Budget boost keeps Waitangi Treaty Grounds running

Waitangi National Trust chairman Pita Tipene said the $4m Government funding would help keep operations and staff going. Photo / Michael Cunningham

The chairman of the trust that runs the Waitangi Treaty Grounds says if it had not received $4m in the Government's $50b Budget it would have "closed up".

The Waitangi National Trust received $4m as part of a $900 million package to support Māori in the 2020 Budget.

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Pita Tipene, chairman of the trust, said Covid-19 had a "detrimental effect" on the trust, and the money would help keep its operations and staff going.

"Waitangi being a key tourism destination in Northland, we feel we have a leadership responsibility in the rebuild of the tourism industry in the Bay of Islands, Northland and in the country. And with Waitangi being a very iconic national and historic landmark, we approached the Government for some funds.

"We've managed to get though most of the tourism season, the summer period, and things obviously go quiet in the winter, but we still retain quite a core group of staff. So it was really important to keep the morale up of our staff because it's a crucial part of our community."

Tipene said people often thought the trust, which employs about 70 staff, was Government-funded, but it relied entirely on domestic and international tourism and admission fees "to break even".

He said the Treaty Grounds reopened at the weekend, but without the $4m funding there would have been "dire consequences".

"We would have closed up. Given that we've got quite a huge core staff, having to put them off would've been really detrimental to them and all of their whānau and all of the services that support them. Not to mention Waitangi National Trust helps to pull people in to the Bay of Islands."