National MP Harete Hipango is standing in Te Tai Hauauru. Photo / File
National MP Harete Hipango is standing in Te Tai Hauauru. Photo / File
Opinion:
Wāhine Māori have a hard fight on their hands if they want to be in the National Party caucus after October 14.
List MP based in Whanganui Harete Hipango is currently the only wahine Māori in the Party. She won the Whanganui seat in 2017 but lost it the following election in 2020. She is currently the spokesperson for Oranga Tamariki and Whānau Ora.
From Te Ati Haunui-ā-Paparangi, Ngāti Apa, Ngā Rauru Kītahi, Ngāti Tama, she signalled her interest in contesting Te Tai Hauauru late last year, ending a 20-year hiatus for the National Party in Māori seats.
Te Tai Hauauru has been a Labour-held seat since 2014. But current MP Adrian Rurawhe will run list only now that he is the Speaker of the House.
His replacement is Soraya Peke Mason and she’s up against Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Harete Hipango makes it three formidable wāhine contesting Te Tai Hauauru.
However, the numbers are against National winning this seat, in spite of Hipango being a constant presence at hui, wānanga and hāerenga in the rohe. If she does not gain a safe list ranking, then the National Party loses an outstanding community champion, a lawyer and advocate for social justice.
Hinurewa Te Hau returns to the National Party following three years from 2014 and 2017 as Te Pāti Māori Chair in Te Tai Tokerau.
Hinurewa te Hau is the National Party candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau in the 2023 election. Photo / Supplied
Te Hau from Ngāti Hine, Whakatōhea, Ngāti Kahugnunu, Ngāti Rereahu me Ngāti Maniapoto, Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Raukawa has been selected to contest Tāmaki Makaurau.
Her whānau are longtime supporters of the National Party. Her father Matiu Te Hau served three terms as National’s Māori vice president. She also stood for National in Māngere in the 1990s.
Te Hau is realistic her chances of winning the seat are slim. She’s up against incumbent Peeni Henare and Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp from Te Pāti Māori. The Green Party also has a whenua activist Darlene Tana from Ngā Puhi, Taranaki. Te Hau’s best chances of getting into Parliament is via a high list ranking.
Māori are concerned National Party policies will negatively impact them following recent comments by Leader Christopher Luxon. His one-person, one-vote has unsettled some Māori, who label this as racist dog-whistling.
Former National Party list MP Claudette Hauiti. Photo / NZME
Luxon has also closed the door firmly on working with Te Pāti Māori post-elections. Although this has raised eyebrows among some hāpori, Māori may not feel completely adrift if they see more of themselves amongst National’s ranks.
Hipango and Te Hau will fight a good race in their respective rohe.
National leader Christopher Luxon. Photo / Mark Mitchell
They will champion National policies as well as possible. But more than likely they’ll be asked some very tough pātai. They’ll be asked if National’s loyalty extends to all citizens or just a chosen few. They’ll be asked, what price National will charge for freedom and equal citizenship, if strong whānau can be built as quickly as prisons, if safe communities looks like boot camps and tamariki with monitoring bracelets? They will be asked to prove that National not only recognises the Treaty of Waitangi as the founding document of Aotearoa-New Zealand but also practices Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
It’s up to the National party hierarchy now to see the benefits of having two strong wāhine Māori in caucus and who along with Tama Potaka and Dr Shane Reti, carry the hopes and aspirations of their people and their Party. It’s up to National to show they are indeed a party for all New Zealanders.
Claudette Hauiti is a former National Party politician and an MP in 2013 and 2014. She is a Māori journalist for Radio Waatea 603 and a political commentator. This column was printed on Waatea News.Com and reprinted with permission.
