Labour leader Chris Hipkins wants to win back the Māori seats. Photo / Michael Craig
Labour leader Chris Hipkins wants to win back the Māori seats. Photo / Michael Craig
Labour leader Chris Hipkins is confident voters in Māori electorates won’t be as strategic as they were in 2023, saying Te Pāti Māori is not “worthy” of their vote.
It follows long-running turmoil for Te Pāti Māori during which it faced accusations of dictatorial leadership, voting to expel twoof its MPs and being forced to take one back after the party’s president was taken to court.
Hipkins’ comments are the latest in Labour’s insistence it will campaign strongly for all seven Māori electorates after it only managed to win Ikaroa-Rāwhiti in 2023.
Te Pāti Māori won the remaining six as it tripled its cohort in Parliament.
Te Pāti Māori’s strategy to target the candidate vote while noting Labour’s candidates would likely enter Parliament on the party’s list proved effective, given the latter won the party vote in all seven electorates.
The party had extended its popularity during this term, reaching as high as 7% in one poll last year.
However, after recent turmoil, Te Pāti Māori had dropped to 1% support according to yesterday’s 1News Verian poll.
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi have been in the spotlight for weeks. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Hipkins, speaking to reporters this morning, said the “collapse” in support for Te Pāti Māori would discourage strategic voting in next year’s election.
“At the last election, we won the party vote in all seven of those seats, so there was some vote-splitting going on there.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen next time around because the Māori Party has clearly demonstrated to those voters that they weren’t worthy of receiving that split vote.
“Our goal as the Labour Party is to win back both votes from all of the Māori seats and I’m confident that we can do that.”
Hipkins claimed there was strong interest in running for Labour in the Māori electorates.
“There’s a number of candidates lining up for different seats, so a bit of jockeying for position going on there, that’s a nice problem to have in a party like Labour.”
Te Pāti Māori has been contacted for comment.
Labour MP Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, who won Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, contested the seat in 2023 without being on Labour’s list, meaning if she had lost she would not still be in Parliament.
Tangaere-Manuel acknowledged that decision when asked about the value of keeping Labour’s Māori electorate candidates off the list to avoid strategic voting, but she wouldn’t say whether she would do it again next year.
She suggested last night’s poll indicated a call for stability.
“They want confidence, that whoever they vote into this place is going to be here, solid, stable, to represent them.”
Labour campaign chairman Kieran McAnulty said the party had not yet selected candidates and as such, no decisions had been made on whether they would be given a list placing.
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.
