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(), also known as the Māori Party, is a left-wing
political party in New Zealand New Zealand politics have featured a strong party system since the early 20th century. Usually, all members of Parliament's unicameral House of Representatives belong to a political party. The centre-left New Zealand Labour Party and the cen ...
advocating
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
rights. With the exception of a handful of general electorates, contests the reserved
Māori electorates In Politics of New Zealand, New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats (), are a special category of New Zealand electorates, electorate that give Reserved political positions, reserved positions to repre ...
, in which its main rival is the Labour Party. Under the current leadership of
Rawiri Waititi Rawiri Wikuki Waititi (born 17 October ) is a New Zealand politician and iwi leader. He has been co-leader of Te Pāti Māori since 2020, alongside Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for since 2020, when his ...
and
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer Debbie Anne Ngarewa-Packer is a New Zealand politician, iwi leader and activist. She is a Member of Parliament and co-leader of Te Pāti Māori alongside Rawiri Waititi, and is the chief executive of the Ngāti Ruanui iwi. Ngarewa-Packer st ...
, it promotes the following policies: the upholding of , the dismantling of
systemic racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization that result in and suppor ...
, and the strengthening of the
rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...
and promised in . The party is also committed to a mixture of
socially progressive Progressivism is a left-leaning political philosophy and reform movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has universal application and endeavor to spread this idea to human so ...
and
green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...
policy through a " -centric" lens. This includes eradicating Goods and Services Tax on food, opposing deep sea drilling, organising and funding a
Māori health authority Te Aka Whai Ora () was an independent New Zealand government statutory entity tasked with managing Māori health policies, services, and outcomes. The agency was one of four national bodies that oversaw New Zealand's health system since 2022, ...
, lifting the minimum wage to $25 an hour, returning
Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
land to Māori , and reducing
homelessness Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...
. Since Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer's leadership began in 2020, the party has been described as
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
, and progressive.
Tariana Turia Dame Tariana Turia (née Woon; 8 April 1944 – 3 January 2025) was a New Zealand Māori protest movement, Māori rights activist and politician. She was first elected to New Zealand Parliament, Parliament in 1996 as a representative of the Ne ...
founded the Māori Party in 2004 after resigning from the governing Labour Party, in which she served as a minister, over the foreshore and seabed ownership controversy. She and
Pita Sharples Sir Pita Russell Sharples (born Peter Russell Sharples, 20 July 1941) is a New Zealand Māori academic and politician, who was a co-leader of the Māori Party from 2004 to 2013, and a minister outside Cabinet in the National Party-led governme ...
, a high-profile academic, became the first co-leaders. The party won four Māori seats in the 2005 election and went into Opposition. After the
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
,
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
and
2014 elections * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presidential election 21 February and 10 April 2014 * 2014 ...
, where the party won five, three and two Māori seats respectively, it supported a government led by the
centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...
, with the Māori Party co-leaders serving as ministers outside cabinet. During this time, the party advocated more moderate politics. The party won no seats in the 2017 election, which was analysed as being backlash for their support of National. Under new leadership they returned at the 2020 general election, when Rawiri Waititi won the Waiariki electorate. Although the party's share of the country-wide party vote declined from 1.18% in 2017 to 1.17% in 2020, winning Waiariki gave the party the right to full proportional representation, giving it two MPs, with co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer subsequently becoming a
list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than a geographic electoral district. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs only in ...
. Waititi joined Ngarewa-Packer as co-leader in October 2020 and the pair led the party to win six electorate seats and 3.08% of the popular vote in the 2023 general election.


History


Formation

The origins of Te Pāti Māori can be traced back to the 2004 foreshore and seabed controversy, a debate about whether the
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
have legitimate claim to ownership of part or all of New Zealand's
foreshore The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of Marine habitat, habitats ...
and
seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as seabeds. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...
that arose during the Fifth Labour Government. A court judgement stated that some Māori appeared to have the right to seek formal ownership of a specific portion of seabed in the
Marlborough Sounds The Marlborough Sounds (Māori language, te reo Māori: ''Te Tauihu-o-te-Waka'') are an extensive network of ria, sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination ...
. This prospect alarmed many sectors of New Zealand society however, and the Labour Party foreshadowed legislation in favour of state ownership instead. This angered many Māori, including many of Labour's Māori MPs. Two MPs representing
Māori electorates In Politics of New Zealand, New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats (), are a special category of New Zealand electorates, electorate that give Reserved political positions, reserved positions to repre ...
,
Tariana Turia Dame Tariana Turia (née Woon; 8 April 1944 – 3 January 2025) was a New Zealand Māori protest movement, Māori rights activist and politician. She was first elected to New Zealand Parliament, Parliament in 1996 as a representative of the Ne ...
and
Nanaia Mahuta Nanaia Cybele Mahuta (born 21 August 1970) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand), Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand from 2020 to 2023. A member of the New Zealand Labour Party, Ma ...
, announced an intent to vote against the legislation.Morgan Godfery, "Chapter 4.4: The Māori Party," pp. 240–241. Turia, a junior minister, after being informed that voting against the government would appear "incompatible" with holding ministerial rank, announced on 30 April 2004 her intention to resign from the Labour Party. Her resignation took effect on 17 May, and she left parliament until she won a by-election in her Te Tai Hauauru seat two months later. After leaving the Labour Party, Turia, later joined by Sharples, began organising a new political party. They and their supporters agreed that the new organisation would simply use the name of "the Māori Party". They chose a logo of black and red—traditional Māori colours—incorporating a traditional
koru The is a spiral shape evoking a newly Circinate vernation, unfurling frond from a Cyathea dealbata, silver fern frond. It is an integral symbol in Māori people, Māori art, bone carving, carving and Tā moko, tattooing, where it symbolise ...
design. The party constitution provides that there are two party co-leaders, one male and one female. Turia and Sharples were the first to fill these roles. They indicated that they wished to unite "all Māori" into a single political movement. The party was formally established on 7 July 2004.


