Legacy of the whenua comes first for new Ātihau chair - 'I want my mokopuna to know we added value and looked after the land'

Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation’s new chair heads a board that must address the challenges and opportunities facing the business of farming – as well as the needs of an organisation collectively owned by whānau shareholders. Moana Ellis talks to Dr Te Tiwha Brendon Puketapu.

Diversification, climate change and the impacts of Covid-19 on global markets may be burning issues for the new chair and his board – but they’re only half the picture.

In an inter-generational, collectively owned, values-driven Māori farming business that exports to the world, the governance landscape is broad and complex.

Dr Te Tiwha Brendon Puketapu – Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation’s new chair – says he’s fully aware the success of one of Aotearoa’s biggest Māori-owned farming organisations comes down to one thing: good governance.

“It’s as basic as that,” Te Tiwha says.

“It’s often said good governance is common sense, but add to that all the complexities and expectations that come with the varied activities of the Incorporation – and then stay mindful that the Incorporation represents the interests of the people.”

What must come first is building, strengthening and protecting the legacy of the land for more than 9000 shareholder whānau and their growing number of descendants.

“All of that should be front and centre for a board,” Te Tiwha says.

“We need to show the same persistence and tenacity demonstrated by the tūpuna who laid the foundation and had a vision for the whenua. We’re looking after something not just of our time, but something that has been in progress for a long time.

“The starting point is not making money, it’s looking after the land so the land will look after us. It’s generating in order to retain, grow and demonstrate that te taiao is just as important as the dollar that benefits us and supports our activities and our marae, hapū and whānau. It is a whole-of-picture view.”

Te Tiwha has focused on Māori development and organisation in both his professional life and in decades of governance roles for whānau, marae, hapū and iwi.

A self-employed consultant for the past 14 years, he has more than 20 years of experience in management of private sector, public sector and non-government organisations. He has held governance roles with the New Zealand Council of Education Research and Ngā Tāngata Tiaki o Whanganui Establishment Trust, has chaired the Whanganui River Māori Trust Board and TaranakiWhanganui Conservation Board, and has served at home on a range of marae and Māori land trusts.

He has been a director at ĀtihauWhanganui Inc. for nine years, serving as chair of its Audit & Risk Committee and heading Te Āti Hau Trust for a time.

Toitū te whenua, toitū te tangata, toitū te mana

Te Tiwha’s whakapapa spans the length and breadth of the river. He connects to Rānana through his mother Toreheikura, the pōtiki of Hori Pāmu Tinirau who was raised by his uncle Arama Tinirau. The kupu ‘Toitū te whenua, toitū te tangata, toitū te mana’ – from which the Incorporation takes its lead – are noted to be from Arama.

Toreheikura and Te Tiwha’s father Tamihana still live in Rānana.

Arama’s sister, Mania Te Rongonui, was Hori’s mother, linking through Te Riaki to Ngā Mōkai, Tirorangi and Maungārongo.

Above image: Te Tiwha's parents, Toreheikura (Tore) and Tamihana (Buddy).

Te Tiwha’s grandmother, Pare, was a daughter of Tēri (Edward) Blackburn. Tēri married Kataraina Kātaka, one of the daughters of Hoani Kātaka, who lived at Raetihi.

On his grandfather’s father’s side, Te Tiwha is a Pāmu Whakarake from Ngāti Hāua/Hinengākau.

Te Tiwha’s grandfather Ginger lived in Whanganui at the Pūtiki flats until he passed away. Ginger’s father was Ihāia Porutu Puketapu, who is buried at Waiwhetū in Lower Hutt. The Puketapu lines connect the family to Waikawa in the top of the South Island, Wellington and Taranaki.

Connections born of entwined whakapapa like this are mirrored the length of the river, Te Tiwha says.

“I wonder if we don’t connect ourselves enough, to really understand who we are to one other” he muses.

“Sometimes we get lost thinking we’re just shareholders – we’re more than that. We need to continually reaffirm and acknowledge that whakapapa is what binds us – not just to the mountain, the river and our lands, but to each other.”

Toreheikura and Tamihana met and raised their family in Wellington.

Te Tiwha started working life as a draughting cadet but switched to teachers’ college, eventually teaching at Rātana after stints in Wellington and Waikato.

In the early ‘80s, while teaching at Rātana Primary School, he was involved with Te Awa Youth Trust at Whangaehu. He was also working alongside the aunties and uncles at Rānana marae, and taking part in the tikanga wānanga and wānanga taiaha guided by the presence of Atawhai Taiaroa, Matiu Mareikura and Rangitihi Tahuparae.

“It certainly held our attention. Most of us of our generation who were attending these wānanga were trying to connect and better understand who we are, why we are who we are, and how we do things in Whanganui.”

He also credits the firmness, strength and influence of the kuia, many who have since passed on, such as Hoana Akapita, Raana Mareikura, Noti Firmin, Ani Henry and Julie Ranginui.

“They had a way of sharing their gentle and not-so-gentle reminders about what is important.”

Degrees from Massey University followed, including a Masters in Education and Administration, which opened his way into testing organisational theory and practice in Māori organisations. His doctoral studies included six months on Canada’s western seaboard working with the Nisga’a people on their economic development strategy, followed by a stint in Ottawa at the Department of Native Affairs.

He was based in Wellington for a while, working at NZQA before moving home once again to take up the regional director role for Te Puni Kōkiri in Whanganui. He was back in the capital to work for the State Services Commission before joining

Ngāi Tahu as chief executive of Te Tapuwae o Rehua.

He returned from Te Waipounamu to a post on the executive team for the Tertiary Education Commission, looking after the Māori-Pasifika strategy, and moved to Wairarapa, where he lives still.

Above image: Hori Paamu Tinirau, Te Tiwha's grandfather on his mother's side.

Above image: Pare Kataraina Tinirau (Blackburn), Te Tiwha's grandmother on his mother's side.

Planning and prioritising

There is much for the board to consider as it plans and prioritises programmes of work for the years ahead, Te Tiwha says.

These include active succession planning with a view to supporting the development of the next generation of farm managers, strengthening strategic relationships and connections with emerging post-settlement entities within the Whanganui landscape, and building stronger pathways for shareholder and whānau involvement. On the far horizon is planning to resume the last of the leases.

“We want to stay connected to our whenua, and not just for economic reasons. Income from the whenua should be a means to retain, sustain and strengthen, but the ultimate outcome is to nurture our people with what we’ve been left, and it is for us to impart this legacy to future generations.

“My vision is simple. I want my mokopuna to know our generation added value and looked after the land so they are not left with added burden, and in fact have been given greater opportunity.”

Te Tiwha says toward this, the board will work to lift the quality and type of information shared with whānau to enable them to connect more closely with the Incorporation and its activities.

Finally, the new chair says one of the gifts his predecessor Mavis Mullins left the board was the time for measured thinking around diversification and strategic growth.

“She has given us some calm to look at how we broaden and extend so that we gradually but surely reduce risks for our land. I’ve certainly welcomed that contribution to giving us space and room around our diversification focus.

“That includes managing development debt. I am confident that this board has the skill mix to do that, and I have very strong focus on making sure we look after what we’ve got before we extend. If we do extend, we will be measured about how we do that rather than jumping at shiny things.

“I’m not shy of innovation, but I am shy of spending money if there is lack of clarity about return on investment.

“Often people get caught in conversations about cultural versus commercial development, that you can have only one or the other. That’s not our approach – for us, it’s one AND the other.

“We have to be able to join the dots to enable economic development that is not at the expense of looking after our land, our animals, our people, our identity and our relationship with place.”