Tau Henare: Heat on Labour's Maori MPs to deliver

Labour's six Maori MPs (from left) Meka Whaitiri, Adrian Rurawhe, Peeni Henare, Nanaia Mahuta, Rino Tirikatene and Kelvin Davis. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Opinion

The Maori seats are among the most marginal, and the most exhilarating.

Nothing else came close. Election night showed that if you lose by 1000 or 1100, as Labour's Kelvin Davis did in 2011, you can get it back at the next election.

The other major event was Hone Harawira's loss in Te Tai Tokerau. He will leave a hole in Parliament - the representation of the radicals, the activists and protesters, able to stand up and challenge anybody.

He didn't lose because National, Labour and NZ First ganged up on him, but because he linked with Kim Dotcom. That was his Achilles heel.

I'd always voted for Harawira since he began running, but this time I gave my party vote to National and my candidate vote to Kelvin Davis - the first time I've voted for anyone in the Labour Party.

Harawira would have had a chance had he stayed the course in terms of his whole philosophy around the Mana Party, but he diluted the brand.

What will happen to Mana, or the Internet Party? Who knows? But it's a hell of a struggle if you're outside Parliament without the resources.

The Maori vote actually saved Labour. One thing Labour should do at their first caucus meeting is get all the Maori MPs together and figure out the direction of the Maori contingent.

The Maori Party also has to think seriously about the future. They have been bleeding continuously and lost two seats to Labour - not because of anything Labour did, but because Maori were asking what they got out of the deal with National.

Harawira got stuff on his own - a big review on tobacco, and shifting the debate on feeding the kids. In the past six years, what did the Maori Party deliver? Whanau Ora. That's it.

They are the only independent Maori voice in Parliament now, not tied to left or right, and they have to regroup and put in a strategy of where they want to get to by 2017. That means putting down on paper what they want out of any deals, no matter who is in Government, like 5000 new Maori apprenticeships, or cutting the Maori inmate rate in prison to 20 per cent, 40 per cent, whatever - but at least have a target.

Those are deliverables, not some wishy-washy thing like we should all contribute to the economy.

The heat now is really on Labour MPs Kelvin Davis, Adrian Rurawhe (Te Tai Hauauru) and Peeni Henare (Tamaki Makaurau) to show what they can do.

They need to forcefully talk about deliverables, and be willing to speak out for the electorate, even it means going against the party line. These are the people who voted them in.

If Davis plays games about representation, that's a huge opportunity for somebody else like Harawira to rebuild his profile and take him down at the next election.

Commiserations to him. I know what it's like to wake up and know you've lost. Losing a general seat is different. There's history and genealogy in a Maori seat.

As for me, any suggestion to stand again for any party is futile. My political career is done and dusted. I'm too old, too slow.

Tau Henare, who has retired as a National list MP, is a former NZ First MP, a former MP for Northern Maori and a former Minister of Maori Affairs.