Marae renovations

Kānoa (in partnership with Te Puni Kōkiri) administered a total of $97.09 million of government funding to enable the restoration and refurbishment of 349 marae across Aotearoa.

Kānoa administered funding for 314 marae through the Provincial Growth Fund reset and 35 were funded through the COVID-19 Response – Worker Redeployment Package.

The Provincial Growth Fund reset

349 Marae renovated through the Provincial Growth Fund

Transcript

Duration: 2:28

Uplifting music.

[Fast-moving montage of dozens of marae]

[Logo appears: Kānoa Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit]

[Text: Funding of $97.09m from the Provincial Growth Fund enabled the refurbishment of 365 marae across Aotearoa New Zealand]

[Slow-moving drone footage heading towards Pakanae Marae]

[Text: Pakanae Marae in Te Tai Tokerau received funding of $470,000]

[Mid-shot of Vaughn Wharton. He is a middle-aged Māori man. He wears a grey jumper over the top of a yellow hi-vis shirt]

[Text: Vaughn Wharton (Ngāpuhi) – Director, Build NZ Quality Ltd]

Vaughn Wharton: I came here after never having been here a few years ago for my aunty's tangi, and at that tangi, in the wharekai, we met people who said there was work that needed doing and eventually got a plan together, an agreed plan of works.

[Drone footage circling the exterior of Pakane Marae]

Vaughn Wharton: And then we got funding, which was really happy day. And then my team and the locals, we got together and got the job done.

[Drone footage of the calm ocean at Hokianga, heading towards sand dunes in the distance.

Hone Taimona: A lot of our people stay outside the Hokianga area, but they yearn to come home.

[Hone Taimona, a Māori man, stands with a group of seven whānau members outside the wharekai at Pakanae Marae. His whānau listen as he speaks]

[Text: Hone Taimona – Ngāpuhi]

Hone Taimona: And when they come home, they sit and they experience and for them to realise of their importance, and the importance of the past and the importance of working together and creating a better future.

[Wide-shot of a woman tending to the vegetable garden outside the wharekai]

[Hone stands with his whānau as he continues to speak]

Hone Taimona: Because at this very moment, a lot of people are just surviving, we're just totally just surviving. So the money, the funding that we got from the PGF fund was very, very timely.

[Drone footage circling the exterior of the wharekai at Pakanae Marae]

Vaughn Wharton: The payoff is you get paid to do something that you know is actually benefiting people. So that's really cool. Yeah, seeing how hard the committee and Hone and the individual members work, how hard they try to get traction on these sorts of things. And then seeing it actually bite and get funding is like wow.

[Slow-moving drone footage of the Hokianga habour, the clouds reflect on the surface of the ocean]

Hone Taimona: The marae represents the realms of the gods, the realms of the old people, the realms of kōrero that has been suspended in time.

[Push-shot along a jetty towards the ocean in the distance. Birds sit on the handrail. They fly away]

The marae reminds us that I'm important, that I descend from someone, that I have obligations, that I am part of this universe that's been created from the past.

[Footage of the sunrise at Opononi in the Hokianga]

[Mid-shot of Vaughn Wharton as he speaks]

Vaughn Wharton: Feel a bit more like part of the family now.

[Drone footage pulls back from Pakanae Marae to reveal the hills in the distance]

Music swells.

[Return to fast-moving montage of dozens of marae]

[Logos appear: Kānoa Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit, Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment Hīkina Whakatutuki, Te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa New Zealand Government]

Music fades.

[Fade to black]

Importance of marae

Marae are essential to our communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, marae hosted drive-thru, pop-up and mobile vaccine and testing centres, encouraging all community members to be protected from COVID-19. They house community defibrillators and, as we saw during Cyclone Gabrielle, they provide refuge for people in extreme weather events.

In many cases our marae showcased environmental responsibility by minimising waste, sourcing local materials where possible, enhancing local indigenous biodiversity and actively supporting the principles of a circular economy.

The marae renovation programme has contributed to the resilience of marae and has made it easier for iwi and hapū to continue to provide for their people.

Supporting marae means supporting the manaakitanga they extend to our communities.

Creating jobs and developing careers

The Marae Renovation Programme created 3,556 jobs for tradespeople and contractors across regional New Zealand. For many marae, it was the first time they had been in a position to offer paid work to their community without the reliance of volunteers.

It also provided meaningful and stable employment for those who were negatively impacted by the forecasted economic downturn from the COVID-19 lockdown.

A number of cadets employed through the Ministry of Social Development were supported to move into full time apprenticeships.

Enhancing mana

Kānoa’s pride in the programme comes from not only increasing the resilience of the marae, but also building towards a more positive and inter-generational impact and restoring the connection of Māori back to their whakapapa and whenua. 

Kānoa worked closely with Te Puni Kōkiri and the Ministry of Social Development to help deliver the marae renovation projects. The programme is nearly complete. We expect that all funded marae will have finished their refurbishments by the end of 2024.

Details of all projects administered by Kānoa, including funded marae, can be downloaded from the spreadsheet on the ‘what we have funded’ page.

What we have funded

One of our funding recipients, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa, received a grant of $4.87 million to renovate 12 marae. Chair of Uirāroa Marae Trustees said “being able to upgrade our marae and working for the benefit of our hapū is really great. Employing our people and doing the marae up means our people and our marae get direct instant results. This kaupapa has embedded a sense of belonging with the whenua and the marae that these rangatahi workers will be able to hold onto throughout their lives.”