Parties vie for Maori voters’ support at tautotohe

WELLINGTON: Labour, New Zealand First, National and the Greens gathered for tautotohe (debate) at the RNZPacific Media Network Te Kawhiringa 2020 yesterday, where for an hour they tried to convince Maori voters they were worthy of their support.

The Maori economy, job support, housing, treaty partnerships, mana motuhake (right to selfdetermination) and Ihumatao were just some of the issues canvassed.

List MP and senior strategist for the Labour Party’s Maori caucus Willie Jackson was made to defend what the Government had achieved for Maori.

The party holds all seven Maori seats and in all polls for this election so far, looks likely to command a majority of support in party votes. But the other parties contended Labour had done little to pay back the support given to it last election.

‘‘Are you the government of not good enough, not quick enough, not fast enough?’’ host Julian Wilcox asked Mr Jackson about the Government’s housing promises.

‘‘OK, it was a bit of a slow start,’’ Mr Jackson conceded to jeers. ‘‘We were restricted in a number of areas, as you are in a coalition government, but I know that the next three years, things could be quite different.’’

Covid19, which has further exposed deep inequalities in the health system, was one of the main topics.

‘‘Look at the [epidemic] response committee — who put on the table ‘what are the testing rates for Maori’? It was us,’’ National health spokesman Shane Reti said.

On Ihumatao, Green Party coleader Marama Davidson said it should have been resolved long ago, while Mr Jackson said a deal was imminent, though would not be drawn on a date.

Dr Reti and Mr Peters were completely opposed to a resolution.

The Maori Party had been invited and were due to attend until they had to withdraw at the last minute, while Act New Zealand declined to take part. — RNZ