skills have been appointed to assist us to complete this project.

· Nati Insure – for our marae’s was launched at the AGM.

· Single Procurement – has been coordinated to leverage the collective buying power of the various subsidiaries and associated entities.

· Website – stage one of the roll-out has been completed and KPI’s have been exceeded in engagement through social media, etc.

· Te Tini-o-Porou (ex DB Hotel) – development is underway to refurbish for the needs of the combined social services units. This is being financed by the rental savings of the units into the new facility with guarantees over tenure. A special contract structure created by TRONPnui enables Ngati Porou local contractors to participate in the build.

· Contracts – with Te Toka Consortium for carpentry training has been issued. A Whanau Ora EOI has also been submitted.

· Housing NZ stock – is being transferred. Some Ngati Porou tenants have applied for clearance to purchase and these have been granted on receipt.

· East Coast Drinking Water – TRONPnui has requested negotiation of the closure of this scheme under our Relationship Accord with Crown.

· Waka – Te Aio-o-Nukutaimemeha is to be relocated to Hinepare Marae as landlords have requested its removal from the current paddock in Rangitukia.

· Appointments – a number have been made to fill new roles in the organisations, including seeking a replacement director on Holdco and seeking a new CEO to replace the retirement of Teepa Wawatai.

· Waiapu Restoration – Phase 2 is underway including: expanded workstreams; more parties involved; and a wider scope of operations.

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Barry Soutar
Tel: +64 (0)21 613 479
Email: barry.soutar@piata.co.nz

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Disclaimer: This information is provided by a Trustee of TRONPnui, it is not necessarily the views and positions of Te Runanganui o Ngati Porou or any of its subsidiaries, trustees or staff.