2005 election and first term in Parliament

In the 2005 election, the Māori Party won four out of seven Māori seats and 2.12% of the party vote. The latter entitled the party to only three list seats, so the fourth electorate seat caused an
overhang seat Overhang seats are constituency seats won in an election under the traditional mixed-member proportional (MMP) system (as it originated in Germany), when a party's share of the nationwide votes would entitle it to fewer seats than the number of ...
. In the election night count, the party vote share was under 2% and the Māori Party would have got two overhang seats; when the overhang was reduced to one, National lost a list seat that they appeared to have won on election night. Tariana Turia held Te Tai Hauauru;
Pita Sharples Sir Pita Russell Sharples (born Peter Russell Sharples, 20 July 1941) is a New Zealand Māori academic and politician, who was a co-leader of the Māori Party from 2004 to 2013, and a minister outside Cabinet in the National Party-led governme ...
won the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate;
Hone Harawira Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira is a New Zealand Māori activist and former parliamentarian. He was elected to parliament as the member for the Māori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau in 2005 as the Māori Party candidate. In 2011, following ...
, son of
Titewhai Harawira Titewhai Te Hoia Hinewhare Harawira (1932 – 25 January 2023) was a New Zealand Māori activist. Born in Whakapara and descended from Ngāpuhi chiefs, Harawira was an outspoken political commentator and a civil rights campaigner beginning w ...
, won
Te Tai Tokerau Te Tai Tokerau () is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate that was created out of the Northern Maori electorate ahead of the first Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) election in 1996. It was held first by Tau Henare representing New Zea ...
; and
Te Ururoa Flavell Te Ururoa James William Ben Flavell (born 7 December 1955), also known as Hemi Flavell, is a New Zealand politician. Born in Tokoroa, Flavell was a teacher, principal, and education executive before beginning a political career. He won the Wai ...
won Waiariki. In the post-election period the Māori Party convened a series of hui to decide whether to support Labour or National, though some party leaders indicated they preferred to deal with Labour. National Party deputy leader
Gerry Brownlee Gerard Anthony Brownlee (born 4 February 1956) is a New Zealand politician and the 32nd speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives. He was first elected as a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for Ilam (New Zealand elec ...
and leader
Don Brash Donald Thomas Brash (born 24 September 1940) is a former New Zealand politician who was Leader of the Opposition (New Zealand), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party, leader of the New Zealand National Party from ...
tried to win over the Māori Party and claimed that it would support National to form a government, although Turia denied this. She met privately with prime minister
Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...
and ruled out a formal coalition. Later, the Māori Party decided to remain in opposition and not be part of a Labour-led government. On 24 January 2006 the Māori Party's four MPs were jointly welcomed to
Rātana pā Rātana Pā, or Ratana Community, is a town in the North Island of New Zealand, near Whanganui and Marton in the Manawatū-Whanganui region. The locality was the farm of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, the founder of a Māori religious and politic ...
with Brash and a delegation of eight National MPs. They had been intended to be welcomed on half an hour apart but agreed to be welcomed and sit together. Turia disputed claims that this was pre-arranged, saying: "We're here for a birthday. We're not here for politics." However critics said this would have reminded onlookers of how the Māori Party and National were said to be in coalition or confidence and supply talks. This may also have served to reinforce the Labour Party's election campaign statement that a 'vote for the Māori Party is a vote for National'. One Rātana kaumatua (elder) said this was deliberate and deserved after the talks.


