{"id":415361,"date":"2026-05-07T00:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/415361\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T00:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:23:12","slug":"election-2026-labour-draws-battle-lines-in-all-out-fight-for-maori-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/415361\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2026: Labour draws battle lines in \u2018all out\u2019 fight for M\u0101ori seats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katene is a strategic pick for the party \u2013 a Fulbright scholar, son of the chairman of Ng\u0101ti Toa<\/a> and a \u201cproud Porirua boy\u201d hailing from one of the electorate\u2019s larger urban populations. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to win Porirua,\u201d Labour MP Willie Jackson said. <\/p>\n

\u201c[If you] win Porirua, you just about win this whole [electorate]. If we can\u2019t win with the Porirua son, his father is the chair [of Ng\u0101ti Toa], then come on …\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TeTe P\u016boho Katene’s father, Callum Katene, is chairman of Te R\u016bnanga o Toa Rangatira. Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n

Jackson roused the crowd in the marae wharenui with jokes. He introduced the \u201chonorary M\u0101ori\u201d in his team, finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds, who had gained the title by \u201cvirtue of her eight Ng\u0101puhi kids\u201d. <\/p>\n

People laughed at Jackson\u2019s quip at the historic tensions between Ng\u0101ti Toa, the iwi of paramount chief Te Rauparaha<\/a>, and Ng\u0101i Tahu<\/a>, the iwi of new Labour candidate Mananui Ramsden, who was sitting in the crowd. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the start because Mananui and TP [Te P\u016boho], they will fix things in terms of the two tribes. They are two bros together.\u201d <\/p>\n

(Ng\u0101ti Toa leader Dr Taku Parai later reassured Ramsden he was \u201cwhanaunga\u201d and \u201cthe hatchet was buried years ago\u201d.) <\/p>\n

Ramsden (K\u0101i Tahu, K\u0101ti Mamoe, Waitaha, Rangit\u0101ne, Raukawa, Tainui) is the former chairman of Te R\u016bnanga o Koukourarata and running in the South Island M\u0101ori electorate, Te Tai Tonga. T\u0101kut<\/a>a Ferris<\/a> currently holds the seat as an independent. <\/p>\n

\"TeTe P\u016boho Katene is a strategic pick for the Labour party.<\/p>\n

Parai said Katene, his nephew, would have \u201call sorts of things fired at you\u201d in Parliament, but \u201cwhen you look after your mana, you look after ours\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hipkins said his party had not done well in the 2023 election when Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori wrestled six of the seven M\u0101ori seats from them. Labour retained Ikaroa-R\u0101whiti with MP Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. <\/p>\n

In Te Tai Hau\u0101uru, Ngarewa-Packer<\/a> beat Labour\u2019s 2023 candidate Soraya Peke-Mason by 9162 votes. <\/p>\n

\"TeTe Pati M\u0101ori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer at Waitangi in 2025. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

M\u0101ori who were fed up with a persistent cost-of-living crisis after Covid had voted for change, he said. Hipkins hoped they would feel dissatisfied with the \u201cchange\u201d of Government and would vote this time for Labour. <\/p>\n

Either way, Labour would \u201cgo all in\u201d to get the M\u0101ori vote, he said. Yet six of those seats have a Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori MP with the experience of at least a term in Parliament. <\/p>\n

\"CarmelCarmel Sepuloni and her moko (whose 1st birthday was yesterday), Chris Hipkins and Willie Jackson. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Hipkins brushed off his party\u2019s landslide loss again to Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori in the 2025 T\u0101maki Makaurau byelection<\/a> as a completely different ballgame. Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori, he said, would not be able to rely on the same tactics they had in that contest.<\/p>\n

There were loose references from reporters to Katene\u2019s rival, Ngarewa-Packer, who is from P\u0101tea, a town more central in Te Tai Hau\u0101uru than Porirua. <\/p>\n

