Huia, huia! Tuituia. Huia ki te ora. Huia ki te rangimarie. Huia ki te aroha. Nau mai ano, e nga iwi, ki ta tatou hui ` this week on The Hui. Out of pocket and out of patience. - The roading networks that we have now, they're absolutely shocking. - We're with the Far North people whose lives are impacted by a battered roading network. - WOMAN: We don't know where to go from here. - Waka Kotahi fronts up to give an update about the Mangamuka Gorge road. Plus, we hang out with a whanau business who are making their mark ` and their money ` by livestreaming local events. - We thought about it as maybe an opportunity as a family to do something together as a business. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023 - Hoki atu e te po whaiariki. Nau mai ra e te ao marama. Tihewa mauri ora ki a tatou katoa, and welcome back to the Hui. We begin the programme this week acknowledging Professor Rangi Matamua, New Zealander of the Year for 2023. Professor Matamua is the man behind Matariki, and the Chief Adviser Matauranga Matariki. The award recognises an inspirational New Zealander whose accomplishments have had a significant and beneficial impact on the nation. No reira, e kara, e Rangi, nau ano i poupoua iho mai ko nga kupu korero a nga aweko e pa ana ki a Matariki ki te mata o te whenua. E ao te honore, e ao te tohunga ` and he's a Hurricanes fan. For now, though, we turn to the north. Mangamuka is a small rural settlement of just over 500 people living in the Far North of Te Ika-a-Maui. But years and years of flooding have repeatedly destroyed their lifeline ` State Highway 1 north to Kaitaia through the Mangamuka Gorge. So why hasn't it been repaired, and what did the delays mean for whanau and locals? D'Angelo Martin investigates. (SOMBRE MUSIC) - WOMAN: We don't know where to go from here. - D'ANGELO MARTIN: A hapori without hope. - MAN: The needs that our people have up here are huge. - Cut off and isolated. - WOMAN: It's affected me mentally, physically and financially. - Forgotten, with no clear path ahead. - To them, it's a game. To us, it's our` it's our lives. - I grew up in Kaitaia, and I've driven these roads a thousand times. It's State Highway 1, all the way from Tamaki Makaurau,... ...an essential lifeline for the small communities dotted along the way. I'm about 30 minutes from home. Well, at least I was. (TENSE MUSIC) This is as far as anyone can go, with no certainty whatsoever on when Mangamuka Gorge Road will reopen again. (CRICKETS CHIRP) It's 4am in Mangamuka. - (EXHALES) - Henare Tautari has to start his day early to keep himself alive. Three years ago, he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Now, three times a week, he has to travel to Kaitaia Hospital for dialysis. His kidneys have stopped working. - It'd only take, like, 25 minutes to get across over the gorge. - But not any more. What was once a short trip is now three times as long. - It's just a hassle having to go right around. - He's got two options ` State Highway 10, the official detour route, which can take close to two hours, or an old forestry road ` windy, and a route for logging trucks. - That is a long way. - So ` how did we get to this? ('NEWSHUB' THEME MUSIC) Back in 2020, a one-in-500-year deluge caused the Mangamuka Gorge to be closed for over a year. - It looks like Mangamuka Gorge has been hit by an earthquake. - What followed was three years of disruption, with slip after slip after slip. - There was hope. There was hope, because it was able to be fixed again. - In November last year, the road was cleared and Henare's daughter-in-law, Patience Wiremu, thought life was back to normal... (WIND BLOWS) ...until January this year. - It was just like, 'Oh, here we go again.' Like, it's happening again. But this time it was worse, and then now there's just no hope at all. - Hiu. - And ever since then, the hapori of Mangamuka feel like they've been left in the dark. - No one telling us, like, 'It's gonna be fixed in, like, two months or whatever.' It was just... 'We don't know.' - It's affected not only those who live in Mangamuka, but also the wider Far North community. - Morena, pehea ana? - CHILD: Kei te pai, Whaea Maryanne. - Reka to kai? - CHILD: Chee! (LAUGHS) - Close to 200 tauira turn up to Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Rangi Aniwaniwa every day. - Kite koe ke ko nga 'k', e ko` mahi tahi me Whaea Maryanne. I love the work that I do. You know, the children bring me joy in class. - Yeah-hoo. - (LAUGHS) Yeah. Nga mihi, Ani. Iramutu. - Maryanne Bedggood was living in Horeke, south of Mangamuka, to be close to her elderly parents, travelling to kura in Kaitaia every day. - I'm happy where I am. I'm living in Horeke; my lifestyle there is picture-perfect. - The closure of the Gorge meant that Maryanne's picture-perfect lifestyle was short-lived ` just getting to