Willie Jackson for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti?

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The hunt for a new candidate in the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti electorate was a running joke at the Māori Ministers’ post-Budget breakfast last Wednesday, after incumbent Meka Whaitiri jumped from the Labour waka a month ago to stand for Te Pāti Māori at the general election in October.

East Coast MP Kiri Allan — who spoke off the cuff and on-topic — and Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson canvassed a few people in the room during their time on stage.

One mentioned was Toitu Tairāwhiti Housing Ltd managing director Annette Wehi, who clearly was given serious consideration. Discussing the Labour Party vacancy on iwi radio station Waatea 603AM this week, Jackson name-checked Wehi and said much the same as what he told the audience at the RSA Forces Cafe: “She’s a great leader, absolutely fantastic, but she’s unavailable unfortunately.”

Incidentally her Toitu offsider Willie Te Aho also got a mention from Jackson and an invitation to applaud his mahi, taken up enthusiastically, after a laugh first about his emails.

Jackson, who is the Labour Party’s Māori campaign strategist, has been interviewing potential candidates for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and told Waatea he had also been asked by Labour Party supporters to stand himself.

He whakapapas to Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu as well as Ngāti Maniapoto, and has been a list MP for Labour since returning to politics in 2017 (he was an Alliance list MP from 1999-2002 and leader of the Mana Motuhake party from 2001-2004).

“My preference is not to stand. I would be a very reluctant candidate but I don’t rule it out altogether because you never know in politics and I will help the party out where I can,” Jackson said.

He also didn’t altogether rule out an accommodation with Te Pāti Māori when speaking to the NZ Herald on Tuesday, after his former talkback co-host, now Te Pāti Māori president, John Tamihere suggested on Waatea the day before that Labour concede some of the Māori seats and focus on the party vote — because the alternative to a Labour-Green-Te Pāti Māori coalition, a National-Act government, would be a “catastrophe” for Māori .

Jackson agreed and acknowledged the proposed strategy as a cold, hard clinical view which he did not necessarily disagree with, saying:  “Everything is on the line and the reality is we have to find ways of working together better.”

Conceding seats was conceding whakapapa and “probably a step too far”, though . . . it was “not a deal we can do at the moment”.

Jackson told Waatea a decison on Labour’s candidate for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti should be known in a couple of weeks.