Tamaki Community Board
For Immediate Release
24 March 2009

Tamaki Community Board Wins National Best Practice Award

The Tamaki Community Board has won the 2009 New Zealand Community Board Best Practice Award for Working with Maori.

Selected by a panel of judges from amongst projects from around the country, the award was presented on 19 March and follows the Tamaki Community Board’s adoption of a specially commissioned mihi (greeting or acknowledgement).

Originally composed to celebrate Maori Language Week, the mihi now features at the head of the Board’s monthly agenda and can be recited at the start of meetings.

“We are absolutely thrilled to win this award,” said Tamaki Community Board Chair, Kate Sutton.

“We originally wanted the mihi for Maori Language week but we quickly recognised that acknowledgement of te reo should not be a once-a-year event and the Board should be mindful of obligations towards the tangata whenua at all times.”

“This mihi is something small but it’s something every community board can do to demonstrate commitment to its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi and to a high quality of service to the people.”

Members of Auckland City Council’s Pae Herenga Tangata (Bridge Between People) unit, which facilitates consultation with local iwi, worked with Community Board members to develop the mihi.

In accepting the award, the Board’s Deputy Chair Christine O’Brien said, “I acknowledge Ngati Whatua and the work of the Pae Herenga Tangata unit of Auckland City Council for its assistance to the Board with iwi liaison and in composition of the mihi.”

The Best Practice Award was presented during the New Zealand Community Boards Conference in Christchurch, at the 20th Anniversary Celebratory Dinner attended by the Prime Minister, Rt Hon John Key and over 230 local body elected representatives and guest speakers.

Text of Tamaki Community Board Mihi
Ko Tamaki ki te Hau-a-uru
Ko Tamaki ki te Rawhiti
Ko Tamaki ki te Tonga
Ko Tamaki ki te Raki
Ko Manukau, ko Te Wai-te-mata, ko nga tai e rua e papaki nei ki uta
Ko Tamaki herehere nga waka
Ti hei, Mauri ora!
e nga mana, e nga reo, e nga rau rangatira ma
Tena koutou, Tena koutou, Tena tatou katoa

English Translation
Tamaki to the west
Tamaki to the east
Tamaki to the south
Tamaki to the north
To the ebbing tides of the Manukau and Waitemata harbours
and the four winds caressing the foreshores of Tamaki
to all authorities, all voices, to the many chiefs of the land
greetings, greetings, greetings to everyone.

--ENDS--

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