‘Strong Māori voice will come again’
Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell says what hurt the most when his party failed to get back into Parliament was the loss of faith and belief of the Maori people.
Yesterday was the first time the former minister had returned to Parliament since his party’s disastrous election result. He used the opportunity to talk about what went wrong and where the Maori Party is headed.
‘‘I was a bit shattered ... Despite all these gains and working our backsides off, we got robbed,’’ he said.
‘‘We worked so hard for our people, and this is what we get? Or were we that bad that we deserved to lose our place?
‘‘But what hurt most was the loss of faith and belief in our people ... after 12 years of service.’’
Flavell said the campaign got off to a good start – Labour was struggling, his party had the support of the Ma¯ ori King, it had an agreement with Mana for te Tai Tokerau seat, and had plans to work with Auckland’s Pasifika leaders.
But the tide turned and the party lost ground. The rise of Jacinda Ardern, and the view that homelessness and deprivation among Maori people was best addressed by Labour, saw the party lose traction.
Negative billboards and an unclear slogan, ‘‘Make it Maori, make it happen’’, did not help, Flavell said.
‘‘Our people didn’t know what ‘it’ was,’’ he said.
The party struggled against the view it was only for Maori, and only Maori people could vote for the party - something broadcaster Mike Hosking added to when he made comments to that effect.
‘‘What’s right for Maori is right for everyone in this country,’’ Flavell said.
He covered the work the Maori Party had achieved in Parliament, including language translation in the House, the Ma¯ ori language bill, land reforms, wha¯ nau ora, Ma¯ ori history in curriculum and a ministerial committee on poverty.
Now it was time for the party to re-group, reorganise, and plan for next time. ‘‘Since I arrived in Parliament, I’ve never stopped having the belief in the need for an independent party, but we must have influence to make the change ...
‘‘It’s a huge source of sadness that we cannot continue to do more. But we will be back, when our people believe again that they must have that strong, independent voice to keep everybody else honest. Such a movement will come again, in that I’m absolutely clear.’’