Thursday, November 5, 2009

Ngai Tahu Election delay causes fury


Kaikoura

I noted in my Ngai Tahu Election update that Kaikoura and Awarua Papatipu Runaka seemed to be dragging their heels when it came to getting their elections sorted. Now this

"Ngai Tahu leader Mark Solomon's Kaikoura runanga remains one of only two South Island runanga not preparing for elections to the iwi board.

Mana Solomon, a 31-year-old nephew to the tribal leader, said while 16 other runanga had either run or were planning elections, Kaikoura had done little to inform whanau about candidates."
"He was angry that the tribe's website says only that the runanga is "still discussing process". Watch out - you might get a taina email :) (This is supposed to be funny thus the smiley face)
"I don't know what that means. What's happening now is disgraceful. It's a basic democratic right to vote and yet we've got no idea."
I hear you e hoa. We want our rights and we want them now!
"Tront chief executive Anake Goodall said Ngai Tahu legislation was vague about how it could elect members. But it wasn't good enough that the tribe had taken so long to sort out the electoral process. Mr Goodall said Kaikoura would likely miss the deadline for elections, but he hoped they would complete the process by the end of March."
End of march!


Not good enough by a long shot.

Come on - how about this - if you haven't completed elections then you can't elect a kaiwhakahaere can you?

Footnote - An interesting piece about Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu from Te Karere focusing on Wally, Mark and new boss (thanks anon) Chief Executive of NT Holdings Greg Campbell



Greg - good luck and nothing personal, but I wish we had Ngai Tahu whanui member's as our directors.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you always look for the worst you will find it. Greg is not a director and there never has been a Ngai Tahu person as CE of NTHC.

I don't think we have been served well in the past by either NT or non NT directors of NTHC or the boards. TRONT has had to remove too many of our own because we appoint them on on the basis they are our own and we have overlooked their little foibles. Wally was not removed lightly nor was Maika. Both good men, but for a different job.

Mark is not in charge of running Kaikoura elections and has advocated for a direct vote of all people who belong to Kaikoura. The hold up at Awarua and Kaikoura is a disgrace - but blame those responsible instead of blindly casting aspersions.

Marty Mars said...

Kia ora anon

Everyone has their good and bad points.

i don't blame mark for the delay and i'm not blindly casting aspersions - it is you who is doing that. If you read my posts you will see that I support our kaiwhakahaere.

And i'm not looking for the worst - I'm posting what is in the biggest newspaper in this country and on the TV.

Apoligies to Greg if i got his title wrong.

Anonymous said...

funny things happen really

a bit of a stir about whether Mark is responsible for this or that Bill Solomon would never have supported what Wally et al are up to. Intetesting to note that the Whalewatch PR guy is the same advisor as helped the rabble earlier this year.

The whanau of Kaikoura, except for a select few, get no benefit and Whalewatch Aus continues to run at a loss. But Wally will keep buying the spin as he proctects himself from scrutiny,



Media Advisory
John Key to Launch New Whale Watch Kaikoura Vessel

The Whale Watch Kaikoura team invites you, or a member of your team to
the launch of Wawahia, Where Prime Minister John Key will launch the
latest addition to our fleet, this Thursday November 5.

The Prime Minister will launch – Wawahia - the sixth boat in our New
Zealand fleet, before he and other invited guests experience first
hand why award winning Whale Watch Kaikoura has grown to be one of the
country’s leading tourist attractions.

Wawahia is named after the father of Whale Watch Kaikoura founder Bill
Solomon – Rangi Wawahia Solomon.

The launch of the new generation whale-watching vessel is a momentous
day for our organisation and the Kaikoura community who embrace our
passion for sharing the majesty of our aquatic neighbours to the
people of New Zealand and the world.

We are a homegrown and proud operation that cherishes sustainable and
renewable business practices, and a preference for supporting local
businesses and suppliers.

We are also proud to announce that we are, a finalist in the
internationally renowned Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards
2009. We are honored to be representing New Zealand at the award
ceremony in London on November 11.

New Zealand have a fine track record at these prestigious awards -
http://www.wtmwrtd.com which aim to celebrate those individuals,
companies and organisations in the travel industry that are making a
significant commitment to the culture and economies of local
communities and are providing a positive contribution to biodiversity
conservation.

