{"id":324395,"date":"2026-03-11T16:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T16:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/324395\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T16:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T16:02:10","slug":"peeni-henare-tells-mps-to-move-away-from-gotcha-style-politics-in-valedictory-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/324395\/","title":{"rendered":"Peeni Henare tells MPs to move away from ‘gotcha style politics’ in valedictory speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Labour<\/p>\n

\nPeeni Henare calls for politicians to “work to devolve power to communities and families”. (File image)
\nPhoto: VNP \/ Phil Smith\n<\/p>\n

Outgoing Labour MP Peeni Henare has farewelled Parliament, telling MPs they needed to move away from “gotcha style politics” in his valedictory speech, saying they had a “role and responsibility” to rebuild trust in the institution of politics.<\/p>\n

“I have seen this place work hard for the benefit of this country,” he told the House.<\/p>\n

“I see it as a true mechanism of change, and we must protect it as a bastion of representative democracy when the world is turning against it.<\/p>\n

“I am not surprised to see, however, the waning of trust and belief in this institution. We have a role and a responsibility each and every one of us to rebuild that trust.”<\/p>\n

He also called for politicians to “work to devolve power to communities and families”.<\/p>\n

Henare’s shock resignation<\/a> was announced at Waitangi, after he confirmed he wasn’t contesting the T\u0101maki Makaurau seat.<\/p>\n

Following a messy media standup with Labour leader Chris Hipkins, Henare announced he was calling time on his 12-year Parliamentary career, citing exhaustion and a desire to spend more time focusing on his family and future.<\/p>\n

Henare began his valedictory by speaking at length about all the staff who had worked with him.<\/p>\n

“Mr. Speaker, in my 12 years here in Parliament, I have been truly blessed to have been served by so many amazing people.<\/p>\n

“So with your indulgence, I would like to acknowledge them, for without them, my time here would have been very different, and I suspect, very difficult.”<\/p>\n

The public gallery was filled with rangatira from Ng\u0101puhi, such as Waihoroi Shortland, Pita Tipene and Julian Wilcox, along with Henare’s family.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged his son and daughters, and teared up while acknowledging his partner.<\/p>\n

“Taku taringi [my darling], for too long, my dreams have been your dreams. It is now time for your dreams to be our dreams.”<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peeni Henare calls for politicians to “work to devolve power to communities and families”. (File image) Photo: VNP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-324395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324395","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=324395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}