Former Te Pāti Māori staffer Eru Kapa-Kingi says claims from the party he was fired for assaulting Parliament security guards are “defamatory” and form part of Te Pāti Māori’s efforts to discredit his allegations of a dictatorial leadership style.
However, he says he remains supportive of Te Pāti Māori and doesn’t believe a new Māori-focused political party should be created.
His account also calls into question the claim made by party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer that she was unaware of the Parliament incident, Kapa-Kingi alleging the party had been briefed.
Te Pāti Māori has refused to comment.
Kapa-Kingi, son of Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released a statement on social media this afternoon, which is his first public response to allegations spread by Te Pāti Māori in an email to members last week.
It follows a response from Mariameno Kapa-Kingi yesterday, who contested allegations, also informed by Te Pāti Māori’s email, that she had risked overspending her parliamentary budget by $133,000.
The party’s email, sent to members late last Monday night, claimed Eru Kapa-Kingi – also the spokesman for influential Māori protest movement Toitū Te Tiriti – had “assaulted” two Parliament security guards on Budget day last year.
In Eru Kapa-Kingi’s post, formatted in the same style as his mother’s, he said he had become frustrated and “heated words” were exchanged when he and his sister were “racially profiled and treated as if our passes were fake” upon entering Parliament.
He claimed a process was followed after the incident that was managed by an “independent team” and “no fundings were made against me“.
“I recognise my actions were not a good example, particularly for young people who look up to me. Kia aroha mai.”
He said the party had been aware of the incident and was incorrect to suggest it had prompted Kapa-Kingi’s dismissal, explaining he had later resigned to spend time with his newborn.
“The claim that I was dismissed for serious misconduct is defamatory, unequivocally wrong, and – quite frankly – embarrassing for Te Pāti Māori to have made publicly.”
Parliamentary Service has refused to comment.
He also addressed allegations prompted by the Te Pāti Māori email that he had received excess payments while working for his mother in her capacity as the Te Tai Tokerau MP.
Kapa-Kingi said he worked part-time in his capacity as a lawyer, a political analyst and speech writer. He said he was paid pro-rata and claimed he never directly received any large sums of money from any parliamentary budget.
Claiming no “flags” were raised about his employment by the party, Kapa-Kingi alleged his employment details were included in the email “likely under the instruction of party leadership, in an attempt to discredit me”.
“These are the lengths our current leaders are willing to go to avoid accountability and protect their own power.”
The rift between Kapa-Kingi and the party spilled into public view when Kapa-Kingi declared Te Pāti Māori had a dictatorial leadership style, among other criticisms.
It prompted the party to advance its planned “reset”, in which it promised transparent communication. Te Pāti Māori had argued its email to members was fulfilling that promise.
In his statement, Kapa-Kingi described the email as a “direct retaliation against me for speaking out against leadership that I knew, and has now been demonstrated publicly, to be toxic”.
He said he had attempted to confront issues behind closed doors but today conceded “closed-room environments are where bullies thrive”.
Kapa-Kingi said that since he went public, “countless people” had approached him to question whether a “new kaupapa Māori-driven party” should be created.
But Kapa-Kingi said he still believed in the party’s future.
“We have the ability to restore it to what it was always meant to be: a movement led by the hearts and minds of our people.”
He called for a nationwide conversation with supporters to establish what people want from the party.
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.