Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell says that Labour ruling out the Internet-Mana Party from ministerial posts shows the importance of the Maori Party sitting with the Government of the day.
Some parties talk about changing things; the Maori Party actually changes things, he says.
"All the philosophies are fine," says Mr Flavell. "What we have attempted to do is make it happen."
Mr Flavell speaks in today's Herald Hot Seat video, the latest in a series of interviews with party leaders.
He said Mana-Internet leader Hone Harawira, a former colleague, "hasn't got a mortgage on looking after the poor people".
"He talked about feeding the children ... well we've done it. Our kaupapa we put in front of the National Party was the Kickstart programme, which is in fact dealing with over 25,000 children in more than 700 schools."
The ministerial poverty committee led by Finance Minister Bill English had been a Maori Party initiative and had resulted in extending free access to doctors from under-6s to under-13-year-olds. It extended paid parental leave and parental tax credits and led to further moves to insulate homes and address rheumatic fever.
The party was formed in 2004 and was first elected to Parliament in 2005 when it sat in Opposition in Labour's third term. John Key offered it a confidence and supply agreement in National's first and second terms, despite not needing its MPs' votes to govern, having already sewn up Act and United Future.
When former Act leader John Banks resigned from Parliament in June, the Maori Party held the balance of power on some legislation, including one bill on the workplace that opponents said would weaken collective bargaining.
"We, with our three little humble votes, stopped legislation in its tracks because if we didn't support it, it went nowhere," Mr Flavell said. "That's how powerful we can be."
That wasn't to say the party would use that opportunity every time.
"But it does show the country that we can, if needed, bring a commonsense approach, a Maori approach, to deal with the Government of the day."
Although Internet-Mana has pledged to support any Government that gets rid of National, Labour leader David Cunliffe has ruled out offering it ministerial posts.
Mr Flavell said that made the Maori Party's position to deal with the Government of the day more important. "If you want to have change, you have got to be at the table."
A selection of cartoons from Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson over the past year