Sir Pita Sharples with Oriini Kaipara, the candidate for Te Pati Māori for the Tāmaki Makaurau byelection. Photo / Julia Gabel
Sir Pita Sharples cannot stop smiling.
The Māori Party co-founder has his arm wrapped around the shoulders of veteran broadcaster and now party candidate Oriini Kaipara; she has her hand on his chest.
Embraced, the pair walk into the booth at Trusts Arena in West Auckland to vote in the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election.
It’s no surprise who they both voted for – but Sharples spells it out: “They’ve got the right candidate,” he says, looking at the party’s current co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
Kaipara (Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Rangitihi) is contesting the Tāmaki Makaurau seat for Te Pati Māori against a man she calls a “goliath” and a “rangatira in his own right” – Labour MP Peeni Henare.
Henare held the seat from 2014-2023, when he lost by 42 votes to Takutai Tash Kemp, who died in June after suffering from kidney disease. She had been on the kidney transplant list.
Kaipara knows the heat of the public spotlight – but until now she has been on the other side of the scrutiny – the one asking the questions as a well-known journalist working at the top levels of broadcasting for Newshub’s news bulletin.
In 2019, she made history by becoming the first person with a moko kauae to present mainstream television news while working for 1News. In 2023, Kaipara became the Māori cultural lead for the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
Waititi said Kaipara’s inexperience in politics was good – it was something the people of Auckland could relate to.
“When you’re not polished, you’re not polished on lines, you’re not polished on policy – you’re able to speak from your ngakau [heart] ... she brings a huge raft skill ... she’s a mother, a grandmother, she knows what it is like to be a mother at 16, growing up in humble home in Te Atatū.
“I grew up in Te Atatū as well in the high school years and knew the family really well and knew that we had the struggles at that particular time. I just want to acknowledge where she has come from, she had to build herself,” Waititi said.
“Policy and processes, they come from a headspace. When you’re speaking from your head, quite often you’re pumping out the rhetoric and narrative of your party.
Waititi said Kaipara brought a “fresh energy” to the party and although she had only six weeks to prepare for the by-election, the party was lucky to have her.
“It’s a big ask for anyone but I think she has stepped up.”
If Kaipara became the sixth Te Pāti Māori MP, she would most likely get the broadcasting portfolio, Waititi said.
But he joked that he and Kaipara had both won Te Matatini so the job of who represented the party in the kapa haka space would come down to an arm wrestle.
The Herald spoke to Kaipara and Waititi on a blustery night outside the Trusts Arena voting booth in Henderson. Kaipara said voting for herself was surreal.
“Every other vote I’ve ever cast since I turned 18 has been to someone else and it’s surreal to think that I just cast the vote for me because I’m the person going for the role.
“Going up against the Goliath who is Peeni Henare, who is, in every way possible, a rangatira in his own right ... it’s amazing, but I’m so proud of myself. I’m very fortunate to be able to say that the fortune really comes in the wealth [of support] I have.”
Asked why she chose now to enter politics, Kaipara said: “Look around me ... this is worth protecting.”
Kaipara is a mother of four and grandmother of one. A rally of “day one” friends and family is standing in the dark outside Trusts arena.
“We all grew up together at kura, my best friends, but they’re more like siblings, so the sisters and brothers ... our children have grown up together,” Kaipara said.
“Since making the announcement that I intended to be the next candidate for Te Pāti Māori, a lot of people have come forward and volunteered their time.”
She said Parliament was probably “right now the last place any of us would want any of our children to go ... but that’s the whole point”. Kaipara is referring to the parts of Māoridom that consider the Government to be anti-Māori, a charge the Government rejects.
If Kaipara wins the byelection, Te Pati Māori will retain six MPs in Parliament. If Henare wins, he will win back the mandate of the Auckland Māori electorate and a new Māori Labour MP – Georgie Dansey – would enter Parliament.
Voting for the byelection is open until 7pm on September 6. A winner is expected to be apparent by 10.30pm.
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.