In a convoy stretching along Hamurana Road, members arrived with Te Pāti Māori car flags flying and what appeared to be built up anticipation.
Among them were party president John Tamihere, MPs, electorate executives, and reinstated Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, arriving with Oriini Kaipara after Friday’s interim High Court order forced her return.
Heavyweights of the movement were present, Dame Naida Glavish, Tame Iti, Amokura Panoho to name a small few, and a strong representative of electorate members from across the motu, notably also was members from Te Tai Tonga, whose own MP remains expelled. A far cry from the modest 20 at last year’s AGM.
Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke arrived later in the day, to members eager for photos and the media pack pivoting quickly to capture her entrance.
As the pōwhiri rolled on under blazing Te Arawa heat, speakers opened with warm acknowledgements before the tone shifted.
Former Kiingitanga spokesperson and advisor to Kaipara, Ngira Simmonds, rose and asked the question many have been whispering: who is the lion biting within Te Pāti Māori?
Ko wai te raiona e ngau nei i a tātou?
He referenced Parliament’s debating chamber as the lions’ den, then turned the metaphor inward.
He asked who had truly bitten Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, Tākuta Ferris and even Oriini Kaipara, insinuating it was the Party’s leadership. He spoke of kotahitanga, of Kiingi Tuheitia’s 2024 call for unity, and of the mamae felt across te ao Māori as the party publicly fractured.
He challenged whether president John Tamihere, along with co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, were the right people to unite the movement.
His kōrero landed with several standing in waiata to support him, as he put on record the fractures that have been playing out across multiple fronts - online, in the media, in the courts, and now on the ātea.
In response, Waititi acknowledged the depth of feeling expressed, saying the pain voiced there was real and reflected what many across te ao Māori were carrying.
He also noted that what is said on the ātea remains on the ātea, a tikanga boundary that honours hard kōrero without inflaming it further beyond the marae.
Inside the AGM: limited by the Court, contained by order
On Friday late afternoon, Justice Radich of the High Court delivered his interim ruling reinstating Kapa-Kingi meant the AGM could not debate or resolve anything beyond receiving reports.
No motions, remits or challenges that relate specifically to that pending hearing were able to be addressed.
For some, this felt like a gagging order that neutralised the very kaupapa many had travelled to confront.
Tamihere defended the restrictions, saying the party was bound by the court and had not initiated proceedings.
“We had a court order saying we could only discuss what was in front of us. Te Pāti Māori never filed proceedings. Those proceedings were filed by Kapa-Kingi. We just go with the system.”
Asked whether the court case prevented real progress, he acknowledged the constraints but argued the AGM still served a purpose.
“Resetting confidence out of the majority of the electorates. They turned up in big numbers. They felt they were being adversely impacted, not by leadership, but by the conduct of others,” he said.
He dismissed suggestions that without reinstating expelled MPs the party risks losing Māori support.
“We’ve got time on our side to repair something based on feelings and personality, as opposed to good process, good policy, good programme and good politics. The numbers that will matter are at the election,” he said.
Co-leaders: unity expressed, but not resolved
Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer after the hui, emphasising the scale of turnout and the party’s kanohi ki te kanohi strength.
“We really thrive in face-to-face spaces. We had up to nine hours with our people. Some of the busiest people in their marae turned up to make sure their movement heard them,” Ngarewa-Packer said.
They said the message was clear, electorates run the movement, and MPs are accountable to them.
“The noise of social media and even media guessing what is coming out of Te Pāti Māori was proved wrong today. They owned their space,” she said.
Ngarewa-Packer told media that after Simmonds’ wero, he approached them and said the kōrero reflected a strength within the party - willing to confront issues openly and kanohi ki te kanohi.
Both leaders said they were unable to comment further on Kapa-Kingi’s reinstatement or the expulsions, with the substantive judicial review scheduled for February.
“My comments may predetermine an outcome in February, so we’re not going to charge that question. This is about our people.” Waititi said.
After the AGM: competing views on whether anything was achieved
For some members, simply gathering in large numbers, seeing MPs and leadership front-on, and hearing kotahitanga affirmed again was enough to steady the waka temporarily.
For others, the day felt hollow, stripped of its decision-making power, unable to address the very issues that brought the crowd there.
Several described it as polite but directionless, a holding pattern until the court decides the party’s fate.
Kapa-Kingi, now reinstated pending the full hearing, said however all was not lost.
“Today has been a great day to show face as the Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, who never left. Today we reaffirmed the resolutions settled upon by the people of Te Tai Tokerau at our Kohewhata hui. Looking forward to returning to the House this week to hold this government to account and continue to be the voice of Te Tai Tokerau,“ she said.
What is at stake?
Despite hopes this AGM would act as a reset, little substantive change can occur until the High Court rules on the expulsions.
The full hearing is scheduled for early February, days before Waitangi, injecting the party’s internal turbulence directly into one of the most politically charged weeks of the year.
Beyond the legal battle lies an even bigger test, whether Te Pāti Māori can restore trust among its base, turn out electors, and replicate the major victories it achieved in the last election.
The numbers that will matter, as Tamihere noted, are the ones delivered at the ballot box.
Where to from here?
Attention now shifts to Te Tai Tonga, where the electorate executive has invited the party’s national leadership to Ōtautahi for a tikanga-based process aimed at repairing relationships and hohou te rongo.
The hui, open to all of Te Tai Tonga, will be held next Sunday, but John Tamihere has confirmed he will be unable to attend due to a whānau commitment.
It is understood a different date was proposed.
It will be the first major post-AGM test of whether the party and its electorates can speak openly, confront hard truths, and decide together how to steady the waka.
As it loomed today, the substantive hearing in February sits in the background, a reminder that while the kōrero on the ātea may stay on the ātea, the courtroom will ultimately determine how much of the party’s future remains in its own hands.
