Kingi Biddle QSM is a popular Ngati Whakaue representative on Te Tatau o Te Arawa.

“I am the son of Robert and Linda Biddle, husband to Wendy, and a caring brother and doting dad to my tamariki, mokopuna. I have many cousins, aunties, uncles, relations and friends – that’s who I am. Everyone knows me as Kingi.”

Kingi enjoys chilling at home, watching a bit of TV, swimming in our lakes, spending time with the whanau, and walking around Rotorua and catching up with everybody.

“For me Te Tatau is a doorway. And I think it’s a doorway we can all walk through together.”

“No tatau te whenua, no tatau te rangi, no tatau tenei rohe. Our tupuna say Ngongotaha te maunga, Te Rotorua-nui-a-Kahumatamomoe te moana, ko Matawhaura te maunga, ko Rotoiti te moana, Tarawera nga whenua me nga moana katoa o Te Arawa.

“All these wahi aren’t just places that we live – they are our tupuna. They make up who we are. For generations upon generations, hundreds of years, we’ve had a say. We had the say on the running of this rohe. It never finished, that kaupapa hasn’t stopped.

“Te Tatau o Te Arawa gives us an opportunity to have a say at that table and it’s wonderful to be able to help be that voice for our people because for a long time that voice wasn’t heard. Now that voice is being heard, our voice, the voice of the kainga. That’s the reason I like being on Te Tatau o Te Arawa.
“If you have any take, any kaupapa that you want spoken on the old tēpu o te Kaunihera then let us know. It’s up to us now to walk through that door together.”