Ihakara Porutu "Kara" Puketapu is a leader of the Te Āti Awaiwi in Waiwhetū, Lower Hutt, New Zealand. He has a doctorate from the University of Chicago. Kara was born to Ihaia Porutu Puketapu of the Te Āti Awa iwi and Taranaki-born Vera May Yeates, a Pākehā, who were both on their second marriages. Puketapu grew up in Taranaki and rose through the ranks of the Ministry of Maori Affairs to become Secretary of Maori Affairs. He is renowned for forging a new direction for the Department to empower Māori development in response to the difficulties being faced by Māori in the urban environment. Under his leadership several Kōkiri units were established in the Wellington area. These units worked with local communities to devise programmes to support cultural and economic aspirations, thus reversing the normal 'top down' approach of government departments. It was at one of these Kōkiri units in Wainuiomata that the first kōhanga reo was established. Puketapu's philosophy is outlined in his book Reform from Within. During his time as Secretary of Māori Affairs Puketapu chaired the management committee of Te Maori, the first international exhibition of Māori objects as art. After a triumphant run at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Saint Louis Art Museum and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Te Maori toured New Zealand. Puketapu also rose in standing within his iwi, to become chairperson of the Te Āti Awa Runanga. The Te Āti Awa Runanga run a primary health organisation in their Waiwhetū area and a radio station. Recently they have clashed with local authorities over the custodianship of waka. Puketapu was top rugby player in his youth, and later became involved in coaching Rugby League. Puketapu became involved with the Wainuiomata Lions both as a coach and serving as President. During the 1995 Lion Red Cup Puketapu briefly served as the coach of the Hutt Valley Hawks. In 2008, Puketapu resigned from the Port Nicholson Block Treaty Settlement Trust chaired by Sir Ngatata Love over the compensation for Waiwhetū land confiscated by the Crown in the 1940s.
