E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatangamaha o Te Moana ā Toitehuatahi tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. E ngā iwi me te hāpori Māori, mai Ngā Kurī a Whārei ki Tihirau, mai Maketū ki Tauhara huri noa i te rohe o Toi Moana kei te mihi.

Tēnā koutou katoa,
This is a special pānui in light of the lockdown for Aotearoa at this time. Ko te tumanako, kei te ora pai koutou, me ō koutou whanau whanui.

Kia haumaru, kia atawhai, kia kaha rā!

Nā ngā Kaikaunihera o Toi Moana me te Tumu Whakarae
From the Regional Councillors and Chief Executive of Toi Moana

Iwi organisations and support services

We recognise the resilience of our community to show unity through the COVID lockdown. There are many proactive and caring organisations that are supporting our communities, particularly Māori Health providers.

Rotorua

Te Arawa COVID-19 Hub - Has daily updates with real time vaccination locations. They are also working with Te Arawa Whānau ora to check in on Kaumātua who may need extra assistance.
As at Monday 30 August, there will be a drive-through vaccination clinic in Rotorua starting on Wednesday 1 September, bookings are required and you can book here.

Kōhi

Te Puna Ora o Mātaatua - Phone 0800 MATAATUA (628 228) option 9, and book your whānau vaccination.
Ngāti Awa Health and Social Services - All vaccination enquiries 0800 525 009
Whakatōhea Rūnanga -07 315 6150

Mauao

Ngāi Te Ahi – Ngāti He Hauora 07-544 8793
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ranginui - 0800 494 6262
Pirirākau Hauora - 07-552 4573
www.heretohelpu.nz - Online help service (Hamilton, Tokoroa, Tauranga, WBOP
Te Tuinga Whānau - Any requests for social services support call 02108207359.

Other great sites for support:

https://www.uruta.maori.nz/support-for-iwi

For employment support, contact Employment New Zealand (0800 20 90 20)

For health support, contact your GP or call Healthline on 0800 611 116 or 111 in an emergency. Don’t delay seeking medical assistance for ANY health conditions.

For support with anxiety, distress or mental wellbeing, you can call or text 1737 to talk with a trained counsellor for free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For business support, check out the Unite Against COVID-19 webpage.

Key Civil Defence Emergency Manangement contacts in our rohe

Most iwi members will be able to access food, medicine and other essentials for themselves and their whānau. However, there will be some iwi members where this is not possible, and they might need extra help to access things that they need.

If you know of any of your iwi members in this situation, help is available from the local Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group.

Local Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group operates 7 days a week from 7am to 7pm. This service is for people that do not have any other options available to them.

The key Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) people within our rohe for iwi, hapū and whānau:

Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council - BOP-ECC-Iwiliaison@bopcivildefence.govt.nz
Ōpōtiki District Council - Katherine Hall or Anna Marie Kurei katherineh@odc.govt.nz or annamk@odc.govt.nz
Whakatāne District Council– Justin Douglas justin.douglas@whakatane.govt.nz
Kawerau District Council – Meagan Edhouse meagan.edhouse@embop.govt.nz
Rotorua Lakes Council – Linda Johnston linda.johnston@rotorualc.nz
Western Bay District Council – Ben Wilson ben.wilson@westernbay.govt.nz
Tauranga City Council – Alana Rapson Alana.rapson@tauranga.govt.nz and/or Carlo Ellis carlo.ellis@tauranga.govt.nz

Toi Moana Essential services we're delivering at Alert Level 4 & 3

Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council continues to deliver essential services to the region during Alert Level 4 and Alert Level 3 in accordance with strict contact tracing, hygiene and physical distancing protocols.

These services include providing public transport - on a restricted schedule for essential travel only - and responding to urgent pollution incidents like the approximately 11,000 litres of molasses spilled on State Highway 29 last Thursday, where some discharged into the Omanawa River.

Work is also continuing on replacing a floodwall on East Bank Road in Thornton – this is work that is important to finish in case the Rangitāiki River rises in a rain event.

Essential services we’re delivering during Alert Level Four & Alert Level Three:

Civil Defence Emergency Management       
Sampling and analysing water quality for safe human activities including drinking water
Public transport on a restricted schedule for essential travel only 
Ensuring maritime navigational safety
Incident and pollution response including related enforcement
Biosecurity incursion response and eradication
Flood and drought management, flood protection and land drainage, including management of lake levels
Natural hazard event monitoring, response and recovery (including 24/7 flood monitoring programme)
Compliance monitoring programmes for high risk activities as they relate to human, aquatic and animal health
Regional governance and leadership 
Continuing work on replacing the floodwall on the lower Rangitāiki River

Pānui Pāpaho - Media release

Consents and compliance at this time

Consents processing is considered a priority activity that delivers one of Regional Council’s core services. Most parts of the consents process can be undertaken by staff working from home, and the team have been set up to maintain this service. Applications continue to be received, and decisions continue to be made.

Please note:

Where an application cannot be progressed without a site visit, we are contacting the applicant(s) to discuss putting the application on hold
Where an application requires cultural impact assessment(s) and these can’t be done given the current situation, we are putting the applications on hold
Pre-application meetings have been held online, and staff are working with commissioners, applicants, and submitters to determine whether scheduled hearings will be held virtually

Our Compliance team are mostly responding to urgent work such as requests for service. Air quality seems to be a big concern for the community as we have responded to a few calls are around air quality and open burning.

Backyard burning rules

Check out our tangata whenua page on Participate!

On behalf of the Kaupapa Māori team in the Essential Freshwater Policy Programme here at Toi Moana we are pleased to announce that as part of the mahi for Te Mana o te Wai under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management we have a dedicated page for tangata whenua to share their experiences, knowledge and understanding with their taonga wai māori. This is one of a number participation options under our Regional Māori engagement plan, Te Hononga.

The page is now live and it requires a password to access the site via the link.

Hononga/Link: https://www.participate.boprc.govt.nz/freshwater-values-mapping-maori

Kupu hipa/ Password: Waimaori

Please note you will be required to complete a short registration form to be able to save the information you would like to submit.

For any queries or to set up hui directly, please email Anaru Vercoe.

Participate

Komiti Māori i Rotorua

Komiti Māori was held last Tuesday 17 August 2021 at Te Papaiouru Marae in Rotorua. We were privileged to have Hon Nanaia Mahuta in attendance who gave the opening address as to the changes coming from central government and the implications for tangata whenua.

Minister Mahuta said, "We won't always get it right, but we have to at least try." Ka tika hoki!

We also had great feedback for all of the presentations by tangata whenua groups. The agenda below will have those presentations if you were unable to make it.

The next Komiti Māori hui will be held on Tuesday 19th October 2021, the venue will be advised closer to the date.

Te rarangi take

Komiti Māori Members 2021

(L-R) Councillors: Toi Kai Rākau Iti, David Love, Te Taru White, Kevin Winters, Matemoana McDonald, Bill Clark, Stuart Crosby, Stacey Rose, Jane Nees, Doug Leeder, Lyall Thurston, Norm Bruning, Andrew von Dadelszen, Paula Thompson. (Back) Chief Executive: Fiona Mc Tavish.