Former Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira is urging Te Pāti Māori to rebuild unity, warning that Māori are confronting the “greatest barrage of racist, anti-treaty, anti-environment, anti-worker legislation we have ever seen,” while the party is “tearing itself apart with not an enemy in sight.”
In a statement released publicly on social media late Tuesday evening, Harawira said he had stayed silent until now because Māori voices are often ‘misinterpreted’ and turned ‘into racist click-bait,’ and because ongoing internal arguments risk obscuring ‘the bigger picture.’
That picture, he says, is the escalating hardship facing Māori including “benefit cuts, rising prices, Treaty rights stripped, land rights removed, school food programs slashed, language belittled, drugs and alcohol, homelessness, domestic violence, joblessness, jail, suicide all on the rise.” Harawira said “our people are hurting, in ways many of us just can’t see.”
His comments come ahead of a Te Tai Tokerau Hui ā Kanohi on 23 November at Kohewhata Marae, convened after Te Rūnanga o Ngāpuhi Chair Mane Tahere wrote to Te Pāti Māori’s National Executive expressing disappointment at what he called the “unconstitutional removal” of Te Tai Tokerau’s elected representative, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi.
Harawira said the turmoil contrasts sharply with last year’s nationwide Treaty mobilisations, when Māori “arrived in Wellington in a blaze of Treaty power” and “gave our people hope that our unity could overcome,” only for that unity to now be replaced with “taihoa – we’ll just tear it all apart and start again.”
In his statement, Harawira said ‘our people’ would not support the expulsion of the two MPs, but nor would they support removing the current leadership, arguing that ‘the solution isn’t in blaming anyone or in one side winning and the other side losing.’
He also rejected talk of forming a new party, recalling “the confusion and sadness on the faces of our kuia” during the 2011 split, something he “would never want to see again.”
Harawira said unity is essential as the party heads toward the 2026 election, “Only with a strong united front of Te Pāti Māori MPs can we lead a Māori, Greens, Labour coalition to throw this government out in 2026. If we don’t get rid of them next year… all the gains of the past 25 years will be lost.”
He urged MPs to “rebuild the strength, commitment and unity of Team Māori,” drawing on “the humility and grace I see every day in Korotangi,” “the magic that Hana brings,” and “the very special talents that each of our MPs has.”
Harawira also confirmed he is not seeking any role within Te Pāti Māori, “I’m not putting my hand up for MP for the Tai Tokerau, nor am I wanting to be the President of Te Pāti Māori.”
He concluded with seven recommendations - reinstating the expelled MPs, bringing the team together, agreeing on a plan to manage disputes, issuing a public commitment to Māori, and taking the caucus on a “national reconciliation tour” before getting “back to ^#$% work. We got a government to overthrow.”