Also on hand at the launch next week will be David Robertson General
Manager of Whale Watch Australia, where we are in our second year of
operation. David will be available to share the momentous success we
have had in our first expansion to offshore markets... Success
including growth that now sees Whale Watch Australia carrying 40 per
cent of the Gold Coast's estimated 30,000 whale watch passengers
annually.

I have included details of the launch schedule below.

Nahaku noa, na,
Kauahi Ngapora
Chief Operating Officer
Whale Watch Kaikoura.

PM visit to Whale Watch Kaikoura: 5th of Nov 2009

10am -11am: Powhiri to take place at Kaikoura Winery 140 SH1
11am-11.15am: Travel to South Bay by Whale watch bus departing winery
main entrance
11.15am-1130am: PM to unveil plaque on vessel
11.30am-13.00pm: Whale watching tour
13.00pm-13.15pm: Travel to lunch function venue at Donegal House
13.00pm-15.00pm,: Lunch function
15.00-15.30pm: PM and Ministers depart Kaikoura

Further media inquiries please contact Jon Stokes on 0276122095, or
email: jon.stokes@xtra.co.nz

Anonymous said...

What fun - BB and Rodney Hide in the same camp - exposing rorts but only for some. Her site is now moderated - but I am sure that the tribe is closing in on the truth and when we follow the money we will see that the same names emerge.

Who gotWally engaged as ITGM director from where he appointed himself as Chair of NTHC?

Who kept Tahu on and then paid him out a second time?

Just how did Nuk, Ward and Tahu etc get contracts at NTHC and funny how the cost savings in that area keep coming.

What did Marcus and his mate do to deserve those big flash utes and just what is their qualifications to be Whalewatch directors

follow the money - we are getting closer.

The rest of the Reps have done a great job of straightening the waka. Lets hope we can keep the greedies away from the till.

Anonymous said...

Nuk -Chair of the Electoral Committee at Rapaki. Jon Stokes working for Whale Watch/Wally- see Roar Prawn - someone has connected the dots
As for Nuk, Ward, Tahu - what did Wally pay them and for what?

Anonymous said...

More dots arriving - Tahu as Chair made sure he got the job as Rep by making sure the Father in Law and Cousin was on the panel. Now he steps aside and goodness gracious me steady Eddy (who twice tried to unseat Mark) is now the Chair.

It seems from the ODT Eddy wants TRONT to send money to the regions - which I agree with but not without accountability.

We should all be concerned and we should be writing and going to the hui-a-tau and demanding that the tribe is protected from these chancers.

I have never heard what Mark is done wrong - I think I know what the euphemism that NTHC is going in a new direction means as it related to Wally's removal.

Anonymous said...

i see on the moderated BB site people are asking why Mark does not do more re the elections - no one will win this one - Tahu etc interfered and have correctly been criticised - if Mark raised a finger imagine the outcry

under Tahu's leadership as CEO many runanga, including Kaikoura had their whakapapa lists messed about by an out of control whakapapa unit and an over-zealous legal team

of course Kaikoura knows who belongs to them - they are the descendants of Maru - and because they are good folks the Kaikoura runanga also takes in folks given land grants in their takiwa - trouble is if you ask the whakapapa unit to produce the list they are stuck in land grant lists - like the Government should dictate who belongs to our runanga

as Anon 1 said - if people look for bad things they will find them - if they look harder they may find who is really responsible

Anonymous said...

I'm prepared to believe that the newly appointed tront reps will work in the best interests of the Runanga & ngai tahu whanui.

Anonymous said...

As posted on the Roar Prawn site - Have to wait for it to be moderated.

"Roar Prawn, Busted Blonde whatever - so comment is moderated by you then why do you persist to takahia! oh yes because it's your site and it is your prerogative to advance your korero and allow the persecution of an individual you don't like and so you run rampant on your blog. What is it that you are moderating? What can be much worse than what you say.

On what do you really base the dreadful headings such as 'Solomon's a Pussy' Both Mark and Wally will have the dignity not to respond, or wouldn't bother to have someone respond on their behalf. Although it stands to reason that Wally's PR machine, Stokes, will move to justify the positives for Wally and that's the nature of the political game. Why not. To have been sacked by the tribe is not good.

Regardless of your view many of us believe that both Mark and Wally have been good ambassadors for Ngai Tahu.

