![\"Luxon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JTOQAO_Image_2_jfif.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nPrime Minister Christopher Luxon sits with coalition party leaders Winston Peters and David Seymour.
\nPhoto: RNZ\/Mark Papalii\n<\/p>\n
Analysis: For once, it was the opposition feeling some heat at Waitangi, as Te Pati M\u0101ori’s internal turmoil spilled out on the \u0101tea.<\/p>\n
The public airing of dirty laundry was one of the few moments of note at this year’s political p\u014dwhiri, with Thursday’s events otherwise proceeding much as everyone expected.<\/p>\n
Protesters’ plans to block ministers from the Treaty Grounds came to naught, squashed quickly by security. And the activists left well before the coalition leaders had even begun to speak.<\/p>\n
The government speeches were met by some stray heckles, sure, and some sustained grumbling, but nothing like the theatre of the past two years.<\/p>\n
Perennial agitators Winston Peters and David Seymour seemed almost disappointed at the muted response, with the former clearly trying to provoke a reaction from the crowd.<\/p>\n
For his part, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon delivered a well-foreshadowed address, preaching the importance of working through differences with words and debate.<\/p>\n
It’s advice that perhaps Te Pati M\u0101ori should have taken on board.<\/p>\n
Anticipation was high ahead of the party’s Waitangi appearance, its first time fronting to the north since the co-leaders’ no-show at Ng\u0101puhi’s emergency hui late last year.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the party was sitting in court, with its out-and-then-in-again MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi fighting to reverse her expulsion and be permanently reinstated.<\/p>\n
In the most blistering of speeches on Thursday, her son Eru Kapa-Kingi upbraided Te Pati M\u0101ori – “sort yourselves out” – lamenting the “silencing” of his mother and the wider region.<\/p>\n
At first, Waititi appeared to offer an olive branch in response: “I can hear the anger and feel the pain”.<\/p>\n
He even extended an apology of sorts: “If I have done you wrong, I offer you my head.”<\/p>\n
But any such contrition was short-lived. The speech was immediately followed by a haka tautoko which saw Waititi’s wife Kiri Tamihere-Waititi advance on the host side.<\/p>\n
As she squared off with Eru Kapa-Kingi, eyeballing him, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi shouted from the marae’s veranda: “hoki atu” or “go back”.<\/p>\n
Any brief hopes of reconciliation were dashed.<\/p>\n
Mariameno Kapa-Kingi underlined the point later as she stood to speak, defiant: “I’m not going anywhere.”<\/p>\n
Speaking to media afterwards, Waititi said the party’s next steps would depend on the court’s judgement.<\/p>\n
But he bristled at Te Pati M\u0101ori being singled out, claiming many parties had shown division before.<\/p>\n
He turned his sights on others in the opposition, decrying Labour’s efforts to try win back the M\u0101ori seats.<\/p>\n
“Labour don’t do MMP very well,” Waititi declared. “A vote for Labour is now a vote for New Zealand First.”<\/p>\n
The comments could apply just as well to the Greens, who used Thursday’s events to unveil their own candidates in the M\u0101ori electorates.<\/p>\n
Notably, they include a former lawyer for Te Pati M\u0101ori, Tania Waikato, and a former Te Pati M\u0101ori candidate, Heather Te Au-Skipworth.<\/p>\n
![\"Green](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JTONLC_Image_51_jfif.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nGreen co-leaders Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick and Marama Davidson sit alongside ACT’s deputy leader Brooke van Velden.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n
Greens’ co-leader Marama Davidson made short shrift of Waititi’s suggestion that they leave the M\u0101ori seats alone: “Nobody owns any seats. Nobody owns any votes.”<\/p>\n
Labour and the Greens came to Waitangi, hoping to present a united front and to draw a contrast with the warring factions within the coalition. They leave further away from that goal than closer.<\/p>\n
Asked what he made of the opposition’s showing at Waitangi on Thursday, Luxon dodged the question, saying that was not his focus.<\/p>\n
But Finance Minister Nicola Willis could not help herself: “They looked messy,” she said, a smile on her face.<\/p>\n