My Taumata Arowai story

A place that aligns with my te ao Māori values

“I wanted to continue my te ao Māori journey, working in an organisation that upholds Te Tiriti o Waitangi, that helps our tāngata  , whenua  , te taiao   and our wai  . When I realised my holistic values and beliefs aligned with Taumata Arowai, I knew I had found a role that could help me achieve those goals.”  Harmony, Regulatory Operations Advisor 

Consulting in a genuinely different way

“The key thing I would say about our approach to consultation is it’s very genuine and very well planned. After our consultation on the proposed new Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules and Standards, you'll see that we made significant changes because we went back to people who'd made submissions, we asked them more questions, we got more feedback, then we went deeper into that feedback to find out more - Why do they think that?

At the end of the day, it means we deliver far better outcomes – because we really, genuinely listened and responded. And if you've ever heard our Chief Executive speak, he says that repeatedly and he tells staff we're here to listen. It's one of the reasons I really love working here.”  Jim, Chief Advisor Water Science 

Self-confessed policy wonk!

“I’m a policy wonk! What’s better than regulatory policy where you're basically starting with a blank sheet of paper - where we can put our own mark on it!

I've worked previously in government, but you don’t often get this sort of opportunity to do grunty policy work from scratch.

We're lucky because our work programme is big, with some multiyear pieces of work where we're setting up critical aspects of how the water sector is regulated. You can look across your work program and think ‘what aligns with what I want to do and areas I'm interested in working on because they’re all there!”  Simone, Principal Policy Advisor 

Putting my money where my mouth is

“I came to Taumata Arowai so I could have a chance to try stuff that either I hadn't been able to do in previous organisations or I had wanted to try, but it hadn’t been part of my role.

As we are new, pretty much everything in Learning and Development is ME! So, it gives me the chance to try things and put my money where my mouth is and do ‘best practice’ or at least ‘leading practice’ as we’re creating much of it from scratch!

It’s an organisation where people are happy for you to try things and run experiments. There isn't a case of you must get it right first time – much more get it 80% right and then iterate to improve it, rather than do it, move on.

It's giving me a good opportunity to work with lots of different areas of the business, especially at different levels. I have found people, especially managers, have given up a lot of time to help progress the projects.”  Patrick, Senior Learning Designer

It’s all about my communities!

“I am very passionate about working with my community, New Zealand and the environment. Finding an organisation that has those values aligned with what I am passionate about is quite difficult. When I saw the Taumata Arowai job come up, it kind of ticked all my boxes and it had that community aspect – as I really want to engage with groups such as iwi, hapū, Māori. Being a Māori descendant myself, that really spoke to me. I also really appreciated the te ao Māori focus of the organisation – that was probably the selling point!  

There's quite a bit of travel in my role (I’m based in Kirikiriroa Hamilton) – that could be a positive or a benefit for some people. This involves going to site visits for water suppliers. For example, we went to Taupo last week, we had two days there, and the week before we went to Thames Coromandel. I went to Tauranga for a day trip too, and next week we have a day trip to Matamata Piako area. It’s quite good to be on the ground with these people and seeing things in real life happening – not just talking to someone at a “paperwork” level but meeting the operators that are running things is really cool!  

Being part of our kāinga work with whānau, hapū, iwi, kōhanga, papakāinga and marae has kept me passionate and wanting to help and continue to give back to the communities and provide them a bridge to Taumata Arowai. So yeah, that’s great - I really like that!”  Courtney-Ruth, Senior Regulatory Operations Advisor

Doing important work for Aotearoa New Zealand

“I have always been interested in drinking water and water treatment – I’ve even visited treatment plants on my days off – because that’s what environmental health people like me do!  

When I moved to New Zealand (from Scotland), and I found out that we have large water suppliers with no chlorination, I was quite shocked! Then Havelock North happened. 

It’s just not acceptable that some people don't have safe water! I feel that there is an important job to be done, and for me personally, I want to know that everyone drinking water will be safe and well. 

When I think about our name and image (Taumata is the peak, Arowai is the sector), it’s exactly how I visualise us! Literally somebody climbing a mountain, the challenge is massive, and we can only take it one step at a time!”  Nicola, Principal Public Health Advisor

Being part of a 21st century New Zealand organisation

“One thing I really love is working for an organisation that's trying to be a good Treaty Partner. That's important to me and it’s something I've studied and looked for (and now finally found) in an organisation.  

Taumata Arowai is committed to that and keen to get that right - we don't get it right all the time - but it's the future of Aotearoa New Zealand - and I get an opportunity here to build that future!  

Everyone working together, where we share, respect, and acknowledge the things that each group brings and we use those things to make not just Taumata Arowai a great place, but New Zealand a great place to be. And that's wider than just me, or just tomorrow - it's an opportunity to be an example to all New Zealand about how our future is.”  Jim, Chief Advisor Water Science

Good people doing purposeful work

“I think everyone here has joined because they want to do something good for New Zealand. I think everyone is super focused on achieving safe drinking water for all of New Zealand. And we're in a really good position to make that happen!   

It's a good group of people, who work hard, who are helpful and supportive, all working on a common goal that we all share and care about.” Simone, Principal Policy Advisor

My job fits my life

“I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to work remotely. I can work flexible hours and I have been able to work with my manager to make my job fit my life, rather than my life fitting around my job – that’s pretty great!   

The benefits of flexibility especially around my kids and my wife working is a great benefit.” Noah, Senior Technical Advisor

It’s mind bogglingly different!

“It was just mind bogglingly different for me coming to Taumata Arowai from big multinational consultancies.  It’s a whole new way of thinking – co-governance and te reo Māori being spoken in the office as common place, you can comfortably be who you really are, it was just so welcoming!   

It's right at the forefront of the water industry and it's an exciting place where you can make a big impact. Yeah, it’s hard work, but I would genuinely say it's amazing and rewarding work!”  India, Senior Technical Advisor