{"id":630039,"date":"2026-10-14T05:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T05:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/630039\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T05:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T05:14:15","slug":"te-tai-tonga-the-race-for-new-zealands-largest-electorate-is-wide-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/630039\/","title":{"rendered":"Te Tai Tonga: The race for New Zealand’s largest electorate is wide open"},"content":{"rendered":"

With polls indicating a very tight race, the seven M\u0101ori seats could play an influential role in deciding the next government.<\/p>\n

Te Tai Tonga is the largest of those electorates – and by far the largest in New Zealand, covering the entire South Island, Stewart Island, the Chatham Islands and much of central Wellington.<\/p>\n

Why is it interesting?<\/p>\n

For much of its history the electorate and its predecessor Southern M\u0101ori has been held by Labour, and by members of the Tirikatene wh\u0101nau in particular.<\/p>\n

This year the race for the seat has been thrown open by incumbent MP T\u0101kuta Ferris’ acrimonious expulsion from Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

Independent M\u0101ori candidates have struggled under MMP and it remains to be seen if Ferris can buck the historical trend and see off the challenge of Labour, the Greens and his former party to hold onto the seat.<\/p>\n

Adding to the stakes is the fact that none of the candidates have the option of falling back on the party list, meaning the electorate is their only pathway into Parliament.<\/p>\n

\"Election<\/p>\n

RNZ<\/p>\n

What happened last election?<\/p>\n

At the last election Ferris, then with Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori, defeated Labour’s Rino Tirikatene by 2824 votes.<\/p>\n

That result reversed the outcome from three years earlier where the same two candidates faced off, but Tirikatene prevailed by 6855 votes.<\/p>\n

In 2023 Labour picked the most party votes with 37 percent, with Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori second on 23 percent.<\/p>\n

Labour has held the electorate since 1999, with the exception of two terms – one in 2008 when Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori’s Rahui Katene held the seat and then in 2023 under Ferris.<\/p>\n

Who’s standing?<\/p>\n

Incumbent MP T\u0101kuta Ferris (Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu, Ng\u0101i Tahu, Ng\u0101ti Kuia, Ng\u0101ti Raukawa) told RNZ that in an uncertain political climate Te Tai Tonga needs an independent voice.<\/p>\n

“An independent candidate means that the issues of the people get direct access directly delivered into the Parliament and the debates of the country. So if we’ve got critical issues in Te Tai Tonga, having a strong voice in Parliament gets those issues elevated to a national level.<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

Incumbent MP T\u0101kuta Ferris said he would support a left-led government.<\/p>\n

RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone<\/p>\n

“And it’s just the case in our politics that when it comes to parties, the voice of the people in different regions just has to come second or third or last to what the party priorities are.”<\/p>\n

Ferris said if re-elected he would naturally support a left-led government.<\/p>\n

“We wouldn’t support a continuation of the current coalition. Not at all. We’ve just got to make sure that whatever transpires on the 7th of November, that for Te Tai Tonga, Te Tai Tonga’s voice is right there.”<\/p>\n

Lisa Marie Murch (Waitaha, K\u0101ti Mamoe, Ng\u0101i Tahu) is running for Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori, the teacher and kaupapa M\u0101ori educator was born and raised in Murihiku (Southland).<\/p>\n

“We’re the only party that is answerable to M\u0101ori. We’re the only political party that has a manifesto aimed 100 percent at lifting M\u0101ori, and we’re the only political party that will move to entrench Te Tiriti o Waitangi,” Murch told RNZ.<\/p>\n

Murch said she doesn’t believe Ferris’s expulsion from Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori will negatively affect her campaign.<\/p>\n

“Our party has moved on, T\u0101kuta has moved on, and I wish him well for his campaign. But I do not believe that it will have any negative effect on Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori. We are stronger than ever. We’ve got seven amazing candidates running in all M\u0101ori electorates, and we are pushing that one tick vote, that candidate vote only vote.”<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori candidate for Te Tai Tonga Lisa Marie Murch.<\/p>\n

Supplied\/Erica Sinclair Photography<\/p>\n

Labour selected Mananui Ramsden (K\u0101i Tahu, K\u0101ti Mamoe, Waitaha, Rangit\u0101ne, Raukawa, Tainui) a self-described “p\u0101 boy” from Te P\u0101taka a R\u0101kaihaut\u016b (Banks Peninsula) and former chair of Te R\u016bnanga o Koukourarata.<\/p>\n

“Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our foundation for democracy in Aotearoa. And my role within Labour, everyone’s role within Labour is to be Treaty positive, to ensure that we partner with hap\u016b, iwi, hapori M\u0101ori, we’re united walking side by side and we’re supporting our own people to deliver for the things that are really important to them because of course our people know our people.”<\/p>\n

Ramsden opted not to take a spot on the Labour Party list, something he said was not a strategy to counter a candidate only vote push, such as the one adopted later by Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

“Where I come from mandate is a big thing. If you go with the mandate of the people, then you’re expected to work for the people. If not, get out of the way. And so, yeah, that’s pretty much my style.”<\/p>\n

\"Candidate<\/p>\n

Candidate billboards for Te Tai Tonga in central Wellington.<\/p>\n

RNZ\/Pokere Paewai<\/p>\n

The Green Party candidate is Dr Lisa Te Morenga (Ng\u0101ti Whatua, Ng\u0101puhi, Te Rarawa) a M\u0101ori health researcher and Professor of M\u0101ori Health and Nutrition.<\/p>\n

“I decided to stand for the Green Party just earlier this year because the changes that this government have been making by reversing a lot of the things that we’ve fought so hard for to advance M\u0101ori issues and to honour Te Tiriti, like Te Aka Whai Ora, like our increasing use of and teaching of te reo in the schools, our move to tell our own stories in our history curriculum,” she said.<\/p>\n

Te Morenga said the issues facing M\u0101ori in Te Tai Tonga are firstly the cost of living, with petrol, food, electricity and housing prices increasing.<\/p>\n

“So people are just feeling increasing pressure to make ends meet. And then the other big issue from our voters is just this real anger at the repeal of all of our Te Tiriti wins or all of the things that we’ve been fighting for as M\u0101ori that protect our rights and honour Te Tiriti. Seeing that just being pulled out from under our feet, I think, is really angering our voters.”<\/p>\n

Also running are Christine Fisher of New Zealand Loyal and Tania Lee Henare from the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With polls indicating a very tight race, the seven M\u0101ori seats could play an influential role in deciding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-630039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630039","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=630039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}