This article was first published on RNZ.
Labour’s counting on its track record in government to win back the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate, while Te Pāti Māori says its voice is needed to “push boundaries”.
The contest between frontrunners Labour’s Peeni Henare and Te Pāti Māori’s Oriini Kaipara increasingly appears to be a choice between a former Labour minister and a first-time candidate backed by a resurgent Te Pāti Māori.
With less than a week until polls close, which voice do Māori want? The establishment or the anti-establishment?
The Tāmaki Makaurau electorate stretches from the Waitākere Ranges to Bucklands Beach. It includes most of Auckland’s southern and eastern suburbs, as well as Waiheke Island.
Of the Māori electorates, it has the highest average annual household income - at nearly $130,000 - but also the highest number of people on the jobseeker benefit.
At the end of July, nearly 44,000 people were enrolled to vote in Tāmaki Makaurau - almost half of them under 40.
Officially, there are five candidates on the ballot paper - including Kelvyn Alp from New Zealand Loyal, Hannah Tamaki from Vision New Zealand and Sherry Lee Matene as an independent.
But in 2023, the Labour and Te Pāti Māori candidates for the electorate each received more than 10,000 votes - about 80 percent of all votes cast.
So the contest looks to be one of experienced politician versus newcomer, both pitching themselves as best placed to take down the coalition.
In that same 2023 election, Labour lost all but one of the Māori electorates. Peeni Henare himself lost the Tāmaki Makaurau seat to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Tarsh Kemp by 42 votes following a recount.
Since then, Te Pāti Māori has gained strength, helping to bring tens of [ thousands of people to Parliament under the Toitū te Tiriti banner in response to the Treaty Principles Bill.
A year out from the next general election, this particular race will be important in determining whether Labour has done enough to start winning back the Māori seats.
This race is not only about the candidates themselves, although that distinction is clear.
Henare has been a Labour MP since 2014, and held the Tāmaki Makaurau seat between 2014 and 2023. He was also a Cabinet Minister under Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins. Kaipara has never previously run for political office.
What is also fascinating is the historical link between the parties. Te Pāti Māori was born out of a sense of Labour Party betrayal. The party’s first MP, also elected in a by-election, was former Labour MP, the late Dame Tariana Turia.
She resigned from Helen Clark’s Labour government in protest at the Foreshore and Seabed legislation, which itself prompted thousands to march in protest.
This time, though, neither candidate is campaigning against a Labour government.
In fact, the camaraderie between them is so constant and respectful it barely feels like a campaign trail at all. It feels more like what Labour MP Willie Jackson called “Māori politics” when paying tribute to Kemp in June.
“We can destroy each other, and then, you wouldn’t think it was the same people - we’ll be having a cup of tea and a kai out the back at the marae. It’s the nature of Māori politics.”
Te Ao with Moana host Moana Maniapoto said during her debate they almost felt like friends. “Bro and sis,” Kaipara suggested.
“From the start of this campaign, I’ve always been clear. We’ve got one enemy here and it’s this government,” Henare told RNZ on a campaign drive through South Auckland. “I haven’t spoken on this campaign about attacking Te Pāti Māori, or anyone else, I’m purely focused on this government.”
“Everybody is screaming for this government to get out, this government is doing way too much damage by the hour,” Kaipara told MATA.
On that, they agree. So what do they offer voters that differentiates them?
At Te Pūtahi Māori o Manurewa campus, two students told RNZ which party they preferred and why.
“Probably Labour. Most Māori would say Māori party, but I think that’s a bit biased, because as I see it, Labour is doing more for us than the Māori party themselves. That’s what I see,” one teenager said.
“My family is a Labour Party [supporter], we’ve always been that,” another said. “Seeing Te Pāti Māori though, I am going to lean towards them more, being all Māori rounded. I like how they push boundaries, as seen last year when they did a haka in Parliament, which was never seen before - oh personally by me, I have never seen before.”
Trust the kids to identify one of the key battlegrounds this race - not just the question of experience, but also of extremes.
On the one side, you have Labour, a mainstream party, appealing to the majority. On the other, Te Pāti Māori - less constrained and more able to push the boundaries.
RNZ asked Henare what the number one issue votes were raising with him was. He answered, “Cost of living... by a long shot.”
In fact, when asked about his stance on repealing the gang patch ban which differs to that of his party, he told RNZ nobody had spoken to him about gang patches whilst out door-knocking or campaigning at the markets - it was not a priority.
