This Charter is a living governance framework for the Isaac Tohetohe Tarau Metua-Smith Whānau Trust. It sits alongside our Māori Land Court Trust Order and does not replace or override it. The Trust Order establishes our legal powers, duties and obligations. This is where we develop, together, how we put those responsibilities into practice, guided by whakapapa, tikanga, our whenua and our responsibility to future generations.
This is our Charter. We build it together.
Our legal foundation
These foundations come from our Trust Order. They are shown separately from Charter ideas so we can always distinguish an existing obligation from something we are still developing together.
Purpose & advancement
Our Trust exists to hold and administer Trust lands, money and assets for beneficiaries, including their health, social, cultural and economic welfare, education, vocational training and general advancement.
Trustee governance
Trustees operate collectively within the meeting, quorum, voting and officer requirements established by the Trust Order.
Pūtea & accountability
Trust money, approvals, payments and supporting financial records must be managed through the processes required by the Trust Order.
Records & assets
Minutes, resolutions, financial records, supporting evidence and records of Trust property and assets form part of our required institutional record.
Our descendants
The Trust maintains its Register of Descendants so future generations remain connected to the Trust and its whakapapa.
Whānau procedures
Where the Trust Order provides for procedures suited to the family nature and circumstances of the Trust, these must be developed and adopted through the proper process.
The values beneath our decisions
Our wider Ōtāwhiwhi governance framework gives us a valuable starting point. These are prompts for our own kōrero, not values automatically adopted by ITTMS.
Manaakitanga
How do care, respect, generosity and responsibility show up in the way we govern?
Whanaungatanga
How do we strengthen relationships and belonging while still maintaining accountability?
Kotahitanga
How do we work collectively while making space for different whakaaro?
Kaitiakitanga
What does guardianship of whenua, resources, knowledge and future opportunity require from us?
Mana whenua & mana tūpuna
How do whakapapa, tūpuna and whenua remain visible in the decisions we make?
Rangatiratanga, wairuatanga & te reo
How should identity, cultural capability, language and spiritual wellbeing shape our Trust?
How we govern
These are the practical areas our Charter will develop. Each section can move from kōrero to an adopted principle only through the process the Trust agrees is appropriate.
Trustee roles, responsibilities & conduct
The Trust is governed collectively by its responsible trustees. Officer titles allocate responsibilities and administrative functions. They do not create a corporate hierarchy. The Chairperson is not the CEO and does not gain greater decision-making authority merely by holding that office. The Treasurer and Secretary have specific tasks, but Trust decisions remain collective subject to the Trust Order and law. Digital Admin is a technical permission, not governance authority.
Open Roles & Responsibilities →
Sources: ITTMS Trust Order, trustee meeting/officer provisions (Trust Order p.6); Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 ss 223, 226–227. Plain-language guidance does not replace the signed Trust Order or legislation.
Decision-making & hui
Pūtea, expenditure & reimbursements
Conflicts of interest
Whenua use, occupation, maintenance & improvements
Communication, records & data sovereignty
Disagreement & resolution
Our future
Good governance is not only about protecting what we inherited. It should help our whānau understand what we hold, reconnect with it and responsibly create opportunities for generations to come.
Whenua discovery
Identify, verify and record our land interests, their whakapapa, legal history, current position and potential.
Protection & kaitiakitanga
Protect cultural significance, environmental wellbeing and long-term whānau connection when considering any use or development.
Whānau enterprise
Explore responsible commercial ventures and partnerships that can strengthen the Trust and create sustainable whānau benefit.
Employment & procurement
Where appropriate and transparent, create pathways for whānau employment, contracting, apprenticeships, mentoring and enterprise.
Education & capability
Use Trust opportunities to grow skills, qualifications, leadership, cultural capability and confidence within our own people.
Intergenerational prosperity
Consider not only today's return, but what decisions protect, grow and pass forward to our mokopuna.
Building our Charter together
Every developing Charter item should retain its kōrero and governance history so future trustees understand not only what was decided, but why.
Each Charter kaupapa
Status · question being considered · whānau whakaaro · draft principle · hui reference · decision/resolution · adoption date · review date.
No silent rule-making
Adding an idea to this page does not make it a Trust rule. Draft and adopted material must be clearly distinguished.
Questions to bring to the table
- What values should form the foundation of our Charter?
- Which governance areas need clear guidance first?
- How should a Charter principle move from kōrero to formal adoption?
- When should trustees, beneficiaries, kaumātua or wider whānau contribute?
- What should we develop first around the management, care and future use of our whenua?
- What future opportunities do we want this framework to make possible for our whānau?