Little fires back at ‘shackled’ rivals
Labour leader Andrew Little has hit back at the Maori Party, saying it has done nothing for its people while ‘‘shackled to the National Party’’.
On Monday, the Maori Party, Mana leader Hone Harawira and the people of Kingitanga were welcomed on to Ratana Pa where Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell laid down a pitch for Ratana to abandon the Labour Party in favour of a united Maori political voice.
A war of words has broken out between the Maori Party and Labour as the election draws closer and Flavell and his co-leader Marama Fox make a push to win back the six Maori seats Labour holds.
But Little said yesterday that ‘‘the Maori Party is effectively the Maori branch of the National Party and they have let Maori down – and the Mana Party is irrelevant’’.
Harawira and the Maori Party have agreed to work together to try to claw back some Maori seats.
Little rejected talk that the bond between Labour and Ratana was fading and said the party had spent a lot of time ‘‘strengthening the relationship with Ratana over the past year’’.
On Monday, Flavell said that bond wouldn’t stand the test of time and the intense loyalty from the Ratana people to Labour had ended.
Before walking on to Ratana Pa alongside the Green Party, NZ First and The Opportunities Party leader Gareth Morgan yesterday, Little said the ‘‘conditions for Maori have got worse in the last nine years’’.
Hauraki-Waikato Labour MP Nanaia Mahuta was welcomed on to Ratana on Monday along with Kingitanga and the Maori King’s son, Whatumoana Paki.
Little said it was natural for her to have done that because Kingitanga was her ‘‘whakapapa’’.
He said Mahuta had told him that she intended to stand in the election this year and ‘‘continue to be a Labour MP’’.
There had been speculation she might not run after the Maori King, Tuheitia, stripped his support for Labour and said he’d never vote for the party again instead backing the Maori Party.
Mahuta is a close friend and adviser of the king and his decision to walk away from Labour left her somewhat out in the cold.
Morgan’s presence at Ratana Pa yesterday is indicative of how seriously he’s taking this year’s election but Little wasn’t prepared to say he’d work with Morgan in any future government.
‘‘He’s a maverick and not used to working with other people but is a great source of ideas,’’ Little said.
Morgan said before his speech at Ratana that he planned to be controversial and ‘‘lay down a couple of challenges to Maoridom’’.