Te Pāti Māori chaos: Eru Kapa-Kingi says party’s email was defamatory, rejects calls for new party

Tuesday, 21 October 2025

Eru Kapa-Kingi says the email Te Pāti Māori sent out about him and his mother was defamatory - but he doesn’t want to start a new party.

Eru Kapa-Kingi is the son of Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and worked for the party as a vice president in the past, as well as serving as one of the main leaders of the Toitu Te Tiriti movement which organised a huge hikoi last year.

He and his mother are at the centre of a crisis engulfing the party in recent weeks.

His mother was abruptly fired from the party’s whip role in September, and he publicly broke off from the party several weeks ago, accusing the party’s leadership of a “dictatorial” leadership style.

The party sent an unsigned email to its members last week with a range of accusations against mother and son, including an allegation of “assault” against Eru Kapa-Kingi, and an allegation that Mariameno Kapa-Kingi was overspending her parliamentary budget by $133,000, and that she had continued to pay her son for work after he had left Parliament.

The email included a link to a complaint from a parliamentary security staffer about a verbal incident with Eru Kapa-Kingi, where it was alleged that Eru Kapa-Kingi shouted: “I will f…ing knock you out”. This complaint did not include any allegation of assault.

Eru Kapa-Kingi posted a statement to his Instagram addressing the allegations about him, calling them defamatory and embarrassing.

He said there had been a verbal incident between parliamentary security guards and himself, in which he had become frustrated after what he viewed as racial profiling of him and his sisters, with their passes treated as “fake”. He said “heated words” were exchanged.

“I recognise my actions were not a good example,” Kapa-Kingi wrote.

He said there was a parliamentary process followed, no findings were made against him, and he later resigned to spend more time with his family, but was still paid on an “as and when needed basis”.

“I have done this through my consulting company, Tautoru Limited, which I share with my brothers,” he wrote.

“Te Pāti Māori leadership knew of these arrangements, and were aware of the security incident, the independent investigation and the findings at the time they came about. The claim that I was dismissed for serious misconduct is defamatory, unequivocally wrong, and - quite frankly - embarrassing for Te Pāti Māori to have made publicly.”

Te Pāti Māori President John Tamihere told The Post“defamation is a breach of the law and there are remedies accordingly”. He did not respond to requests for further comment.

Mariameno Kapa-Kingi responded to the budget allegation on Monday, saying leadership had approved her helping to cover costs for her late colleague Tarsh Kemp.

“The leadership approved the payment of the first tranche of the work, indicating the arrangements were suitable and sufficient. Payment happened without contest or alarm. I continued with the same arrangement,” Mariameno Kapa-Kingi said.

Several current MPs indicated some level of support for Mariameno Kapa-Kingi on social media, including Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke and Oriini Kaipara.

Eru Kapa-Kingi said he had seen many calls for a new party to start up but he didn’t think this was the right path.

He said instead it was “time to reconsider the Te Pāti Māori executive and leadership through a hui involving all rohe [regions] on an even footing.”

A spokesman for Te Pāti Māori’s co-leaders said they would not be commenting.

Parliamentary Service has been asked for comment. It has said repeatedly that it does not comment on individual employment matters.