Supporting a National-led government: 2008–2017

In the 2008 general election the Māori Party retained all four of the seats it won in 2005, and won an additional seat, when Rahui Katene won
Te Tai Tonga Te Tai Tonga () is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorates, Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives. It was established for the 1996 New Zeal ...
from Labour. Two seats were
overhang seats Overhang seats are constituency seats won in an election under the traditional mixed-member proportional (MMP) system (as it originated in Germany), when a party's share of the nationwide votes would entitle it to fewer seats than the number of ...
. The party's share of the party vote rose slightly to 2.39%. The Labour Party won the party vote by a large majority in every Māori electorate, meaning that the typical Māori voter had split their vote, voting for a Māori Party candidate with their electorate vote and the Labour Party with their party vote. The
National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...
won the most seats overall and formed a
minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...
with the support of the Māori Party,
ACT New Zealand ACT New Zealand (; ), also known as the ACT Party or simply ACT, is a Right-wing politics, right-wing, Classical liberalism, classical liberal, Right-libertarianism, right-libertarian, and Conservatism, conservative List of political parties i ...
and
United Future United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a Centrism, centrist List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside New Zealand Labou ...
. Sharples was given the
Minister of Māori Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
portfolio and became an Associate Minister of Corrections and Associate Minister of Education. Turia became Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, Associate Minister of Health and Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment.
Hone Harawira Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira is a New Zealand Māori activist and former parliamentarian. He was elected to parliament as the member for the Māori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau in 2005 as the Māori Party candidate. In 2011, following ...
was critical of the alliance with the National Party and was suspended from the Māori Party in February 2011. He left the party and formed the left-wing Mana Party in April 2011. Competing against Mana, the Māori Party's strength diminished. In the 2011 general election, it won only three electorates (with 1.43% of the party vote, the party was entitled to two seats, resulting in an overhang of one seat). The three MPs were
Pita Sharples Sir Pita Russell Sharples (born Peter Russell Sharples, 20 July 1941) is a New Zealand Māori academic and politician, who was a co-leader of the Māori Party from 2004 to 2013, and a minister outside Cabinet in the National Party-led governme ...
in
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
,
Tariana Turia Dame Tariana Turia (née Woon; 8 April 1944 – 3 January 2025) was a New Zealand Māori protest movement, Māori rights activist and politician. She was first elected to New Zealand Parliament, Parliament in 1996 as a representative of the Ne ...
in
Te Tai Hauāuru Te Tai Hauāuru () is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives, that was first formed for the . The electorate was represented by Tariana Turia from to 2014, f ...
and
Te Ururoa Flavell Te Ururoa James William Ben Flavell (born 7 December 1955), also known as Hemi Flavell, is a New Zealand politician. Born in Tokoroa, Flavell was a teacher, principal, and education executive before beginning a political career. He won the Wai ...
in Waiāriki. Rahui Katene lost the
Te Tai Tonga Te Tai Tonga () is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorates, Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives. It was established for the 1996 New Zeal ...
seat to Labour's
Rino Tirikatene Rino Tirikatene (born 1972) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and a former member of the House of Representatives. He comes from a family with a strong political history. Tirikatene represented the Te Tai Tonga Māori electorate from th ...
, and Hone Harawira won the
Te Tai Tokerau Te Tai Tokerau () is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate that was created out of the Northern Maori electorate ahead of the first Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) election in 1996. It was held first by Tau Henare representing New Zea ...
seat for the Mana Party. The National Party again formed a
minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...
with the support of the Māori Party, ACT New Zealand and United Future. Sharples and Turia were returned as ministers outside cabinet. Ahead of the 2014 general election, Flavell became the male co-leader. Neither Sharples nor Turia stood for re-election. At the election, Flavell held Waiāriki electorate seat, and the party was entitled to one further list seat as it received 1.32% of the party vote. This went to Marama Fox, who became the next female co-leader. Prior to the 2017 general election, the Māori Party formed an electoral pact with the
Mana Movement The Mana Movement, originally known as the Mana Party, was a political party in New Zealand. The party was led by Hone Harawira who formed it in April 2011 following his resignation from the Māori Party. Harawira won the 2011 Te Tai Tokerau by- ...
leader and former Māori Party MP
Hone Harawira Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira is a New Zealand Māori activist and former parliamentarian. He was elected to parliament as the member for the Māori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau in 2005 as the Māori Party candidate. In 2011, following ...
. The Māori Party agreed not to contest
Te Tai Tokerau Te Tai Tokerau () is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate that was created out of the Northern Maori electorate ahead of the first Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) election in 1996. It was held first by Tau Henare representing New Zea ...
as part of a deal for the two parties to try to regain the
Māori electorates In Politics of New Zealand, New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats (), are a special category of New Zealand electorates, electorate that give Reserved political positions, reserved positions to repre ...
from the Labour Party. In the election, they failed to take any seats, with Labour capturing all seven of the Māori electorates. Party co-leader
Te Ururoa Flavell Te Ururoa James William Ben Flavell (born 7 December 1955), also known as Hemi Flavell, is a New Zealand politician. Born in Tokoroa, Flavell was a teacher, principal, and education executive before beginning a political career. He won the Wai ...
expressed sadness at the loss of seats and announced he would be resigning from politics. Fellow co-leader Marama Fox expressed bitterness at the party's defeat, remarking that New Zealand had chosen to return to the "age of colonization" and attacked the two major parties, National and Labour, for their alleged paternalism towards Māori. Fox commented that Māori have "gone back like a beaten wife to the abuser" in regards to Labour's sweep of the Māori seats. ''Metro Magazine'' described the Māori Party's poor results as being part of backlash against them for helping National form a government. Within the following 12 months, the party’s senior figures resigned: Flavell and Fox stepped down from the co-leadership and party president Tukoroirangi Morgan also resigned. This opened the field for a new generation of party leaders, namely Rāwiri Waititi and
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer Debbie Anne Ngarewa-Packer is a New Zealand politician, iwi leader and activist. She is a Member of Parliament and co-leader of Te Pāti Māori alongside Rawiri Waititi, and is the chief executive of the Ngāti Ruanui iwi. Ngarewa-Packer st ...
.


2020 general election

The party announced
John Tamihere John Henry Tamihere (born 8 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician, media personality, and political commentator. He was a member of Parliament from 1999 to 2005, including serving as a Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet minister in the New Zea ...
as its candidate for the
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
electorate in March 2020. Tamihere had held the electorate from 2002 to 2005, but for the Labour Party. He had also run for
Mayor of Auckland The mayor of Auckland is the elected head of local government in the Auckland Region of New Zealand's North Island; one of 67 Mayors in New Zealand, mayors in the country. The principle city of the region (and its namesake) is Auckland. The may ...
in
2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
without success. Tamihere's mayoral campaign was more right-wing, and he said the Māori Party could happily work with the National Party. This contradicted Māori Party President Che Wilson, who had set out a clear preference to work with Labour and had said "if we ever do talk to National it will have to be a big deal for us to move that way again." On 15 April 2020, the party announced that John Tamihere and
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer Debbie Anne Ngarewa-Packer is a New Zealand politician, iwi leader and activist. She is a Member of Parliament and co-leader of Te Pāti Māori alongside Rawiri Waititi, and is the chief executive of the Ngāti Ruanui iwi. Ngarewa-Packer st ...
were the new party co-leaders. In late May 2020, the party received a broadcasting allocation of $145,101 for the 2020 election. In September 2020, Ikaroa-Rāwhiti candidate Heather Te Au-Skipworth released the party's sports policy which included establishing a national Māori sporting body and investing in Māori sporting scholarships and programs. She also stated "it is a known fact that Māori genetic makeup is stronger than others... Our ancestors were not just athletic, they were also strategic thinkers with intentions to survive. This all required stamina, resilience, endurance, speed, agility and logic." The genetic superiority remarks were subsequently deleted prior to the
2023 New Zealand general election The 2023 New Zealand general election was held on 14 October 2023 to determine the composition of the 54th New Zealand Parliament, 54th Parliament of New Zealand. Voters elected 122 members to the unicameral New Zealand House of Representatives ...
. At the 2020 general election, held in October, the Māori Party's
Rawiri Waititi Rawiri Wikuki Waititi (born 17 October ) is a New Zealand politician and iwi leader. He has been co-leader of Te Pāti Māori since 2020, alongside Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for since 2020, when his ...
captured the Waiariki electorate, defeating Labour MP Tāmati Coffey by a margin of 836 votes. This allowed the Māori Party to enter Parliament, and with its party vote of 1.2%, it was entitled to two MPs. After Waititi, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer entered Parliament as the highest-ranked person on the party list. As the only male Māori Party MP, Waititi replaced Tamihere as a co-leader. On 11 November, former party co-leader Tamihere requested a vote recount in the
Māori electorates In Politics of New Zealand, New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats (), are a special category of New Zealand electorates, electorate that give Reserved political positions, reserved positions to repre ...
of
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
and
Te Tai Hauāuru Te Tai Hauāuru () is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives, that was first formed for the . The electorate was represented by Tariana Turia from to 2014, f ...
, alleging Māori voters had encountered discrimination during the 2020 election. Tamihere claimed that the recount was intended to expose discriminatory laws such as the five-yearly Māori Electoral Option (which limited the ability of Māori to switch between the general and Māori rolls for a period five years). He also alleged longer wait times for Māori voters at election booths and some Māori not being allowed to vote on the Māori roll.


