Arowhenua
Gary Waaka
He uri nō Tarawhata raua ko Kukuwhero.
I te tau 1848 i noho te ariki o Huirapa, a Te Rehe me tōna hoa wahine Poti nō Rapuwai, i te pā o Waiteruati.
Ko Tarawhata tā rāua tama tuatahi. Ko ia te tipuna o kā whānau maha o Huirapa.
In his role as Te Rūnanga representative Gary is firmly committed to values based decision-making. He is motivated by a desire to provide opportunities for the empowerment of Ngāi Tahu whānui and has a personal commitment to ensuring that his people of Kāti Huirapa o Arowhenua benefit, as members of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. This is given effect by living the principle: 'for the people, by the people' that guides him in all decisions he makes as their representative. Papatipu rūnaka are the vehicles that will drive change at grassroots level and ultimately provide the greatest benefit for all Ngāi Tahu whānui.
Born and raised as a 'Pā boy' Gary brings a grassroots perspective to the Te Rūnanga governance role. This is a strength in terms of understanding the needs of the tribal stakeholder.
He believes a key priority must be taking responsibility as takata whenua for the protection of the physical environment, with the same level of commitment as was shown by our tipuna as kaitiaki takata, who strove to protect our mana whenua and mana moana.
Kia kaha e te whānau whānui.