The Raukawa Charitable Trust would like to wish all of our uri, staff, stakeholders, and their whānau a happy and merry Christmas.

We hope that everyone has the chance to spend time with their whānau, and the opportunity to relax and reflect on the past year, and focus on the new year about to start.

We would love for everyone to stay safe over the break, so here are ten tips to help you stay safe:

1. Remember the flags are there to keep you safe, so let’s stay between them.
2. Be careful on the road and drive to the conditions.
3. Slow down, breathe, and move more slowly.
4. Make sure your vehicle or boat are fit for purpose before heading out.
5. Make sure you Slip, Slop, Slap and Wrap.
6. Have fun but don’t party too hard.
7. It’s hotter this time of year so drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.
8. Remind yourself of some first aid skills.
9. Everything in moderation.
10. Enjoy whānau time!

Merry Christmas!

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All of the Raukawa Charitable Trust’s offices will be closed over the Christmas and New Year period. Full details are below.

For more information about our office holiday closure before the period commences, please contact us on 0800 RAUKAWA (0800 728 5292).

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Applause and warm acknowledgement was the key theme from Raukawa uri who gathered at the South Waikato Sport and Events Centre on Saturday 9 December for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Raukawa Settlement Trust (RST).

The AGM was an opportunity for uri to hear about the mahi of the RST, Raukawa Iwi Development Limited (RIDL) and the Raukawa Charitable Trust (RCT), which together make up the Raukawa Group.

RST Chairperson Vanessa Eparaima said she was humbled to be able to present such strong results to whānau.

“It was once again a privilege to be able to report on another year of strong results for the whole group and a healthy outlook going forward.”

A highlight for many was hearing of the progress on the redevelopment of Raukawa House, and the chance to take a tour of the new iwi headquarters, and presentations from the RCT business groups.

RCT Tumu Whakarae Bobby Bryan said he was pleased with the response and feedback to the presentations from those in attendance.

“The feedback from whānau was very positive, with many impressed at the quality and range of mahi carried out by our kaimahi throughout the year”.

Vanessa said whānau were also grateful for the presentation from RIDL Chairperson John Spencer and RIDL manager Andrew Harrison.

“The message was clear from our commercial arm that results for the last five years have been consistently strong and that we have had some excellent results and growth. However, they rightly cautioned that this won’t always be the case, because of the volatility of national and international markets. However, the company takes a long-term pragmatic approach to managing the assets and wealth of the iwi.”

For the last financial year RCT revenue increased to $5.9million, from $5.86 million the year before, with costs remaining the same as 2016 at $5.73 million resulting in a surplus of $167,000 for the year.

The RST group achieved revenue of $12.2 million for the last financial year, with costs and distributions of almost $8.8 million resulting in a surplus for the year of $4.2 million.

RIDL continued its strong performance achieving its seventh year of surplus, with a surplus of $6.9 million before distributions. The asset base of our iwi has grown to $132 million, capping off another year of strong results and the continued economic growth of our iwi.

You can find more detail about the reported results in our annual report.

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The Raukawa Settlement Trust (RST) would like to thank all nominees for agreeing to stand in this year’s election process.

As the Returning Officer I can confirm the following information:

As the Returning Officer I declare the following results:

Congratulations to Juanita Temarama and Gail Hamilton.  Their three year term as an RST Marae representative will commence from 10 December 2017.

Brian Nicholas

Returning Officer

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Each year the Raukawa Settlement Trust (RST) provides more than $600,000 in marae, wellbeing and education grants to registered members.

Last month the Raukawa Charitable Trust (RCT) held an iwi grants workshop, as part of the marae development workshops, to help iwi members and marae with fund applications.

The workshop, hosted at Paparaamu Marae, was well attended by iwi members and RST representatives.

The workshop was led by Aka Tauwhiro Group Manager, Maria Te Kanawa.

The workshop also offered a chance for iwi members to learn more about the process of registering with the RST, including the new online registration tool.

The workshop covered the process of applying for each of the three grants, and included what the pūtea can and cannot be used for.

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Today we are pleased to be able to make available online video of the three readings in parliament of the Raukawa Settlement Bill. The videos can be found here:

These videos form an important part of the historical record of our modern Raukawa iwi.

Giving effect to the Deed of Settlement signed between Raukawa and the Crown at Aotearoa Marae in June 2012, the Raukawa Settlement Act passed into law in March 2014.  The Act finalised the redress package that was negotiated between Raukawa and the Crown to settle the historical claims of our people.

In the 5 years since the signing, the Raukawa Settlement Trust has grown into an organisation with more than 60 kaimahi, an asset base of more than $120 million, and has distributed more than $3.2 million in Marae, Education and Wellbeing Grants to uri.

We hope you will take this opportunity to watch some of the videos, and reflect on where Raukawa has come from, and join with us in anticipating the exciting future that lays before us.