Left-aligned parties label National's one-person-one-vote system line 'dog-whistling'

Parties on the left say National's leader Christopher Luxon ruling out working with Te Pāti Māori is just a way to get more publicity, and his justification is just dog-whistling.

They say Luxon's ability to vote in multiple regions in local elections undermines his "one person, one vote" philosophy; he says he would "possibly" look to repeal that.

Left-leaning bloc retaliates

Luxon confirmed on RNZ's Morning Report today he would not work with Te Pāti Māori after the election, saying the ideological gap between them was simply too wide.

He described Te Pāti Māori as pushing a separatist agenda.

"I'm ruling them out, hard," he said, in a separate briefing to reporters before lunch. "There is just no philosophical alignment between the Māori Party and the National Party. We believe in one person, one vote. We believe that we are all equal citizens and equal under the law."

It was a more unequivocal statement than the previous week, when he described Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori as being aligned in one bloc. The latter's co-leader Rawiri Waititi said today was "a great day for te iwi Māori".

"What he's done is confirmed that he's not interested in creating a Tiriti-centric Aotearoa, so he's made that quite clear today, but we've got bigger fish to fry - and if we don't deal with seabed mining we'll have no fish to fry," he said, referring to the party's bill to ban the practice.

Waititi said Luxon's line about being for a one-person-one-vote system was mere dog-whistling.

"It's dog-whistling because you don't [get one vote under MMP] - it's not one person one vote, it's one person two votes, and so you get a vote for a candidate and you get a vote for a party. So maybe somebody should give a civics education to Chris Luxon and his mates."

The party's other co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer agreed.

"He said we're separatists... we take real pride in being pro-Māori and mana motuhake-focused and we are an indigenous party - we've never ever been shy about that - and we'll continue to be that unapologetic Māori voice in this House."

His announcement was, she said, nothing new and an attempt to get more publicity.

"You've said this nearly every week for the last so many months, so I guess this is about National trying to get some space and some airtime and headlines on something they've already said before.

"They're all after the same voters, it's hard to differentiate between who's Labour and who's National at the moment, but the reality is we know who we are and we have to really focus on that."

The Greens were similarly dismissive, with co-leader Marama Davidson outright rejecting the claim Te Pāti Māori was radical or separatist.

"No, not at all, and if he wants to talk about chaos using some lazy, dog-whistling racism is pretty chaotic - and it's a sign that they've got no actual substance and just want to pick up that racism.

"He knows very well that not only does every person in Aotearoa have two votes - one for party, one for electorate - but also he knows that homeowners, property owners, for example, have more than one vote. He knows what he's saying. It's intentional, it's lazy and chaotic."

Green co-leader James Shaw had no qualms about the Greens' ability to work with Te Pāti Māori.

"Yes, we could. We have a whole election to go and we'll see about that."

He also served the coalition chaos critique back towards National and their most likely coalition partner.

"Ultimately, they are going to be relying on the ACT Party for votes and if you look at the ACT Party's policies they are a recipe for chaos in this country."

"I think if you wanted chaos you need look no further than the National party over the last few years."

Labour leader Chris Hipkins had a similar - if less strident - message than those other leaders.

"He ruled them out, then he ruled them in, then he's ruled them out. I mean, the record is actually pretty clear: The Māori Party have only been in government once, and that was in the nine years that National was in government.

"The Māori electorates do operate on the principle of one person, one vote and I think those who suggest otherwise need to really consider what the message is they're trying to convey."

But his deputy Carmel Sepuloni, recently returned from Auckland's flooding, agreed with the label.

"Oh yeah, that is totally dog whistling."

Hipkins would also not rule out working with Te Pāti Māori.

"I've worked with Te Pāti Māori in the past, I've got a relatively constructive working relationship with them at the moment. It's a relatively limited one given the nature of our current government which is a majority government.

"In terms of who we would and won't work for, we'll make that clearer towards the election in terms of areas where we see we have issues in common with parties and areas where we think we would struggle to work with them."

ACT leader David Seymour said he was surprised Luxon had not made the move earlier.

"Chris Luxon should have ruled out the Māori Party on principle a year ago, he should rule out New Zealand First and the Greens, for that matter, now," he said.

"It's not as though Te Pāti Māori's principles have changed, it's not as thought hey haven't grandstood in Parliament before."

He did not see the need to make the same move himself, however.

"You always assume with them always ruling us out and us having diametrically opposed policies and criticising them for those policies, people already assumed it wasn't going to happen."

'I gave a very definitive answer' - Luxon

Luxon was also asked if - given his philosophical stance - he would get rid of the old law which gives owners of properties in multiple regions votes in each of those regions in local body elections.

"I think one person, one vote works well," he said. "Possibly. Yes."

Despite having set up a media stand-up on the matter just hours earlier, he was reluctant to say whether his announcement today would make coalition building more difficult.

"I know you guys want to talk about that stuff, what I'm saying to you is it's all about the New Zealand people who actually want to get on and get a government that's going to get things done for them.

"We have some serious problems here in New Zealand when you have 20,000 New Zealanders that can't make their mortgage repayments."

He was asked if there was irony in announcing the political decision of ruling out working with Te Pāti Māori while also talking about the need to focus on the issues that matter.

"I gave a very definitive answer about Te Pāti Māori and the fact we can't do business with them," he responded. "I gave you a good justification for it and a rationale for why I want to be able to make sure that New Zealanders understand that actually they need a stable government that is serious-minded."

Luxon had earlier spoken about why he was using the "one person, one vote" line, saying Te Pāti Māori was focused on constitutional arrangements including a separate Parliament, separate voting rights, and Treaty settlements that were not full and final.

His party's Māori-Crown Relations Spokesperson Shane Reti agreed that was not aligned with Te Pāti Māori's values.

"It is how I would summarise some of their actions particularly around Three Waters, their belief that there might need to be a separate government in Parliament, so yes those views I think are views of concern to us that represent how wide the gap is between us."

He said Luxon had thought deeply about embracing tikanga, saying the criticism of Te Pāti Māori's contentious welcome for Meka Whaitiri in Parliament yesterday did not dismiss it.

"I think he's considered and has spent great time and depth thinking about how we can have a good relationship with te ao Māori and how we embrace tikanga and make it part of our policies, and you will see that as policies unfold. Chris Luxon thinks deeply on these matters."

He said National had the policies and the mana to deliver for Māori.

Waititi disagreed.

"For over 100 years, they haven't done that," he said.