Bill changes affirm Wi Pere Trust’s authority

Māori Development Minister, Te Ururoa Flavell, says changes to the Māori Purposes Bill, “will empower a multi-million dollar trust to manage its own affairs without Crown involvement and will enable the successful Māori enterprise to operate more effectively in a commercial environment.”

The Māori Purposes Bill had its first reading in Parliament today, amending the Māori Purposes Act 1991 to improve the governance arrangements of the Wi Pere Trust base on the East Coast.

The trust was established in 1899 to administer the estate of Wiremu Pere - a prominent politician, who held the Eastern Māori seat between 1884 to 1887 and 1893 to 1905.

The Wi Pere Trust has approximately 460 beneficiaries, with land and other net assets valued at nearly $66 million as of June 2014.