Te Pati Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Te Pāti Māori's leadership is willing to meet with estranged MPs Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Tākuta Ferris, the National Iwi Chairs Forum says.
Ngāti Kahungunu chairman Bayden Barber sat down with the party's president and two co-leaders at Parliament this afternoon.
"It was a great meeting and we're looking forward to bringing the factions of the party together to have a hui on a marae here in Pōneke.
"We just got agreement from this side so that's a great start. Need to talk to Mariameno and Tākuta, but from Rawiri and Deb they were supportive."
The National Iwi Chairs Forum would be reaching out to Kapa-Kingi and Ferris this evening to put the same hui request to them, Barber said.
"The sooner the better, we want it to happen ASAP.
"We're keen to try and find a resolution this month because we know that as it gets beyond this year, there's a very low chance of having success in the election. So yeah, there's time pressure to get this sorted."
After what he had heard today, Barber said he still believed things could be patched up.
"[The leadership] laid it all out, timelined the whole thing and that was helpful to understand the context but at the end of the day, the question goes back to, is this surmountable?
"We think it is, as iwi chairs, and hence why we've called a hui and they've agreed to attend. We look forward to having similar conversations with Mariameno and Tākuta shortly."
Using the waka-jumping legislation to boot Kapa-Kingi and Ferris out of Parliament had not come up today, Barber said.
"We're looking for a solution to maintain unity within the Māori Party. That's what we're focused on because that's going to get us the most chance of success at the next election.
"If it comes down to that outcome, that'll be something for them sort out."
'Nothing that would preclude' waka-jumping in party's constitution
Te Pāti Māori's co-leaders were asked if they would waka-jump the rogue MPs this afternoon.
"We haven't considered that particular option at this time," Rawiri Waititi said.
"We're allowing our national council to work through the constitution and we need to be able to allow them to do that without having to deal with that through the media."
Political scientist Dr Lara Greaves has had a look at the constitution and said it did not prohibit the party from using the legislation.
"There's nothing that would preclude any kind of enactment of the party hopping legislation. There's nothing explicit in there."
She said the Māori Party's constitution was an "interesting" political document that gave the party's president a lot of power, relative to other positions in the party.
"The president has a key role in dispute resolution."
She added timing was also a key consideration for any party invoking the waka-jumping rules.
"If it's six months before the election, that's when there's no by-election.
"So we're starting to run into this really strange period where we have potential by election, or by elections, running close to the election or the cut off stage."
Greaves said it would be easiest for for Kapa-Kingi and Ferris to meet with the party's leadership and stick it out, over going solo and setting up their own party.
"Starting up a political party is incredibly hard with incredibly long hours. You've got to find money, you've got to find resources. We're a year out from a general election.
"You're going to split the Māori vote, potentially the Māori Party vote, allow Labour to come through the middle.
"They're ultimately in quite a stressful situation where it might be a case that they bow out quietly or resign or retire at the election instead of going through that whole rigmarole of starting up a political party."
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