After a “heartbreaking” defeat in 2023 by 42 votes, Labour MP Peeni Henare is ready to contest the Auckland Māori seat of Tāmaki Makaurau again. A byelection is being held next month following the death of Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp. It will be a two-horse race between Henare and long-time broadcaster Oriini Kaipara for Te Pāti Māori. Henare speaks to the Herald about his 10 years in politics, his family legacy and how badly he wants the seat back.
It was late on an autumn evening in 2015. Then Māori Language Commissioner Erima Henare was sitting in his son’s new parliamentary office.
His son, a fresh-faced 34-year-old Peeni Henare, had recently won the Tāmaki Makaurau seat.
The pair were winding down after a Labour Party function, the type of event Peeni appreciated having his dad around for as he found his feet in the new world of politics.
When it was time to go, Erima kissed his son goodnight and told him he would see him tomorrow.
About an hour later, Peeni got a call to say his father had died of a heart attack.
Far from his family in Auckland and Northland, the grief made Peeni feel isolated. But soon enough, MPs from all parties shuffled through the halls of Parliament to his office.
“People like Jacinda [Ardern], Kelvin [Davis], Pita Paraone and Uncle Winston [Peters] from New Zealand First, Te Ururoa [Flavell] ... Gerry Brownlee ... they came and gave me hug, and it was the first time I truly got to feel that in Parliament we’re just humans first.”
In those early days, everything about Parliament was new. He was overawed by “giants” such as John Key, Annette King, Bill English and Phil Goff. He clicked with the other “young one” in the caucus, Jacinda Ardern.
“We sort of just hung out. She could see I was a newbie, and she had a term or two of experience before me. She helped me cope with those times, telling me, ‘this is what you do, this is how this works, this is what the bells mean’.”
Henare recalls first entering Parliament feeling “amazing” after winning the Auckland Māori seat (succeeding Sir Pita Sharples who retired) before swiftly realising he was a “backbench nobody” in a party that was “seriously falling apart”. Labour suffered its worst result since 1922 in the 2014 election, forcing leader David Cunliffe to resign.
Since Labour’s win in 2017, Henare has held several portfolios, including defence, social development, forestry, Whānau Ora and associate minister of health. He also held the Tāmaki Makaurau seat before a “heartbreaking” loss to Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp by 42 votes in the 2023 election.
“The first heartbreak was for the team and the volunteers and the many supporters I had who worked really hard to campaign for us.
“I’ve come to accept there are wins and losses in politics. After the result and coming back and getting into work here as a list member, the reality of losing the mandate of Tāmaki Makaurau really dawned on me. That was a personal challenge for me.”
Kemp died in June, aged 50, after a diagnosis of kidney disease. Her death rattled Henare, who described her as a sister and was in tears on the morning of her passing. Labour’s Willie Jackson later said her sudden death had “almost traumatised” Henare, revealing how close the pair were despite being election rivals.
Kemp’s death means a byelection will be held for the Auckland Māori seat on September 6. It is essentially a two-horse race between Henare and long-time broadcaster Oriini Kaipara, who is standing for Te Pāti Māori.
“For me, it’s a healing journey through this byelection. It’s a journey of redemption, win or lose.”
He says he is ready to “empty the tank” and go all out to win the seat back.
“I want it even more now. I have grown and learned a lot ... and now I feel even better equipped to be able to represent Tāmaki Makaurau.”
Henare grew up in a traditional Māori household. His two older brothers, one of which is his twin, were taken to live with different sets of grandparents.
“I was at home with mum and dad, only child sort of thing. And they would come, I knew who they were, I’d stay with them, it was quite different.”
In the early 80s, Henare went to kōhanga reo in Ōrākei near Bastion Point, the site of the historic 506-day occupation from 1977-1978 in protest of Government plans to develop the land (once belonging to Ngāti Whātua) for housing.
“Ōrākei was very much this hub of Māori activity. It was just off the back of Bastion Point, so they were re-establishing and reasserting themselves there.”
Henare and his friends spent their weekends running around the streets, saying they “ruled the roost”. He watched his mother, who is now a master weaver, first learn to weave with the kuia at Ōrākei.
“There wasn’t huge overdevelopment in Auckland. We were a community, we were a village, not many cars back in those days.”
The family moved to Los Angeles in 1984 for his father’s job in foreign affairs. Henare went to Kenter Canyon Elementary School and has fond memories of the family house still being “full of Māoris” despite being so far from home.
Well-known Māori figures were in the US at the time for the landmark Te Māori art exhibition, a collection of taonga and traditional Māori artworks, including the significant Tainui carving, Uenuku.
“I have fond memories of sitting in our lounge on the floor looking at Sir Hepi Te Heuheu, Dr Henare Tuwhangai, Kīngi Īhaka, who had all bought those taonga over. While we were there, it was quite normal to have a house full of Māoris.”
Growing up, Henare felt the pressure of being the grandson of Sir James Henare, a lieutenant colonel in the Māori Battalion and revered Tai Tokerau kaumātua.
His great grandfather is Taurekareka “Tau” Henare, an MP for the former Northern Māori electorate from 1914 to 1938.
“When I was young, it was really tough because the shadow was so long and you know, it didn’t help that your teachers were like, you should know better, your grandfather [is] Sir James Henare.”
He says a few members of his “deeply rooted National Party family” almost “choked on their cup of tea” when he first told them he wanted to join Labour. (His cousin is Tau Henare, a National Party MP from 2005-2014, while his grandfather, Sir James, stood for the National Party.)
“In all fairness, I was being chased by the Māori Party at the time. The Labour Party, I chose them because my father said two things to me: one, stay true to your principles and it shouldn’t matter what horse you ride in on.
“The second thing he said to me was, ”what is it in your heart that speaks to you?“”
Sometimes listening to his heart gets him in trouble. Henare was one of several MPs sent to Parliament’s privileges committee for doing a haka in the House last year protesting the controversial Treaty Principles Bill.
The bill proposes replacing the current treaty principles (developed over decades by experts, lawyers and the courts) with three new ones decided on by Cabinet.
Henare apologised for breaking the rules but stood by his haka. Asked if he would do it again, he said “most definitely”.
“If it is the right cause, if it is the right kaupapa like the one I believed in on the day I stepped on the floor, then 100%.”
Haka and tikanga have a long history in Parliament. The earliest record of a haka at Parliament (based on records in the Parliamentary library) was in 1915, although there may have been some earlier than that. It was performed by Henare’s great-grandfather Taurekareka Henare, Sir Āpirana Ngata and Taare (Charles) Parata.
Henare has three children. He’s an avid reader, particularly books about war and history. He loves sports, particularly the Warriors (he manages to seamlessly slip an “up the Wahs” into his interview with the Herald).
He unwinds by doing things that take him back to his roots, going home, teaching te reo, being with his family.
Henare spoke to the Herald from his office at Parliament, a place he views as a “living memorial” to his late father.
“It’s just an honour and privilege to step in those footsteps,” he says of his forefathers.
“You can only work hard and hope you don’t ruin their legacy. You come to realise you’re just another marker in the journey and that all you can ask yourself is that you make it better than when you started.”
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.