2020–2023 parliamentary term

On 26 November 2020, Te Pāti Māori MPs Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer walked out of Parliament after the
Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...
Trevor Mallard Sir Trevor Colin Mallard (born 17 June 1954) is a New Zealand politician and diplomat. Since 2023, he has served as Ambassador of New Zealand to Ireland. He was a Member of Parliament from 1984 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2022. He served a ...
did not allow them to speak due to parliamentary procedures limiting the speaking time by smaller parties. Waititi had attempted to pass a motion that their party leaders be allowed to give a 15-minute "address in reply" but Mallard had blocked the motion on the grounds that MPs from smaller parties were not scheduled to give their maiden speeches until the following week. Waititi described Mallard's decision as unfair while Ngarewa-Packer claimed that this was "another example of the Māori voice being silenced and ignored."


2020 election donations investigation

On 12 April 2021, the
Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
referred Te Pāti Māori to the Police for failing to disclose about NZ$320,000 worth of donations within the required timeframe. These donations came from several individuals and organisations including former party co-leader Tamihere (NZ$158,223.72), the Urban Māori Authority (NZ$48,879.85), and the Aotearoa Te Kahu Limited Partnership (NZ$120,000). Party President Che Wilson attributed the late disclosure to the fact that the party was staffed by volunteers and rookies who were unfamiliar with electoral finance laws. On 29 April, the Police referred the investigation into the Māori Party's undeclared donations to the Serious Fraud Office. By late September 2022, the Serious Fraud Office had closed the investigation and decided not to pursue prosecutions against the individuals and parties involved. In late September 2022,
Charities Services Charities Services, formerly known as the Charities Commission, is a New Zealand government agency established by the Charities Act 2005. Its responsibilities include: *maintaining and monitoring a register of charities *receiving annual retur ...
general manager Natasha Weight confirmed that the agency was investigating two charities headed by Party President Tamihere, the Te Whānau Waipareira Trust and the National Urban Māori Authority, for financing his 2020 election campaign. According to the Charities Register, Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust Group had loaned Tamihere NZ$385,307 to support his 2020 election campaign while the National Urban Māori Authority had paid NZ$82,695 to support his 2020 election campaign and Te Pāti Māori aspirations. Under existing legislation, charities are not allowed to donate and endorse political parties and candidates or allow them to use a charity's resources. In response, Tamihere accused the Charities Services of discriminating against Te Pāti Māori and Māori causes. Tamihere and Te Pāti Māori also confirmed that they would litigate against the Charities Service if the agency ruled against them. Tamihere also criticised ''
The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...
'' journalist Matt Nippert's coverage of the two charities' donations to his campaigns, accusing the newspaper of racism and announcing that Te Pāti Māori would boycott the ''Herald''.


Hate Speech Task Force, 2021

In June 2021, Te Pāti Māori called for a joint task force between the
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS; ) is New Zealand's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for providing information and advising on matters including national security (including counterterrorism and count ...
and New Zealand Police targeting right-wing extremists and rising anti-Māori
hate speech Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...
in response to a
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
video featuring a masked man calling for the slaughter of Māori and for a civil war. The video was later removed by YouTube for a breach of its community guidelines. In a tweet, the party said that the video contained threats against its MPs,
marae A ' (in Māori language, New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian language, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan language, Tongan), ' (in Marquesan language, Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan language, Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves reli ...
and Māori. Police arrested a man after receiving multiple complaints about the video and a day after Te Pāti Māori laid a complaint with the
Independent Police Conduct Authority The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) () is an independent civilian oversight body that considers complaints against the New Zealand Police and oversees their conduct. It derives its responsibilities and powers from thIndependent P ...
(IPCA). A 44-year-old male was charged with making an objectionable publication. In the complaint to the IPCA, the party accused the police of having double standards when dealing with death threats made against
Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...
and Māori. It compared the police's response to the video with the treatment of those who made death threats against National MP
Simeon Brown Simeon Peter Brown (born 8 April 1991) is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the National Party. Early life and career Brown was born in Rotorua in 1991. His family moved to Clendon Park, Au ...
. Party co-leader
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer Debbie Anne Ngarewa-Packer is a New Zealand politician, iwi leader and activist. She is a Member of Parliament and co-leader of Te Pāti Māori alongside Rawiri Waititi, and is the chief executive of the Ngāti Ruanui iwi. Ngarewa-Packer st ...
stated, "Communication and response time was inadequate, the police have continued to minimise the nature of the threat against us and our people".


Racial discrimination

On 29 August 2023, Te Pāti Māori made a series of tweets apologizing to refugee and migrant communities for "harmful narratives" of "xenophobia and racism" on their official party website. Te Pāti Māori said they had removed words for their website and was rewriting policy documents. An example of policy rewriting included the "Indigenous First" framework in the party's Whānau Build policy. The policy indicated the intent to place Māori housing needs before all others. In 2022, Te Pāti Māori also removed a reference from its sports policy that said Māori genetic makeup was stronger than others. The now removed statement read, "It is a known fact that Māori genetic makeup is stronger than others."


