A community leader for developing partnerships with mana whenua and local and central government has been honoured for his four decades of civil service.
Barney Thomas was one of 24 Kiwis who received Te Tohu Ratonga Tūmatanui o Aotearoa, the New Zealand Public Service Medal, at Government House by Governor-General, Dame Cindy Kiro, on 6 November.
The Te Tauihu [Top of the South] cultural advisor, member of numerous local organisations including the Wakatū Incorporation, and the local iwi manager for Te Papa Atawhai, Department of Conservation (DOC), says he thought it was a prank when he was informed that he would receive the medal.
“I was gobsmacked because I wasn’t aware of me even being nominated. There are probably thousands of other people in Nelson that deserve the medal more than I do,” he says.
“My DOC colleagues and my boss [Roy Grose], decided to put the nomination in. I’ve only just recently been made aware the councils and the mayors have supported my nomination as well.
“Just recently my text messages and emails have gone up 200 per cent, I’ve had a lot of support from councils, the iwi, and other government departments who have written letters of support that I was unaware of… bit overwhelmed with that.”
Barney, who’s also a current land trustee at Te Āwhina Marae in Motueka and has a long list of organisations he’s served with, says his public service began in 1979 after finishing his education at Queen Charlotte College.
“There was an old guy by the name of Bill Edwards, and he worked for Māori Affairs, and he came to me when I left school… and he said ‘I’ve got an opportunity for you, a Māori and Pacific Island cadetship’,” he says.
“He said, ‘look, this opportunity doesn’t come easy, and if you stuff it up, I’ll kick you where the sun don’t shine’, and my father said ‘my foot will follow it’.
“So, I started as a cadet with the Department of Labour, and then moved across to Nelson [in 1981] and I was on the Nelson Conservation Board, and then I was encouraged to apply for the iwi managers role with DOC, and that was 33 years ago.”
Barney, who has Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Tama, Te Ātiawa and Ngāi Tahu descent, says it had been a privilege to strengthen iwi values in environmental cases and legislation and policies set by local and central government.
“The values align especially in the environmental area…a lot of people are now waking up to the fact that if we don’t do something about the environment, our next generation’s going to have to inherit those issues,” he says.
“Even putting the rāhui on when we had the floods, people knew that raw sewerage was going into the bay and for us it’s about health, and safety, but also about cultural safety, and if you put those three things together, people will understand and take the advice.
“Dealing with the iwi politics as well as bureaucracy has been a challenge, but just making sure that everyone has a say, and one of the things you have to be good at is listening to what they have to say.”
Barney also acknowledged his wife Shona, his three children, Renee, Fraser and Jackson, his work colleagues and his iwi, for his long service.
The 63-year-old says he will continue to work with iwi when he retires in two years’ time.
“Some of [the organisations] you don’t get off until you die,” he laughs.
