The party celebrated its 10th anniversary a week or so ago. Turia's valedictory will be almost 10 years to the day since she delivered her second "maiden" speech as Maori Party leader on July 27, 2004. That came after she crossed the floor on the Foreshore and Seabed Bill, left Labour and won the Te Tai Hauauru byelection under the Maori Party banner. Her speech then was a joyful one, full of the hope and energy that came with the birth of the new party.
Few could question the integrity with which Sharples and Turia approached their political lives. They rarely got embroiled in the mundane distractions of politics, the grandstanding and personal snipes, unless it was in defence of themselves. They were the perfect complementary force. Turia was the rock, Sharples was the orator, galvanising and the perfect voice to quell suspicion about the Maori Party among Pakeha.
When it came to the Pakeha media, both took time to explain who they were and what they were doing, over and over again if need be. They were dignified, courteous and calm. Turia's entertaining habit of breaking into giggles when asked the occasional ridiculous question often said more than words would have.
The reality of politics has had the usual erosive effect. The acrimonious split with Hone Harawira delivered a cut the party has yet to heal from, despite its bravado. It continues to struggle with the perception it has simply become a stooge for National. Its MPs would occasionally adopt siege mentality at times of trial rather than front the issue.
But they stayed relentlessly on message, and that message has stayed consistent throughout. For Turia, that message has been life-long: the case for Maori self-determination. In her maiden speech as a new Labour MP in 1997, she did not bother with the usual platitudes of paying homage to the party she represented, or those who led it. Instead, she spoke of Maori being forced to live in two worlds, "drip-fed, spoon-fed and acted upon like imbeciles".
She spoke of the havoc colonisation and its aftermath wrought on Maori society and the "state knows best" mentality that kicked in when the ensuing social problems were too glaring to ignore. She called for Maori to be able to fix Maori problems. "Only we can truly restore our dignity and integrity. We know the problem; then let us be our own solution."
Turia was regarded as a radical at the time. She is no less radical now. She has simply been able to show that radicalism matures into a constructive force. She leaves knowing she made it into a reality through her Whanau Ora programme, which at least sows the seeds of the self-determination she spoke of.
She leaves vindicated, knowing that what she achieved in the Maori Party is probably greater than what she might have achieved by staying with Labour, where there were party lines to toe and political risks to be taken into account.
Yet the warning Sharples voiced back in 2011 after Harawira left the party is perilously close to coming true. That warning was that Maori risked losing the strongest Maori-based party ever conceived, and should that happen it could take a long time before another appeared in its place. The Maori Party is looking into that abyss now, and urging Maori to recognise it cannot easily be replaced and certainly not by the fireworks of Harawira's style of politics.
Politicians come and politicians go. They come for different reasons, and they leave in different circumstances and with different legacies. Some are loved, some are ridiculed, some are despised. On many falls the worst fate of all, which is to be barely noticed. Sharples and Turia will leave with something precious that few politicians earn: deep respect.
