The results are in from the latest Māori electoral option, a period when tangata whenua and those of Māori descent can switch between the general and Māori electoral rolls. During the option, which ran between March 31 and July 13, 40,000 eligible voters interacted with the process by changing rolls, enrolling to vote or updating their details (like their address so they’re voting in the right electorate). In total, 14,587 people changed rolls, 8,109 to the Māori roll and 6,478 to the general roll. Regarding enrolments, 2,133 new voters registered for the Māori roll and 1,108 signed up for the general roll. Details were updated for 22,136 New Zealanders.

This option was the first since it was established in 1975 that eligible voters could switch between rolls freely, thanks to a law change that came into effect on March 31. The new rules allow anyone with Māori whakapapa to switch between rolls whenever they please until three months before an election, and this year the deadline was midnight July 13. Although that date has passed, eligible voters who aren’t yet enrolled can still choose which roll they want to be on when they sign up with the Electoral Commission. These same rules will apply to future elections, starting with the 2025 local elections. 

Previous legislation only allowed people with Māori whakapapa to switch rolls during a short, four-month window once every five to six years, which was criticised as being undemocratic. If the previous rules were maintained, Māori wouldn’t have been able to change rolls until 2024 – after this year’s general election and six years since the last opportunity to swap rolls in 2018. 

Read why eligible voters chose between the general and Māori electoral rolls. 

Grant Robertson has paid personal tribute to Kiri Allan in parliament this afternoon, praising “a person of extraordinary talent, intellect, heart, and mana”, while issuing a challenge to members on all sides of the house.

The senior Labour minister acknowledged that his now former cabinet colleague, who faces charges for careless driving and refusing to accompany a police officer following a car crash on Sunday night, had no option but to resign and needed to be accountable. At the same time, Allan, who this afternoon announced she would not stand in the October election, had enriched parliament, he said, during an urgent debate granted by the speaker in response to a request from the leader of the Act party, David Seymour. Others to speak in a debate that was alternately awkward and moving included Golriz Ghahraman, Rawiri Waititi, Willie Jackson and Mark Mitchell.

For many who encountered Allan first after her stage-three cancer diagnosis in 2021, “what people saw there was a person who exhibited the strong qualities of leadership, and of courage and of bravery and also of enormous intellect,” he said.

“My reflection is that, as a group of people here, we are stronger and better for the diversity that is in this house. We are stronger and better for making sure that people can see a career in politics even if they’re not perfect. From time to time, myself and others have stood in this house and probably said and done things preying on the imperfections. It’s part of what we do here, and it’s not always right. But I especially think, when we know and when Minister Allan has been brave enough and courageous enough to talk about her own mental health struggles, that we do, as a parliament, need to think about … how we make it possible for people to be able to fulfil those roles with a diverse set of backgrounds, with a diverse set of current experiences, including struggles with mental health. I think we can do better, and I do include myself in that along with everybody else.”

Robertson continued: “I mihi to Kiritapu for the way she’s talked about mental health. I think it’s opened up conversations just in the way that she talked about cancer. It’s opened up conversations among New Zealanders that weren’t happening. She should be proud of that and we should support her and others in doing so — and I acknowledge my old student political colleague Todd Muller in this regard as well, as another person in this House who also did that. We do need, as a country, to understand the importance of mental health as an issue and understanding how we support people in all walks of life to be able to stay well, and when they are struggling, to be able to be supported to retain their wellbeing and get back to the place that they want to be.”

He concluded his speech by saying: “I am very confident that in years to come, her name will be heard again as doing something significant for Aotearoa New Zealand. She is a person who will make change for the better in the future in her life. What we want for her now is to be able to be given the space and the time to get well, for her situation not to be unnecessarily politicised, but for all of us in this House to gather around her, her whānau, and her friends and give them the aroha and support that they deserve. Kiritapu, we are thinking of you, you are one of our whānau, and we will always love you.”

Kiri Allan has announced she’s stepping away from politics and won’t contest this year’s election.

In a post to her Instagram, Allan, who resigned as a minister yesterday morning, said she had “failed all those” that had put their trust and confidence in her. “I have let my electorate down, my party down, and all those that relied on me,” she said. “Being the representative for the East Coast has been the greatest privilege of my life. But my actions have let everyone down.”

Her post continued: “To the prime minister – I have undermined you and the trust you placed in me to do an important job for New Zealand. I cannot express the remorse I feel. I am so, so sorry.”

Allan’s resignation followed a late night car crash on Sunday night. She was charged with careless driving and refusing to accompany a police officer. Questions still remain around the timeline of events on Sunday, but by 7.30am the following morning, Allan had stepped down from her ministerial posts.

“To my colleagues and party members. I can’t describe how full of anger towards myself for letting you all down,” Allan said today. “Only a Labour led government can deliver the strength and support our communities need. I pray my actions do not impact the political landscape – my actions were mine, and mine alone.”

