The National Iwi Chairs Forum says a social media post by Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere calling for two of his MPs to quit is “unhelpful” to its efforts to heal the party’s rifts.
The forum’s spokesman, Ngāti Kahungunu chairman Bayden Barber, also suspects another Māori-focused political party could be created if reconciliation attempts failed, which he fears is not the outcome most likely to benefit Māori communities.
Barber’s comments come as divisions within Te Pāti Māori reach new depths, sparked by a petition from one of the party’s electorate branches urging Tamihere to resign immediately.
Tamihere responded this afternoon, stating MPs Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Tākuta Ferris should do the “honourable thing” and resign after their continued public criticisms of the party.
“I guarantee Kapa-Kingi and Ferris will not do the same thing because their conduct is not based on mana, is not based on integrity and honesty or on principle. Their conduct is based on greed, avarice and entitlement,” Tamihere wrote, alleging the two MPs had assessed contesting party leadership.
Ferris hasn’t responded publicly but Kapa-Kingi told the Herald she was “not going anywhere”, saying that was a matter for Te Tai Tokerau voters.
“Only the people can take me out and until then, I have an important role to fulfil and I will continue to do exactly that.”
It’s the latest example of rifts within the party playing out in public, which has continued for weeks and involved accusations of dictatorial leadership and assault, claims of overspending parliamentary budgets and the party voting to suspend Kapa-Kingi.
In a rare move, the National Iwi Chairs Forum last week voted unanimously to request meetings with Te Pāti Māori to help resolve distracting internal rifts with an eye on next year’s election.
Barber is set to travel to Wellington on Tuesday to meet with co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, as well as the party’s executive, including Tamihere.
He would look to hold a similar meeting with Ferris and Kapa-Kingi, before bringing both “factions” together at a marae in Wellington to hash out the issues.
Speaking to the Herald, Barber said he’d had conversations with people on both sides and had advocated for an end to attacks “exploding on social media”.
“We’ve got to stop the one-upping, tit-for-tat type of behaviour, keep it out of the media because it’s not benefiting Māori.
“It’s got to be face-to-face. The conversations at the moment; no one’s talking to each other and the slinging stuff and then just hoping that it sticks.”
While Barber said most had agreed with that sentiment, he was disappointed by Tamihere’s post.
“It’s unhelpful in terms of the process that we’re trying to get the parties to engage in. I’ll have a discussion with JT [Tamihere] tomorrow.”
Tamihere and the party’s co-leaders had avoided questions about their party’s troubles, while Kapa-Kingi and Ferris had rarely spoken.
Barber, who said he had sent a letter to the “factions”, admitted he wasn’t sure who was supporting whom.
New MP Oriini Kaipara recently commented in support of Kapa-Kingi. Barber said he was uncertain which faction she belonged to but noted she was supportive of the forum’s efforts.
He said Ferris’ position was similar but stopped short of saying the same for Kapa-Kingi, who was arranging her own meeting with members of her Te Tai Tokerau electorate.
“She’s going to talk with the people in the north, so until she’s had that hui, it’s kind of hard to gauge where she’s at, but certainly from Tākuta, it would be a helpful process.”
Traditionally apolitical, the forum wouldn’t normally involve itself so publicly in the matters of a political party. Citing the unanimous vote by almost 80 iwi leaders and with an election nearing, Barber argued the forum’s hand was forced.
“The times of being apolitical in the environment that we are in currently, those days are gone.
“If [Te Pāti Māori] continues to go down that line and there doesn’t seem to be a willingness to reconcile, well, we’ll just have to step out, but we’re going to give it a good try.”
If the mediation attempt was unsuccessful, Barber feared it could lead to Te Pāti Māori dissolving entirely or the Māori political movement splitting in two.
“The only other option is to have a split and maybe, eventually, another party comes out of the ashes but that comes with its risks and challenges, as we’ve seen in the past with the Mana Party.
“I think the [iwi] leaders are smart enough to know that rowing a single waka is probably the best outcome we can hope for.”
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.