John Tamihere challenges rogue MPs to split from Te Pāti Māori

Monday, 3 November 2025

Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris speaks about the email sent out.

Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere says rogue MPs Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Tākuta Ferris should “do the honourable thing” and split from the party.

Tamihere, himself facing a call from Te Tai Tonga electorate members to stand aside, on Monday afternoon laid out a series of claims against Kapa-Kingi and Ferris, who have been at the heart of ructions within the party for more than a month.

In a lengthy social media post, he accused Te Tai Tokerau MP Kapa-Kingi of considering a leadership coup with Te Tai Tonga MP Ferris back in July, and Kapa-Kingi had since been running a “relentless” attack through the media.

“Instead of endeavouring to destroy our ability to end this Government’s reign next year, we invite Kapa-Kingi and Ferris to do the honourable thing,” he said.

John Tamihere, president of Te Pāti Māori, at the party’s ‘reset’ event last month.

The “honourable thing”, Tamihere said, had been done by former Māori Party MP Hone Harawira when he resigned from the Māori Party in 2011, won a by-election, and formed the Mana Party.

“I guarantee Kapa-Kingi and Ferris will not do the same thing because their conduct is not based on mana, is not based on integrity and honesty or on principle. Their conduct is based on greed, avarice and entitlement.”

Kapa-Kingi, in a brief statement, said, “Tai Tokerau elected me into Parliament to represent their aspirations and solutions”.

“I will continue to do that until they vote otherwise. I’ll be back at work next week doing the job I was given and looking to do exactly that.”

Ferris has been contacted for comment.

Further details in Tamihere’s public missive included that in July he received a call from “a Te Tai Tokerau Iwi Chair” who asked that an open candidate selection be held for the electorate, the implication being this iwi leader wanted a different candidate to run, because Kapa-Kingi had asked for support in a leadership challenge.

Tamihere said he called Kapa-Kingi, who was “unable” to provide a case for a leadership change.

Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi at an event last month.

“The adverse impact of the Kapa-Kingi entitlement can only be explained by their desire to take over leadership of the Party with Mr Ferris,” Tamihere said.

“They could not do that through the tikanga of the Party so they have endeavoured to destabilise the Party as it undertakes one of the most important Elections in Māori history coming into 2026.”

He also claimed that Kapa-Kingi and Ferris would hold their own meetings in advance of the party’s regular caucus meetings, to which they would arrive late.

Tamihere’s urging of two of the party’s six MPs to quit came after the Te Tai Tonga electorate executive publicised a petition on Monday morning that called for Tamihere to “stand down immediately”.

“Leadership within Te Ao Māori is sacred - when it strays from tika, pono and aroha, it must be held to account,” the post said.

Tākuta Ferris, MP for Te Tai Tonga, at the ‘reset’ event.

This petition was shared online by Kapa-Kingi’s son, Eru Kapa-Kingi, who called it a “brave but necessary move”.

The deepening of an internal dispute within Te Pāti Māori is the latest twist in a saga which the party tried to put an end to almost four weeks ago, when it held a “reset” to draw a line under events at Parliament.

The party’s troubles began with Ferris publicly criticising non-Māori Labour supporters campaigning for candidate Peeni Henare to win the Māori electorate seat, and then doubling down on the criticism after the party co-leaders apologised to Labour.

Kapa-Kingi was then demoted from party whip, which Tamihere on Monday said was due to iwi leaders wanting to see her in the electorate more.

Her son, Eru, a former party vice-president who leads the Toitū Te Tiriti protest movement, then publicly declared the movement’s split from Te Pāti Māori, calling its leadership a “dictatorship”.

After the reset, three weeks ago, the party sent out an unsigned email to members alleging that Kapa-Kingi was overspending her parliamentary budget by $133,000 and that Eru had been barred from Parliament after an incident with security staff.

Ferris said there “wasn’t a consensus” about issuing this explosive email.

Last week, Waatea News reported that Kapa-Kingi had been suspended by the party. A party spokesperson did not confirm this when asked by The Post, saying in a statement “this matter is currently before the Te Pāti Māori National Council and remains an internal party process”.