In his first press conference with Labour, Katene rejected suggestions he was just focused on urban M\u0101ori in the likes of Porirua, saying he would ensure he was \u201cnot sitting in Porirua and assuming what people\u2019s lives are like in H\u0101wea\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I need to do is make sure I am in those communities, hearing the stories of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katene thanked his family for putting up with a man who \u201cForrest Gumps towards grandiose ideas\u201d and said the start of his political journey at Takap\u016bw\u0101hia Marae was a \u201cstone\u2019s throw\u201d from his childhood home on \u201cKatene Corner\u201d in Porirua. He said his daughter had that morning referred to Hipkins as \u201cUncle Chippy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that people are doing it hard right now. We see it at the petrol pump; we see it at our supermarkets, at our healthcare clinics,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I also see hope. I see hope when I watch Te Matatini, when I watch Manu K\u014drero, and I see hope when I watch our nation celebrate Matariki together in unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Hipkins spoke from the podium inside the wharenui, a man sat nearby wearing a Toit\u016b Te Tiriti tracksuit, representing the influential M\u0101ori movement behind the 2024 h\u012bkoi to Parliament that last year abruptly broke ties<\/a> with its once close ally Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

\"Toit\u016bToit\u016b Te Tiriti, the M\u0101ori movement behind the 2024 h\u012bkoi to Parliament, last year broke ties with its once close ally Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori. Photo \/ Hagen Hopkins \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Te Tai Hau\u0101uru seat has a memorable history for both parties. The late Dame Tariana Turia held the seat from 2002 for Labour. <\/p>\n

But in 2004 she resigned from the then Helen Clark-led Labour Party over the foreshore and seabed<\/a> controversy and successfully recontested the seat in the subsequent byelection for the newly formed M\u0101ori Party. <\/p>\n

\"SirSir Ta Papa Pita Sharples (from left), Dame Tariana Turia, Rangi McLean, John Tamihere, Dame Naida Glavish and Kaapua Smith were part of the M\u0101ori Party in 2020. Photo \/ Brett Phibbs<\/p>\n

Te Tai Hau\u0101uru is the second largest M\u0101ori seat by land area and covers much of the western North Island, stretching from around \u014ctorohanga to Porirua. It includes New Plymouth, Whanganui and Palmerston North. <\/p>\n

Recent political polling<\/a> shows Labour will need Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori to form a government, yet Hipkins remains coy over his feelings for the party. <\/p>\n

In October last year, Hipkins said Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori looked a \u201clong way away\u201d<\/a> from being ready for a role in government. This was a reference to the months of inner turmoil the party had experienced, which culminated in two of their MPs being expelled. One of those MPs, Mariameno Kapa Kingi, has since been reinstated to the party after court action. <\/p>\n

The Labour leader refused to update that statement when asked by reporters on Wednesday, saying questions over the party\u2019s health were for Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is still a lot of water to flow under the bridge before we get into the campaign itself, let alone who might form the next Government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s candidates for the M\u0101ori seats<\/a> are: Te P\u016boho Katene (Te Tai Hau\u0101uru), Willow-Jean Prime (Te Tai Tokerau), Kerrin Leoni (T\u0101maki Makaurau), Kingi Kiriona (Hauraki Waikato), Toni Boynton (Waiariki), Cushla Tangaere-Manuel (Ikaroa-R\u0101whiti) and Mananui Ramsden (Te Tai Tonga). <\/p>\n

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katene is a strategic pick for the party \u2013 a Fulbright scholar, son of the chairman of Ng\u0101ti…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17248,2246,5263,5837,3021,21323,3276,4611,9828,18983,5903,17150,15124,2082,8456,71,13480,1345,78,6721,13489,22511,2720,111,43,139,175466,69,3111,12253,46800,56638,202,1316,1533],"class_list":["post-415361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-17248","tag-2246","tag-all","tag-battle","tag-bring","tag-candidates","tag-chris","tag-confident","tag-different","tag-draws","tag-election","tag-fate","tag-fight","tag-for","tag-fresh","tag-from","tag-hipkins","tag-home","tag-in","tag-labour","tag-leader","tag-lines","tag-mori","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-novembers","tag-nz","tag-out","tag-panel","tag-pti","tag-seats","tag-seven","tag-when","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415361","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=415361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}