Give me another run at top job says Tamaki

Hannah Tamaki says she believes in the mana and integrity of the Maori Women's Welfare League and would never bad-mouth it. Photo / Natalie Slade

The love of bling looks like it starts early in the Tamaki whanau.

Hannah Tamaki's youngest granddaughter, Diamond, who is being scooped up for cuddles, is wearing a big black hairband which has her name spelt out in sparkly stick-ons.

Mrs Tamaki, co-founder of Destiny Church with her husband, Bishop Brian, reckons the 1-year-old loves changing the words to a love song she taught her.

It's a cute moment at the end of a couple of weeks when there hasn't been a lot of aroha going around the Maori Women's Welfare League, which Mrs Tamaki hopes to lead.

This week, she had a victory of sorts when the High Court upheld her right to stand as a presidential candidate for the 60-year-old organisation, after her name was excluded from ballot papers.

The league's lawyers argued that 10 branches set up by the church and the significant voting power they represented amounted to a Destiny "takeover" bid.

Justice Stephen Kos said the branches were not formed validly and could not vote in the election.

Yesterday, upstairs at the church's Mt Wellington headquarters amid chandeliers and leather couches, Mrs Tamaki said she felt that overall, the ruling was a fair outcome.

"You know, it's like playing a game of baseball. You load the bases because you want to hit a home run - okay, I did a foul ball out of the park but I wasn't struck out."

To carry on the sporting analogies: was she on steroids by adding the 10 church branches whose voting power potentially could have won her the game?

She's not offended by the question, or when it's put to her that it looked like a pretty cynical move. Instead, she credits her supporters who put the strategy together.

"To be honest ... I didn't sit down and calculate this. My focus was the [league's annual] conference ... [and] campaigning.

"I think any political party would love a team like that to do [this] for them."

Over the past couple of weeks the schism in the league on the issue has looked wide, sometimes nasty, such as when some members appeared to mimic Mrs Tamaki's hairstyle by wearing wigs in apparent retaliation after she noted in a tweet that some thought she was too glamorous to lead the league.

The league's Waiatarua branch laid the original complaint and some sources have said lesbian members did not want Mrs Tamaki as president because of Destiny Church's anti-homosexuality belief.

She says she believes the breach can be closed.

"I'm accepting of all people at all times. It's not about your sexual orientation, it's not about your spiritual belief ... it's really about your character.

"I think if we all get over our mamae [hurt] and I think if we all genuinely want the best for the league then I think we'll make it happen.

"I believe in the mana and the integrity [of the league] and I've never wanted to taint it.

"You'll never hear me badmouthing the league."

Mrs Tamaki is wearing her mother's league badge pinned to a scarf. Her mother left home when her daughter was 6. Her European father raised her and three siblings on his own. There was no strong Maori female figure around and no one to teach her the reo or culture.

Joining the league is a way of reconnecting and she's challenged herself to learn Maori, she says.

The presidency race has eight candidates. It's estimated the three Destiny branches could have 30 votes out of a total 347.

Mrs Tamaki rates herself an outside chance to take the top job, and returns to sporting lingo:

"We're all on the same running field ... I'm optimistic, we all want to win. I've also been tarnished in some way too, so I might have to play catch-up rugby. I'm going to have to get out of the ... box and say, 'Please, pitcher, give me one more try, give me another go'."

Hannah Tamaki on:

Claims that Kiwi women are promiscuous
"Oh hello. The men of this nation ... have been like that for a long, long time."

Single mothers looking for a man:
"If you're a single parent I know you get lonely, but think about the tamariki. Raise them up to an age where they're strong enough to defend themselves ... before you need a man.

Destiny Church asking its members for money
"You know what, you can't rip off people. They could leave their wallet at home and [let] the bag go buy. No one ever stands there making people give."

Alasdair Thompson's sick leave/period remarks:
"I just thought he was very unwise and he probably got beat up by his wife when he got home."