Election 2020: Te Tai Hauāuru candidate Debbie Ngarewa-Packer in Maōri Party front line

Te Tai Hauāuru candidate Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is the best hope for the Māori Party to get back into Parliament. Photo / Supplied

All the policies in the Māori Party's seven-point plan aim to address the inequity in this country, Te Tai Hauāuru candidate Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says.

Maōri could lose out in the Covid-recovery world, and two-thirds are already not doing well. The party's focus has to be on improving things for them, she said.

"Māori don't want to live separate or live as an underdog in their country. We want us all contributing and living our best lives together."

In 2017 no Māori Party candidates got into Parliament. The three years since have been useful to reconnect and develop policy, Ngarewa-Packer said.

"Even mainstream media have complimented the strength and aspirations of our policy."

The party's seven-point plan addresses jobs, education, health, poverty and the environment through the lens of equity.

Policies include doubling the benefit, increasing the minimum wage, adding a capital gains tax and a Māori Parliament, taxing empty houses and making Waitangi Tribunal recommendations binding.

"Our role is to ensure that our cultural view is heard and the big parties are kept to account."

When it comes to regional investment, communities need to decide what they want rather than having "bureaucrats tell us what are our best economic opportunities".

There are "really great, hardworking Māori" in the mainstream parties but this Government hasn't changed Oranga Tamariki or found a solution for the disputed land at Ihumātao, Ngarewa-Packer said.

"That's what the significance of us is."

If the party can get one or two MPs in this election then there are "amazing" young candidates to bring forward in 2023 and 2026, she said.

Ngarewa-Packer will give up her job as chief executive of Hāwera-based iwi Ngāti Ruanui if she is elected. She has been a leader there, running health centres, campaigning against seabed mining and manning a Pātea checkpoint during the lockdown.

If elected she will change her focus to national politics, but said she was Ngāti Ruanui before she was iwi leader, and will be after it.

Campaigning across the big Te Tai Hauāuru electorate has been tough, especially during lockdown.

"Māori politicians are expected to do what every other politician does, but also turn up and be there face to face. It's about making the connections."

A champion of digital technology, she has been using Zoom for conferences and meetings.

Ngarewa-Packer was brought up in Pātea and educated at Tasmania and Stanford universities. She was deputy mayor of South Taranaki District during a brief foray into local government in 2007-10.

In 2010 she became Ngāti Ruanui's chief executive, and in 2011 was asked to join the Government's Māori Economic Development Panel.

She has previously worked in radio and television, and in her Ngāti Ruanui role has racked up years of experience in dealing with oil and gas companies.

She is number one on the Māori Party list, with co-leader John Tamihere putting himself at number seven - meaning he will not be in Parliament unless he wins his Tamaki Makaurau seat.