Rangatiratanga: A Shared Value
By Helmut Modlik, Chief Executive, Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira
In 2025, what does it mean to be an iwi in Aotearoa? The answer for Ngāti Toa is found in the famous words of our ancestor: Kia tū ai a Ngāti Toa Rangatira, hei iwi toa, hei iwi rangatira ki tēnei ao; we are a people who stand up, who fight and lead in our time.
In 2014, Ngāti Toa drew a line in the sand on the poverty and abuse of the colonial era. Under the leadership of Tā Matiu Rei, a settlement was reached on historical breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, with the Crown promising a new era of partnership and honourable behaviour.
In the decade since, we’ve achieved remarkable things together as we sought to enhance the wellbeing, prosperity, and mana of our people and community. The breadth and scale of whenua return, cultural, social, health, educational and economic achievements have been truly amazing to see and experience.
Unfortunately, it also took less than 10 years to once again see the Crown breach Te Tiriti and act without honour, ignoring and reversing hard-won Treaty rights that Ngāti Toa was using to “paddle our own waka”, and enhance the mana and wellbeing of our people.
Today, we find ourselves like the rest of Aotearoa, with a health system in crisis and unable to meet the demands for timely care. Decrepit schools and an education system failing our children. Not enough affordable houses, unaffordable food and energy, polluted environment, failing infrastructure, and people facing deepening poverty, trauma, addiction, mental health issues, and other crises without adequate support.
In this environment, what are we to do – individually and collectively? The answer is to exert our rangatiratanga, the unique tribal identity derived from our shared whakapapa and tikanga. Rangatiratanga or self-determining leadership is surely the answer for all Māori in these challenging times.
All of us live in a circle of control, a circle of influence, and a circle of concern. Focusing only on what concerns us, what we cannot change, is a deflating and unwise way to live. When we focus instead on what we can control or influence, we empower ourselves and find our circles of control and influence growing to take in more of our circle of concern.
This means the answer to the question: “what are we to do” is always the same – ‘to lift where you stand’ individually and collectively. Activate rangatiratanga.
However, it doesn’t mean we all have the same power to lift or change or influence. After generations of cultural assimilation, lost resources and lost power, we all find ourselves living different lives than our forebears and each other. Some still live close to marae and whanaunga, while others live far away and alone. Some have been blessed with education, others not; some have good health, others not; some have enjoyed relative peace and prosperity, others the opposite.
For all of us who are Ngāti Toa, no matter what, our Toa rangatiratanga defines who we are, and is our birthright. It is the right to decide and act on what we can control and influence for ourselves and others.
At Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira we have been following a strategy of “paddling our own waka” in pursuit of enhancing the wellbeing, prosperity, and mana of our people and community. We have realised, however, that this strategy needs to be embraced by all of those we serve if we are all to benefit.
Lifting where you stand means exerting one’s own rangatiratanga and mana motuhake, it is what we must all do in these difficult times. And if we fall over or fail, kia tū ai, hei iwi toa, hei iwi rangatira!
Ki Tēnei Ao
Three years ago, as the pandemic eased, we saw change coming and prepared. We anticipated a shift in Government, strengthened our commercial position, and renewed key service contracts early. But we could not have foreseen the extent to which a new coalition Government would act, particularly against Māori. Now we do.
Aotearoa is in a new political era, where commitments to equity, inclusion, and Te Tiriti-based transformation have gone. Replaced by austerity, centralisation, and a gross reduction in Crown obligations to tangata whenua.
New Zealanders are being pushed back into a one-size-fits-all model from the past. Decision making is being recentralised, with power pulled from communities, iwi and NGOs, and returned to Crown agencies. Instead of building on local knowledge, community-led solutions and partnership, we are seeing a return to top-down control.
In the past 18 months, we’ve seen a rapid rollback of commitments to Māori. Funding for targeted services has been withdrawn. Ethnicity has been removed as a criterion in policy decisions. Public leaders have mocked te reo and our culture. Hundreds of millions once committed to addressing inequity have been stripped away.
These actions are not just fiscal choices. They reflect a return to deficit thinking, a colonial worldview that treats Māori as problems to manage, not leaders of solutions. Even more concerning, this mindset is being normalised, encouraging our people to internalise it.
We cannot allow it. We must focus again and always, in exerting our rangatiratanga.
Te Ao o Roto
While governments come and go, their decisions have real and immediate consequences. Especially for iwi organisations like ours, which operate to safeguard iwi resources but also, as mana whenua, stand at the intersection of community need and Crown contracts.
Right now, we are experiencing the effects of Government decisions. Budgets are tightening up. Contracts are changing. Some services may be reduced or come to a natural close, and our kaimahi are feeling the pressure.
As the impacts of Government policy flow through, we anticipate some services being impacted over time. We are working through this with the intention to minimise disruption and ensure those affected are supported with dignity and respect.
Te Ara Whakamua
The next 18 months will demand strength, clarity, and collective resolve not only from Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira, but from all iwi and Māori organisations navigating these troubling times.
Despite the turbulence, our purpose and tikanga remain unchanged. We will build a resilient future enabling wellbeing, prosperity and mana on our terms, continuing our rangatiratanga in action.
This is the time for us all, individually and collectively, to answer the question “what does it mean to be an iwi in Aotearoa?” By focusing on our rangatiratanga we will live with mana, with power, and we will make a difference. Kia tū ai, hei iwi toa, hei iwi rangatira!