This nonsense that started around 2006 would have been well and truly closed down and resolved by now if Bill was alive and there were some much hairier situations that were dealt with in the early days. I believe the weakness is in the older leadership, to not insist on keeping our internal business to ourselves and resolve it. I believe this is where the real split is. There needs to be a Kahui Council (and I mean those that are tika based not just because they are old). Trouble is where there is power, ego and money some prefer to let innuendo and lack of transparency rule.

Some families have (are) certainly benefiting remuneration wise inside Ngai Tahu relative to salaries, contracts and productivity or the lack of.

As for who got paid what in terms of Wally's sub-contracts did they do the job? and if they did they got paid.

In the early days when the structure was being put together, we wanted not just another corporate but an organisation unique to us. That area needs transparent strengthening.

Kaikoura like Awarua and other runanga will work through the election process consistent with the Charter and the Act and it is not the Kaiwhakahaere's job to oversee this process. It is the rangatiratanga of each runanga and if there are tensions they must be allowed to work through them, without the added pressure and stirring the dust by people such as you. Allow them to do that without using your site to advocate the downfall of someone.

If you whakapapa to Kaikoura or to the whole 18 as I do then go to their runanga meetings, register as a member and have your say on the marae. This style of takahia is so kuare and the sad thing is we are seeing so much of it within our own people.


With Wally and Tahu and others coming to the table and (they have worked hard to realise their plan) so be it.

It is no different to government. We will have a ruling party and the opposition, all sitting in chambers in the Hereford Board room with ultimate responsibility for the well-being of the people. What is good is that we will get more transparency because it will raise the bar.

Noho ora mai"

Anonymous said...

I have to say that from my observations at various runanga there was definitely a concerted effort to make sure that those selected to vote a certain way for an individual meant whole families were told who to vote for to achieve their end. That is not what you call an old fashioned democratic vote but it is certainly whanaungatanga used to the e nth degree and only time will tell if individuals will stay with that tikanga or not.

Therefore on matters of true democracy the electoral college system is flawed. I am aware that some whanau members felt pressured to vote the way they were told to and for some it has lead to whanau splits because some refused to be told how they should vote. It will be interesting to see if Kaikoura and Awarua go with the indicative vote. I hope they do.

Anonymous said...

Kia ora Marty and contributors

This site has raised the level of debate immensely and puts Tina - or BB or Roarprawn to shame. Some of the ideas about loss of leadership and options for the future in this korero are good.

mention was made of Bill Solomon - check this out http://haroldgoodwin.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2009/11/6/4374499.html these men and families put their homes on the line to take issues forward for their community. Now THAT is leadership. And the NTMTB were not so busy navel gazing they found the wherewithal to fight the Whalewatch case to secure the exclusive monoply rights to run the company - based on our (NT/Kuri) rights.

Anyways - the jungle drums say there is trouble in that camp - who are the rights for????

another day for that question perhaps.

perhaps the whole Repesentative things needs to be looking into. The task is not so great - appoint a good CEO - give him or her the authority to do the task you have given them and sack him/or her if they don't reform - too many hours spent in TR meetings and the pre-post match functions and not enough time being governors and answering to the people is were the time for mischief starts

Anonymous said...

Kia ora koutou

I applaud the sentiments that are coming through here. Especially regarding the our kaumatua Bill Solomon and his generation. When his hand came from his pocket it was not holding it out for payment. It was there in friendship and aroha and often to pick up the tab for others, notwithstanding he had little for himself for a very long time.

It seems when there was no $ we were a more civilised iwi. I have grown up on the stories of the sacrifices made to keep the claim going and the Tribunal hearings going. A six person Trust Board that ran on the smell of an oily rag and a series of local communities that ran on less.

We went to hui on a bus and shared marae and homes. TRONT reps now want airfares, hotels and cars on top of their salaries and you watch how many are not present all of the time at the hui-a-tau after we have paid out to get them there.

Presentations by way of self promoting videos took over from real questions on NTHC performance for the last few years - just more spin.

Stop the cash flow to the Reps until they all get humble enough to come back to talk to us all would be a good start.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Kia ora to Anon 13

There is a lot of hurt in here that should not be on the web.

Mark is neither sinner or saint. All this talk of tuakana / taina is so yesterday.

If there are people who can not support Mark then that is kei te pai - but in my experience Mark is not on the make or the take unlike some others who are feasting off the Whalewatch gravy train.