Whaitiri joins party

On 3 May 2023, sitting minister
Meka Whaitiri Melissa Heni Mekameka Whaitiri (born 11 January 1965) is a New Zealand politician and former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. She was first elected to Parliament in the 2013 Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-election for the Labour Party. ...
announced that she had left the Labour Party to join Te Pāti Māori.
Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...
Adrian Rurawhe confirmed that Whaitiri would serve the remainder of her 2020–2023 term as an independent member of Parliament under standing order 35(5), which avoids invoking the "
waka-jumping In New Zealand politics, waka-jumping is a colloquial term for when a member of Parliament (MP) either switches political party between elections (taking their parliamentary seat with them and potentially upsetting electoral proportionality ...
" provisions of the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018. Whaitiri does not sit with her party in Parliament. She will recontest the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti electorate as a Māori Party candidate. On 10 May, Ngarewa-Packer and Waititi held a
haka Haka (, ; singular ''haka'', in both Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Māori culture. A performance art, hakas are often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the f ...
(dance) during Parliamentary proceedings to welcome Whaitiri to the Māori Party. In response, Rurawhe ordered Ngarewa-Packer and Waititi to leave Parliament since they had not obtained the permission of the Speaker or other parliamentary parties to hold the haka.


Name change

The party registered its new name, Te Pāti Māori, with the
Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
on 12 July 2023, replacing its previous name, the Māori Party.


2023 election

Te Pāti Māori launched its 2023 general election campaign at Te Whānau O Waipareira's
Matariki In Māori culture, Matariki is the Pleiades star cluster and a celebration of its first rising in late June or early July. The rising marks the beginning of the new year in the Māori lunar calendar. Historically, Matariki was usually celebr ...
event in Henderson, Auckland on 14 July. The party campaigned on advancing the interests of the
Māori people Māori () are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of Māori migration canoes, c ...
, combating racism, and the "second-rate" status of Māori, as Ngarewa-Packer labelled it. On 27 July, the party announced several redistributive tax policies including a zero tax policy on those earning below NZ$30,000, a new 48% tax on those earning above NZ$300,000, raising the companies tax rate back to 33% and a wealth tax on millionaires. On 2 August, the party campaigned on ending state care for Māori children and replacing the present
Oranga Tamariki (OT), also known as the Ministry for Children and previously the Ministry for Vulnerable Children, is a government department in New Zealand responsible for the well-being of children, specifically children at risk of harm, youth offenders and ...
(Ministry for Children) with an independent Mokopuna Māori Authority that would network with Māori organisations,
iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...
(tribes), and
hapū In Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief ...
(sub-groups) to ensure that Māori children remained connected with their
whakapapa Genealogy is a fundamental principle in Māori culture, termed specifically in this context as ''whakapapa'' (, , lit. 'layering'). Reciting one's '' whakapapa'' proclaims one's identity among the Māori, places oneself in a wider context, and ...
(genealogies). In late August 2023, Te Pāti Māori revised its Whanau Build (housing) policy to eliminate an "indigenous first" provision which called for immigration to be curbed until the country's housing supply was addressed. The party also apologised to migrant and refugee communities for promoting what it described as "harmful narratives" on its website, and reiterated that it would treat everyone like how they would be treated as guests on a
marae A ' (in Māori language, New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian language, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan language, Tongan), ' (in Marquesan language, Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan language, Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves reli ...
. During an interview with
TVNZ Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, streaming service, and news se ...
journalist
Jack Tame Jack Renfrey Tame (born March 1987) is a New Zealand television and radio journalist and presenter. He is the host of TVNZ’s political show Q+A, and a presenter at ''Newstalk ZB''. Early life Tame was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, the s ...
in September 2023, Waititi also denied that his party's sports policy' comments about "Māori genetic makeup being stronger than others" were racist. These comments were subsequently deleted from Te Pāti Māori's website. When challenged by Tame, he responded that TPM was "trying to empower people that are climbing out from the bottom of the bonnet of colonial violence for the last 193 years" by encouraging pride in their heritage. Te Pāti Māori won six electorate seats and 3.08% of the popular vote. Meka Whaitiri stood as the party's candidate in the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti electorate but was defeated by Labour's candidate Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. Despite Whaitiri's
unseating Unseating is a political term which refers to a legislator who loses their seat in an election. A legislator who is unseated loses the right to sit in a legislative chamber. A landslide victory results in many legislators being unseated. Austral ...
, the 2023 election outcome was Te Pāti Māori's most successful election result.


