Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori had declined the invitation to attend the hui in Kaikohe, saying it had been advised by multiple rangatira (chiefs, leaders) not to attend at this time.<\/p>\n
There was broad support for Kapa-Kingi at the hui to remain the MP for Te Tai Tokerau and hopes that Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori could mend the current schism in time to contest the 2026 general election as a unified party.<\/p>\n
Many also called for the party\u2019s president, Tamihere, to stand down.<\/p>\n
Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori\u2019s national executive declined an invitation to attend the hui, citing concerns around potential legal trouble \u2013 a move described as \u201cextremely disheartening\u201d and \u201cinsulting\u201d by hui organisers.<\/p>\n
The party has alleged Kapa-Kingi \u201coverspent\u201d her electorate budget and, with Ferris, plotted to take over the leadership of the party. Kapa-Kingi has denied both claims.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the crowd, Kapa-Kingi addressed the claims of financial mismanagement. She said she had received an email from the Parliamentary Services Office that she was in fact within her parliamentary budget \u2013 by $1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to share that with you, because there\u2019s so many other mischievous and bad stories that have been told for bad reasons … and I want to be able to correct those things so that people know better what has actually happened from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kapa-Kingi said there were dynamics of \u201csexism\u201d, \u201cnarcissism\u201d and \u201cmisogyny\u201d at play within the party.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is getting played out against me, and against my colleagues \u2013 and one of my dear colleagues that is no longer here \u2013 is all of that horrible, yuckiness, targeted at w\u0101hine M\u0101ori [M\u0101ori women],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said that while some M\u0101ori might feel like the last 12 months had been \u201cthe worst ever\u201d, the worst was still yet to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you and I am here for you and I\u2019m not going anywhere,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd how do we end this? We stand J.T. down. That\u2019s how we end it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ultimate goal of the hui was for Te Tai Tokerau to discuss strategies on how to respond to Kapa-Kingi\u2019s expulsion and find a consensus on how to move forward.<\/p>\n
All who wanted to speak were invited to do so, while note-takers gathered their k\u014drero (speeches) to report back on later in the evening.<\/p>\n
The hui was both jovial and tense, at times, as kaik\u014drero (speakers) took turns sharing their whak\u0101ro (thoughts) to the whare (house). Some spoke about the need for young people to step up into leadership positions while others spoke of how He Whakaputanga, the 1835 Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand, needed to be at the centre of decision-making.<\/p>\n
Among the speakers was Ng\u0101tiwai rangatira Aperahama Edwards, who said many people were feeling hurt and confused, especially after the unity displayed during Te H\u012bkoi m\u014d te Tiriti (November\u2019s March for the Treaty).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want it to end,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want our people led into the trenches to have to choose sides.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edwards said the ructions within the party had taken attention away from other kaupapa, like the recent changes to the Marine and Coastal Areas Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ended up going down to Parliament, so I\u2019m probably the last person to give advice to either of them on how to get back in there. I went down and got kicked out of there to try and draw attention to what\u2019s happening in front of our eyes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the only k\u014drero that was being consumed in the media and on social media was the inferno raging within Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edwards said it would be the taimariki who carried the mauri of the h\u012bkoi to Parliament that would be most affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s the aroha [love] for those taitamariki [young people]? Because they\u2019re looking at all their superheroes sitting across both camps, embroiled in this raru [conflict], and their hearts break,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori had declined the invitation to attend the hui in Kaikohe, saying it had been advised…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5842,6097,2082,42,50521,5126,52147,52146,2720,6368,100681,43,56458,2572,46800,312,21694,93051,8690,61,40,38,41,39,100680],"class_list":["post-150623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-calling","tag-down","tag-for","tag-headlines","tag-iwi","tag-john","tag-kapakingi","tag-mariameno","tag-mori","tag-mp","tag-natanahira","tag-news","tag-ousted","tag-president","tag-pti","tag-says","tag-step","tag-tamihere","tag-te","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-tuwhenuaroa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}