Last Wednesday we kicked off the Māori Advisory Rōpū hui at St. Andrews in Pōneke. A big mihi to the Wellington City Council for setting us up in such a great spot! The Māori Advisory Rōpū has been running since 2019, and this year, we really want to take things to the next level. We wanted more structure and a clearer vision moving forward. I’m very proud to say this was definitely achieved during our hui!

Ash and Sterling have been leading the way for a few years now. It was a pleasure to have them attend and share the kōrero of where the rōpū started, current achievements, as well as contributing to the future vision of the Māori Advisory Rōpū.

The rōpū explored Skylah’s (previous National Leader) NLP project on Māori engagement. This is one of the key puzzle pieces as to why the Māori Advisory Rōpū exists today. As well as exploring recruitment, resources, connection, structure, planning, and brainstorming. They smashed through lots of mahi in a short space of time. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou!

Though it wasn’t all serious business, making sure there’s always tunes playing in the background and DJ Emily keeping the bangers rolling. We refueled with some delicious bagels and ventured down to the Parliament lawn to get some vitamin D.

I can’t wait to see what comes of this year; they’ve already achieved so much as a rōpū.

Watch this space e hoa ma!

-Bobbi