2023–present: In opposition

Ngarewa Packer stated that the party would serve as "the only true opposition" in Parliament for the next term, adding that their plans were "to shake Parliament up and normalise it for Māori." During the opening of the
54th New Zealand Parliament The 54th New Zealand Parliament is the current meeting of the legislature in New Zealand. It opened on 5 December 2023 following the 2023 New Zealand general election, 14 October 2023 general election, and will expire on or before 16 November ...
on 5 December 2023, Te Pāti Māori organised a series of nationwide protests known as the National Māori Action Day to protest against the National-led coalition government's policies on co-governance and the Treaty of Waitangi. The party's MPs also modified their oaths of allegiances to reference the Treaty of Waitangi. In late May 2024, Te Pāti Māori and the Toitu Te Tiriti movement called for a nationwide day of protest known as "Toitū Te Tiriti National Day of Action" to coincide with the release of the 2024 New Zealand budget on 30 May. The protest was in opposition to the National-led government perceived assault on
Tangata whenua In New Zealand, tangata whenua () is a Māori term that translates to "people of the land". It can refer to either a specific group of people with historical claims to a district, or more broadly the Māori people who's common ancestors are bur ...
and the
Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (), sometimes referred to as ''Te Tiriti'', is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, Constitution of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the tr ...
. The party urged all Māori to go on strike and attend
hīkoi A ''hīkoi'' is a walk or march, and especially a protest march, in New Zealand. The word comes from the Māori language, and often implies a long journey taking many days or weeks. The most famous hīkoi was the 1975 Māori land march, on wh ...
(protests) near their location. Protest action includes a car convoy traveling from
State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered S ...
south of Auckland to
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
. Te Pāti Māori claimed that 100,000 people attended the "car-koi activation" rallies nationwide and advocated the establishment of a Māori parliament. On 14 November 2024, Te Pāti Māori MP
Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke Hana-Rawhiti Kareariki Maipi-Clarke (born 2002) is a New Zealand politician, representing Te Pāti Māori as a Member of Parliament since the 2023 New Zealand general election. She is the youngest MP since James Stuart-Wortley. Early life a ...
along with co-leaders Waititi, Ngarewa-Packer and Labour MP
Peeni Henare Peeni Ereatara Gladwyn Henare () is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who has been a member of the New Zealand parliament since the 2014 general election. Henare held the Tāmaki Makaurau Māori electorate since 2014 before being defeated ...
led a protest
haka Haka (, ; singular ''haka'', in both Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Māori culture. A performance art, hakas are often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the f ...
(
Ka Mate "Ka Mate" () is a Māori people, Māori haka composed by Te Rauparaha, the historic leader of the iwi of Ngāti Toa of the North Island of New Zealand during the Musket Wars. Composition Te Rauparaha composed "Ka Mate" circa 1820 as a celebrati ...
) that disrupted vote proceedings during the first reading of
ACT party ACT New Zealand (; ), also known as the ACT Party or simply ACT, is a right-wing, classical liberal, right-libertarian, and conservative political party in New Zealand. It is currently led by David Seymour, and is in coalition with the Nationa ...
leader
David Seymour David Breen Seymour (born 24 June 1983) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the 21st deputy prime minister of New Zealand since 2025 and as the 1st minister for regulation since 2023. A member of the ACT Party, he has served as its ...
's contentious
Treaty Principles Bill The Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, commonly known as the Treaty Principles Bill, was a government bill (law), government Bill introduced by David Seymour of the ACT New Zealand party. It aimed to define the principles of the Treaty ...
. On 10 December, the four were referred to Parliament's Privileges Committee for their disruptive actions. In late March 2025, the Privileges Committee ruled that Henare had acted in a "disorderly" way in joining the TPM-led haka but ruled that his actions did not amount to "contempt." On 14 May 2025, the Committee found Maipi-Clarke, Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer in contempt of Parliament. Maipi-Clarke was suspended from Parliament for seven days while Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer were suspended for 21 days. Te Pāti denounced the suspensions as an attempt by colonial powers to intimidate Māori. On 5 June, Parliament voted to uphold the suspensions of the three TPM MPs. In response, the party denounced the suspensions with President John Tamihere announcing that the three suspended MPs would be embarking on a national tour to rally opposition against the Government's proposed
Regulatory Standards Bill The Regulatory Standards Bill is a legislative proposal in New Zealand that forms part of the Sixth National Government coalition agreement between the ACT and National parties. It would establish a set of principles for good legislation or " ...
. On 4 February 2025, Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer proposed the creation of a Parliamentary Commissioner for
Te Tiriti o Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (), sometimes referred to as ''Te Tiriti'', is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, Constitution of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the tr ...
, who would have extraordinary powers to audit bills and issue a "Tiriti veto" if policy and bills did not comply with the Treaty. They said this would be a "bottomline" in any coalition negotiations during events leading up to
Waitangi Day Waitangi Day (, the national day of New Zealand, marks the anniversary of the initial signing—on 6 February 1840—of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi was an agreement towards British sovereignty by representatives of the The Cr ...
at the Treaty Grounds. In response, ACT leader Seymour accused Te Pāti Māori of attempting to "break democracy" and urged Labour leader
Chris Hipkins Christopher John Hipkins (born 5 September 1978) is a New Zealand politician who has served as leader of the New Zealand Labour Party since January 2023 and leader of the Opposition (New Zealand), leader of the Opposition since November 2023. H ...
to rule out such as policy. Hipkins said he would not support TPM's policy for a Te Tiriti Commissioner with the powers to overturn law but added he was open to ensuring there were better "checks and balances" in New Zealand's constitutional framework. On 10 April 2025, Te Pāti Māori announced that the party would be standing candidates in general seats at the 2026 New Zealand general election.


