Tamihere’s crew left to nurse fine legacy

Board member of Te Wa¯nanga o Aotearoa and a communications and strategy professional

October 17 looks set to mark the end of an incredible political era for Ma¯ori. While Winston Peters technically fits this bill, it’s the Ma¯ori Party which looks set to forever disappear after this year’s election.

It has not been for want of trying by the party and its selffunded political hopefuls, who have struggled for attention due to a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, and a popular prime minister who the party’s target audience adores.

I was a reporter when the flames of the Ma¯ori Party first glowed. Then National Party leader Don Brash, speaking at Orewa, ignited its fire. In 2004 Gerry Brownlee was National’s ‘‘Ma¯ori Affairs’’ spokesman. He infamously referred to then Labour MP John Tamihere as a ‘‘black fella’’ in parliament. Trevor Mallard was Education Minister and said Ma¯ori ceremonies in schools were time-wasting and sexist. Mocking muchloved Ma¯ori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia became a sport for many MPs and reporters. Ma¯ori were a popular and regular political target.

The foreshore and seabed legislation is often held up as the defining issue that spawned the Ma¯ori Party, but it was much more. At the time, it seemed all the hard-fought gains won by past Ma¯ori leaders were at risk.

Even then, PM Helen Clark labelled a peaceful hı¯koi as haters and wreckers, who she refused to meet. That hı¯koi would swell to tens of thousands and descend on parliament demanding an end to the attacks on Ma¯ori.

Now Ma¯ori Party co-leader, John Tamihere, was then in Labour and was beside Parekura and Deputy PM Michael Cullen when the hı¯koi arrived at the Beehive. It was the first time I saw the fiery, ebullient Tamihere subdued. He looked nervous, as did Cullen – especially when Tame Iti violently evacuated his nostrils in their general direction, prompting a surge of support from the simmering crowd.

That day was the beginning of the end of the political viciousness against Ma¯ori. It was as if a collective face-palm struck the nation, causing reflection on the futility of racial division and hatred.

It also reminded Ma¯ori of the power that could be exerted when we work together. The attacks united urban and rural, iwi and pan-tribal, kauma¯tua and rangatahi, against a common enemy. Nothing unites Ma¯ori like adversity and a shared enemy.

In the 16 years since the Ma¯ori Party was formed, that enemy has diminished. Ma¯ori are a traditional, almost fatally loyal lot, seeming to apply a religious red tinge to their politics. This year the Ma¯ori Party gave another major koha to Ma¯ori, yet few understand the part it played. This year the Labour-led Government agreed to a massive increase in funding for Wha¯nau Ora, probably the Ma¯ori Party’s greatest legacy. It is no coincidence that the funding increase came following the resurgence of the Ma¯ori Party, and the emergence of formidable veteran Tamihere at the helm, alongside mercurial iwi leader and environmental activist Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

This year’s Budget, negotiated hard by Labour Ma¯ori strategist Willie Jackson and Labour’s Ma¯ori MPs, provided some of the largest increases in funding for Ma¯ori – admittedly under the cover of ‘‘Covid-19 recovery’’but in large part to counter a refocused Ma¯ori Party.

Sadly, that leverage will be no more after the election. Ma¯ori blind loyalty to the voting habit of their ancestors will kill forever the promise that was the Ma¯ori Party. Two terms without an MP is the end game for any party. The essential, independent Ma¯ori voice will be silenced, as will a potential plan-B for Ma¯ori if Labour again loses its Ma¯ori voice or when a National-led government returns.

The Ma¯ori Party are pleading for Ma¯ori to give them their candidate vote only, while giving their party vote to Labour and Jacinda. This would ensure all current Labour Ma¯ori MPs continue in parliament via the list, while being joined by one or two Ma¯ori Party MPs.

But that requires voting strategically and not emotionally, something Ma¯ori seem incapable of.

We will never know what a National/ACT government would have been like for Ma¯ori during the last recession, without the tempering effect of the Ma¯ori Party who provided confidence and supply to National, while blunting hardright demands of ACT. In time, when this government comes to an end, without a Ma¯ori Party, we will find out.

Nothing unites Ma¯ori like adversity and a shared enemy.