Central North Island iwi elect first post-settlement board

Former Uenuku Charitable Trust chairman Aiden Gilbert. Photo / Moana Ellis

Members of three central North Island iwi have elected a board of trustees to manage their $28.5 million Treaty settlement.

Nine trustees – three from each of the iwi Uenuku, Tamahaki and Tamakana – have been elected to the first board of Te Korowai o Wainuiārua.

Te Korowai o Wainuiārua is the post-settlement governance entity set up to represent hapū affiliated to the three iwi and manage their settlement assets.

The settlement signed at Raetihi Marae in July 2023 recognises breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and provides redress, including cash, cultural redress and property.

An interim board made up of trustees of the settlement negotiating group Uenuku Charitable Trust has been acting as a placeholder since the signing.

The elected trustees are: for Uenuku, Aiden Gilbert, Lesley (Missy) Edmonds and Tāwhiao McMaster; for Tamahaki, Paora (Baldy) Haitana, Wayne Cribb and Greg Robinson; for Tamakana, Hayden Turoa, Marilyn Davis and James Foster.

Gilbert, Edmonds, Haitana and Turoa were members of the pre-settlement Uenuku Charitable Trust board. Robinson and Cribb are the sons of former trustees Don Robinson and the late Robert (Boy) Cribb.

Gilbert was chairman of Uenuku Charitable Trust since its inception in 2014 and was a member of the settlement negotiating team.

The election at the end of 2024 was managed by electionz.com.

Nearly 30% of contactable adult registered members of the iwi cast votes, according to figures released by Te Korowai o Wainuiārua.

The entity said a total of 2184 adults were registered members of the three iwi but only 1687 were “reasonably contactable”.

A total of 551 individuals cast votes, with 157 voting by post and 394 voting online.

For Tamahaki, 144 eligible members cast votes; for Tamakana, 128 votes were cast; 279 votes were cast in the Uenuku electorate.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.