Te Pāti Māori MPs, clockwise from left, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Oriini Kaipara and Tākuta Ferris listening to The Speaker’s rulings over last week’s haka. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Te Pāti Māori MPs, clockwise from left, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Oriini Kaipara and Tākuta Ferris listening to The Speaker’s rulings over last week’s haka. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Looks like whatever infinitesimal chance there was that the Māori Party could be part of a Labour-led coalition has just vaporised in the last week.
You could’ve said the last two weeks. Or the last six weeks. Because that’s how far back this meltdown goes. It’s just thatthe last week really took the cake, because that’s when the hit-job email was sent.
So much drama has gone down that it’s hard to remember it all.
It started back in early September with Tākuta Ferris’ Instagram post about “Indians, Asians, Black [sic] and Pākeha”.
He deleted it but obviously did so reluctantly because the following week he posted the late-night video riffing for eight minutes in defence of the original post.
The party told him to delete it. He refused.
The party then demoted another MP, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. Her son took a crack at the party, calling the leadership “dictatorial”.
The party announced a reset. But on the day, before they even got to the reset, they caused yet another scene in Parliament, where the brand-new MP ignored the Speaker telling her to wrap up her speech for eight minutes.
And, of course, yet another haka.
The reset the following hour was a bomb. So much for signalling change. The party leaders barely made it four minutes into questions from media before storming off.
Te Pāti Māori leaders Debbie Ngarewa Packer and Rawiri Waititi during question time in Parliament.
Photo / Mark Mitchell
Then the email arrived on Monday night. They say it was meant for members, but it had “smear campaign” written all over it.
It accused Kapa-Kingi of overspending her electorate budget by $133,000. It claimed she spent $120,000 of that on hiring her son, Eru. It accused him of abusing Parliamentary security guards on Budget Day 2024, including threatening to knock one out, swearing and racist name-calling, before being trespassed from Parliament.
Neither he nor his mother have directly addressed the claims. They haven’t said if the money’s been paid back. They haven’t said what unique skills he has that made it imperative for his mother to hire him at above the average annual wage when he already has a job at Auckland University.
You don’t need me to tell you how bad this is for the Māori Party.
It confirms that they don’t have the basic skills required to be in Parliament, never mind in Government helping to run the country.
One MP allegedly can’t manage an electorate budget, another seems to not have a basic grasp on the rules of Parliament (or the manners) to keep a speech to its allotted time, and a staffer allegedly doesn’t have enough self-control to keep his alleged racism private.
What happens next may be even more damaging for the party’s recently quite transparent desire to be in a future Chris Hipkins cabinet.
After the late-night email on Kapa-Kingi and her son, it’s hard to imagine her remaining as a Māori Party MP.
If this was a normal Parliamentary party – and let’s be honest, they march to their own drumbeat – she’d break away. Tākuta Ferris would go too given his open defiance of his leaders and sympathy for Kapa-Kingi’s plight.
Te Pāti Māori Tāmaki Makaurau MP Oriini Kaipara gives her maiden speech. Photo / Mark Mitchell
That means at least two down, leaving perhaps four at best. Suddenly, that’s a much smaller dowry to bring to an arranged marriage with Hipkins.
But what’s probably most damaging for the Māori Party – and should alarm Hipkins more – is the lack of public outrage at the allegations in that email.
Imagine that it was a National MP and her son. Or an MP from Labour, NZ First, Act or any other serious party. The public would demand answers and accountability and possibly even heads to roll.
The fairly unbothered reaction from the media and public suggest we mostly don’t take the party seriously enough to waste energy on them.
Because all the last week, fortnight, six weeks have done is confirm suspicions: the Māori Party is not comprised of serious people we actually expect to be in Government.
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