“Whānau in Tamaki Makaurau, when we knock on their doors, are very clear on what’s important to them.
“A lot of them do not know whether or not they’ll have a job by the end of the month. A lot of them have to wait five weeks to see a GP. A lot of them do not even know if they are going to continue to stay in that house because the landlords are threatening to kick them out.”
He acknowledged the “tide had gone out” on Labour, particularly in Tāmaki Makaurau, after the Covid lockdowns. But he said it felt different now: “I can tell you the tide is going out on this government.”
Kaipara was getting similar feedback regarding the cost of living. They’re campaigning at similar venues and events.
But she offers a voice more in line with the hikoi against the Treaty Principles Bill, more in line with Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke’s haka in Parliament (which Peeni Henare joined). The voice of younger people, for whom mainstream politics doesn’t have a persuasive appeal.
“I am a mum, eh? A mum of four. I have grown up with my children. I was a teen mum. I also have a mokopuna, so I understand the struggle,” Kaipara told RNZ from a voting drive in West Auckland
“I do not think you need to be in Parliament to know or to have an idea of where the problems lie”.
Kaipara said people had lost their jobs “left, right and centre”.
“Whānau living in poverty are always having to pay for the perks of the privileged few.”
She said this mostly affected Māori, and Te Pāti Māori were best placed to respond to that.
“It is the only party that pushes 100 percent and beyond for Māori outcomes, Māori solutions and Māori funding, to Māori by Māori, for Māori - no other party does that.”
When Kaipara’s inexperience was put to co-leader of Te Pāti Māori Rawiri Waititi, he said it was a good thing, because she could speak from her heart.
“When you are not polished, you are not polished on lines, you are not polished on policy, you are able to speak from your ngākau (heart).”
Kaipara is a product of the first Kura Kaupapa Māori in Auckland - Hoani Waititi, which Sir Pita Sharples helped establish. Sharples was also a founding member of Te Pāti Māori and held the Tāmaki Makaurau seat before Henare.
Sharples was also at the voting drive in West Auckland to cast his vote. When asked who he voted for, he jokingly told RNZ he’d forgotten “her” name.
Whatanui Flavell also cast his vote that night. He’s the son of Te Ururoa Flavell, another early Māori Party MP. He’d cast his vote for Kaipara, saying he thought that was the most tactical way of getting rid of this government.
“Dad and them were very much about trying to get results for Te Ao Māori, whereas this current iteration of Te Pāti Māori are more about trying to get our people to wake up and be more politically aware.”
He said the reality was that in his dad’s time, the party never had half the support the current party has, so there are benefits to both sides.
“This by-election is going to tell us a lot about where Māoridom are at in terms of going forward, and really giving us an indication about where we are at leading into the next general election.”
While both candidates have zeroed in on similar topics during debates: the cost of living, housing, health and te reo Māori, one of them has the freedom to push further when it comes to advocating for change.
“Yes, Te Pāti Māori cannot outright, by itself, ever, become the government. Right? By itself. That is a given. That is a known. It is a minority party. It must go into a coalition government,” Kaipara told RNZ.
But it was her party’s role to put transformational ideas on the table, she added, citing Whānau Ora as an example.
“Whānau Ora, as everybody knows, was conceived and ideated by the late Dame Tariana Turia, this is no bragging, it is a fact. It was her baby.”
Henare questioned how realistic some of those ideas were, saying one of the “false promises” Te Pāti Māori had made was to “entrench Te Tiriti o Waitangi”. He explained you needed 75 percent of MPs in the House to agree, or 90 seats.
“They have got five at the moment, they are a long way from getting another.
“What they’re doing is promising our people something that they have no plan to achieve.”
Henare said Labour has “listened” and “learned” after 2023, and acknowledged there were a number of things the party could have done better.
“But in the Māori seats, we smashed the party vote, and we’re proud of that.
“I still managed to get over 10,000 votes and only lost by 40-odd. So all is not lost there for us. I think there is good, fertile ground in the Māori seats to say we are still an option, and that our whanau still support Labour.”
When asked why the electorate should vote for him, Henare answered because “I have got a proud track record of delivering for whānau here in Tāmaki Makaurau. I have done it before, and I know I can do it again.”
Kaipara answered the electorate should vote for her because she was “pono and passionate” about Tāmaki Makaurau.
“I like to push boundaries, break boundaries, break barriers, to inspire other people.
“If I can, then you can.”
By Lillian Hanly of RNZ.
