$40k for Matariki fest, but one councillor is not happy

A six-week festival celebrating a traditional time of cultivation and harvest in the Maori calendar has received a $40,000 boost from the Hamilton City Council.

However not everyone is happy with what was an unseasonal harvesting of funds from the council’s coffers.

Councillor Mark Bunting was the main voice of dissent to the granting of the money to Te Ohu Whakaita charitable trust to help run the Matariki ki Waikato 2020 event.

The festival, which will run from June 19 to July 31, will include numerous events and activities such as a dawn ceremony, a light festival, and a kite day.

Following lengthy ruminations at its first meeting of the year on Tuesday, the council approved not only the $40,000 for this year’s festival, but an equal amount of funding for the 2021 and 2022 events – subject to the trust reporting back on how it all went.

Bunting’s disapproval of the display of largesse was because the trust’s request for cash from the 2020-21 major event sponsorship fund had been made well before that fund was due to open for applications, in early

March. The early application was made because the council was not due to deliberate on who should get what share of the available $401,246 until May – way to close to the festival’s start date.

There had also been disruption to the council’s schedules wrought by last year’s local body elections. Other events that are usually granted money from the fund include the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival and Balloons Over Waikato.

The trust’s chairwoman Marleina Ruka and secretary Maree Mills spoke at the meeting in support of their early application which found favour from the majority of councillors.

But Bunting was not won over. ‘‘I don’t buy the fact there was an election . . . I think they should have applied for funding last year. Timing is timing and it will affect the other beneficiaries.

‘‘It’s taking from a fund that everyone else is playing by the rules by . . . It’s $40k that other groups cannot apply for.’’

Deputy mayor Geoff Taylor also weighed in with some misgivings over ‘‘possible unfairness’’.

‘‘There might be some event that legitimately deserves funding that misses out because they were not taken at the same time and weighed up against each other.’’

However he remained supportive.

‘‘We’ve got Fieldays in winter but not a lot else. And that adds up to an awful lot of nights at home watching Netflix and Coronation Street.’’

Venues, tourism and major events general manager Sean Murray said the festival warranted support as it was a major community event with the potential to grow and evolve and become ‘‘part of the fabric of Hamilton’’.

‘‘A city such as Hamilton needs to be engaged in this type of activity and Matariki is becoming an increasingly important part of New Zealand life.’’