April 08, 2024
Dalton to grow Ngāpuhi treaty wealth
Waitangi National Trust chief executive Ben Dalton has been appointed the new board Chair of Tupu Tonu, the Ngāpuhi Investment Fund.
He replaces the founding chair, Sir Brian Roche.
Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says Mr Dalton brings to the position experience in governance and economic development, which will help the fund continue to develop a portfolio of high value assets for the Crown to offer Ngāpuhi in negotiations for the settlement of their historical Treaty of Waitangi claims.
Mr Dalton ran a successful forestry business in the north before acting as chief executive of the Ngāpuhi Rūnanga and then joining the public service, first with the Crown Forestry Rental trust and then a range of government agencies including the Ministry for Primary Industries, the Business Ministry’s Provincial Development Unit and the Ministry for Housing and Urban Development.
Tupu Tonu directors Ripeka Evans and Lindsay Faithfull have been asked to stay on the board.
Tupu Tonu’s latest annual report shows at the end of June 2023 it had committed $61 million of the $150 million fund to investments including a carbon forest at Mangakāhia, a kiwifruit orchard near Kerikeri and social housing in Te Kamo.
It subsequently bought the Paihia Maritime building.
It paid out a total of total $485,000 to 51 hapū, whānau and Ngāpuhi affiliated organisations, including the Ngāpuhi teams competing at Te Matatini.