Ngāpuhi’s chairman says the offer of a meeting with Te Pāti Māori amid its internal troubles is now off the table, describing a haka performed during a Waitangi pōwhiri as the “last straw”.
And the head of Far North hapū Ngāti Hine says the haka tarnished a “fantastic, magnanimous” speech by party co-leader Rawiri Waititi where he appeared to extend an “olive branch” to former party ally Eru Kapa-Kingi.
At yesterday’s pōwhiri for politicians, a small group of Te Pāti Māori supporters stood to tautoko (support) Waititi’s speech with a haka.
In a passionate performance, Waititi’s wife, Kiri Tamihere-Waititi, crossed the ātea to haka directly in front of Kapa-Kingi, the son of Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, who was ousted from the party late last year.
Earlier, Eru Kapa-Kingi had criticised Te Pāti Māori during his speech at the pōwhiri. The speeches between Eru and Waititi were relatively cordial, however, with Waititi acknowledging Eru was standing up for his mother and that he had raised such issues in the “appropriate” forum of the marae ātea.
As Tamihere-Waititi returned to her seat, Mariameno stood and yelled “hoki atu” – meaning “go back”.
Ngāpuhi chairman Mane Tahere said the haka display was “the nail in the coffin” and the “last straw” for many Ngāpuhi Te Pāti Māori voters.
“They obviously have misread the room,” Tahere told the Herald.
“Unless something drastic happens between now and November [the election], unfortunately, they have lost [the] Te Tai Tokerau seat.”
Pita Tipene, the chairman of Ngāti Hine and former chair of the Waitangi Trust, said Tamihere-Waititi’s decision to advance towards Eru Kapa-Kingi was “confusing” and contradicted the sentiment of Waititi’s speech.
“I didn’t think it was appropriate at all. Conflicting messages [are] coming out of Te Pāti Māori and the people of Te Tai Tokerau have really had enough,” he said.
“I really had a lot of admiration for Rawiri when he offered those words – not only the words but it was the wairua and the spirit in which he offered those words. It was absolutely fantastic," he said.
“I thought bridges were being built yesterday when I heard Rawiri speak but there is obviously differences of opinion in Te Pāti Māori.”
Stretching from the Far North to upper Auckland, the Te Tai Tokerau Māori seat encompasses all of Ngāpuhi’s Northland territory. The iwi has more than 185,000 members - not all live in the electorate or are of voting age - and more than 100 hapū.
Mariameno won the seat for Te Pāti Māori in the 2023 general election before being exiled following months of internal fighting.
In November last year, Tahere invited the national executive of Te Pāti Māori to a hui in Kaikohe. According to reports from RNZ at the time, he was “extremely disheartened” the invitation was declined.
Waititi addressed this during his speech at the pōwhiri, asking for the iwi to accept his apology and calling for a new meeting.
However, Tahere told the Herald the invitation for a meeting was no longer on the table and described the situation as “hōhā”.
After the pōwhiri yesterday, Waititi told reporters if Ngāpuhi “think I’ve done wrong, here is my head”.
Addressing the haka, Waititi said “that is what we do on the marae here, that’s a very Māori thing, it’s not for me to explain ...”
In a similar vein, NZ First’s Shane Jones described the haka as “marae culture at an incandescent level”.
Waititi would not comment too specifically on the ousting of Mariameno given the ongoing court case in which a judge is considering whether her exile was legitimate.
Green co-leader Marama Davidson said it was important to remember the bigger picture and rise above “personal relationship breakdowns”.
“What I’m hearing from the ground is, especially from other wahine Māori, is that they’re not satisfied that that’s where the energy and focus should have been, and they are the ones calling for us to keep our eye on the bigger picture,” she said.
“To get rid of this Government, and put in place a Te Tiriti-led Government, we really need our people to stay united and positive about moving together and [rising] above the spats between ourselves on those personal levels.”
Te Tai Tokerau is one of seven Māori electorates up for grabs in the November 7 general election – a contest that is heating up, with Labour launching an ambitious strategy to win them back and the Green Party on Thursday announcing its contenders, including former Te Pāti Māori candidate Heather Te Au Skipworth for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti.
In the last general election, Te Pāti Māori swept up six of the seven seats in a landslide victory that grew its presence in Parliament from the two co-leaders and set up the party for a strong start to the term.
Towards the end of last year, the party faced several months of inner turmoil that spilled into the public. These troubles first leaked into public view when Eru broke ties with the party he was once closely aligned with and accused its leadership of running a “dictatorship model”.
The co-leaders have consistently pushed back on these claims, calling for evidence of such issues to be presented to them so they can address them.
Tensions culminated with Mariameno and Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris being bumped from the party for what the party’s national council deemed to be “serious breaches”.
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.