Labour is expected to confirm its candidate for the upcoming Tāmaki Makaurau byelection, with senior MP Peeni Henare likely to be chosen to fight for his old seat.
It comes as the field of candidates becomes clearer, with Te Pāti Māori selecting former broadcaster Oriini Kaipara, Vision NZ leader Hannah Tamaki confirming she would run and the Green Party choosing not to select a candidate.
Nominations to be Labour’s candidate would close at midnight tonight and a confirmation hui is set for tomorrow. The successful candidate is expected to be announced on Sunday.
It’s understood nominations had been scarce as of today, giving Henare the opportunity to contest the seat he held for three terms since 2014.
When contacted by the Herald, Henare declined to comment and referenced the party’s upcoming selection.
Henare lost the Māori seat of Tāmaki Makaurau in 2023 to Te Pāti Māori candidate Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp by a slender 42-vote margin.
Kemp, 50, died suddenly late last month amid a battle with kidney disease.
Her passing has prompted the byelection. A date for the byelection hadn’t yet been set but it was suspected Prime Minister Christopher Luxon could do so at his Monday post-Cabinet press conference next week.
National, Act and New Zealand First will not stand a candidate in the byelection. The Green Party today confirmed it also would not contest Tāmaki Makaurau, despite co-leader Marama Davidson running in 2014, 2017 and 2020.
In a statement, Davidson said the party’s decision reflected a “combination of factors, most pertinently, the responsible use of our resources at this time”.
The Herald understood the party’s decision not to run had also been informed by Davidson’s value working with the caucus ahead of next year’s election and her return from a fight with breast cancer.
Te Pāti Māori yesterday announced former Newshub anchor Oriini Kaipara (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangitihi) as its candidate vying to hold Tāmaki Makaurau.
A party spokesperson said Kaipara was not available for an interview when approached by the Herald today.
In a media stand-up today alongside her party co-leaders broadcast on social media, Kaipara revealed she had voted for Henare in the past.
Kaipara said she was “not ashamed” to admit it, referencing how electoral boundaries had prevented her from voting for others.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, standing at her shoulder, was quick to clarify: “She won’t make that mistake again.”
Saying there was “no other choice” for her than Te Pāti Māori, Kaipara was reluctant to state why voters should support her: “I’m not here to tell them to give [their vote] to me, I’m not here to force anybody to give it to me because I’m the new person.”
But in an interview with The Hui, Kaipara suggested voters could be seeking fresh representation.
“They’ve had Peeni Henare in the past, they haven’t had Oriini Kaipara.”
Questioned on why she had decided to enter politics, Kaipara spoke of recently turning 40 as well as becoming a “nana”. She referenced the recent deaths of her mother and sister as she detailed how lower life expectancy for Māori had motivated her.
Kaipara said she had grown tired of “sitting on the sidelines” and “having to bite my tongue when I see a huge hīkoi walking past me and I cannot actively voice my truth”.
Asked what policies she would promote, Kaipara didn’t give specifics but did mention the “heartbreaking” levels of fluent te reo Māori speakers in New Zealand.
In her stand-up, she highlighted the “atrocious” cost of living and admitted she was “struggling on the daily” despite receiving a “modest and decent income”.
Speaking to the Herald, Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere endorsed Kaipara as an “extraordinary talent” and said he expected that would become clear as people learned more of her as an “ultimate success story of kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa”.
Tamihere said the party candidacy was “hotly contested” by Kaipara and one other.
Rumours in political circles had spread of Tamihere himself standing in the byelection, but Tamihere maintained he didn’t consider it.
“That was just to put people like Willie Jackson off,” Tamihere joked of his former colleague and current Labour MP.
“If I did, you would’ve known about it.”
Tamihere said he could have run in 2023 and improved on the 9329 votes he received in 2020 but his skills were better utilised in helping enrol more people on the Māori roll.
He argued the Greens opting not to enter a candidate in the byelection would advantage Te Pāti Māori, claiming Davidson running in 2020 took support from him.
On Henare’s possible confirmation as Labour’s candidate, Tamihere suggested the Labour MP could risk leadership aspirations by contesting the byelection.
“How many times are you going to run and lose?”
With the byelection shaping up as a drag race between Labour and Te Pāti Māori, members of the governing parties would be eager to highlight the differences between two parties, which could need each other to form a government in 2026.
Tamihere rubbished the suggestion the byelection could impact how the public viewed the parties’ working relationship, noting the many clashes between current coalition partners Winston Peters and David Seymour.
“The allure of power is a funny thing.”
Labour and Te Pāti Māori won’t be the only parties contesting Tāmaki Makaurau, with Vision New Zealand leader Hannah Tamaki announcing she would again vie for the seat.
Tamaki, wife of Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki, received 829 votes compared with Kemp’s 10,068 in 2023. In 2020, she unsuccessfully contested the Waiariki seat.
Tamaki told the Herald she had expected to run in three elections but suspected she would likely compete in the 2026 election.
She believed her record helping in South Auckland communities was “unquestionable”, but acknowledged her “faith” or her association with Destiny Church’s Man Up programme could unsettle voters.
Members of the programme were linked to the storming of a pride event at a West Auckland library earlier this year. Tamaki said claims the incident solely featured Man Up members were “hogwash”.
“But to be honest, I think it’s only fair that I am judged on my own merit, for the work that I’ve done, for the way that I’ve helped wāhine toa, women and a lot of men too,” she said.
Asked what resources her party could devote to her campaign, Tamaki initially laughed and said “Who knows?” but added that a fundraising drive was imminent.
“The neat thing is that we have a lot of foot soldiers,” she said.
“Win or not win, I’m going to be happy as long as the voices of the people are heard.”
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.