Rāhui in Te Urewera w/ Tāmati Kruger: April 23, 2020

Tāmati Kruger is the chair of the Te Urewera board, and chair of the Tūhoe tribal office, Te Uru Taumatua. When the original level 4 lockdown was announced, Tūhoe announced closures of freedom camping areas in the region. Since then, they’ve also set up some checkpoints. A number of iwi throughout the motu have set up their own checkpoints as a way of reducing the possibility of the virus being brought into those areas. There has been very varied responses to these, and they are indeed operating in a varied nature. Tūhoe have since announced that in the shift to level 3, much of their level 4 restrictions in place will remain the same. This is because the risk of a devastating outbreak in their community remains high due to the access to healthcare in the area, as well as preexisting conditions that disproportionately affect Māori. Lillian asked Tāmati if they could have a chat about some of these issues and started by asking how his rāhui period has been at home.