The costs were covered by central government through Oranga Marae, Te Puni K\u014dkiri, and the hap\u016b itself.<\/p>\n
Redirecting gambling proceeds<\/p>\n
Left; the old wharekai. Right; the wharepuni (meeting house) at \u014cruanui Marae. Photo \/ Te Kapa o Te Rangiita ki \u014cruanui hap\u016b.<\/p>\n
Oranga Marae is the name of a government fund dedicated to marae projects, upkeep and rebuilds.<\/p>\n
However, its M\u0101ori name conceals its true origin \u2013 Lotto.<\/p>\n
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) told Local Democracy Reporting it granted Te Kapa o Te Rangiita ki Oruanui Hapu Trust $1,760,903 for the rebuild through Oranga Marae Lottery Grants.<\/p>\n
Des Barres said in light of the gambling plight among M\u0101ori, her hap\u016b trust had no qualms about applying for assistance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s [gambling] a scourge that affects our people, hoping to double their pensions,\u201d Des Barres said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re [M\u0101ori] the biggest [patrons] of that system.\u201d<\/p>\n
DIA also confirmed another $242,891 was provided to the hap\u016b by Te Puni K\u014dkiri to assist with the rebuild.<\/p>\n
Not a doorknob to show for it<\/p>\n
Taup\u014d District Council received an application for resource consent for the rebuild in September 2010.<\/p>\n
Approval came after a month, but funding wouldn\u2019t come for another six years. <\/p>\n
\u201cSince the 2016-17 financial year, there have been four grants made to Te Kapa o Te Rangiita ki Oruanui Trust,\u201c a DIA spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first grant was a feasibility study to build a new marae; the second and third grants were professional fees pre-build.\u201d<\/p>\n
Des Barres said: \u201cAfter the feasibility study and the other grants, $200k had been spent without a single doorknob to show for it!\u201d.<\/p>\n
After that initial work, required by the DIA to approve further funding, the project came to a standstill, with no further funds coming from DIA.<\/p>\n
But the hap\u016b persevered until the final grant of $1,760,903 was received for the wharekai rebuild and the kitchen fitout, seven years later.<\/p>\n
Des Barres thanked everyone who had contributed to every stage of the marae renovations.<\/p>\n
An act of kindness repaid<\/p>\n
This wharepuni at Nukuhau P\u0101 was gifted to Ng\u0101ti Rauhoto and Ng\u0101ti Te Urunga by Te Kapa o Te Rangiita ki \u014cruanui over 100 years ago.<\/p>\n
When a marae closes, the people of that marae must find an alternative venue for their activities.<\/p>\n
Events such as tangihanga (funerals), weddings, w\u0101nanga (symposiums), hap\u016b consultations and legally mandated annual general meetings must be held elsewhere.<\/p>\n
This is when the people of Nukuhau P\u0101, Ng\u0101ti Rauhoto and Ng\u0101ti Te Urunga stepped in to help, repaying an act of kindness which took place over a 100 years ago.<\/p>\n
When the original wharepuni (meeting house) at Nukuhau was lost to fire in the 1900s, the people of \u014cruanui gifted them one of theirs .<\/p>\n
So when \u014cruanui marae closed two years ago, Nukuhau P\u0101 was made available to the descendants of the ancestors who \u201clent\u201d them their wharepuni.<\/p>\n
Nukuhau P\u0101 chairman Dominic Bowden congratulated \u014cruanui on the completion of the upgrades.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a privilege to share our p\u0101 with you during the redevelopment period.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whanaungatanga (kinship) between our marae runs deep and we look forward to strengthening it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u014cruanui Marae – future emergency hub?<\/p>\n
\u014cruanui marae from \u014cruanui Rd, \u014cruanui, Taup\u014d. Photo \/ Dave Davies.<\/p>\n
Kylie Leonard, Taup\u014d East Rural Ward councillor, attended the re-opening and paid tribute to everyone involved in the rebuild.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m grateful and proud of the trustees and everyone else who contributed to the construction of this beautiful wharekai,\u201d Leonard said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe work of people like this often goes unrecognised. Marae play an important role in every community they\u2019re established in, especially rural wards like mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
One such important role could be a Civil Defence Community Emergency Hub.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re probably the biggest non-commercial building on \u014cruanui Road … and we just see that it\u2019s the perfect place for a Civil Defence Hub,\u201d De Barres said.<\/p>\n
She said she was disappointed when the DIA declined their application to fund an emergency equipment container three times.<\/p>\n
DIA confirmed the hap\u016b trust had applied to the Cyclone Gabrielle Appeal Trust in 2024.<\/p>\n
They state the hap\u016b trust application was denied because it didn\u2019t fit the criteria.<\/p>\n
Bronson Perich is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist for Taup\u014d and South Waikato based at the Waikato Herald.<\/p>\n
\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The costs were covered by central government through Oranga Marae, Te Puni K\u014dkiri, and the hap\u016b itself. Redirecting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[222679,74,95,6743,682,5201,17163,5200,82457,222680,99385,117,111,43,139,32141,529,69,222681,6045,17152,3240,20593,222677,222682,1852,34534,1231,222678,1316,1530],"class_list":["post-435127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-16yeardream","tag-after","tag-and","tag-became","tag-being","tag-closed","tag-closure","tag-facilities","tag-hap","tag-kapa","tag-marae","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-ngti","tag-north","tag-nz","tag-rangiita","tag-reality","tag-rebuild","tag-recently","tag-reopened","tag-ruanui","tag-subtribe","tag-taup","tag-twharetoa","tag-twoyear","tag-wharekai","tag-when","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}