Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki
Matapura Ellison
Matapura was born in 1955 at the Palmerston Cottage Hospital in East Otago. Son of Rangi and Joan Ellison, he was raised on the family farm at Karitāne where he still resides. His mother fostered his interest in his Kāi Tahu, Taranaki and Pakeha heritage at an early age and at 18 he joined the Huirapa Māori Committee. He is very proud of his three adult children and younger whāngāi.
Matapura counts it a privilege to represent his papatipu Rūnaka at Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu amongst some great people, and highly values the opportunity during his tenure to be involved in this phase of our tribal development.
He is particularly focused on working as part of a Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu team to oversee the completion of the Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu governance review and do his bit to empower an organisation that is able to focus on the tasks at hand without distraction.
There are areas of focus he feels are important for Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu notably working to ensure that direct benefit streams have meaning and relevance to Ngāi Tahu Whānui and most importantly are sustainable; that the special needs of our papatipu Rūnanga ahi kā organisatiaons are understood and supported; that we work hard to achieve a balance between the sector needs of our communities; and lastly although a challenge for us, to support the investigation of options that explore how multiples of wealth may be extended from the central organisation out into our Kāi Tahu communities.