Allan also apologised to her constituents, but pledged to stay on as an MP until the election. “I am so proud to have been your representative in parliament, and I am so sorry to have let you down in a time when our region is hurting so much. I will continue to serve you as a MP until October and my offices are open with our arms wide open,” she wrote.

It was now time to “step out of the arena”, said Allen, as she needed to take time out to heal and “chart a new course for my life”.

There has so far been no word from the prime minister as to Allan’s decision to leave politics. However, earlier in the day, her close caucus colleague Willie Jackson suggested it would best for Allan if she didn’t run in this year’s election.

Allan’s Instagram post concluded with a lengthy quote from former US president Theodore Roosevelt, which just so happened to be the same quote shared by Stuart Nash to social media when he announced he too would be stepping away from politics in October.

New Zealand loves museums. There’s one for virtually anything you can think of. But if you saw something of yours in a public museum, would you want it back? And is there any way for a national museum to ethically record Aotearoa’s history? In the season finale of 2 Cents 2 Much, Janaye Henry talks to head of mātauranga Māori at Te Papa, Migoto Eria, about the ethics of collecting cultural items and putting them in a glass case. Plus, what would it look like to “curate” items that don’t belong to you today?

Kiri Allan should take a break from politics and not stand at this year’s election, her former cabinet colleague Willie Jackson said.

The Māori development minister is a friend of Allan’s and was seen supporting her during her a media appearance as she returned to parliament last week.

As reported by Stuff, Jackson said that contesting the October election was Allan’s call, but he believed she should choose against it.

“I love Kiri. This is a terrific young woman… if I had been in Wellington, it might not have happened,” he told reporters.

Jackson spoke to Allan at about 6pm on Sunday night, just hours before she crashed her car and was taken into police custody. “She wasn’t in a good way,” Jackson said of Allan. However, their conversation ended on a positive note and he didn’t believe she needed immediate help.

“You can have a good korero with her and then start off in a crazy sort of mode and then end up falling over in laughter you know, which is where we were at on Sunday. And then of course, it all fell apart later.”

Allan has returned home where she will contemplate her future in politics.

Unrelated to the necessary reshuffle that resulted following Kiri Allan’s resignation, David Parker has relinquished the revenue portfolio. Parker admitted last week that he was “disappointed” in the prime minister’s decision to kill off a proposed tax switch, saying it was something he personally supported. The prime minister said Parker requested to pass on revenue to Barbara Edmonds, “freeing him up to focus on transport.”

Parker picked up the transport portfolio after Michael Wood resigned. These resignations and reshuffles are creating delays in decision-making. BusinessDesk’s Oliver Lewis reported yesterday (paywalled) that work on the additional harbour crossing in Auckland had been delayed, in part due to the need for Parker to get up to speed with it and other issues in his portfolio. The government was due to confirm its preferred option for the additional crossing in June.

Want to read The Bulletin in full? Click here to subscribe and join over 38,000 New Zealanders who start each weekday with the biggest stories in politics, business, media and culture.  

This morning’s media round by prime minister Chris Hipkins wasn’t always easy listening.

Mike Hosking opened his interview by simply asking “why do you sound depressed”, before launching into questions on the downfall of minister Kiri Allan. “I’m not depressed, Mike,” said Hipkins, “it’s not been a great couple of weeks. Very difficult set of circumstances we’ve been dealing with in the last 48 hours and I accept that.”

The prime minister acknowledged that in politics, a week can be a long time – and anything could still happen between now and October 14. He also reflected on his six months in the top job, noting “it’s been an incredibly challenging start to the year” with natural disasters coupled with internal Labour Party issues. “We move on, we focus forward,” he said.

On RNZ, Hipkins was asked whether he had ignored any red flags during the time in which Allan had been off work and ultimately allowed to return last week. “In any situation like this looking back in retrospect there are things you could do differently, as prime minister I have to make decisions with the information I have at the time,” said Hipkins. “I think it’s a terrible set of circumstances. Kiri was seeking professional support and the feedback I had received through her was she was ready to come back to work.”

In a piece for Newsroom today, political editor Jo Moir analysed the way in which politics handle mental health issues. Yesterday, that included National’s Christopher Luxon suggesting the prime minister should have sought out clinical approval to allow Allan to return to work. Hipkins said he didn’t think that was appropriate, but he’d had a number of conversations before Allan came back to parliament. “All of the steps that Christopher Luxon set out yesterday, I effectively had done all of those,” Hipkins said.

The prime minister told Newshub’s AM that “people make mistakes” and he could only make decisions with the information he had at the time. He said he’d been in touch with Allan again last night, but just via text message. “She’s clearly in a position where she needs a bit of space,” said Hipkins. “She’s very apologetic and full of regret for what has happened.” He encouraged her to stop reading the news for a bit and “disconnect… I think it is important that she looks after herself.”