Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu (Te Rūnanga) is the mandated iwi authority representing Ngāi Tahu whānau, as recognised in the Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Act 1996 and the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu
The jurisdiction of Te Rūnanga is the Ngāi Tahu takiwā. Te Rūnanga works on behalf of the interests of all Papatipu Rūnanga.
Te Rūnanga are partners with the Crown, engaging on legislative and policy development, as well as taking an oversight position for the earthquake recovery process.
Te Rūnanga used its experience from the 2010/2011 Christchurch earthquakes to respond immediately on 14 November 2016, activating its largest response since the Ōtautahi earthquakes in 2010/2011.
Te Rūnanga decided to focus its attention on the Kaikōura Papatipu Rūnanga and Takahanga Marae, where Ngāti Kurī whānau were dealing with a massive influx of tourists, visitors and wider community due to landslips leaving Kaikōura inaccessible via road.
Mobilising tribal resources, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu immediately swung into action providing a coordinated multi-pronged response to Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura (Papatipu Rūnanga) and Takahanga Marae. The three central partners in the response were Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu; Te Puni Kōkiri and Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu (Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency for the South Island).
Te Rūnanga appointed a dedicated Earthquake Director to coordinate the tribal response from the Office of Te Rūnanga and manage tribal resources in support of the recovery effort. Key relationships with government and stakeholders are pivotal in facilitating a collaborative recovery process. A primary function of Te Rūnanga is to support Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura and affected whānau to lead their recovery process at the flax roots level.
In recovery Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura have focused on ensuring participation in recovery decision-making, alongside Kaikōura District Council, NZ Transport Agency, KiwiRail, NCTIR and others.