Wahine Rising
Lisa Tumahai is ready for the challenge of being deputy kaiwhakahaere of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. Running second to long-time tribal leader Mark Solomon, Lisa is the first woman to hold such a senior role within Te Rūnanga, winning the position over two other candidates in the September elections.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for years It’s been one of my passions – how we can take a stronger regional focus and strengthen and grow the capacity in the regions. It’s exciting stuff.”
Lisa is also the chair of Te Here, and it is this committee that will be dealing with the aspirations of papatipu rūnanga. Te Rūnanga governance structure was changed earlier in the year with the creation of two new executive committees: Te Here, dealing with internal tribal matters and Te Apārangi, covering external issues.
At her modern home in Kaiapoi, Lisa’s husband Francois is preparing tea. Lisa is late back from work in Christchurch but when the engaging 45-year-old mother of three arrives 10 minutes later, she’s ready to start the interview straight away.
Lisa has worked for the Canterbury District Health Board since 2006, starting as a contracts manager in the personal health team, and then portfolio manager with the mental health team.
Because of her tribal and rūnanga commitments for Ngāti Waewae, and because of health constraints, she has negotiated to work part-time as the Māori and Pacific health portfolio manager.
“When I first started working, I worked in the hospitality industry. I was about 21 and thought: ‘Oh God, I don’t want to be doing this for the rest of my life,’ so I went back to study.”
At 24, she decided to tackle university papers and has continued on-and-off ever since. An abundance of family and work commitments means Lisa is yet to finish her Bachelor of Commerce degree.
“I don’t know what it [a degree] would give me that I don’t already have, but it would be nice to have,” she says.
Before joining the health board, Lisa worked in the education sector for private training establishments. “My area of work was always in the accounts side, and then it just developed into other roles, like contracts and compliance.”
Lisa is firmly loyal to Te Tai o Poutini; even though she has never resided there she frequently returns to the coast. “My dad Tahana is from Arahura, he is a Tauwhare; and my mum Gay, from Blaketown, is of Scottish/Irish descent.
“Mum and Dad left the Coast in the big migration of whānau in the late 60s, to look for work in Canterbury. Dad was in the freezing works for most of the time, but developed thyroid arthritis and retired young. They moved back to the Coast and have been back more than 23 years.”
Lisa is one of six children. The three eldest were born in Arahura and the three youngest, including Lisa, were born in Canterbury. The family frequently travelled to the Coast when she was a child.
Husband Francois is also from the Coast. His father is of French Tahitian/Ngāti Whatua descent and his mother is Ngāi Tahu. The Tumahai name is Tahitian. Lisa and Francois have two 22-year-old daughters, Chantal, and Tamara, who is a whāngai, and a son, Dane aged 12.
Chantal and Tamara are not living at home, “but they may as well be”, she laughs. “They come home to do their groceries and their washing. I’ve just noticed there’s a big basket on the drier.”
Lisa was first elected to a position in Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae in 1998, and since 2001, has been the Ngāti Waewae representative at the Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu table.
“So I’ve been travelling home every month since 1998. Holidays, Christmas, usually Easter, long weekends we’re usually over there at Arahura.”
Lisa’s ancestral line is from Tarapuhi, the eldest son of Tuhuru. “Tarapuhi had one child, a daughter, Te Riaki; and she married a Methodist minister, Teoti Tauwhare from Kawhia. That’s where the Tauwhare name comes from.”
They are her great-great grandparents.
As with many from her generation, te reo and tikanga Māori were not a big part of her childhood.
“We had a strong sense of where we were from. Dad was very musical and my brothers and sisters were very musical and we had this wee family band. It was very successful and did very well here in Canterbury for a number of years.
“But culturally, while we travelled home a lot, and we were very mixed in with our wider family, there wasn’t anything in terms of language or kapa haka.
“There were cultural practices like mahinga kai. That was strong with us while we were children.”
Lisa has learned te reo to a basic level, but with her busy schedule finds it difficult to get the time to study.
How does she view the tribal governance since settlement?
“I think we lost a good five years of momentum because of leadership issues, but I think we’ve done some things to celebrate. There have been some fantastic initiatives and the commercial company has had its successes, but we’ve always got to ask ourselves could we have done better, what do we need to do differently?
“A lot of the phases we’ve been through are just part of our growth and evolution, and I think we’ll come out the better for it,” she says.
Lisa believes there has been more good will at the top table in the last two years, and that people are focused on what is best for the tribe. “I think an indication of that was Mark [Solomon] being reappointed with the unanimous support of his board.”
Lisa says the new structure, with Te Here and Te Apārangi, is a change in how strategic direction is set. “It’s new for people. There’ll be some trial and error and I don’t think we’ll get it right first pop, but it’s certainly a good start.
“I want the [Te Rūnanga] board to take ownership of setting the strategic direction and engage a lot better with our regions, with our papatipu rūnanga, ensuring they are part of the whole strategic development.
“Te Here is an exciting committee. That’s where the regions feed in. Last year they submitted what their three-to-five year aspirations were, and that information contributes to the annual planning process.
“Hopefully we will see dedicated resources to support iwi, hapū and whānau.”
She says Te Here will work on initiatives over the next few years to fund and strengthen communities, to help them grow their independence, strengthen their marae and grow their commercial capability.
“We are all at different levels of growth in the regions. Some papatipu rūnanga have already made commercial investments, and some have strong infrastructures. Often it is governance and management that need support or development. The challenge is how do we become an enabler?”
Would she like the top job one day?
“One of the questions I was asked when I stood for election as deputy was: ‘Do you see this as succession planning?’ My response was that if you’re not prepared to step up, then why would you stand?
“So in the future, possibly. Certainly at the moment I’m really enjoying being chair of Te Here and that’s where my passion and focus is. But I’m absolutely there to step up when Mark needs that support, or is not available.”
And where would she like to see Ngāi Tahu in 20 years time?
“I hope that the regions are less reliant on a central base in Canterbury, and at Ngāi Tahu Whānui level, we are thriving. I hope Whai Rawa is strong, because that’s your financial independence, your tertiary education, your home ownership, your retirement fund.
“In 20 years I hope every region has a strong marae, a strong home base, and a strong infrastructure; and that we’ve got significant outcomes from cultural revitalisation.”
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March 3rd, 2012 at 4:11 am
This is merely a supposition but my point is that it’s easy to narrowly frame this issue if we demonize immigrants.
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Nobody is demonizing immigrants. Immigrants built this country and even now are helping to propel us into the future.
February 3rd, 2012 at 8:39 pm
You go Hine.
You have have got this far do,
us proud