kura on time became a huge mission. - I would travel daily on State Highway 10 to get to school, stuck behind trucks or cars. It would take 2.5 hours. - That's each way. It was exhausting. As a last resort, Maryanne had to leave Horeke. - So from Monday to Friday, I'm staying up here with my son, so it's turned my life upside down. I hardly see my parents. It's affected me mentally, physically and financially. - That financial toll has crippled whanau. - PATIENCE: It's horrible. Just for a trip to town is, like, $180. That's a full tank of gas for us, and then on our way back, we're having to put more gas in. - And they're not getting a break. - Electricians, plumbers, companies like that are not willing to travel this far to do work. It's a big strain. (SOMBRE MUSIC) - Locals believe several things have led to the loss of the road. - Do you think it's actually a tohu te ao Maori, ne, that perhaps that road is not happy and does not want people to be driving on it any more? - There's been a lot that's gone on. We haven't had a summer with so much rain, which is one of the things that contribute to the slipping. The trees three years ago were cut down from the top of the gorge, right down ` years and years and years of roots, old trees, are up there. And the other thing is the trucks. You know, there's a lot more logging trucks, there's a lot more trucks that go through there. There's all that contributing to our gorge not being happy with what's going on. - They're the ones that'll be killing it off, like the 50-tonners, the loggers. That's a lot of weight for the road. - Despite the extra hassle, Henare is resigned to the diversion. So that's almost eight hours a week on the road. Do you think that's acceptable? - I don't look at it like that. I just do it for myself to get my health. - How do you manage with that much driving a week? - Feel drained, tired, like, pretty dangerous of me driving back from dialysis. - The Hui was unable to access the gorge to see progress, if any, on the slips, and despite numerous attempts, no one from Waka Kotahi on the ground would answer the questions we had. Just like the people of Mangamuka, we were not a priority. - We don't know where to go from here. No one really comes, so it's like, say, a dead town. (WISTFUL MUSIC, CRICKETS CHIRP) - The roading networks that we have now, they're absolutely shocking. - Far North District Mayor Moko Tepania has had enough. - We need a significant change to how roading infrastructure is funded in this country. The government's priorities in how they fund roading right now ` they favour big cities. You'll get the funding if you're looking at public transport. Public transport doesn't exist here in the Far North. - And he's got a solution. - I want to see the system change to make it easier for us to actually get things done. What we need is our own set-aside funding, so that we know that we are guaranteed in rural Aotearoa New Zealand our own pot that addresses the huge needs that we have. - The hapori in Mangamuka are left without answers. Have you heard any update whatsoever? - No, I haven't. We've just gotten used to it. - And they need action. - I am at the end of my wick. - It's all hui and no bloody do-y. It's a lifeline for our communities. It's a lifeline for our district. That would be my challenge to my central government colleagues, is to change the system so that it actually addresses the huge need that we have here in the Far North. - Until that happens, resilience is keeping them going. - HENARE: I'm here to stay right here. Been here most of my life, over 40 years. Uh` yeah, I'm not looking of moving away from home. - I just have to keep on top of the game, and keep positive about it. - Not something easy to do, but I reckon we can get there. - D'Angelo Martin with that purongo, and a lot of questions in it as a result, so I'll put those questions to Waka Kotahi's Far North State Highway Resilience Programme Project director Norman Collier, who you can see` as you can see, he's in the studio here ` after this quick break. Stay with us. Kua auraki mai ano ra koutou ki ta tatou hui, e rere tonu ana nga korero. The ongoing issues in Mangamuka Gorge affect not only the lives of those in the town, but also the small communities to the south and the businesses in Kaitaia that they can't easily access. Joining me now in the studio to discuss the Mangamuka Gorge Road is the Far North State Highway Resilience Programme Project director, Norman Collier. Norm, thanks so much for coming in. Appreciate your time. Can I get your reaction to some of the challenges, I guess, that were put in that report of D'Angelo's? - Yeah, it is rather challenging. Technically, we` we're dealing with a huge challenge. These roads were built many, many years ago, and in` in` in the timeline when those were built, we didn't have the