Trustees and Trust Rotation

 

The current trustees are:

Malcolm Short (Chair)
Anaru Bidois
Emily Rota-Bidois
Waldo Houia
Uenuku Fairhall

Read the trustees bios here.

 

In June 2018, the Trust asked the Māori Land Court to let us bring in new trustees. We want to make sure we have fresh ideas and the right mix of talent to make the most of our opportunities. We have also asked the court to introduce trustee rotation because we consider this to be important for the significant mahi we have in front of us.

These changes were declined in the Maori Land Court decision in October 2018 and were included as part of our appeal to the Māori Appellate Court. You can read more about our court application here.

In the Maori Appellate Court decision in April 2020, the Maori Appellate Court allowed in part the Appeal subject to further owners’ consultation on the new trustees and trustee rotation proposals to change the Trust Order and then taking these matters and the other requested changes to the Trust Order back to the Maori Land Court.

Due to the short window of time allowed to lodge an Appeal, in order to protect the Trust’s position and based on initial legal advice received, the Trustees have subsequently decided to appeal the Maori Appellate Court’s decision regarding the status change application part of the decision to the New Zealand Court of Appeal. You can see further information on the Maori Appellate Court’s decision in the Our Court Application section here.

During the owners engagement process there has been much discussion about the different options for rotation and election of new trustees, what the requirements and skills should be and when and how elections should happen. These discussions are ongoing.

We have published a recent post that gives more details of the trustees rotation proposal as it currently stands and how it might work here.

We are taking feedback on this proposal via our survey which owners can complete here.

 

trustees rotation