Leading from the front issuu

Te Taiwhenua
O Te Whanganui Ā
Orutu is the mandated
Iwi authority for Napier and
works across five different
whānau-centric areas —
housing, health, education,
employment and
environment.
PERSISTENT, PASSIONATE MAHI
by tania eden
CEO Te Taiwhenua O Te Whanganui Ā Orotu
I first remember seeing Pat when I was around 12 years
old as I used to go to the Downtown Y in Napier. He
helped set up the Y which was amazing because there
was nothing else going on for young people in those
days. I didn’t have anything to do with him then but I
knew he was working hard in our community.
It wasn’t until I was policing in Hawke’s Bay that I met
Pat properly. I worked for the Ministry of Defence in Wellington
when I left school, then joined the Police and
came back to Hawke’s Bay in 1989 to 1993. It was then I
remembered about Pat, and he was still pioneering, still
working in the community.
I left again in 1994, working for the Police and I visited
Hawke’s Bay frequently during that time. Some of the
Police were working with Pat in the Youth Aid area, mid
-1900s to early 2000s, so he still had his hand in there!
Pat is very special to Māoridom and our Taiwhenua,
even our young ones hold him in high esteem. He has
worked tirelessly on the Napier Pilot City Trust kaupapa
for years. He’s 94 and he calls himself a foot soldier and
that’s what we are too, because on the ground is where
the real work happens.
Pat for us and the community is an honorary kaumatua
because he walks both worlds. For us he is very wise
and has been around a long time. He walks the talk,
whether he’s out there shaking hands or having a hongi
with the Mongrel Mob and Black Power, or meeting with
chief executives from central and local government. He
has the strategic view of things and he has the common
touch too, which is special because not a lot of people
have both.
In the Māori and Pakeha worlds there is a lot of politics
and differences in viewpoints but I believe both worlds
can work together. Like our tipuna Sir Apirana Ngata,
who famously spoke of having, “One hand in the Māori
world and one hand in the Pakeha world”, that is how
we will go forward. We know that’s what Pat is doing. He
honours and values Te Tiriti and he wants everyone to
understand the Treaty because he knows this is essential
if the people of Aotearoa are to move forward together.
Top: It all seems better after a rosé at the Boardwalk; Tania and Pat sort the world’s challenges in an hour; Opposite: Standing,
Hori Reti, Te Taiwhenua board chairman, speaking at the Pilot City Trust AGM in 2020. Pat and the Reti whānau have a long and
special connection and Hori’s grandparents joined Pat on the Taupō to Napier YMCA hikoi in 1970; Tania Eden, Te Taiwhenua CEO is
to Hori’s right, and to his left, the Trust committee.
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Napier Pilot City Trust – for a kinder, fairer city