technology that we have now when building roads. So a lot of the failures we have in the road is actually deep down. - OK. - Uh` Yeah, so` - What about the personal impacts, though, on people like Henare, who was in that story? What do you say to people like that who have been so significantly impacted personally as a result of the lack of access and the road that they haven't been able to use? - I would say that when we fix it this time, we do a good job, and we` we take it seriously, and we` Not that we haven't in the past, but we` we do, um` put that $100m that the board has approved to build this road back, repair it and build it back better so we don't face this inconvenience in the` in the future. - I guess the challenge with that` So there's an issue of miscommunication, or a lack of communication with the community, cos they didn't` they don't know what's going on. And I know we're going to talk about timeline soon, but what do you say to that? Because they're essentially accusing you of not communicating with them. - Yeah, well, we` we've, um` hapu has put to us three representatives, a representative in the north, a represent` a representative sort of the northwestern side, representative in the south, and actually made them part of the project, and we've had quite significant community feedback sessions in, uh` in December and in January this year, and we're having another session come this week. So I can just say` - So` - ...that we do communicate, I think` - Right. - ...and that's part of me being here right now. - Yeah. OK. But you announced on Friday, one suspects as a result of this story, actually, that there was going to be a timeline, and that timeline is for the road to be open in May with potentially limited access in December. Did you talk to the community before you sent that out? Did they know that timeline and that announcement was coming? - I believe so, yes. - OK. So if you talk to them, then, why has it taken so long between January and May for a decision and a timeline to be announced? - We had significant technical challenges. First of all, we had to drill, and actually understand exactly geologically what we're dealing with. Now, we didn't know where some of these failures were when it happened, so we had to actually mobilise equipment on site, drill, and then do some soil analysis and see what the best method of repair is. Now, the problem is, we've got 16 sites where we had to do this. so it's very hard to make a commitment to the community if you actually don't know the answer yourself. The mountain absorbed, over the last year, a significant amount of water, and that water is seeping through quite deep underneath the road ` I'm talking in some cases 15 to 20m deep. So we had to establish where those points of failures are and we couldn't make a commitment because we actually didn't know the extent of the damage. If you look with the naked eye, you'd think you're just fixing what you see, but you actually gotta go very deep and fix all the way down. - OK, so we're in April now. We're approaching what is supposed to be a very cold summer. We've had significant climate impacts on Aotearoa, particularly in the north. So when you say the road is going to be open in May, how sure is sure, because who knows what's going to happen in winter with rain and the likes and floods and everything else, so how sure are you that May's going to be the timeline when we don't know what's going to happen with winter weather? - I'm confident the way we program it, that that's achievable. I, um` If you're looking for guarantees, that's not something I can give, but what I can give is, as many resources as what we can put in that gorge, we will put in that gorge. - Did you consider not going back to State Highway 1 through Mangamuka Gorge? Was` was a solution or a potential solution to close that road indefinitely, to close that road permanently? - In November, end of 2022, we did options analysis, and a wide range of options was looked at, and one of the options were definitely to close the road and not open it again. However, we looked at what this road means to the people, and what this road means for our network, and we made a decision to` to actually, um` Well, the board made a decision to put $100 million towards the rebuild and the 'build back better' of the Mangamuka Gorge. - One of the challenges that came in the story from whanau that D'Angelo spoke to was logging trucks and forestry, and the impact of forestry, particularly at the top of the gorge. How do you respond to that, and what is the solution to deal with that going forward? So, for example, would you consider no logging trucks going through the gorge again? - No, we won't consider that, because your logging trucks is not actually the root cause of the failure we've experienced in the gorge. Your logging trucks and