Role of the Māori Trustee
The fundamental role of the Māori Trustee organisation is to work with owners to protect and build their land and other assets, and to assist the overall improvement of the Māori economy.
We acknowledge the owners of the land as kaitiaki and support them in the guardianship of their whenua.
As an independent, professional trustee organisation we take care of all the legal work involved in running a trust, such as keeping a register of owners, preparing annual financial statements and paying tax, so that the land cannot come under threat.
We also work with owners to find the options for using the land that will bring the benefits they want, for now and the future. As many of us are owners in Māori land ourselves, we understand that benefits are not just economic, and we aim to help owners find the balance they want for the economic, cultural and environmental value of the whenua.
As trustees, we are bound to work in accordance with general trust law – you can see the general duties of trustees in What trustees do. We also work to the Māori Trustee Act and the special law created for Māori land, Te Ture Whenua Māori Act.
Working with you
Owners choose how they want to work with the Māori Trustee organisation. The Māori Trustee can be:
- Responsible trustee: where the Māori Trustee has all the responsibility for making decisions and carrying out all the legal duties of a trustee.
- Custodian trustee: where the responsible trustees (who may, for instance, be owners) make the decisions, but the Māori Trustee holds trust assets and carries out the legal duties on the direction of the responsible trustee(s).
- Agent: where the responsible trustees (or owners or the Māori Land Court) appoint the Māori Trustee to provide specific services for the trust such as negotiating a lease or managing meetings of owners.
See more about what each type of trustee does in the What trustees do section.
The Māori Land Court and Te Puni Kōkiri
The Māori Trustee organisation is separate and independent of both the Māori Land Court and Te Puni Kōkiri, although we do work closely together on issues relating to owners’ land.
- The Māori Land Court is responsible for making decisions about the ownership of Māori land and succession to Māori land.
- Te Puni Kōkiri advises on government policies affecting Māori wellbeing and monitors policy and legislation that may affect Māori.
