Copyright thespinoff
Will it be iwi-led intervention or a schism that finally ends weeks of strife for Te Pāti Māori? Debbie Ngarewa-Packer had a solemn air about her when promising “small adjustments” to members of Te Pāti Māori during a party conference at parliament in early October. After a landslide win in Tāmaki Makaurau was overshadowed by internal strife – allegations of racism against MP Tākuta Ferris, and accusations of a dictatorship at the leadership level by former staffer Eru Kapa-Kingi – a feeling for change was in the air. At that conference, cracks in the caucus were already starting to show. While Ngarewa-Packer and Watiti were seated beside party president John Tamihere, MPs Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, Ferris and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke held court with each other a few tables away. In hindsight, the positioning didn’t bode well for the one immediate “small adjustment” the leaders promised: to work better together. Four days after the conference and subsequent aborted media standup, a leaked email akin to a smear campaign was sent from the party to its supporters regarding the behaviour and spending habits of the Kapa-Kingi whānau, details the party had been aware of for some time. Four weeks on, and the only thing reset is the reset itself. Just this week, Ferris’s electoral branch, Te Tai Tonga, called for the immediate resignation of Tamihere (which came after the branch lodged a vote of no confidence in the president following the leaked email). Ostensibly in response, Tamihere published a lengthy Facebook post laying out further internal strife in the party, supposedly between Maipi-Clarke and Kapa-Kingi in August 2023 over the former’s list ranking. Tamihere also revealed that in July, he was informed of supposed plans by Kapa-Kingi to overtake the party’s leadership with Ferris. Tamihere also matched the call for his resignation with a challenge for Ferris and Kapa-Kingi to “do the honourable thing” like Hone Harawira: start your own party “based on political principle and on integrity and on belief”. In other words, if you want to reset my role, then go ahead and start your own party. Tamihere’s explosive social media post, as well as bite-backs from the Kapa-Kingi whānau – which included threats of legal action from Eru Kapa-Kingi – seem to be taking the party’s infighting to a point of no return. Nevertheless, leaders from the Iwi Chairs Forum held a meeting with Ngarewa-Packer and Waititi in parliament on Tuesday in an attempt to refocus the party’s mission on policy. Forum spokesperson and Ngāti Kahungunu chairman Bayden Barber told RNZ the “Māori community right around the country” are “all feeling a bit disappointed and overwhelmed” by the “tit-for-tat happening on social media.” A bit of policy would be a very welcome distraction, and before the internal turmoil palaver was knocked up a notch, that was the plan. Ngarewa-Packer had hinted at the party pursuing a wealth tax, teasing plans for whānau-led solutions to social development and big investments in Māori development. Those policies were supposed to be announced “next week” way back at the start of October. A promise to invest $1bn per annum in the health workforce was teased last week without details, and current policies on the party’s website are from the 2023 election campaign. Instead, both co-leaders have been MIA at various points in the last few weeks, with Waititi attending an arts festival in China and Ngarewa-Packer at the Better Tomorrow Speakers Series in Hawaii. In the silence from those at the executive level of the party, former Te Pāti Māori members have raised their concerns, including founding member Amokura Panoho. On Substack, Panoho retraced the steps of the party’s birth in breaking off from Labour to now, calling for the resignation of Tamihere. “Your greatest act of leadership now would be to step aside with dignity and allow the party to find its way back to the principles it was founded upon,” Panoho wrote. There would be no proper reset for the party, unless it returned to its birthplace, Whangaehu marae. The last few weeks in Māori politics has seen major legislative changes and developments, like the passing of the Marine and Coastal Area bill, or readings of two acts related to abuse in care and the Regulatory Standards Bill. These were held without much fanfare from a united Te Pāti Māori (apart from a bill burnt in high winds, which won them the ire of the speaker), despite these issues speaking directly to the party’s kaupapa. A breakaway party led by Kapa-Kingi and Ferris instead appears far more likely than a untied front after the latest barbs. Iwi representatives from the Forum will also attempt a hui with Kapa-Kingi and Ferris, before organising an all-party hearing on a marae, but it likely won’t come before the party’s annual general meeting next month. The infighting could go on through Christmas and beyond and perhaps even trigger two byelections, without the public ever getting a peep of policy. It’s an existential crisis for te Pāti Māori – the only thing truly reset in the last month might be the party’s chances of success in the 2026 election.
