33. What are the roles of Marae delegates on the Trust Board?
Trust Board Reply:
Each Marae selects its own delegates, suing whatever process they wish. The Trust Board does not have a role in selection of Marae delegates. The Marae delegates are accountable to the people of that Marae, and they must represent the interests of that Marae at the Trust Board.
As stated by the Trust Board over 40% of our Iwi live in Auckland, and I would guess quite a few live in Australia and other places overseas; maybe an additional 10%.
Unfortunately most of these whanau are not in agreement or associated with any of the Marae. What happens to these whanau? Why do they have to be forced to speak through a Marae delegate? Why not through a hapu delegate? Since the Land Claim is actually a descendant claim, why don’t we simply ask for representatives of the five descendant hapu to be on the Trust Board instead; this way we can ensure that the Lands are returned to the people that actually owned it before the Government stole it? Also, rather than a faceless Government or Trust Board being taken to court by disgruntled Iwi, they can take their grievance directly to their Hapu representative.