Marae are calling for targeted funding to help them serve their communities and organise better emergency responses, as the Government prepares to unveil its Budget for 2026.
By Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira of RNZ
Valerie Teraitua is the marae manager at Papatuānuku Kōkiri Marae in South Auckland's Māngere.
The marae has a number of services, including a māra kai, or community garden, a composting factory, a "pay-as-you-can" café and free fish on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Teraitua told RNZ the marae received support from philanthropic organisations, local government and corporate sponsors to deliver their services.
"We haven't really had any government funding as such because we are destined to have our own mana motuhake. But we know of other organisations that do amazing mahi and I think that, just one marae doing that is not enough."
Teraitua said marae were often the first places people go to in an emergency and should be resourced properly to deal with them.
"We have a value system of the way that we look after people.
"We're in positions to not only offer a service of manaakitanga, but everything's all in that one place. You've got your kitchen; you've got places where you can house people. My wish would be that marae be resourced because they take care of a holistic approach to the wellbeing of our people," she said.
She said that manaakitanga was not extended exclusively to Māori and the marae's popular Kai Ika programme – where the marae distributes unwanted or leftover fish heads and frames for free – attracts people from all over Auckland.
"The project distributes one tonne of fish at Māngere Centre Park every Wednesday and Friday from 10.30 till finish… it is the longest and the biggest drive through than any other fast-food outlet.
"I tell you, the diversity of the whānau that come from even out of Favona, some are coming from Mount Russell, some are coming from North Shore, these are whānau that are in need and they've just heard the good news that this project is available … it's a circular economy of not just food rescue, it's bringing people in and giving them a purpose to serve." she said.
RNZ spoke to Te Puu Ao trustee Auriole Ruka in the aftermath of Cyclone Vaianu, who organised temporary accommodation, food and clothing for Whangārei's homeless community at Terenga Paraoa marae.
Speaking before the Budget, Ruka said she also relied on local community and council groups for support, rather than direct support from the government.
"Marae are already resourcing, in many ways, without pūtea (funds) the communities that are often not thought about when we're having these emergency responses.
"I think that's important because they provide manaaki and they've done that for generations, so pūtea isn't the main question that comes in when we're responding to that … it's more about what's our role and responsibility as mana whenua," she said
Ruka said her trust has a "small amount of dollars" in the bank, but the most important currency was the relationships and networks they had across region.
"They start to bring in kai, they start to bring in clothes, and even the small businesses that are around our marae start to kick in."
"They do it because of their currency of aroha."
Ruka said the ultimate goal is for marae completely self-sufficient, the cost of standing up an emergency response were often upfront and costly.
"What I would say in terms of the budget, not necessarily about pūtea, because there's been investments nationally, but if I look at it locally, regionally, and for iwi and hapū, it's acknowledging the place of marae in the whole response.
"It's funding up front marae responses, so that people who have to go back to work and prepare for the next wānanga don't have to be following through and trying to get reimbursements at such a low level that you wonder why it's even worth it.
"We'd have up front capital funding that's done in a trusting relationship, and the emergency management system would also think about the ongoing maintenance of these manaaki hubs and the equipment that's required," Ruka said.
The full details of Budget 2026 will be released on Thursday afternoon.
SHARE ME