Mahuta rubbishes speculation she will join Maori party

1.00pm

Labour's Tainui MP Nanaia Mahuta has poured cold water on speculation she is considering joining the Maori Party, after Tariana Turia swept back in to Parliament after winning the Te Tai Hauauru by-election at the weekend.

Ms Mahuta said today her Labour nomination form for the next general election was "in the process" of being submitted to her party.

She said submission of the form should be taken as "a strong indication" she would stand under the Labour Party banner next year.

Her stance flies in the face of comments made at the weekend by Tainui co-chairman Tukoroirangi Morgan.

Mr Morgan claimed at the Maori Party launch that he had spoken to the leaders of the five Waikato iwi, who had cut ties with Labour and were backing the Maori Party.

Mr Morgan said Hauraki, Maniapoto, Raukawa, Tainui and Waikato had all indicated Ms Mahuta would lose their support if she did not walk away.

"Because of the growing dissent and the huge opposition to the Labour Party it is incongruous, it is contradictory, for our people to support the Labour Party and also our member who is a member of the Labour Party," he said.

But fellow co-chairman Haydn Solomon said today he was "aghast" at what Mr Morgan had said.

"It seems a little bit bizarre. There's enough on our plate at the moment.

"I guess the first thing to say is that the board executive has supported Nanaia and also that the Tainui Waka Confederation supports her.

"I'm a little bit concerned about the comments that were made (by Mr Morgan). We're certainly not endorsing what Mr Morgan is saying."

It was written in to Tainui's constitution that the iwi was "apolitical", so it was the tribe's policy to never direct its people who to vote for, Mr Solomon said.

The board had for some time supported Ms Mahuta's decision to stay with the Labour Party.

Ms Mahuta said she was not offended or surprised by Mr Morgan's comments, but hinted her displeasure over what he had said.

"I would have thought he would have contacted me," she said, pointing out that Mr Morgan had run against her, as a New Zealand First candidate, in previous election campaigns.

Ms Mahuta said she was relaxed about what was being discussed by leaders within her tribe, and was keen to meet at any hui that was arranged over the next few weeks.

Some Maori expressed surprise at Mr Morgan's announcement yesterday and suggested it was premature.

It was also not clear if he had the mandate of the Maori Queen, who some sources suggested had been counselling Tainui voters against flocking to the Maori Party.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Helen Clark said Mr Morgan had a long-standing grudge against Labour.

He was attacked by Labour as a NZ First MP, when that party made a clean sweep of the Maori seats in 1996.

"We're not sure whether he speaks more for himself as opposed to Tainui as a whole," the spokesman said.

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia today told National Radio that Labour would not lie down and roll over in the seven Maori seats.

On Friday, he had been in the Tainui electorate.

Time would tell whether Mr Morgan had the mandate from Tainui to say what he had.

"I know that there are tensions in Tainui as there are in other tribal areas."

Labour did not intend to lose Tainui, he said.

"Nanaia's a good member, we intend to keep her there."

- NZPA