PM Jacinda Ardern says Kelvin Davis' comments on Act's Karen Chhour were 'too personal'

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Kelvin Davis will not face discipline after apologising for comments he made about Act MP Karen Chhour, which Ardern said were "too personal".

Chhour said she has accepted the apology from Davis, but his comments had knocked her confidence "to stand as a proud Māori woman".

Davis had said in Parliament yesterday that Chhour needed to "cross the bridge that is Te Tiriti o Waitangi from her Pākehā world into the Māori world" and stop looking at the world with a "vanilla lens".

Davis contacted Chhour today to apologise, saying he had slept on it overnight and decided an apology was needed.

"I made a mistake, I rang her up, I apologised. What I said was inappropriate, it caused offence.

"It wasn't an attack on her whakapapa, the point I was trying to make is that I disagree with Act's policies. But I didn't choose my words properly and I have since apologised."

He said the Prime Minister had not told him to apologise, but he had told her he was going to "and she said it was the right thing to do".

Ardern said Davis had admitted he had gone too far. "It was too personal, and I support the decision he took. There is the cut and thrust of the House, but we do need to make sure we are debating the policy, not the personal."

Act had earlier called for Davis to be suspended, likening it to the recent suspension of UK Labour MP Rupa Huq for saying of another MP, Kwasi Kwarteng, that he was "superficially a black man" and if you heard him talk on the media "you wouldn't know he's black".

Ardern ruled that out, saying she took responsibility for her own team: "Kelvin raised with me approaching the MP and making an apology and I agreed with that".

Labour MP Kelvin Davis. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Chhour, who is Ngāpuhi, said she accepted his apology as genuine, but the comments had hurt her. "I found it quite hurtful, the personal attack on my identity and how I see the world. And I don't think anybody should have to justify themselves like that.

"I always felt lacking in my identity, and I finally found that confidence to stand as a proud Māori woman and it was taken away from me yesterday."

Willie Jackson – who once described Act leader David Seymour as "a useless Māori" - said Davis had given the appropriate apology.

Asked if it was a bad look for Māori MPs to be making such comments about each other, Jackson said "that would be right".

"That's why the minister gave an apology. You have to distinguish between a party and a person. Sometimes that can be hard."

He admitted he had found that hard with Seymour and former National MP Paula Bennett. "But Act have been acting, in our view, against Māori aspirations."

Jackson had then clarified his remark, saying he meant Seymour was useless at advocating for Māori.

Karen Chhour said she had accepted Kelvin Davis' apology, but his comments had knocked her confidence "to stand as a proud Māori woman". Photo / Mark Mitchell

Davis said Chhour was "very gracious" when he apologised by phone.

Davis said he had disagreed with Chhour's member's bill to remove the requirement for Oranga Tamariki to act in accordance with the Treaty obligations when making decisions on children. "That's wanting to return us to a system which basically made Māori kids and their needs invisible."

He said he had not intended to cause offence and denied he was questioning her whakapapa, saying he knew himself what it felt like to have that questioned.

"They do all the time. I grew up with that experience myself, being a very pale-skinned, green-eyed, blonde-haired person. So I have had that experience myself. Everybody is on a continuum in terms of where they are in the Māori world. I caused offence, I apologised."

Chhour's colleague Nicole McKee said it was path that politicians should not be going down. "I'm quite deeply offended by what he said. We are elected into this place to take New Zealanders on a journey together and I found it quite divisive."

Davis said he would never stop advocating for a "by Māori, for Māori" approach.

Davis made the initial comments in Question Time yesterday after Chhour questioned him about Oranga Tamariki and its funding agreements with Te Whānau o Waipareira.

The questioning followed reports in the NZ Herald that Te Whānau o Waipareira was being looked at by the charities regulator after it loaned money to fund election campaigns, including John Tamihere's mayoral bid and Te Pāti Māori campaign in 2020.

In his response, Davis said it was a Treaty-based relationship: "What the member needs to do is cross the bridge that is Te Tiriti o Waitangi from her Pākehā world into the Māori world and understand exactly how the Māori world operates. It's no good looking at the world from a vanilla lens."