2023 election data breach allegations

On 2 June 2024, the ''
Sunday Star Times The ''Sunday Star-Times'' is a New Zealand newspaper published each weekend in Auckland. It covers both national and international news, and is a member of the New Zealand Press Association and Newspaper Publishers Association of New Zealand. ...
'' journalist Andrea Vance reported that
Statistics New Zealand Statistics New Zealand (), branded as Stats NZ, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the collection of statistics related to the economy, population and society of New Zealand. To this end, Stats NZ produces New Zealand c ...
was investigating allegations by former staff at Manurewa Marae that Te Pāti Māori had illegally used
2023 New Zealand census The 2023 New Zealand census, which took place on 7 March 2023, was the thirty-fifth national census in New Zealand. It implemented measures that aimed to increase the Census' effectiveness in response to the issues faced with the 2018 census, i ...
data to target
Māori electorate Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
voters in the
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
electorate during the 2023 election, and that participants were given supermarket vouchers, wellness packs and food parcels to encourage them to fill out census forms and switch to the Māori electoral roll. Te Pāti Māori's candidate
Takutai Moana Kemp Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp is a New Zealand politician, chief executive and hiphop dance director. In the 2023 New Zealand general election, Kemp narrowly won the electorate of Tāmaki Makaurau representing Te Pāti Māori. Early life Kemp ...
had won the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate during the 2023 general election. A whistleblower from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) had alerted Statistics NZ and the Police. In response, Te Pāti Māori leader Tamihere denied the allegations and claimed that they were made by disgruntled former staff. Tamihere said that the marae had been working with the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to promote Māori participation in the 2023 census. Tamihere also acknowledged that marae workers had given gifts to encourage people to participate in the 2023 Census and switch to the Māori roll but denied allegations of wrongdoing. On 5 June, Vance reported that the Labour Party had filed a complaint against Te Pāti Māori in November 2023 for allegedly using personal information collected during the COVID-19 immunisation programme for political campaigning purposes during the 2023 election, which constitutes a breach of electoral law. Labour's complaint alleged that Māori voters in Auckland had received two text messages from the text code 2661 urging them to vote for Te Pāti Māori. 2661 was registered with the Waipareira Trust, which is led by TPM's President Tamihere. In response, Labour leader
Chris Hipkins Christopher John Hipkins (born 5 September 1978) is a New Zealand politician who has served as leader of the New Zealand Labour Party since January 2023 and leader of the Opposition (New Zealand), leader of the Opposition since November 2023. H ...
,
ACT New Zealand ACT New Zealand (; ), also known as the ACT Party or simply ACT, is a Right-wing politics, right-wing, Classical liberalism, classical liberal, Right-libertarianism, right-libertarian, and Conservatism, conservative List of political parties i ...
leader
David Seymour David Breen Seymour (born 24 June 1983) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the 21st deputy prime minister of New Zealand since 2025 and as the 1st minister for regulation since 2023. A member of the ACT Party, he has served as its ...
, Prime Minister and
National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...
leader
Christopher Luxon Christopher Mark Luxon (; born 19 July 1970) is a New Zealand politician and former business executive who has served as the 42nd prime minister of New Zealand since 2023 and as leader of the National Party since 2021. He previously served ...
called for an investigation into the allegations against TPM. The Privacy Commissioner also confirmed that Statistics NZ had alerted it to a potential privacy breach during its investigation. Chief statistician Mark Sowden also called for anyone with information to contact Statistics NZ. In response to the second allegations, Tamihere issued a press release denouncing the allegations as baseless and claiming that the party was being targeted by opponents for speaking up for Māori. Tamihere also accused Destiny Church leader
Brian Tamaki Brian Raymond Tamaki (born 2 February 1958) is a New Zealand Christian fundamentalist religious leader, and politician. He is the leader of Destiny Church, a Pentecostal Christian organisation which advocates strict adherence to fundamentalis ...
and his followers of attempting to take over Manurewa Marae. On 7 June, co-leaders Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer called for an urgent Police investigation into the data breach allegations made against Te Pāti Māori. Police confirmed they were already investigating complaints they had received. That same day, acting
Public Service Commission Public Service Commission may refer to: * Public utilities commission ** Alabama Public Service Commission ** Public Service Commission (Indiana) ** Public Service Commission of Utah ** Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ** Public Utilities Com ...
er Heather Baggott convened a meeting with the heads of the Statistics New Zealand, the Ministry of Health,
Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora is the primary Universal healthcare, publicly funded healthcare system of New Zealand. It was established by the New Zealand Government to replace the country's 20 district health boards (DHBs) on 1 July 2022. ...
(Health New Zealand), the Ministry of Social Development, the
Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
, the
Department of Internal Affairs The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with issuing passports; administering applications for citizenship and lottery grants; enforcing censorship and gambling laws; registering births, ...
,
Te Puni Kōkiri Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK, also called in English the Ministry of Māori Development) is the principal policy advisor of the Government of New Zealand on Māori people, Māori wellbeing and development. Te Puni Kōkiri was established under the Māor ...
(Ministry for Māori Development),
Oranga Tamariki (OT), also known as the Ministry for Children and previously the Ministry for Vulnerable Children, is a government department in New Zealand responsible for the well-being of children, specifically children at risk of harm, youth offenders and ...
(Ministry for Children) and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the New Zealand Police and Electoral Commission to ensure that all relevant agencies were investigating the data breach allegations On 10 June 2024, Prime Minister Luxon announced that the
Public Service Commission Public Service Commission may refer to: * Public utilities commission ** Alabama Public Service Commission ** Public Service Commission (Indiana) ** Public Service Commission of Utah ** Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ** Public Utilities Com ...
would launch an independent inquiry into government agencies' safeguards for protecting people's personal data and the circumstances surrounding the data breach allegations against Te Pāti Māori. The party was not notified of the Commission's inquiry. Employment advocate Allan Hulse, who represented six former Manurewa Marae staff and the MSD employee, alleged that 1,400 census forms were photocopied and uploaded into a database owned by the Waiparera Trust. Hulse also alleged that staff used census data to help people transfer from the general to Māori roll. Tamihere has rejected these allegations, calling for people to produce "hard evidence." In early July 2024, former Māori academic Rawiri Taonui disputed the allegations against Te Pāti Māori, the Waipareira Trust and Manurewa Marae; arguing that photocopies of census data were taken solely for verification purposes and destroyed, highlighting that Statistics New Zealand had clarified that neither Tamihera, the Waipareira Trust and the Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency had access to their database, disputing that vouchers were used to encourage people to switch to the Māori electoral roll, and denying that Māori Party flyers were included in wellbeing packs. In late August 2024, Taonui claimed that the whistleblowers were connected to Destiny Church and had instigated the allegations against Manurewa Marae and Te Pāti Māori following a failed attempt by the church to take over the marae. On 22 January 2025, a Statistics New Zealand report cleared the Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency of data breaches during the 2023 Census, finding that the agency increased Māori participation. The report made nine recommendations to improve Statistics NZ's procedures and referred allegations against Manurewa Marae to the Privacy Commissioner. The report also found no evidence that one of the alleged whistleblowers had attempted to contact Statistics NZ regarding allegations against the marae. On 11 February 2025, ''The New Zealand Herald'' reported that Detective Superintendent Ross McKay was leading the inquiry into allegations regarding Te Pāti Māori's misuse of census data and Covid-19 vaccination information at Manurewa Marae for electoral campaigning purposes.


