Labour leader Chris Hipkins has refused to call a social media post from Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris racist, despite two of his most senior Māori MPs believing it to be.
He said labels like that aren’t “helpful”, despite during the 2023 election campaign saying he would call out “overt racism” wherever he saw it.
Ferris came under fire last week after posting on Instagram an image of Labour MPs and volunteers campaigning in the Tāmaki Makaurau byelection, with a caption reading: “This blows my mind!! Indians, Asians, Black and Pākehā campaigning to take a Māori seat from Māori”.
Te Pāti Māori said it didn’t condone that language and asked Ferris to remove the post, apologising “for any hurt it has caused”.
The Instagram post was criticised at the time by Labour’s Māori campaign chairman Willie Jackson, who said Ferris needed to “grow up” and said the MP was not only offside with Te Pāti Māori leadership, but the new Māori Queen.
Asked on Tuesday morning whether he believed Ferris’ post was racist, Hipkins said it was “a very unhelpful post” and Labour “strongly opposed the sentiment in it”.
“Labour wants to run an inclusive election campaign. I think [Labour byelection candidate] Peeni Henare and the language he used in the byelection campaign represented us incredibly well. He was very inclusive in his byelection campaign. That’s the type of general election campaign that Labour will run.”
However, Hipkins did not explicitly call the post racist.
Asked about that, he repeated that he strongly disagreed with the Instagram post.
“I think that we should be running inclusive election campaigns in New Zealand. I want to lead an inclusive Government.”
The Herald asked again: Why won’t you say it’s racist?
“I just don’t think those kind of labels are helpful. It’s language that I strongly disagree with.”
But it’s a label both Henare and Jackson were happy to slap the post with.
Henare said he believed it was racist and wouldn’t comment on why Hipkins refused to use that term.
“We have an amazing volunteer base. They come in all shapes and sizes and they give to a kaupapa. They were awesome for us. We were clear that we had to be inclusive.”
Jackson said there “no doubt about it” that Ferris’ post was racist.
“I said it was racist the other day. I don’t resile from what I said the other day. I’ve apologised to some of those community. [Ferris] shouldn’t talk like that. He is silly to have done that. Good on Te Pāti Māori for apologising.”
During the 2023 election campaign, while criticising comments from a NZ First candidate, Hipkins said he would not stand for “overt racism”.
“I will call it out whenever and wherever I see it,” he said.
Later, he said National’s Christopher Luxon was condoning racism by not calling it out.
“I don’t think you should condone racism by not calling it out. I think when you see it, you should call it out. And that’s what I have always tried to do and is what I’ll continue to do. He certainly is not calling out racism in the way that I think leaders should. I have and I will.”
Last week, a spokeswoman for Te Pāti Māori said it “does not condone the language used in that post”.
“We have spoken with Tākuta and instructed him to remove it.
“We wholeheartedly apologise for any hurt it has caused,” the party said.
“Our movement is, and always has been, for the people. We leave nobody behind. We value and appreciate the contribution that Tangata Tiriti and Tangata Moana make every day in building a Tiriti-centric Aotearoa.
“This has come off the back of a very raw and difficult few weeks, following the loss of our māreikura, Takutai Tarsh Kemp. Our team has been in the trenches, feeling the weight of constant attack and pressure, and sometimes that hurt spills over in ways that do not reflect who we are as a kaupapa or leaders.
“We stand strong in our kaupapa, envisioning an Aotearoa Hou that treats everyone as we would on our marae - welcomed, fed, housed, kept safe, and loved. Manaakitanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi are the foundations of all our policies.”
Race Relations Commissioner Dr Melissa Derby said: “Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission affirms that every New Zealander has the right to participate in the democratic processes of the nation, without fear of discrimination.”
Ferris apologised in Parliament earlier this year after the privileges committee found he had deliberately misled the House with comments he made during a general debate last September.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist this year for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.