The final election results last Friday moved the dial, bringing in two more Te Paati Māori MPs - and with that electing the highest number of number of Māori MPs in a parliamentary term
I predicted on election night that the specials would likely create an overhang Parliament (Port Waikato by-election aside) and bring in another Te Paati Māori MP. In 2020 special votes favoured Te Paati Māori in the Māori electorates before the swing we saw this year. But they got two and Parliament got 33 MPs of Māori descent.
A question I’ve been asked many times since election night is. ‘What will the change of government mean for Māori?’ I thought to myself 'is that an answerable question' because Māori is an extremely broad church. We only have to look at the MPs who will be in the house for the next term to see that. I’ll come back to that.
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We have had Māori MPs in the house since 1867 when there were four in the new Maori electorate seats. Their ability to effect change was limited due to being a minority in an often-hostile environment and particularly due to the language barrier. They spoke the first language of the country. Their parliamentary colleagues did not.
The reo Māori naysayers could do well to note that at the time relevant legislation was printed in te reo Māori and for a decade-and-a-half from 1881 there was a Māori Hansard record of the speeches the Māori MPs made.
To this day, our most famous Māori MP remains Ta (sir) Apirana Ngata. Ngata won the Eastern Maori seat in 1905. The election for the four Māori seats was held on December 20 - two weeks after the general election. Ngata held the seat for 13 terms for three different parties: the Liberal, United and National Parties. The latter which grew out of a merger between United and the Reform Party.
His legacy endures and he retains broad admiration, although is often selectively and narrowly quoted by the likes of the Hobson’s Myth crowd to suit their political bent. He adorns our fifty dollar note.
Overall, the number Māori MPs stayed small relative in the house for pretty much a century.
In 1993, the last First Past the Post election, there were eight Māori MPs. That included the whole caucus of New Zealand First, which consisted of Winston Peters and Tau Henare who had just broken Labour’s stranglehold on the Māori electorate seats by beating Dr Bruce Gregory.
MMP certainly changed things, and the number of Māori MPs has been steadily growing since 1996. Importantly, the ‘church’ of Māori representation in Parliament has changed massively.
Fun Fact: In the last Parliament there were five MPs who had whakapapa connections to a single marae in Ngāpuhi - four of them were from Labour with the outlier being David Seymour.
So back to the 2023 Parliament. We have 33 MPs who represent Māori from all walks of life, level of engagement with, and knowledge of, te ao Māori (the Māori world) and desire to be involved in it. Their spread across the political spectrum is as broad as I’ve ever seen.
Where are they?
- Labour 9
- Te Paati Māori 6
- Greens 6
- National 5
- NZ First 4
- ACT 3
It is noteworthy that National’s five Maori MPs all won general electorates. From Whangārei (Shane Reti) in the north to Rangitata (James Meager) in Canterbury.
However National’s runaway success in the electorates has had unintended consequences. It saw James Christmas, at 28 on the list, miss out. As a protege of former Treaty Negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson, Christmas was widely tipped to pick up his old boss’ portfolio. It leaves National light on experience and options in that portfolio, among others.
This takes us back to the question of ‘what does the change of Government mean for Māori?”
The key policy changes have been signalled loud and long, e.g. co-governance provisions in water legislation and Te Aka Whaiora - Māori Health Authority are gone. And a question mark remains next to Act’s wish for a referendum on Treaty principles.
Regarding health funding, both National and Act prefer direct funding for Māori health initiatives. That’s going to need some good, strong political management.
Yet, of the 12 Māori MPs across the three parties who will form the next Government only two have Cabinet experience. The New Zealand First one-two of Winston Peters and Shane Jones. David Seymour was a Parliamentary Under Secretary. Shane Jones is the best orator and has the strongest connections with Maoridom’s heavy hitters, even if he wound a few of them up during the election campaign.
On the other side of the fence, will the iwi leadership and the Māori health providers come to the table to see what they can achieve? The health disparities of Māori won’t improve if they don’t. The stark reality of politics is you must be at the table to achieve anything.
Therein may lie a message for other parties. In May 2009, National’s Gerry Brownlee and the Greens' Jeanette Fitzsimons made a joint announcement on a landmark home insulation programme. It was $323 million over four years, on top of $79 million dollars EECA had for energy efficiency work.
If Act has its way, it will scrap EECA in this next term.
The programme was so successful, Gerry and Jeanette were back in November that year to announce the funding could be brought forward and spent before the four years was up. It was an unexpected success from unlikely political partners. It worked because of the pragmatism of the two political leaders who drove it.
Yet, at an election postmortem show hosted by RNZ at the Backbencher pub after the 2017 election, I was asked should the Greens consider talking to National. I replied: Yes, absolutely. MMP is about compromise. You should have the conversation and see whether you can achieve anything useful. If nothing, walk away. A Green MP was sitting a few metres away from me. The MP recoiled in horror, like I’d put vinegar on their ice cream.
When the final election result came out last Friday and Te Paati Māori had pinched another two seats off Labour, party President John Tamihere told RNZ he ‘was available’ to have a discussion with National, despite both sides having spent months slinging mud at each other. Perhaps all parties claiming to have the best interests of Māori at heart should take a leaf out of Gerry Brownlee and Jeanette Fitzsimons' playbook.
As for how the next term will go. I agree with friends from both left and right sides of the political spectrum. “It’ll be interesting.”
