Opinion: As a Māori wahine, I have watched the controversy surrounding Kerrin Leoni with concern. What we are witnessing is not simply a debate about one candidate. It is an attempt to turn whakapapa, whānau obligations and association into weapons, denying voters the right to make their own judgement.
On 23 October, Leoni resigned as Labour’s candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau after a video showed her wearing Labour campaign gear at a whānau fundraising event in Papakura attended by Mongrel Mob members. On 26 October, she confirmed she would remain in the race and sit as an independent MP if elected. Her name remains on the ballot alongside Labour’s name and logo, and the Electoral Commission has confirmed votes for her will be valid and counted.
Leoni has acknowledged that people will hold different views about her resignation and that her response during the Whakaata Māori election debate could have provided more context. Public representatives must be accountable for their decisions and conduct. But accountability must be grounded in evidence, applied fairly and ultimately tested by the people they seek to represent.
The question is whether political parties, commentators and opponents should be able to decide that a Māori candidate is disqualified because she did not walk away from her whānau.
Attending a whānau gathering where gang members are present is not, in itself, proof of endorsing criminal activity. From a Māori worldview, whānau relationships are complex and enduring. We do not choose every circumstance into which we are born, and our family connections do not disappear because they become politically inconvenient.
There is integrity in refusing to abandon your family simply because others may use that relationship against you. For Māori, whānau is not a disposable association to be managed during an election campaign. It is a source of identity and a responsibility that carries obligations across generations.
That does not excuse violence, drug dealing or other offending. Our communities deserve safety, women and children deserve protection, victims deserve justice, and offenders must be held accountable. But accountability and whānau integrity are not mutually exclusive. We can condemn violence without demanding that people deny their family, and scrutinise a candidate without treating whakapapa as evidence of personal wrongdoing.
The political double standard is impossible to ignore. National has also faced scrutiny over photographs reportedly showing senior figures, including Tama Potaka and Christopher Luxon, alongside patched gang members, and Erica Stanford speaking with someone wearing Black Power regalia. The circumstances may differ, but the principle must be consistent.
Association cannot be treated as proof of endorsement when politically useful, then dismissed when it implicates another party. If context matters, it must matter for everyone. The public deserves consistent scrutiny, facts and fairness, not selective outrage.
This is ultimately about power. Who defines acceptable political conduct? Who decides which relationships are respectable and which are disqualifying? Who gets to speak for Tāmaki Makaurau: political parties, media commentators and opponents, or the voters themselves?
Democracy is not strengthened when party leaders or political campaigns make that decision on behalf of the public. It is strengthened when voters have the facts, hear the arguments and are trusted to exercise their own judgement.
Any serious discussion about gangs must also confront the role of the State. The Abuse in Care Royal Commission documented the devastating consequences of children being removed from their whānau and subjected to abuse, violence and cultural disconnection. The Waitangi Tribunal has examined the experiences of people who entered State care and later became gang members. For some, gangs offered belonging, identity and protection when whānau, communities and institutions had failed them.
This history does not excuse violence or diminish victims’ suffering. It demands an honest reckoning with institutional failures and their intergenerational consequences. Safer communities require effective policing and consequences for offending, alongside prevention, rehabilitation, education, housing, employment and support for victims and whānau. They require political courage, not slogans and selective outrage.
For Māori across Aotearoa, access to healthcare, secure housing, quality education and decent employment also matters. Government decisions must respect Māori rights and honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi. These are the issues that shape whether whānau can thrive.
Leoni is no longer Labour’s endorsed candidate. If elected, she says she will serve as an independent and work constructively with anyone committed to improving the lives of our people. Voters can consider the controversy, weigh her explanation and decide whether she deserves their confidence.
That choice belongs to them, not to political parties, the media or anyone seeking to turn whakapapa into a campaign tactic.
Political accountability must mean accountability to communities, not simply obedience to party leadership. The people of Tāmaki Makaurau have the right to decide whether Leoni’s conduct reflects poor judgement, political courage, whānau integrity or some combination of all three.
Whānau relationships should not be weaponised to silence candidates or manipulate voters. Nor should Māori be forced to choose between political respectability and loyalty to family.
On 7 November, the people of Tāmaki Makaurau will have their say. That decision belongs to them.
Louisa Wall is Chair of the Tūwharetoa Iwi Māori Partnership Board and a long-standing advocate for Indigenous rights, health equity, and Takatāpui SOGIESC+ (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics) inclusion. A former Member of Parliament, she is widely recognised for her leadership in advancing marriage equality and human rights across Aotearoa and the Pacific.
