Potaua Biasiny-Tule: What to do in an emergency

E te iwi, Te Arawa waka, tenei te mihi nui ki a tatou. He tino pouri te mamae i taku ngakau ki ia mate i tena mate. Haere, haere atu ra. Kei te ora pai e oku whanau whanui. Engari, he noho ahau inaianei, kei te korero o te Tu Komiti o Te Arawa. Huri noa tena koutou. Tena koutou.

The previous week, the Te Arawa standing committee met at the Rotorua District Council to put forward small proposals and discussions that contribute to the overall working of local government. With our Mayor Kevin Winters as chairman, we six committee members along with the three councillors (kia ora Crs Waaka, Maxwell & Hunt), Kaupapa Maori unit Mauriora Kingi and Karla Kereopa and chief executive Peter Guerin, it is our honour to provide an organic platform for whanau-hapu to korero with council.

With regards to that, for whanau who are wondering what those wires poking out from the ground are all around town, they are so that your broadband can be upgraded and should be connected underground to homes shortly. With better optical fibre replacing the old copper wire network, we will soon get clearer and higher quality internet connections. If you think there might be a safety concern, please contact council. Kia ora to the whanau of Kingi Biddle for raising that.

Did you know that Maori are a third of the population here in Rotorua? We have 14,526 Maori registered on the Waiariki Roll (with 42,737 on the General Roll) but it is in our pepi, tamariki, taiohi, rangatahi where the real numbers are. We heard that of our whanau who are of voting age, it is young people between 18-29 who don't register and therefore don't vote. Also, that many turn up on voting day and try to cast a vote but can't find their name on the list. In our presentation, it was good to note that our koroua, kuia 60 years plus registered and voted in good numbers and we thought, perhaps a Tuakana-Teina role might be ideal for encouraging young people to actively participate in local government matters. Richard Marshall will be talking about this issue around Rotorua, as well as sharing information on registering and voting in the lead up to RDC elections 2013.

Yes, the old Challenge Petrol Station on Te Ngae Road has a bid in to turn the land into a recycling centre but many of the local whanau from Ngapuna see it as nothing more than a dump being built near their traditional hapu hot pools. We heard from the RDC side where the application was made and the process followed but were not impressed that local considerations seemed secondary. Considering the tension over the Eastern Arterial Route, courtesy would have said talk to the local community first but it seems development prevails and it's off to court we go. We hope to hear from the local whanau to see what might happen soon.

We had a good korero from Mauriora Kingi and Karla Kereopa, who cover a wide range of issues within council, be it with Maori-related policy, matters of tikanga and staff support.

We were joined by the Tapuika Iwi Authority to discuss the Kaituna River Co-Governance arrangement, what it means to hapu-iwi along the Kaituna River and how it would work with each relevant territorial authority. It was reassuring to hear about water management throughout the entire rohe of Tapuika, given the intense scrutiny of water rights and government asset sales at the moment, and encouraging to listen to the relationships between all who are responsive kaitiaki of the moana me ona whenua. Kei te mihi miharo Te Maru o Kaituna. Tena koutou.

What caught my eye was mention of a Bay of Plenty unitary authority. When I asked last year if Rotorua might become part of a wider Tauranga Super City, people laughed at me. Then I hear it quietly being mentioned within another kaupapa. Whanau, if this is the case, I sense Rotorua will have less councillors in the future and a lot of the say will come from Tauranga. Anyway, interesting that one.

We again returned to the issue of flying a flag that represents Te Arawa on Waitangi Day. Last year, the RDC dodged its responsibility by playing dumb. I would say they lied but that's a bit strong. Let's just say that the flag picked at hui wasn't flown and there were some reasons just to fly the NZ flag, as it does every other day. What was decided instead by the standing committee and our whanau at Te Arawa Lakes Trust was to see if our tamariki, rangatahi could come up with a modern day flag for Te Arawa.

Let's bring our imagery into the 21st century. We have lots of flags that reflect our past and now, look to new eyes and fresh minds to visualise our future. We hear it should be announced soon and it sounds pretty exciting so keep an ear out for details.

Whaea Rene Mitchell was nominated as our representative on the Rotorua Youth Centre as we felt she worked well with young people - young mums in particular - and had a good understanding of the community. I haven't been down in ages but the Rotorua Youth Centre has the Youth Health Centre, as well as space to hang, chill, train, dance, laugh and play pool. Check it out down at 6 Te Ngae Road and kia kaha whaea Buncie.

If there was an emergency, what would you do? Where would you go? For many of us, we'd head home first and then straight to our marae. Karla Kereopa presented these scenarios with talk around marae readiness and civil defence. It is all about getting ready, having the right knowledge and planning ahead. Get a basic first aid kit and some spare food and water ready in your whanau packs. Know which services to access and how to get support to kaumatua and their pets if disaster ever strikes. It was a timely korero indeed.

Finally, we were all sad to hear that resident art extraordinaire Kiri Jarden was moving on to another mahi. Kiri brought a great energy and uplifting spirit to Rotorua and her passion can be seen all over our beautiful city. We wanted to send a big thank you to Kiri for all her hard work - it was very much appreciated by all - and to wish all the best and safe journeys.