Principles and policy

The party is committed to advancing what it sees as the
rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...
and interests of the Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Increasingly since the beginning of colonisation, Māori have been marginalised and the group is now a minority within New Zealand alongside Pacific Islanders. Te Pāti Māori policy focuses particularly on
affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on ...
, Māori recruitment into tertiary institutes and a living wage for all workers, based on the premise that Māori are among the low-socioeconomic communities in New Zealand who are the most economically disadvantaged. During the 2020s, Te Pāti Māori has been widely described as progressive, and further to the political left than Labour by
Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...
and
Newshub ''Newshub'' (stylised as Newshub.) was a New Zealand news service that operated from 1989 to 2024 and served as the local news division of Warner Bros. Discovery New Zealand until its closure. The division, known as ''3 News'' until 2016, had ...
. (Previously, during its years in alliance with National, the party had been described as
centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...
.) The Māori Party was formed in response to the 2004 foreshore and seabed controversy, a debate about whether Māori have legitimate claim to ownership of part or all of New Zealand's foreshore and seabed. The founders of the party believed that: * Māori owned the foreshore and seabed before British colonisation; * made no specific mention of foreshore or seabed; * No-one has subsequently purchased or otherwise acquired the foreshore or the seabed; and * Māori should therefore still own the seabed and the foreshore today. The (policy platform) of Te Pāti Māori is based on four principles or pillars: * (includes policies regarding affordable housing, strengthening employment-support for Māori beneficiaries and te reo Māori) * Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles (includes holding
the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
accountable to their obligations under , and policies on immigration) * (includes policies on climate change in the Pacific and scholarships for Māori and Pasifika education to advance Māori and Pasifika as a collective) * (includes policies on growing
iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...
economic resources and to protect freshwater as a ) These principles enable Te Pāti Māori to be held accountable for the maintenance and furthering of Māori concepts in the decision-making process. These concepts are not reflected in the traditional
Westminster system The Westminster system, or Westminster model, is a type of parliamentary system, parliamentary government that incorporates a series of Parliamentary procedure, procedures for operating a legislature, first developed in England. Key aspects of ...
and Māori
customary law A legal custom is the established pattern of behavior within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law". Customary law (also, consuetudinary or unofficial law) exists wher ...
is excluded from the New Zealand general legal system. Other Māori-rights-specific party policies have included the upholding of "indigenous values" and compulsory "heritage studies" in schools. In 2022 on
Waitangi Day Waitangi Day (, the national day of New Zealand, marks the anniversary of the initial signing—on 6 February 1840—of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi was an agreement towards British sovereignty by representatives of the The Cr ...
, the party called for
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
to be removed as New Zealand's head of state and for the return of land to iwi and
hapū In Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief ...
. The party is also committed to a mixture of socially progressive and
environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...
policy through a " Titiri-centric" Māori lens. The party is committed to eradicating Goods and Services Tax on food, opposing deep sea drilling, organising and funding a
Māori health authority Te Aka Whai Ora () was an independent New Zealand government statutory entity tasked with managing Māori health policies, services, and outcomes. The agency was one of four national bodies that oversaw New Zealand's health system since 2022, ...
and reducing
homelessness Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...
in Māori communities.


Renaming New Zealand campaign

In September 2021 the party launched an online petition to: * change the country's official name to
Aotearoa ''Aotearoa'' () is the Māori name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference only to the North Island, with the whole country being referred to as ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' – where ''Te Ika-a-Māui'' means N ...
and * officially restore Te Reo Māori names for all
place names Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...
. In its statement is mentioned Article 3 of the Treaty of Waitangi which gave the Māori language equal status with English. By 17 September 2021, 51,000 had signed the petition. By early June 2022, a petition from Te Pāti Māori to rename New Zealand as "Aotearoa" had received over 70,000 signatures. On 2 June, the petition was submitted before Parliament's petitions committee. Waititi argued that the proposed name change would recognise New Zealand's indigenous heritage and strengthen its identity as a Pacific country. He opposed the idea of a referendum, claiming it would entrench the "tyranny of the majority".


Foreign policy issues

In May 2021, Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Ngarewa-Packer and Waititi supported Green Member of Parliament Golriz Ghahraman's push for New Zealand to recognise the
State of Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
. During the
Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...
, Te Pāti Māori advocated the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador, Ran Yaakoby if Israel did not implement a ceasefire or open a humanitarian corridor in Gaza. Co-leader Ngarewa Packer also defended Green MP
Chlöe Swarbrick Chlöe Charlotte Swarbrick (born 26 June 1994) is a New Zealand politician. Following a high-profile but unsuccessful run for the 2016 Auckland mayoral election, she became a parliamentary candidate for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, ...
's controversial " From the river to the sea" statement and urged the care-taker Labour Government to call for an "end to war crimes."


Electoral performance


House of Representatives


Leadership

, the constitution of Te Pāti Māori states that it must have two leaders, that its co-leaders must be drawn from its MPs first, and that one must be female and one male. These requirements have been in place since at least 2013. The party's first leaders were Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples. In December 2012, Turia announced she would resign as party co-leader before the 2014 general election. Te Ururoa Flavell announced his interest in a leadership role, but as the Māori Party constitution required male and female co-leaders, he could not take Turia's place.Ratana unveiling for Turia's successor?
". '' The Dominion Post''. 13 January 2013
Shortly after this, in July 2013, Sharples resigned as co-leader, saying he would quit politics altogether come the next general election in 2014. He went on to say that "Our supporters deserve a unified party" which indicated that the leadership tension influenced his decision to resign as party co-leader. Flavell replaced him as the party's male co-leader. In the 2014 general election, Marama Fox became the party's first
list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than a geographic electoral district. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs only in ...
, and – as the party's only female MP – under the party rules automatically became female co-leader. Following Rawiri Waititi's successful campaign for Waiariki at the
2020 New Zealand general election The 2020 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 17 October 2020 to determine the composition of the 53rd New Zealand Parliament. Voters elected 120 members to the New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives, 72 fro ...
, he was confirmed as male co-leader, replacing John Tamihere, at a special general meeting of the Māori Party on 28 October. The party also has a president:


See also

*
Māori politics Māori politics () is the politics of the Māori people, who were the original inhabitants of New Zealand and who are now the country's largest minority. Before the arrival of Pākehā (Europeans) in New Zealand, Māori society was based lar ...
*
Māori protest movement The Māori protest movement is a broad indigenous rights movement in New Zealand (). While there was a range of conflicts between Māori and Pākehā, European immigrants prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the signing prov ...
* Mana Motuhake *
Treaty of Waitangi claims and settlements Claims and settlements under the Treaty of Waitangi () have been a significant feature of New Zealand politics since the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 and the Waitangi Tribunal that was established by that act to hear claims. Successive governme ...


References


Further reading

*


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Te Pati Maori Māori political parties in New Zealand 2004 establishments in New Zealand Indigenous rights organizations Republicanism in New Zealand Anti-Zionism in New Zealand Anti-racism in New Zealand