Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust CEO John Tamihere sat down with Te Ao with Moana host Moana Maniapoto last week after receiving the news he’d lost funding for the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency (formerly Te Pou Matakana).
In this interview, he shares his whakaaro on the complexity of holding down multiple roles, his views on Māori political activism, and why he feels the blame for losing the Whānau Ora contract lies with the government.
Whatever your views on John Tamihere, there’s no doubting his commitment to improving the lives of Māori, particularly urban Māori.
Throughout his diverse career, Tamihere (Ngāti Porou, Whakatōhea, Tainui) has led numerous kaupapa, serving as a Labour MP for Hauraki and Tāmaki Makaurau (1999-2005), a media personality, CEO of Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust, and president of Te Pāti Māori.
Tamihere told Moana Maniapoto he’d managed these multiple responsibilities by leaning on his legal experience, handling them like ‘just another caseload’.
Yet it’s been this juggling act and wearing of various pōtae that has landed the straight-talking Māori leader in hot water in recent years.
On winning (and losing) the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency (Te Pou Matakana) contract
Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust has been a registered charity since 2008, employing around 200 full-time staff and is the largest integrated, non-governmental social services organisation in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Tamihere first started with the organisation back in the 1990s, under founding chairperson Dame June Mariu.
With her guidance, Tamihere said he and others had learned to ’reach for new kawa and tikanga’ in honouring a multi-tribal network, as opposed to only one iwi and one whakapapa.
During that time, he said he was most proud of the mahi he’d led to support urban Māori feeling disconnected and disenfranchised from their Māoritanga.
In his most recent tenure as CEO, Tamihere said his proudest achievement had been winning the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency (Te Pou Matakana) deal in 2014.
Setting up this agency, he told Maniapoto, meant they’d been able to distribute funds to Māori service providers (including health, education and addiction support) via the Whānau Ora Framework and for the benefit of whānau throughout Te Ika a Māui (North Island).
Yet despite its glowing 10-year success rate, that hard mahi now hung in the balance, after Te Puni Kōkiri (the Māori Development agency) announced on Friday that Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency had lost its funding.
While Tamihere said he wasn’t given a reason for losing the contract, he firmly believed it was part of the government’s attack on Māori and Māori-led solutions. Maniapoto challenged him over perceptions of ‘overlapping interests’ including his role as President of Te Pati Maori, and whether that may have influenced this week’s devastating decision.
“I take no responsibility. I’m allowed in this democracy and as a Māori, to be politically active, in freedom of association with the Te Pāti Māori, without fear or favour,” he said.
“You need people that stand their ground, to say no, we’re breaking new turf here and we’re no longer going to live by your tikanga, because you make it and break it when it serves your community’s interest, but over here you apply a different rule structure.
When probed by Maniapoto on whether he felt the decision was personal or political, Tamihere said it was both, but rejected the claim it was his fault for losing the contract.
“From the day this government was elected, it’s been an attack on the reo, Te Matatini funding, the withdrawal of Māori TV money, etc.
“This is just another strike, isn’t it? I’m not the one who pulled the contract, so I think you should ask Mr. Potaka why he is doing this.”
Allegations of overlap
The past four years have seen some of the most serious allegations against Tamihere.
These include Charities Services launching an investigation in 2022 into Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust and the National Urban Māori Authority (both led by Tamihere), for allegedly using charitable funds to support his 2019 Auckland mayoral and 2020 general election campaigns.
According to the Charities Services guidance, charities must be independent from political parties and candidates.
This means, ‘they cannot support or oppose a political party or candidate’ and what some believe was behind the Charities Services decision last December to deregister Te Whānau O Waipareira Trust as a charity.
Further claims were aimed at Tamihere last year, after it was alleged Te Pāti Māori had misused census data to target voters in Tāmaki Makaurau, leading to investigations by Statistics New Zealand, the Privacy Commissioner, and the police.
In both instances, Tamihere told Maniapoto that he maintained his innocence and said all activities had been done ‘by the book’.
“I’ve been under investigation for 35 years and Waipareira has been under investigation, audit and review every year since being here. (But) we do everything above board and (everything) is recorded in our annual report,” he said.
“Winston Peters pulled a ministerial enquiry on us in 2018, which we passed with glowing colours, so what more do we have to do to prove ourselves?
“As long as we’re honest, that’s the main thing, right? If others want to insinuate, make allegations, audit, review, enquire, then good on them, but where is the evidence? Show me what the evidence is.”
Next steps: Mokopuna focused
With the agency’s existing contract set to expire in June, Tamihere said the failed bid would impact around 600 full-time employees and 10,000 whānau engaged with the service. He hopes some of the navigators and kaimahi will be picked up by the new commissioning agencies.
While the contracts are still being finalised, all three original commissioning agencies—the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu in the South Island, and Pasifika Futures—have lost out as a result of the tender process operating out of Te Puni Kokiri.
While he contemplates his next steps, Tamihere said he took comfort in what the future held for Māori in this country. The former Labour Party Cabinet Minister stood for parliament in 2020 as a Te Paati Māori candidate.
When Moana Maniapoto asked about his legacy or a possible return to politics, Tamihere said his priority at this time was his mokopuna.
“My name’s not Winston, and it’s not Shane; I don’t need the job,” Tamihere said.
“Our people are on the rise and on the rage, and it’s a great thing to see—you can only be suppressed for so long. And under regimes like this, this is a moment in time.
“I’ve got mokopuna, and they’re very young, so you just must do your best by them, regardless of what’s going on in your life.
“I just want my mokos to be safe, to live in a safe environment where they can practice being Maori without fear of retribution for doing so.”