Labour Party announces Te Pūoho Katene as final candidate for Māori seats

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Labour Party has announced its final candidate for the Māori seats in this year’s election, as the contest in various electorates heats up.

Te Pūoho Katene, a Fulbright scholar from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, says it’s a privilege to be selected to contest Te Tai Hauāuru.

He told RNZ he could see where politics focused on the negative, and he wanted to see “hope returned to the table”.

It comes as Associate Professor of Politics Lara Greaves told RNZ there will be a lot of “tight and interesting and very unpredictable races” in the Māori seats.

The Victoria University of Wellington professor said the Māori seats contest would be “incredibly important” for the overall result, after last election saw an overhang created in Parliament.

“Before all of this Pāti Māori drama last year, I was expecting to see the potential for a greater overhang being created.

“Now it’s kind of hard to tell exactly what’s going to happen, but I still think that the Māori electorates are incredibly important.”

Greaves said it was a possibility to see Te Pāti Māori gone entirely, or Te Pāti Māori secure many electorate seats – both scenarios would change “the math” of the makeup of Parliament.

She said they would be unpredictable because the range of contests in the mix, with Labour, Greens, Te Pāti Māori and potential independent candidates running.

“It’s really on a race by race, electorate by electorate basis,” said Greaves, acknowledging the possibility of votes being split with the Greens.

Greaves said Te Pāti Māori had gone down in the polls and expected some kind of effect on the different electorate races, but couldn’t say how exactly that would play out, including whether some MPs would be punished more than others.

She cited Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke as an example, who came out of that “drama situation” looking “fairly put together.”

“Whereas others, perhaps their reputation has been a bit damaged by it.”

Regardless, Greaves said the Māori electorates would likely have a “pretty big influence” on the election.

“They are a feature of the electoral system that could be used strategically.”

Labour’s candidates

Kātene, of Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Whaatua descent, joined a line-up of candidates running for Labour that included sitting MPs and new faces.

Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, who was the only Labour MP to secure a Māori seat last election, would run for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti again.

Willow-Jean Prime would run against the Greens Hūhana Lyndon and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi in Te Tai Tokerau.

Kingi Kiriona, the deputy chairperson of Te Māngai Pāho, would run in Hauraki-Waikato for Labour.

Former Auckland councillor Kerrin Leoni would run in Tāmaki Makaurau, where Te Pāti Māori’s Oriini Kaipara is the current MP.

Former chair of Te Rūnanga o Koukourarata Mananui Ramsden would run in Te Tai Tonga, where Tākuta Ferris holds the seat as an independent.

Whakatāne District Councillor Toni Boynton, an advocate for Māori wards, would run in Waiariki again where co-leader of Te Pāti Māori Rawiri Waititi has held the seat since 2020. While losing the candidate vote, Boynton won the party vote for Labour in 2023.

Kātene told RNZ studying abroad, including with a scholarship in Japan, had shown him how Māori culture “translates across borders.”

His study at Stanford looked at “kumara economics” and the idea that “money is like a kumara” and its “true value lies in its ability to feed people.”

“That’s what I’ve been doing in my day job and in my governance roles, making sure that we can position this Māori economy to drive transformative change for our people and our communities.”

He was humble in his acknowledgment of Debbie Ngarewa-Packer who holds Te Tai Hauāuru currently for Te Pāti Māori.

“She has been fighting a strong fight for a long time, even before her time in Parliament, for her people.

“That’s an important element to bring into these kind of conversations,” said Kātene, who acknowledged he brought a certain set of skills and experiences.

“They’re different from whaea Debbie’s and from the other candidates.”

Labour’s strategy

Labour’s campaign chairperson Willie Jackson told RNZ the candidates selected were of a high caliber in terms of Māori who had done well in terms of Te Ao Māori.

“We’ve got real skills in terms of te reo Māori, in terms of business, in terms of Mana Wāhine, and well known in terms of their own electorates,” said Jackson.

“I think we’re going to go close to winning just about every every seat.”

Jackson said the party’s strategy was “simple”, and the party had a “clear economic policy strategy.”

“In terms of the needs of our people, those needs are in the housing, health and jobs area.

He spoke of getting rid of “rubbish legislation” the current government was implementing, including “watering down the Treaty”.

When asked what was in it for Māori specifically, he referenced the previous Labour government’s “one billion dollar of investment.”

Distinguishing Labour from Te Pāti Māori he said Labour was the leading party in the country.

“We’re the ones who roll the money out.

“Why would you waste a party vote there?

“Don’t be wasting your time with the Māori Party.”

He rejected the notion of making deals between parties.

Green Party candidates

The Greens had three candidates selected so far: Hūhana Lyndon who had run in Te Tai Tokerau previously, Heather Te Au-Skipworth running in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and Tania Waikato in Waiariki.

Co-leader Marama Davidson said the party was putting its “full backing” behind Lyndon who had a “massive chance” in the northern seat.

“She has got a real reputation and record for being on the ground with whānau, but also taking your voice into the house, into the hallways of power.”

Te Au-Skipworth had previously been a Te Pāti Māori candidate, while Waikato represented Te Pāti Maori in the Privileges Committee.

Asked why they had moved to the Green Party, Davidson told RNZ it “wasn’t about any other political party.”

“This is about the Green Party having held the space for Te Ao Māori politics for decades now.

“You can’t have environmental protection and climate protection and social justice without upholding Te Tiriti.

“So it’s actually about us. We’ve always been holding this line as a movement, as a party, and we’re grateful that more and more people are starting to see that and know that about the Green Party.

Like Jackson, Davidson said there would be no deals between parties or arrangements made to secure seats.

“No one owns any electorates. No one owns any seats. That is really up to the people to decide” she said.

Te Pāti Māori MPs and the seats themselves

Te Pāti Māori has yet to confirm its candidates for this year, that will come in a few weeks.

Tākuta Ferris’ plans were yet to be announced as well, but a social media post on Tuesday from the Te Tai Tonga electorate stated its executive had “formally resigned” their positions effectively immediately.

“We will no longer compromise our integrity or values by enabling bad leadership,” the post read. Ferris has been approached for comment.

And it’s still unclear whether Mariameno Kapa Kingi will run as a candidate for Te Pāti Māori, or an independent.

The National Party has said it would run candidates in the Māori seats, but none had been selected yet.

Meanwhile, New Zealand First planned to campaign this year on a referendum regarding the existence of the seats themselves.

The ACT party has long held the position it would abolish the seats.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand