The Front Page: ‘Meka coming back to her whakapapa’ - Why Whaitiri’s shock move makes sense

Meka Whaitiri’s decision to resign from the Labour Party sent shockwaves through the New Zealand political scene, but the move wasn’t as surprising to those familiar with her views and work.

Speaking to The Front Page podcast, NZ Herald Kaupapa Māori editor Joseph Los’e says that Whaitiri has opted to go with her heart rather than the certainty of a near-guaranteed seat in Parliament.

“They [Te Pāti Māori] have called this Meka coming back to her whakapapa, and they’re probably right because she’s more aligned to Te Pāti Māori values and kaupapa work than the Labour Party,” says Los’e.

In fact, this isn’t even the first time that Whaitiri has considered departing the Labour Party for Te Pāti Māori.

“She was certainly shoulder-tapped to join earlier, but sometimes when you’re in a position of power, it’s not worth giving it up for what could be three or six years [of] sitting around.”

This shift comes in the lead-up to a general election that may require Labour and Te Pāti Māori to work together to form a Government. So, could this move lead to bad blood between the parties and hurt the potential of an alliance?

“I actually think it strengthens the relationship because in all the areas where Labour has weakness in the Māori seats, you now have the Māori Party filling those gaps. You now have possibly three or four seats going Te Pāti Māori: Rawiri Waititi, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, maybe Meka [Whaitiri] and maybe Tāmaki Makaurau. It all depends on how voters are feeling come election time.”

One Labour politician who will be feeling the pressure of the back of an announcement that even caught the Prime Minister off-guard is MP Willie Jackson.

“Willie’s the head of the Māori strategy team, and if you don’t know what your team’s doing, then you can’t notify your boss about what’s going on. There will be some pressure on Willie, but he has done extraordinarily well for Māori over the last two decades. This is just a misstep, and who knows what Willie did or didn’t know.”

So, what happens next in Whaitiri’s electorate? Will she be able to win it by campaigning under the banner of Te Pāti Māori? And does this point to a broader theme of dissatisfaction within Labour’s Māori caucus?

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page podcast to hear Los’e shed further light on the moment that shocked Labour.