your heavy vehicles ` you're spreading a load of 50 tons over 20m. But if you look at the weight of what a 20m-deep road is on the side of a cliff, a logging truck is ` if you compare it to a car, it's sort of` Let's say you've got an elephant and you've got a mouse on the elephant's back, or you've got a dog on the elephant's back. You know, that's sort of the` The problem here is that` that actual big, big, big lump of soil on which the road is built, that lump of soil has got a failure 20m down and getting washed away with water. So now what we have to do is actually pin all the way through with piles and drill into the` So` So your logging trucks damage the surface of the road, but not 20m down. - OK, very quickly ` a point made by Mayor Moko Tepania was for a delineation of funding to go to rural roads, and in particular rural access roads. What's your response? Because, yes, you'll get the $100 million upfront, but what about the ongoing correction, the ongoing work to keep the infrastructure of the roads safe? What's your response to that, and can that happen? - We at Waka Kotahi have a desire for more and more funding to be put to our ongoing maintenance of our network and help us better maintain our roads in the future. But funding conversations is` is` is a balance of` - Do you support the idea, though? Yes or no? - Yes, of course. - So` so it can happen? - Well, more funding towards maintenance of roads ` I hope it can. - OK. Norman Collier, Thank you very much for your time. Really appreciate you coming on the programme. That was, of course, Waka Kotahi's Norman Collier. Kia ita tonu mai ra e hoa ma ` after the break on The Hui, we meet Te Arawa's young media moguls who started a whanau business in COVID ` now they're broadcasting to the world. Ko Te Hui tenei e hapai ake ana i nga korero o te wa i te puha te kupu. A group of young rangatahi in Rotorua are looking to change the broadcasting game in Aotearoa. Local Gecko Productions is a whanau-run business specialising in livestreaming community sports and cultural events. In just a couple of years, they've built their reputation in the local industry, and they're already providing a path for rangatahi to enter the media industry. Anei te purongo a John Boynton. (UPBEAT ELECTRONIC MUSIC) - Uh` chur, team. Obviously we've got a big setup already. - On the paddocks of the Te Puna Rugby Club in Tauranga,... - We'll separate into our teams first, we'll unpack the truck, make sure everything's all good to go. - ...the team from Local Gecko Productions is prepping for its latest livestreaming broadcast. - I'll set up commentary cabin, headsets, mixers, monitor, our shotgun audio. (CHUCKLES) - YELPS: Aah! - (LAUGHS) - Rotorua rangatahi Alex Miller runs this whanau-based media company. - To be honest, I kind of discovered this mahi on my own. - The path he discovered after his university study was disrupted by the COVID pandemic. - I'd worked my whole life towards kind of making a civil engineering career, and then going into COVID, I was really wishing to find a new skill, find something that was new and different, and something that maybe I could just do on the side. - Alex started making social media videos with his whanau during lockdown. - What? There's nothing to do around here. - Use your imagination. - (MUTTERS) I just like the whole process, I guess ` coming up with an idea, trying to film it, see what that looks like. - We tutu'd around with a couple of cameras and made some very funny videos` Well, we think it's funny anyway. He learnt how to edit. - We thought about it as maybe an opportunity as a family to do something together as a business. - Moana and Mike saw an opening for Alex and the whanau to start livestreaming local events. They believed in it so much they quit their jobs, and Local Gecko Productions was born. - I was scared shitless, to be fair. I'd just spent` - I know. (CHUCKLES) - ...28 years engineering. Yeah, that was my background, mechanical engineering, and we didn't know too much about the media side of it. - Sweet. (CLAPS TWICE) Let's get into it. - They've mortgaged their home and hustled to buy cameras, gear and broadcast equipment. - What's our shutter speed like? - He's grown into an astute businessman. He knows everything about the business. He's not just the creative side of it, but he's real clear about the direction that he wants the business to go in. - The foundation of the business is giving high school-aged rangatahi the chance to work and learn about media production. - A lot of our cousins and that will send their children with us, and they feel safe sending their babies in to work with us. - This crew of rangatahi handles almost all aspects of the broadcast, from operating cameras to using drones, taking photos and directing action from the control room. - 40 seconds, guys. There's a lot of