Te Pāti Māori’s implosion has been the political shitstorm of the year. In the wake of the party’s AGM at the weekend, Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Liam Rātana dissect the unravelling and ask, what’s next?
AGMs don’t come more anticipated than that of Te Pāti Māori’s weekend hui. A crowd of about 200 gathered at Waiatuhi Marae in Rotorua on Sunday morning and all eyes were watching. After riding a high of popularity and public support, Te Pāti Māori quickly came crashing back to Earth this year following a series of very public scandals. The first sign of internal ructions came after the late-night social media post from Tākuta Ferris criticising non-Māori Labour supporters for campaigning during the Tāmaki Makaurau byelection. Party leaders and Ferris followed up the post with contradictory messages. Then shots were fired by the influential Eru Kapa-Kingi, bringing issues between the party and his MP mother, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, into view. This was all followed by a party “reset” that rapidly descended into expulsions, explosive claims, social media spats and a court battle, culminating in a court decision on Friday that expelled Kapa-Kingi must be reinstated as a party member.
Liam Rātana: Remember when the biggest issue Te Pāti Māori was facing was filing its audited financial statements to the Electoral Commission? That seems like a lifetime ago now.
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith: All I can say is this whole saga has been the world’s longest “auuuuuuuuuuuē” and it’s still dragging on. Mariameno Kapa-Kingi’s party membership being reinstated on Friday evening, which meant any remits or resolutions relating to the decision to expel the two MPs, Kapa-Kingi and Takuta Ferris, couldn’t be discussed at the AGM. I mean, you mess with Pākehā systems and you get Pākehā outcomes, but if I was a party member, I’d be getting pretty fed up with the whole palaver by this point because, weren’t they trying to make this a one-term government?
LR: Well, according to Tamihere and the party co-leaders, Te Pāti Māori leadership never wanted this to end up in court. However, Kapa-Kingi took the legal option and has alleged the leadership acted unconstitutionally by removing two MPs. Other allegations flying are that the leadership refused to attend hui to discuss the issues, and attempted to block members and electorate councils from having input into how the matters were dealt with, including at the AGM.
LWS: John Tamihere’s presidency was also a focal point for this AGM, right? It’s strange for a party president to be the focus of so much attention and to see this level of public bickering over whether he deserves to be in that position.
Liam: I don’t know about you, but I understand triennial to mean every three years – and the party’s constitution says the president is supposed to be voted on with that regularity. It seems that John Tamihere and Rawiri Waititi have a different understanding though, because I heard Waititi on the radio this morning saying the election for the presidency will be held after the next general election. I’m no mathematician, but I’m pretty sure that given Tamihere was elected in June 2022, he’d have served four years as president by the time the election takes place. The party, however, has said that at the 2024 AGM – where only 20 people apparently showed up – there was a “reaffirming” of Tamihere as party president and Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer as leaders.
LWS: Seems legit and totally normal, nothing to see here then! It’s certainly some interesting counting. Maybe this is what Christopher Luxon means when he says Te Pāti Māori need to focus on Māori academic outcomes.
LR: About as legit as removing your MPs for… well, did we ever find out what Tākuta Ferris did?
LWS: Sometimes your crime is having too much ambition – but if you’re gonna aim your ammo at the top level of a party, you need to make sure you can pull off a direct hit. But it feels to me like Tamihere is just an unmovable force and he’s seemingly got enough support within the party to expel any strays.
LR: Like Mos Def once said, it’s all mathematics. Speaking to the media after the AGM, Tamihere almost gloated that those opposed to his presidency simply didn’t have the numbers to get rid of him. According to the party’s constitution, it appears the only way Tamihere can be removed from the role of president is if there’s consensus among the electorate council representatives. It seems as though Tamihere has a stranglehold on Tāmaki Makaurau, Waiariki and Te Tai Hauāuru. Waikato seems to be neutral at best, while Ikaroa-Rāwhiti said they were against the expulsion of Kapa-Kingi and Ferris. HTe Tai Tokerau and Te Tai Tonga, however, have made their positions clear: they want JT gone.
LWS: Tamihere is, genuinely, one of the most powerful Māori in Tāmaki Makaurau and a man with a lot of political experience. It’s interesting, though, that that influence seems to end at two places: where the Kīngitanga and Northland begin. I was really intrigued by Ngira Simmond’s whakaaro on parliament being a lion’s den, but that the lions within were attacking themselves (as in Te Pāti Māori’s leadership versus half of its MPs). He criticised the party’s leadership, while still staunchly supporting the kaupapa behind the party itself – it speaks to the fact that, to many of TPM’s supporters, this is more of a political movement than a party.
Anyway, I’ll be taking up a front row seat on Waitangi Day. By then we will have seen the substantive court hearings on the expulsions (set to start on 2 February) and what other parties have done in response to the chaos. Labour’s got the right idea – it’s trying to capitalise on the party’s turmoil to win back its monopoly on Māori seats at next year’s election. If the Greens were smart, they’d be trying the same thing. If nothing changes for Te Pāti Māori and a schism is imminent, that will probably be the nail in the coffin to their dreams of being in government. Ah, well – it was a fun Māori party while it lasted.