Evelyn Cook said...

There are far too many people posting`as Anonymous and slinging mud at others in this debate in my opinion.

I have made no secret of my distaste for the style of the Kaiwhakahaere but I have done it under my name. Some of what has been said would expose the writers to legal action were there names attached but the writers have chosen to hide but attack those like Busted Blonde who have more knowledge of the legal ramifications of using the blogosphere to make unsubstabtiated attacks on others.

Anonymous 13, I hear your pain but putting peoples' personal lives on display here is inappropriate. As well, it seems to be of little, if any, relevance to the Ngāi Tahu electoral processes.

Maybe more people need to take a deep breath and wait for the Hui a Tau.

Marty Mars said...

I agree, it is over the top. I have put moderation on, which is a pain. FFS play the ball - it's not that hard.

Marty Mars said...

I've also deleted anon13's comment. i'm not really into doing that but this is not the forum for that stuff. it is totally offensive and i apologise for not deleting it earlier.

Anonymous said...

Kia ora Marty - I don't mind if you delete my korero to ANON 13 I was trying to put some balance into the korero. Nga mihi Ngakau

Anonymous said...

Kia ora te whanau - and esp Marty

Thanks for the contributions and the service of this forum. There will always be a bit of mud and some questions but it is how they are put that matters.

It is okay to ask whether this is right or not and to ask for transparency. A once a year hui where even if we got the answers would still only go to a few anyways is only part of it. But there are limits.

One can understand anonymity re the posts - but do not think that would protect the people who defame others as it is possible to track back to individuals.

I would like to see a TR online intranet forum so we could raise these matters - anonymously or not - and have questions answered.

PS - am hoping Marty is to be blogging from the hui.

Marty Mars said...

Kia ora koutou

i'm not going to hui a tau but if anyone wants to send me updates - that would be great.

part of the reason for setting up the blog is so that we can have a forum for discussions - it is really good to see that happening

kia ora to all - everyone's korero is welcome and everyone's voice is heard.

Marty Mars said...

Kia ora Ngakau

your comment was true and i appreciate it and i'm sure anon13 does as well.

Thank you for your contributions

Nga mihi

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...
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Marty Mars said...

Anon

You can write your truth as long as it fits in with what i want on my blog. No personal attacks, no unsubstantiated insults or claims. I want you to say your truth but you need to tone it down - otherwise no one will get to read it.

Anonymous said...

Dear Marty,

I'm sorry my truth is to straight to the point.
Truth is something that went astray many years ago with
Iwi of Ngai Tahu, we all need to know what and whom we are voting for.

I guess I don't fit the PC tag along with the rest of the country.

Years of abuse of power and look where our tribe is at. I actually toned my truth as much as I could.

As for my so called personal attacks. They are the words of truth and actions of others. Mark and his corrupt followers created what I had to say.

People have a right to know what they are voting for.

Nothing I have claimed is not unsubstantiated, would you like copies of court documents.

It astounds me that those who tell the truth, get removed and were left to read the bleatings of his followers.

Marty Mars said...

Anon - your truth is welcome and you know that. If it cannot be put into a format where i will print it here - then maybe it shouldn't be on the net.

But I say again your truth is welcome - you have a place to speak here.

Marty Mars said...

And anon you are right - i will be applying the same criteria on all comments that abuse people, from whatever side or faction.

But i can't delete the comments that fall into that catagory now - i'd be up all night deleting!!! :)

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Hey marty,

Thanks for my comment on my truth.
I know I crossed the line a tiny fraction. (Some may say more than that)

I will tone it down from now on..

Lets just hope it all gets sorted at Hui a Tau.
Lets get our Mana back and set a example for our future generations to come.
So our Tribe can stand with our heads high instead of down low.

Time to respect our ancestors, ourselves and everything we stand for..

Marty Mars said...

Kia ora anon

the following would be okay

"Re mark - This man stands for election, and this (deleted) is a example of his behaviour.

This man is the representation of our IWI.

All of these words are not about placing the Tuakana where he belongs, Ngai Tahu iwi made their bad choice long ago.

This is about the truth of what this man stands for.

Offensive to only those who choose to cover the truth.

Voters have a right to know what he does in his sparetime."

Personal stuff i can't do. Sorry.