comms going out ` a lot of good comms and not-so-good comms. We're on you now. Go, commentary. - MAN: Kia ora and welcome to the Te Puna-Thames club rugby tournament coming to you live from Maramatanga Park here in Te Puna. - They love to tell us how good they are, I can tell you that much. (BOTH LAUGH) - Ready five, mix five. - MIKE: But, you know, we're very proud. It's not just about the skills they learn behind the camera, there's a lot of stuff they need to learn about sort of working as well, their working lives. - Alex is putting the whole whanau to work ` - 30 seconds, guys, and then we'll come back to you. - ...his little brother riding shotgun,... - So far, it's going pretty good. We had a little bit of a hiccup at the start, just a little bit of lag on our part, but we've managed to sort it out. (PLAYERS SHOUT) - ...his dad behind the camera, while his mum is sorting any issues on the field. - One of the issues that we're kind of having is the scoring for the game, because there's no linesmen to tell you if they've scored or not. - She's pretty much the producer on the day. - That shouldn't take long. - She gets everyone in line and just tells everyone, 'This is what you've got to do. Hurry up and get it to me now.' You need that kind of person. - We can't see if the score has been` - So you need the referee to give` - We need the ref. So we're gonna take it from the refs, so whether it goes over, whether it's scored, all of that. Thanks, Pat. (CHUCKLES) Like, this is the first time that they've ever broadcast this event. People never used to broadcast at this level before, but it's really normal now. - Ooh, lovely bit of footwork ` one, two. - One of their whanau members they regularly work with is Norm Rahiri. - It's an eye-opener. - Yeah. - From wherever you're from. Look at that. - He works at iwi radio, and is supporting the crew by commentating on today's game. - It's good to have a livestream, because we can actually reach our whanau and our supporters from overseas or outside of the region as well. Next round, Piri... - As a former player at Te Puna, Norm sees the benefit of livestreaming the event. - Obviously, if someone's watching the livestream on that radio station or Local Gecko, then the sponsor will go, 'Well, you want to be part of that because people are watching it.' Huge potential. Huge potential. (HOPEFUL MUSIC) - It's the following day, and Alex has been asked to help livestream a charity event in Rotorua. - Today, it's a koha for all of Te Arawa, so... definitely want to go out and do it. (KAPA HAKA MEMBERS SING) - Local Te Arawa kapa haka groups are hitting the stage, fundraising for the victims of Cyclone Gabrielle. - It's so cool to be able to kind of do stuff for Maori, for my iwi, my hapu, and to be able to do it with the people I know and people that I've grown up knowing. - Alex is here offering a helping hand alongside the media industry mentors who have supported his journey so far. - It was just kind of cool walking in today and just kind of getting the vibe of like, 'Chur, my bro. Chur, my whanau.' - What's the best part about being involved in this Maori media space? - Knowing that it's for our people ` knowing we're kind of doing something bigger than ourselves. - And it's a space where Local Gecko is carving a place of its own. - We see that this digital space is exploding, but we don't know what it's gonna look like. And over the next two to three years, it's gonna develop exponentially and it's gonna develop fast. And our team are ahead of that game. - ALEX: The sky's the limit for any of these rangatahi. They're gonna be the ones that will lead us, so, nah, it's gonna be cool. The future's gonna be awesome. (LAUGHS) (UPLIFTING MUSIC) - That's my cousin. Too much, e te whanau. Before we go, here's a quick look at what's coming up on the show next week. - They're the young wahine Maori creatives at the forefront of reviving aute ` an ancient, lost art form. - You can bring something back that was kind of on the brink of non-existence. - How aute, or Maori tapa cloth art is making a comeback,... It's really important to think of aute as something bigger than just ourselves. It's something that belongs to iwi Maori and to wahine Maori as well. - ...and ensuring its survival for the next generation. - It'd be so lovely to have a lot of people that want to practise aute, and that love it, and I hope that that is what our future holds. That's our Hui this week, e te whanau ` join us next week for more. You can watch all our stories on our Facebook pages and Hui social media platforms, as well as on YouTube, and you can find them on newshub.co.nz Ko wai hei rangatira mo tatou, ko wai, ko wai, ko tatou ano. Ki te mau ki te turanga o Taputapuatea. Haumi e, hui e, taiki e! Captions by Lena Erakovich. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023