With fame and fortune comes pressure. Despite being one of the country’s most prominent iwi, Te Arawa is still striving to achieve a unified vision.

Despite being the oldest Māori trust in the country, Te Arawa Lakes Trust is still in the process of figuring out exactly how to unify the people it represents. The struggle of achieving kotahitanga as an entity with such a large population is symptomatic of the wider issues faced by almost every sizable iwi entity in Aotearoa. While large tribes such as Ngāi Tahu and Tainui are constantly highlighted as examples of how iwi could operate, the issues Te Arawa Lakes Trust are facing show that even some of our most prominent iwi can struggle in a post-settlement environment.

Established in 1924 as Te Arawa Māori Trust Board, the trust represents a total of 56 hapū, spanning from Kawerau in the North to Tongariro in the South. In 2006, the trust was repurposed as a post-settlement governance entity named Te Arawa Lakes Trust and granted cultural redress that included title to 13 lake beds in the Rotorua district and financial redress of $2.7m. The 2013 Census found 43,374 people were affiliated with Te Arawa and over 19,500 people were registered with Te Arawa Lakes Trust.

“We had a lot of rangatira on the board back then, and they were rangatira in those days. They were very influential – people listened to them, people respected them and they had the mana. Today, it’s totally different,” says Geoff Rolleston, chair of Te Arawa Lakes Trust.

The changes Rolleston is referring to are not only the demographic and experience of board members, but also the skills required to effectively run an entity like Te Arawa Lakes Trust. While most of the “pioneers” were well versed in te ao Māori, today’s trustees must be able to comfortably straddle the boardroom as well as the marae.

“Today’s board is different. We’re younger, coming from diverse backgrounds, with varied experiences and skills. They [the early pioneers] had a different kind of respect and faced different challenges. The modern era demands new skills, influenced heavily by Western culture and economic dynamics,” Rolleston says.

The trust currently manages an asset base of approximately $107m, mostly made up of dairy farms, kiwifruit orchards, commercial forestry, property, and Maketū Pies. Despite being the sixth largest iwi population-wise, the entity does not feature in Deloitte’s list of the top 10 Māori organisations. Current chief executive Darryn Bean acknowledges the trust has great economic potential, saying the main issue preventing them from reaching it is their inability to collectivise the confederation. “Kotahitanga is the key word for the year,” he says.

In 2021, the trust began the process of consolidating, or selling off a number of its non-legacy assets to repay debt and focus its investments. Rolleston and Bean expect a review of the trust’s representation and operating models to be completed by next year, with changes fully implemented by no later than 2027. The review and sale of assets are part of a process aimed at fostering greater unity among iwi and hapū. Additionally, it seeks to broaden the trust’s focus beyond the health of the 14 roto within their tribal boundaries – an issue that Rolleston says has been consuming the majority of the organisation’s attention. “We’re now entering a new phase of thinking and expanding our horizons. There are a lot of opportunities around how we can deliver to our people and we can’t constrain ourselves to one perspective.”

As Te Arawa Lakes Trust works to fully realise its economic potential, neighbouring trust Tuaropaki from Taupō has managed to develop its asset base into a billion dollar economic powerhouse with global investments. While Te Arawa is famous for its tourism industry, the trust is now looking to dive into new industries worth more than just a few pennies. Rolleston says Te Arawa Lakes trust is constantly evaluating new opportunities in areas such as geothermal energy, which was a key part of the recipe to success for Tuarpoaki.

“There are a number of opportunities in the melting pot that we are investigating,” Rolleston says.

Much like the Tainui iwi model, Rolleston would like to see Te Arawa Lakes Trust operating as a type of parliament for the confederation of Te Arawa, acting as a conduit between its tribal members and crown entities. The group, according to Rolleston, would ideally have a clear mandate to request the devolution of resources from government agencies so they could be further devolved to the confederation’s members to manage their own health, social, and educational outcomes. However, both Rolleston and Bean acknowledge these conversations are still in the early stages internally and require a considered approach. Not every hapū or iwi within the confederation shares the same vision, nor do they all have the internal capability or capacity at the current time.

“It’s about the process as much as the decision to do it [devolution]. If we rush into it without fully understanding how to implement it, we risk failure. There is still a lot of work to be done. While everyone agrees on the direction, we need to focus on building the capability and pathway to make it happen effectively,” Bean says.

In the meantime, the trust is focussing on maintaining and further developing relationships with the Crown, its ministers, and politicians from across the political spectrum. The trust’s leadership recognises the importance of continuing to foster positive relationships and this was evident at their centennial ball held last Thursday, which was attended by Māori development minister Tama Potaka, minister for social development Louise Upston, Labour MPs Willow-Jean Prime and Shannan Halbert, plus Hūhana Lyndon from the Greens.

“Many of our iwi organisations are tied to government contracts. To protect our interests and future revenues, we have to work with crown agencies, officials, and MPs. However, we cannot lose sight of our own values in the process,” says Rolleston.

Another area of immediate focus for the trust is the development of Te Arawa rangatahi and the harnessing of their talent and potential. The trust believes that unity among its members will be much easier to achieve if it can make the path to leadership easier for its rangatahi. “It’s about moving from rhetoric to practical action, recognising that kotahitanga is already within our reach,” says Bean.

Despite issues persisting around unemployment, a lack of unity, and no clear path forward at this point in time, there is a visible desire from the trust to solve these issues. The reviews that are underway are a step towards addressing the representation and operation models that are lacking cohesion at present. While not alone in their struggles, the century-long journey of Te Arawa Lakes Trust shows that the Crown-prescribed method of dealing with historical grievances can create new issues for iwi and large natural groupings post-settlement.

This is Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air.