Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp and party president John Tamihere on election night in 2023 soon after she won the Tāmaki Makaurau seat. Photo / Mike Scott
Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp and party president John Tamihere on election night in 2023 soon after she won the Tāmaki Makaurau seat. Photo / Mike Scott
Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere says his “good mate” Takutai Tarsh Kemp’s resolve to her party, movement and people remained until the final hours of her life.
Kemp had been in Parliament on Wednesday sitting on the front benches alongside Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris.
She died athome at 2.56am this morning, aged 50, after battling aggressive kidney disease.
Her death shocked Parliament with MPs wiping tears and singing to mark her death during a tribute in the House earlier today.
The often-hostile political battle lines of the debating chamber temporarily disappeared as the MPs hugged each other and shared their grief in speeches on her passing.
Labour MP Peeni Henare receiving a hug from Speaker Gerry Brownlee after a Parliament tribute to Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Kemp will lie at Auckland’s Hoani Waititi Marae for one night on Friday June 27, before moving to Opaea Marae in Taihape, where she will remain until burial on July 1.
In a statement, Tamihere said he “cajoled” Kemp to stand for the party because of her outstanding leadership skills during the pandemic period.
As chief executive, Kemp led Manurewa Marae through Covid-19. She had also spent two decades working in the health sector.
Kemp was a first-term MP for the Auckland seat of Tāmaki Makaurau and a community leader in South Auckland who helped youth realise their dreams through dance.
In 2021, she was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to street dance and youth. She was a mother and a nan.
26 March 2024
Waipareira Trust chief executive John Tamihere at Hoani Waititi Marae in Oratia, Auckland. The marae was the first Urban Māori marae built in the country.
Photo / Mike Scott
“She knew she was standing against an institution in the name of Peeni Henare [from Labour] and she knew she was heading into a contest where she was definitely way behind the start line,” Tamihere said.
Kemp won the 2023 election against incumbent Henare by a margin of 42 votes. And “the rest is history,” Tamihere said.
Kemp was feeling run down towards the end of the 2023 campaign, which was put down to her vigorous campaigning “trying to be all over the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate,” Tamihere said.
“It was not until February/March 2024 that we finally found that Tarsh had an aggressive form of kidney difficulty. This required her to participate in dialysis treatment,” Tamihere said.
“Tarsh had to consider her own wellbeing but insisted to me that she be given the chance to show that she could continue to stand on the front line and fight the fight for our people.”
Te Pati Maori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp seat adorned with flowers and a party flag in Parliament, Wellington. 26 June, 2025. NZ Herald photograph by Mark Mitchell
Tamihere said Kemp overcame medical challenges that would “flatten many others”.
“Her resolve to stand with us, our movement and our people shone through right until the final hours of her life.”
Yesterday she flew home from Parliament and had an hour and a half briefing on issues relating to her electorate.
Election 2023
Te Pati Maori in Manukau
Takutai Tarsh Kemp
New Zealand Herald photograph by Mike Scott 14 October 2023
“She then went to bed and, as is the norm with home-based dialysis treatment, connected herself to her machine,” Tamihere said.
“Somewhere in the early hours of the morning she passed away in her sleep.”
Tamihere said Kemp’s “lasting gift” was “that regardless of our personal challenges we have to continue to answer the call to stand on the front line to make a better world for hers, yours and my mokopuna.”
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.
