The Government inquiry into last year's devastating weather events says iwi need an official seat at the emergency management table.
The report, released this week, found that New Zealand is not ready for large-scale emergencies.
During the cyclone iwi sprung into action to help their communities. But so far, two inquiries have found their skills and abilities weren't valued - and they were underutilised by authorities.
Ngāti Kahungunu chair Bayden Barber said that was experienced in Hawke's Bay.
"Marae sometimes felt on their own, they didn't have direct communications with Civil Defence," he said.
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It didn't hold them back though. The inquiry found iwi responded more effectively in Cyclone Gabrielle than some councils. They stepped up and supported people, deploying supplies when Civil Defence was found to be slow, or lacking.
Waimārama Marae manager Cheyenne Lambert told Newshub she was proud of her marae's response to Cyclone Gabrielle.
"It was actually an opportunity to rise up and show what we are made of," she said.
And since the cyclone, they've worked hard to improve the marae's readiness.
"After Gabrielle it was a wake-up call, definitely for us. We've banged on for years about being ready but I don't think we were ready for that," Lambert said.
The Government inquiry said iwi provided a "living example of what can be done in an emergency".
But, "despite their capability and expertise, Māori do not have a formal legislated role in emergency management".
A key recommendation is to create legislation to "enable iwi to participate in planning for and responding to a natural disaster or other emergency, and to bring more clarity to their role".
Barber is keen to see this implemented.
"Central government and local government need to be doing more to partner with us. There need to be formal links with te ao Māori, marae, hapū and iwi," he said.
He has confidence in Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell.
"He needs to convince his parliamentary colleagues that it's the right thing to do. The challenge is for Government to pick it up," Barber said.
'It made us sit up and think'
When Waimārama flooded in 2011, a local civil defence group was formed, led by Richard Gaddum. He's since been working alongside iwi to create an emergency hub.
But in 2014, he says Hawke's Bay Civil Defence tried to centralise the work under the regional council and disestablish local hubs.
Gaddum refused, and said that's proved to be a good decision, especially in the cyclone.
"It made us sit up and think.. well we need to re-establish these community hubs," he said.
He's setting up two containers of supplies on the hills around Waimārama, due to the tsunami risk. There's one container on each side of the river in case the area is cut in two. Both will be equipped with enough resources to support thousands of people.
"We've got Sandra Hazlehurst from Hastings District Council, [she] is proactive, she picked the vibe up and ran with it. She's got a good team in there now that's establishing these hubs," he said.
Hazlehurst, who is the mayor, told Newshub that work is well underway because it's important to be ready.
"We've stood up 31 community hubs, we have leaders getting trained every six weeks, we have equipment in the hubs so people are ready and prepared for future events. It's all about our community on this journey with us, we can't do it alone," she said.
Gaddum said they still need more Government funding.
"We don't need a lot, we just need a little bit to lift us to a level of preparedness and readiness for any event," he said.
