December 04, 2021
Ngāpuhi the largest Iwi in the country to hold AGM online today
Karere Pāpāho / MEDIA RELEASE 4 December 2021
NGĀPUHI, THE LARGEST IWI IN THE COUNTRY, TO HOLD AGM ONLINE TODAY
Today (Saturday 4 December), Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest Iwi will host its 2021 Annual General Meeting online; the first time in its history Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-Ō-Ngāpuhi Charitable Trust has not been held in person.
Around 140 registered members of Ngāpuhi Iwi will be logging on from around the country for the Zoom event, which will also be livestreamed on Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-Ō-Ngāpuhi (TRAION) Facebook page at 11am.
The decision to hold the AGM online was made at the end of October due to ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19 and unpredictable alert levels.
TRAION chairman, Wane Wharerau, says given the move yesterday (Friday 3 December) into the new COVID-19 Protection Framework (CPF), the decision more than a month ago to go virtual turned out to be “the right one and probably the only one that would allow the AGM to go ahead.”
“Tāmaki Makaurau was always flagged to enter the new CPF (‘traffic light’) system at red, but we had no idea about the other regions until the prime minister’s announcement this week,” he said.
Wharerau said an online AGM avoids the logistical challenges of the new framework, such as requiring all attendees to show vaccine passes and a restriction on numbers.
“Combined with the ongoing Auckland/Northern border closures, these new restrictions may have led to a failure to reach quorum,” he said.
“The AGM is one of the last opportunities we have each year to gather with registered members to present and account for our operational, governance and business activity and financial statements of the previous year.”
“For Ngāpuhi, replacing a significant kanohi-te-kanohi hui such as the AGM with a virtual ‘Zui’ wasn’t a decision we made lightly, especially without being able to predict which alert level we’d be in by AGM date.”
The virtual AGM is being coordinated and managed by Whangārei tech company, Marae Tech Limited, who have collaborated with the Rūnanga on previous kaupapa including Ngāpuhi Sports Awards, and the creation of a digital novel about Ngāpuhi voyager, Nukutawhiti.
“Marae Tech has been working with our AGM planning team for a few weeks now to ensure the event runs smoothly,” says Wharerau. “It’s a massive task and of course it’s great to be able to work with a Ngāpuhi tech company with this kind of capability,” said Wharerau.
Tema Fenton, director of Marae Tech, says the 2021 Rāhui of COVID-19 has redefined how the world connects and communicates, both at home and at mahi.
“In response to the isolation created by mandated quarantines that require physical distancing, many whānau and business organisations across Aotearoa have turned to technologies that allow us to remain connected, digitally,” Fenton said.
“TRAION has been one of these savvy organisations that pivoted towards tech-driven solutions during the peak of the pandemic, shifting the 2021 marae-based AGM to ipurangi-based, and are now hosting the hui via Zoom.”
ENDS
Media note: Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-Ō-Ngāpuhi Charitable Trust Charitable Trust AGM will get underway on the Zoom platform at 11am on Saturday 4 December for members who pre-registered before 4.30pm today (Friday 3 December) and will be simultaneously livestreamed on the Rūnanga facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ngapuhirunanga
For further enquiries, please contact:
Maria Low, Strategic Communications Manager, Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-Ō-Ngāpuhi
Ph: 0210 569 234 | Email: maria.low@ngapuhi.org