Christopher Luxon and Meka Whaitiri. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon / VNP / Phil Smith
A vote for Te Pāti Māori is a vote for Labour, National leader Christopher Luxon says, calling them "one entity" despite the former's poaching of a sitting minister.
Meka Whaitiri, who held a number of ministerial responsibilities outside of Cabinet, announced on Wednesday morning she would stand for Te Pāti Māori in the upcoming general election, defecting from Labour with immediate effect.
She has held the Māori electorate Ikaroa-Rāwhiti since 2013, winning the seat easily in 2020 with more than half of the vote. Te Pāti Māori's candidate Heather Te Au-Skipworth was a distant second, on 31 percent. She had been named as the party's candidate for 2023, but will step aside.
With recent polls putting Te Pāti Māori under the 5 percent threshold needed to get into Parliament without an electorate, Whaitiri's move has boosted the party's chances of returning as the kingmaker (Rawiri Waititi only narrowly won his seat, and his co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was defeated by Labour's Adrian Ruwhare, so was elected via the list)
If the party was indeed in the kingmaker position following October's vote, Luxon told Morning Report on Wednesday Labour would return for a third term in power.
"I think you've to be really clear - there's a Labour, Greens, Te Pati Māori bloc that's together and you know, that's what you're going to get if you vote for any of those three parties," he told host Corin Dann.
"That's the coalition that's coming together, and as you're seeing here, obviously things are pretty party fluid with people moving from the Labour Party to Te Pāti Māori."
"There's a Labour, Greens, Te Pati Māori bloc that's together" - National Party leader Christopher Luxon
Under previous leadership, Te Pāti Māori allied with National. Luxon said it would be "highly unlikely that we would ever work with Te Pāti Māori" under his leadership.
"I think they have selected the Labour Party and the Greens as their coalition partners and the people that they want to work together in a bloc and as a result, I'm focusing very much on driving the National Party vote. It's pretty straightforward."
No deals
If National is to form the next government, on current polling it would need not just the support of Te Pāti Māori, but also ACT - or perhaps a resurgent New Zealand First.
While National has in the past helped out ACT, it was likely no longer needed with ACT polling comfortably over the 5 percent threshold.
Luxon flatly ruled out cutting a deal with New Zealand First, suggesting ACT would not get one this time either.
"Absolutely not. There are no deals with any political parties. We are focused on maximising the National Party vote. If you want to change this government, there's only one thing to do, which is party vote for the National Party.
Labour Party leader Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, in the UK presently, earlier said he had not heard from Whaitiri about her plans. It had only been a few weeks since she was named Stuart Nash's replacement as the lead minister for cyclone recovery in Hawke's Bay.
"What it says here is we've got a government that's falling apart again," said Luxon.
"We're discussing Labour's personnel issues with them from Gaurav Sharma to Kiri Allan and Meng Foon and to ministers like now, Stuart Nash and Meka Whaitiri leaving. And so yeah, I just think it's, you know, it's not what New Zealanders want us to be talking about."
Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon is not a Labour MP, but it was revealed in April he had donated thousands of dollars to Allan's 2020 campaign despite a requirement to be politically neutral.
Nash in April said he would retire from politics altogether at the election, after being sacked from Cabinet after it was revealed he sent an email containing confidential Cabinet information to two men who had donated to his campaigns.
Sharma left Parliament last year after a spectacular falling out with the Labour Party, and coming fourth in the resulting byelection.
Whaitiri is not the first former Labour member to switch to Te Pāti Māori. Tariana Turia had been a Labour MP for eight years when she set up Te Pāti Māori in 2004.
Former Te Pāti Māori co-leader and current president John Tamihere spent six years as a Labour MP, while Waititi ran for Labour in 2014, before switching allegiance.