Te Pāti Māori not picking sides ahead of 2023 election, signal ‘exciting’ candidate at Waitangi campaign launch

Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Photo / Whakaata Māori

Things are on the up for Te Pāti Māori, with all signs pointing to them at least doubling their caucus from the current two co-leaders come Election 2023. They tell Herald senior political reporter Michael Neilson what they plan to do with any extra power, and signal an “exciting” candidate will be announced at Waitangi in February as the party’s campaign officially kicks into gear.

Te Pāti Māori is refusing to buy into what it calls the “Pākehā” framework of left versus right and won’t rule out working with either of the major parties come Election 2023.

It’s a conversation worth having, with 2023 shaping up to see the smaller parties regain their influence with neither incumbent Labour nor National looking to secure a government alone.

And recent polls suggest of all parties Te Pāti Māori could end up in the enviable position of kingmaker, deciding who becomes Prime Minister and on what terms (that’s if a resurgent NZ First doesn’t pip them to it).

The party is also keeping its cards close over how much power it would relinquish, whether to enter a coalition or sit on the “cross benches” - a loosely-defined position to support a government in certain critical areas but not others - or something else entirely.

It’s an approach the party says doesn’t pick sides, and allows it to stick to its kaupapa to be the “unashamedly Māori voice” in Parliament, seeking a “Tiriti-centric Aotearoa”, while critically maintaining its identity.

“The party had the really humbling experience of what it’s like to lose our identity,” co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer tells the Herald of its three terms with National before bowing out in 2017 amid major push back from Māori voters and a swing to Labour in the Māori seats.

“There was lot of good the party was doing, but at the same time, we were just too small to be able to distance ourselves from being with [National].”

There were “obvious synergies” with Labour, she said, but when the crunch time came it would come down to working with whoever was closest to the party’s values.

“We’re contending with some never-seen issues: the escalation of poverty and homelessness, climate change. Covid shone a light on all of these inequities.

“The amount of our whānau on the streets asking for support. While child poverty is going down for Māori and Pasifika it is barely moving.

“[Our decision] means we won’t align with anyone simply because they’re left or right, we look at the kaupapa they are committed to.

“It is no different to the paepae when someone speaks on the marae, we take them for their kaupapa.”

Election 2023 may see more Te Pāti Māori MPs join Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer in parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Indeed things are looking rosy for the party that made a remarkable comeback in 2020.

Co-leader Rawiri Waititi looks comfortable in his Waiariki seat he claimed off Labour’s Tāmati Coffey and Ngarewa-Packer is gearing up for an even tighter race than last time in Te Tai Hauāuru, which she lost to Labour’s Adrian Rurawhe in 2020 by just 1053 votes.

Ngarewa-Packer was well known in the electorate and had been active even before becoming an MP, and through the pandemic she ran checkpoints and even got involved in vaccinations on the ground as an MP.

There is also a good chance to claim Tāmaki Makaurau, another closely-fought seat in 2020 where Labour’s Peeni Henare pipped John Tamihere by just 927 votes. It’s understood Henare has also indicated his preference to move onto the list for 2023.

Ngarewa-Packer also hints to the Herald an “exciting” candidate announcement looms and to keep ears peeled for Waitangi next year.

With current polling of about 3 per cent, this could all point to the party gaining at least four to five seats, thrusting it into a much more powerful position.

That said, when pushed Ngarewa-Packer admits it is difficult to conceive a situation where the party could work again with National, particularly due to its recent positions on co-governance and partnerships.

“They are promising to undo every policy that advances Māori, from Māori wards to the Māori Health Authority.

“Even Three Waters, which we opposed but for different reasons. We have to be open to partnerships because otherwise we’re talking across each other.”

Meanwhile, Ngarewa-Packer said Labour was consistently only going “halfway”.

“You’ve got to be bolder. You can’t dismantle issues that we’ve got now, the extreme poverty, child poverty, by going halfway. You have to go the full way.”

Ngarewa-Packer said the party would have liked to have seen a fairer distribution of resources to tackle the cost of living crisis, through raising benefit levels and increasing taxes on the wealthy.

On Three Waters, the party did not support it because while the Opposition criticised it over “co-governance”, Ngarewa-Packer said it did not go far enough to realise Māori rights to water as determined by the Waitangi Tribunal.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi both members’ bills pulled from the ballot this year. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Asked about the pushback and racism directed towards the Government over some of its moves to adhere to the Treaty of Waitangi, Ngarewa-Packer said the Government needed to be stronger.

“They have an obligation. We’re not going to pat them on the back, say ‘job well done’ for what they should have been doing in the first place.

“Māori die on average eight years younger, have lower education and employment statistics, higher rates of imprisonment. These things didn’t occur in a vacuum, they are the product of successive governments and their policies.

“With youth crime, well if you don’t have a home to live in you’re going to be more likely to end up in those situations.

“Yes, they are extremely complex issues, but the Government has an obligation to address them, to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”

On the year’s major issues, Ngarewa-Packer said she was concerned about social division through the Covid-19 response, ultimately resulting in the occupation at Parliament in February.

“I think we should have pushed harder for more of a cross-party approach to Covid-19 and some of the big decisions.

“I don’t think the fallout that went out on the front yard of parliament would have been as extreme if there had been more unity around some of the decisions we were making.”

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer wore a top hat to her swearing in, while Rawiri Waititi opted for both hei-tiki and tie on that occasion. Photo / Mark Mitchell

She also said she wished she had pushed harder on reforming Oranga Tamariki.

“Probably one of my saddest moments in Opposition, we need to keep pushing [Oranga Tamariki Minister Kelvin Davis] so we can make sure that not one more child’s life is at risk.

“Unfortunately, we saw little Malachi die, and so I regret not having pushed harder, and asked more questions.”

On the year’s highlights for the party, Ngarewa-Packer said they were excited to both have their members’ bills pulled from the ballot - Ngarewa-Packer’s on banning seabed mining and Waititi’s on reforming electoral law and making it easier for Māori to switch roles.

While Waititi’s bill was voted down by Labour, a similar but not as far-reaching bill passed with support from Labour and National.

Ngarewa-Packer’s bill is expected to have its first reading early next year, while the Government supported a movement to ban deep sea mining in international waters until the international community can develop robust science and data around the practice.

Ngarewa-Packer’s bill would also implement a ban domestically.

Her bill would be a focus for next year, along with pushing for GST to be removed from kai and addressing the housing crisis.

“In our first year, we sort of had to prove ourselves, and I think the second year we have made a real dent, and it’s obvious in the polls,” Ngarewa-Packer said.

“We didn’t get into parliament for the short term, we’re here long term and our aim is to build on those seats come 2023.”