Military touch to negotiating

Matt Te Pou

There were two touches of military precision during the negotiating of the record-breaking $500 million Central North Island (CNI) forestry deal.

Matt Te Pou and Wira Gardiner, both ex-Army leaders, played crucial roles in the process.

Both men, with Rawiri Te Whare, who delivered key Te Arawa support on which much of the deal hinged, were thanked by the major Government and iwi leaders this week.

Te Pou is also the most successful New Zealand Maori rugby coach ever, beating the touring British Lions in 2005 and widely credited with taking Maori rugby to new heights with 33 wins from 38 games played.

During his Army career he trained officers and saw action in Vietnam.

He was one of three iwi CNI negotiators and was responsible for "managing risk". In this case, with eight iwi, the risk was relationships, which over 19 years of trying to divide up the assets had the real potential to see the deal implode.

"If you sat back, you were going to get what you got. If you saw issues you had to move quick," Te Pou said.

Both he and Mr Gardiner are prone to using military or sports metaphors, but they don't deliver them in boring, flat monotones. But that could be because it's been a pretty good week for them. And they are both embarrassed about being singled out for their roles, insisting it was all "team effort".

Te Pou still calls himself a coach. But these days he works for himself, as a leadership consultant with businesses. This weekend he's going to Fiji to work with an aluminium company. "If you do it right, work finds you - although the same goes for headaches."

It's been a winding career path for the man who left school at 15 to join the Army. "The aim of the game is to get to the end of your run with no bloody regrets.

"And I've only got one - I never beat the bloody Aussies. They were the world champions and we lost. It was a great opportunity, it came down to the wire and we just let them slip across the line."

In the past, 64-year-old Mr Gardiner's been dubbed a Mr Fix-it - a title he can laugh about.

A National Party member, he worked on the foreshore and seabed consultation for the Labour Government, sorted out Te Mangai Paho after a financing scandal and for the CNI settlement worked on the Crown team as a facilitator.

"One of my staff once said one of my main features is that I like chaos - and if I can't find it, I'll make it.

"I'm very happy to be called in to do these sorts of roles."

He's an author whose works include a history of the Maori Battalion and three books on haka. That's aside from business interests in hospitality, consulting, manuka honey and overseeing the transition of the old Department of Maori Affairs to Te Puni Kokiri. This year he was named a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Maori.

He likes surprises and his time in the Army taught him to take a no-holds-barred approach to problems. "They teach you to never be afraid."