It is understood Whaitiri’s official announcement was planned for a later date but had to be brought forward after media enquiries.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was en route to London at the time and only learned the news after he landed. Ahead of her announcement at Waipatu Marae in Hastings, the only colleague able to speak with her was minister Kiri Allan, who drove from Wellington to Hawke’s Bay to meet kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face).
Hipkins said on Monday he still had not spoken to Whaitiri but hoped to do so this week.
Whaitiri will be making a statement at Parliament early afternoon before taking questions from media in her first major public appearance since the announcement.
After making the statement, Whaitiri will enter Parliament as an independent MP, where there will be a bid to carry out a ceremony symbolising her new relationship with Te Pāti Māori.
Also making her first appearance as an independent MP could be Elizabeth Kerekere, who resigned from the Green Party on Friday evening. Kerekere has not responded to multiple requests for comment from the Herald and it is unclear yet whether she will be in the building after being absent for over a month.
Kerekere’s resignation followed a month of speculation about her future after she appeared to call a fellow MP a “crybaby” in a group chat.
Greens co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson said in a statement Kerekere intended to sit as an independent MP until the general election, when she will retire.
The co-leaders said they would not trigger the “waka jumping” law to eject her from Parliament, sticking to a commitment the Greens made when they voted to pass the legislation that they did not intend to invoke it.
That “crybaby” message triggered an internal party investigation. Despite being announced nearly a month ago, Kerekere alleged the investigation had only just commenced, with her only just receiving the terms of reference. The co-leaders denied this in a statement.
The stalled investigation was allegedly evidence of an attempt to force her out of Parliament by getting the investigation to drag out while members vote on which MPs they most want back in Parliament at the 2023 election.
Whaitiri has also kept out of public since the announcement last week, with the exact reasons for her departure still relatively unclear.
Whaitiri said in her speech there was no specific policy but that she was acknowledging her Māori whakapapa, that was “calling me home”. Party president John Tamihere said joining Te Pāti Māori was her “emancipation” and former candidate Heather Te Au-Skipworth that it would “unshackle” her.
Despite the suddenness and lack of direct communication from Whaitiri about her departure, Labour MPs and in particular the Māori caucus have not publicly shown any ill will towards their former colleague and friend.
Co-chair of the Māori caucus Willie Jackson told TVNZ’s Q+A on Sunday that while it had “traumatised” some of them, there was still “a lot of aroha for Meka”.
He said, though they still didn’t know her exact reasons for leaving, he felt they should have done more to support her, including when she was not made a Cabinet minister in a recent reshuffle.
Jackson has also quashed any speculation others might follow suit. He and Māori caucus co-chair Willow-Jean Prime held a hui on Friday attended by all bar two members - Paul Eagle, who is already retiring at the election, and Arena Williams who was out of the country.
“Nobody is going anywhere,” Jackson told TVNZ.
Despite this, some commentators have suggested Mahuta could be the next to go.
Mahuta, who entered Parliament with Labour in 1996, was an MP in 2004 during the foreshore and seabed debacle when Tariana Turia crossed the floor and formed the Māori Party.
Turia, a Cabinet minister at the time, was told she’d have to resign if she voted against the Foreshore and Seabed Act. Mahuta, who was not a minister, voted against the bill but decided to stay with Labour.
Mahuta told the Herald that following Whaitiri out the door was “not going to happen”.
“Fundamentally, the mandate I’ve been put into Parliament to represent is one that has been firmly based on Labour policies but also the needs within my electorate, which ostensibly have always been bread and butter issues.”
On Whaitiri, Mahuta said those were her own decisions.
“Like many other colleagues, I am disappointed to not be fully aware of all those considerations. But she’s moving on, we’ve got to move on.
“There are too many things that we need to do on a day-to-day basis impacting on people and our electorate. So we’ve just got to get on with it.”
- additional reporting Claire Trevett
