Meka Whaitiri has quit Labour and confirmed that she will stand for the Maori Party in this year’s election. She intends to stay on as an MP and sit with the Maori Party.
This is quite a coup by the Maori Party.
John Tamihere’s aide Joe Lose describes the background in this way:
While Meka Whaitiri will confirm that she has resigned from Labour and will stand for Te Pāti Māori at the next election, the ground work for the audacious coup for Te Pāti Māori dates back to 2018 when then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern booted the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP out of Cabinet.
Whaitiri was dumped following allegations of bullying that were made by one of the MP’s staff members.
“While the facts are in dispute, the report says an incident occurred. Meka Whaitiri continues to contest details of the incident, but there are elements which are agreed,” Ardern said at the time.
That public demotion and outing opened the door for Te Pāti Māori to start talks with Whaitiri and others and the Herald understands the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP was almost persuaded to switch for the 2020 general election.
But Labour Māori strategist Willie Jackson managed to retain all the Māori MPs in the Labour tent, and eventually into another three years of government.
As mentioned she was previously the subject of an inquiry into an allegation that she had assaulted a staff member. I thought her being stood down as a Cabinet Minister was appropriate and I am all for the ability for someone to redeem themselves as she had.
My sense is that over the past few years Labour relations with the Maori Party have improved significantly. Time will tell how this affects this relationship.
In possibly related news it is rumoured that former Labour MP Louisa Wall will stand for the Maori Party in Manurewa.
Campaign debates will be interesting. The parties of the right will be attempting to drum up resentment to co governance and the Maori Party will be insisting that it be respected on the basis of treaty obligations.
Hang in there, this election campaign just became a great deal more interesting.
Update: There has been some conjecture that Whaitiri may have triggered section 55A of the Electoral Act and that her seat is now vacant. No doubt highly paid lawyers are checking the terms of the letter now to see if it qualifies under Section 55B. Labour has said that it will not invoke the Waka Jumping law.
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