Te Pati Māori’s candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau, Oriini Kaipara, has offered some backhanded praise to her chief rival, Peeni Henare, as potential prime ministerial material.
The two candidates appeared in separate Q+A interviews, broadcast this morning, as voting gets underway in the by-election for the electorate.
Henare, an existing Labour Party list MP and the previous holder of the seat before the last election, emphasised his party’s focus on “jobs, health and homes”.
Kaipara has repeatedly urged voters to help her gain Te Pati Māori another seat in Parliament, as Henare would still remain a list MP if he were to lose.
In a slightly unusual pitch, the former broadcaster argued on Q+A that Henare belonged in Labour’s top job rather than competing for the same seat she’s seeking.
“Peeni would be a formidable leader for the Labour Party to become, possibly the very first [Māori] prime minister. I think that’s more important than Tāmaki Makaurau,” she said.
“Who should be the leader of our nation as the first Māori Prime Minister? I want to give that back to Peeni Henare.”
She argued the Labour MP couldn’t possibly both lead the country in the future and be the best candidate to represent the people of the electorate.
“When you look at the density of Māori living in Tāmaki Makaurau, we have a third of the total Māori population just in this electorate alone,” she said.
Responding in his interview, Henare said: “Look, every PM that I’ve had the good fortune of meeting has been an electorate MP. They do great work in the electorate.”
He added, “I don’t accept that you must put all of your focus there, because ultimately, politics is about people. That’s your electorate, and I think too, that is the country.”
The Labour MP had previously been suggested as a potential leadership contender when Chris Hipkins’ leadership looked uncertain after Labour’s defeat at the last election.
Candidates under scrutiny for policies and records
In joining the Tāmaki Makaurau race, Kaipara made a high-profile entry into politics after spending over a decade as a journalist and broadcaster, including working for TVNZ.
When Te Pāti Māori announced Kaipara would contest the race, the party said its candidate would “champion” the party’s mana motuhake policy package, including a first right of refusal for mana whenua over culturally significant private land.
Questioned how the policy would work, the candidate said she needed to get back with details, saying the issue required consultation with people who understood “the intricacies of iwi politics, [and] of grassroots politics”.
She added that the goal of the policy was clear, but “how we achieve that, that’s to be determined and discussed amongst the party”.
Kaipara appeared to struggle to explain in detail — momentarily reaching for her phone — after being repeatedly pressed about whether her party had secured any wins that “materially improved the lives of te iwi Māori” over its past two terms in Parliament.
In answering the question earlier, Kaipara said Te Pāti Māori had been a key driver of last year’s national hīkoi against the Treaty Principles Bill and opposing “assaults on being a Maori inside Parliament”, arguing that the party’s stand had a deep impact.
“There is real fear amongst Māori communities that we can’t even leave our own front doorstep without having to change a part of us, and that’s the fight we’re talking about.
“It’s not just in policy and politics. It’s about ensuring that there is a concerted effort to stop the racism, to stop the prejudice, because we’ve lived far too long in this.”
Meanwhile, Henare again defended his personal view that the Government’s gang patch ban should be repealed. A position which had rankled him earlier this month, as Labour supports keeping the ban if elected, with Chris Hipkins saying Henare was “mistaken”.
“I spoke to a mama who talked about her young person getting into trouble. Why? Because they are struggling to live. There is a cost-of-living challenge. We know that if we don’t address those, whanau fall through the cracks,” he said.
“A cousin of mine has it tattooed on his face. How’s banning a gang patch going to stop my cousin from walking around on the streets? … Let’s focus on those drivers of why whānau find themselves in these situations. Fix those and I think we’ll be a lot better off.”
Pressed that some feel safer not seeing patches in public, Henare contended that “well, you know, parts of South Auckland, it isn’t in a patch. It’s the colour of a T-shirt.”
The former Cabinet minister also defended the record of the previous government he served as part of. Henare said: “We didn’t get everything perfectly right in our last opportunity as government, and there are lessons in there.”
For the full interviews, watch the videos above
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air