Labour's Peeni Henare Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Labour's Peeni Henare says accusations Māori can't have an independent voice in a major party are "absolute garbage".
Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris criticised "Indians, Asians, Black and Pakeha" for volunteering for Henare in last month's Tāmaki Makaurau by-election.
Ferris has now explained he doesn't have a problem with ethnic minorities getting involved in Māori electorates, so long as the candidates that stand have an "independent voice".
"We're very clear that the Māori seat should have an independent voice and if it doesn't, that's a problem for the Māori people.
"Peeni Henare could stand as an independent, go Peeni, as long as Peeni Henare can't come out and say that he's going to do something, like when he said they would repeal the gang patches.
"If he can't do that, which he obviously can't because they sent [Labour's deputy leader] out to correct that, that's a silenced voice. That's a silenced voice and that's not the intention of the Māori seat."
Ferris' criticism refers to Henare saying he'd repeal the government's gang patch ban in a debate during the by-election; a statement the Labour Party later clarified was not party policy.
Ferris did not resile from singling out ethnic minorities in his post.
"I didn't single them out. You obviously missed the point," he said.
Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris. Photo: Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
'Absolute garbage' - Peeni Henare
Labour's Peeni Henare said Ferris' comments were "absolute garbage".
"I regularly hear the Māori Party say they're a truly independent Māori voice. Well, our voters make it quite clear that while they might give them the candidate vote, the party vote still is overwhelmingly given to Labour, which should say something to Tākuta about the way that our people want to be represented."
Henare said it was rich for Ferris to single him out as being at odds with his party's leadership.
"Here's a person saying that he's got an independent voice in that Māori are independent there, yet his leadership don't agree with what he did with respect to the post that he posted denigrating the volunteers that supported me on my campaign.
"He's continuing to double down on that particular matter while it's clear that his party, the one that he says is truly independent, clearly doesn't share that view and has come to the Labour Party to apologise.
"So it's rather rich of Mr Ferris to use me as an example when he's the walking example of that hypocrisy himself."
Henare said Ferris was out of line.
"He is taking our people for fools. Our people are strategic voters, they're smart voters and if we look across the history about the way our people have voted, they vote for the interests that best represent them.
"It's patronising and disrespectful to the voter, to the whānau out there who look towards all of us, all Māori in the House, regardless of what party or what horse you ride in on, they look to us for leadership and those comments, in my mind, aren't leadership."
Te Pāti Māori 'resets', and walks away
Te Pāti Māori has said it's heard calls for "direction, discipline and delivery" from its voters, as it promises to pull together ahead of Election 2026.
Though if Thursday's 'reset' is anything to go by, the party still has a way to go to settle everything down after a tumultuous few months.
An impromptu media stand up about the reset was cut short after allegations of dictatorial leadership were put to the co-leaders.
Rawiri Waititi abruptly left after the question was asked, physically pulling his co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer away with him.
The pair had earlier promised to try harder to elevate the party's policy platform so Te Pāti Māori could form a government with Labour and the Greens next year.
"The electorates are telling us one thing; get your act together because we do not want this government to stay," Ngarewa-Packer said.
"That's a real critical part of the reset is actually making it really clear, we've identified who our coalition partners will be, we've identified the common ground, and we've identified and heard that we musn't let anything jeopardise the way that we get this government out in 2026."
It resonated with supporters in the room, many of whom had travelled to Wellington for Te Pāti Māori's newest MP Oriini Kaipara's maiden speech.
"Like most political parties, there's always ups and downs, but today was a reminder of how tight people can be when you have one kaupapa that unites everyone," Kairapa's brother in law Mahanga Pihama said.
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