Maori Party gets suicide warning

One of the Maori Party's highest-ranked candidates has slammed the party's consultation process and its flirtation with National, which she believes is political suicide.

The trenchant criticisms were made by Atareta Poananga during an interview on Radio Waatea yesterday, ahead of the party's MPs arriving at Parliament today to discuss what stance to take in negotiations over forming a government.

They reflect internal rumbling about the party's position towards National in particular, believed to be driven by co-leader Tariana Turia and perceived to be fuelled by her personal antipathy towards Labour.

Some candidates are understood to believe this cost them a seat in Parliament, and plan to challenge the leadership on its stance on the issue - which has flip-flopped - at an annual meeting this month.

Ms Poananga was third on the party's list behind co-leaders Mrs Turia and Pita Sharples, and stood unsuccessfully in Ikaroa Rawhiti.

The Herald yesterday reported Mrs Turia saying the message from the hui in her electorate was that people trusted the four MPs to make the best decision in their interest.

But Ms Poananga told Waatea interviewer Dale Husband she did not believe this was the intention of the hui, nor the message which came from them.

"You go through each hui, you get the voice of the people ... and that becomes the determining factor. We don't give carte blanche to MPs to go away and say that we have decided on a different direction."

The hui were badly organised, with different MPs or candidates presenting different options for the party in different ways, creating confusion.

At a Wellington hui, for example, people were asked to take a clear stance, and that had been in favour of independence or sitting in Opposition.

"In other hui I was at, that was not made as clearcut ... so the way that you facilitate a hui can obviously determine the outcome."

The party was also ignoring supporters' sensitivity over National. It had to respect the fact that most people who voted for it also voted for Labour. "Any sort of move towards going to National will ... kill this party dead. We've got to say that our best position is to be independent, because that way we're not going to be contaminated by either party."

She felt duty-bound to speak out because many party members felt the same. Asked if she felt on the outer, she said "I do", and others felt the same.

Dr Sharples said he was disappointed with Ms Poananga and thought some of her comments hard to understand.

Hui might have been differently run, but supporters' often different views had been clearly recorded. They typically varied between supporting confidence and supply arrangements to Opposition.

But people at his hui had also said that "we expect you to put it into the mix and evaluate it all at the end", and he had made it clear that the responsibility finally lay with the MPs, which they were happy with.

Ms Poananga had already tried to dominate meetings, pushing her strong views about remaining in Opposition, he said.

He understood why people were unhappy with the party talking with National, but it was part of a wider strategy designed to challenge Maori to rethink being dominated by either of the major parties.