Whakaata Māori held its first Māori electorate debate last night and no one held back.

The four candidates for the country’s largest electorate, Te Tai Tonga, gathered at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington last night. Co-moderated by Julian Wilcox and Maiki Sherman, the debate was the first of seven being hosted by Whakaata Māori across the Māori electorates.

A poll released by Whakaata Māori earlier in the day showed the incumbent electorate MP Tākuta Ferris was trailing his fellow candidates, with Labour’s Mananui Ramsden commanding a healthy 15% lead over his nearest rival Lisa Marie Murch, representing Ferris’s former party, Te Pāti Māori. Also contesting the seat is Lisa Te Morenga for the Green Party.

With none of the candidates likely to make it in on their respective party lists, the electorate is their sole path to parliament. So, last night’s debate was a prime opportunity for the candidates to put their best foot forward and convince the electorate they were the right choice. But what ensued was a shitshow, complete with interruptions, side-eyes, and personal attacks not often seen in Māori electorate debates. Here are some of the wildest moments.

Tākuta Ferris criticises the validity of the Whakaata Māori-Curia poll

 It took less than two minutes for incumbent Tākuta Ferris to highlight one of the elephants in the room – Curia, the company responsible for carrying the poll placing him last. When pressed on his concern about not being placed higher in the poll result, Ferris responded: “Well, given where the poll came from, we’re not too worried about it.”

The comments refer to the recent controversy surrounding Curia founder David Farrar and accusations made in Dirty Work, the new book by investigative journalist Nicky Hager. In the book, Hager outlines Farrar’s close relationship with prominent right-wing lobby group the Taxpayers’ Union.

Sherman was quick to defend the validity of the polls: “We have had the polls independently checked whānau and the research methodology is sound.” But that didn’t stop the laughs and applause from the crowd in response to Ferris’s comments.

Mananui Ramsden promises Labour’s SolarSaver policy will be implemented the day after the election

Though not quite as bad as Christopher Luxon’s on-the-fly commitment to hold a referendum on the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system if re-elected, Ramsden’s party leader Chris Hipkins would’ve turned a Labour billboard shade of pink at his candidate’s comments about the party’s SolarSaver policy being ready to launch on 8 November, the day after the election.

“So you’re saying it’s going to happen on November 8?” asked Wilcox. Ramsden was quick to respond, “let’s do it Julian, let’s do it. What’s holding us back? Aim big, hit big, eh?” he replied.

“Does your leader know you’re making promises to deliver on November 8?” Sherman quickly asked, drawing some laughs from the crowd.

The crowd interjects

 Allowing the crowd to ask questions is nothing new in a political debate. But when that crowd is filled with impassioned Māori voters from the electorate, there is a risk they will make their voices heard, even when not being asked to do so.

The first question from the crowd related to the proposed disestablishment of the Waitangi Tribunal and Ramsden was quick to defend his party’s stance on the tribunal. Green candidate Te Morenga stated her party would seek to make the tribunal’s recommendations binding, which prompted a member of the crowd to ask if Ramsden had anything to say to that.

Although the interjection was quickly shut down by the co-moderators, it only fed into the narrative of Māori within the Labour Party being restricted by the party’s moderate leadership and machinery.

Ferris says he’d work with a National-Act-New Zealand First coalition

 When pressed by the co-moderators on whether he’d be willing to work with the current government coalition after the next election, Ferris responded that if there was no change to the government but he had the chance to “go in there and do something about it, I’d go in there”. Green candidate Te Morenga was quick to interject, saying “I wouldn’t sell my soul”. Ferris responded by saying he wouldn’t sell his soul either, but he also wouldn’t leave his people “to be hung out to dry for three years either”.

Te Morenga borrows the “unapologetically Māori” stance from Te Pāti Māori, only for it to backfire horrendously

In one of the stranger turns of the debate, Greens candidate Te Morenga criticised Labour’s leadership, stating the party’s position is “summed up by their billboards, where everyone is standing behind the white man who leads their party”.

“Is there something wrong with being a white man?” Sherman asked Te Morenga, who questioned who the politicians in Labour were answering to.

Sherman later raised Te Morenga’s criticism with Ramsden, who said: “Come on guys, it’s 2026. I’m a colour-free Māori that was raised in Ōtautahi.”

Te Morenga reiterated that she was criticising the fact Māori MPs in Labour have to “stand behind the Pākehās running the party”. Embarrassingly for Te Morenga, Sherman highlighted that the Greens were led by a Pākehā co-leader in Chlöe Swarbrick. “They don’t run our party, our membership runs our party”, replied Te Morenga. Sherman said the same could be argued for Labour.

The dirty laundry between Ferris and Te Pāti Māori gets aired out

 “Te Tai Tonga never left the party, the party left Te Tai Tonga,” Ferris said when asked by Wilcox if the people of the electorate could trust him following his very public falling out with Te Pāti Māori.

While Sherman was asking Te Pāti Maōri candidate Marie Murch about Ferris’s expulsion, he could audibly be heard saying “she doesn’t need to answer that”, appearing to stand up for his replacement in the party. However, Ferris could be seen on screen trying to keep a straight face as Marie Murch attempted to reconcile the party’s differences with Ferris.

However, Marie Murch then criticised Ferris, saying she hasn’t done wrong and “wasn’t asked to apologise for my behaviour online when I was doing racist rants”. The comments quickly drew some gasps from the crowd and revealed that there is seemingly no love lost between Te Pāti Māori and Ferris.