Rawiri Waititi says party hasn’t considered kicking ‘rogue’ MPs out of Parliament yet

Tuesday, 4 November 2025

The co-leader of Te Pāti Māori spoke to journalists outside Parliament on Tuesday morning.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi says any decision on whether to kick two ‘rogue’ MPs who challenged him for the leadership out of Parliament has not been made yet.

Waititi on Tuesday morning suggested he wouldn’t back using the “Waka Jumping“ law on Te Pāti Māori MPs Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, meaning even if they left the party they would remain in Parliament without causing by-elections.

“They are MPs of those particular electorates, the electorates will decide whether they stay in the House or not come 2026,” Waititi said.

But asked again about the issue later on Tuesday Waititi suggested that matter simply hadn’t been considered.

“We haven’t considered that particular option at this time. We’re allowing our National Council to work through the constitution, and we need to be able to allow them to do with that without having to deal with that through the media,” Waititi said.

Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere called on the two MPs to leave the party on Monday, saying they were waging a “relentless” campaign against party leadership instead of doing the honourable thing and leaving the party.

Waititi said he backed this sentiment.

Both MPs have been involved in some level of drama with party leadership. Ferris’ electorate committee has started a petition to remove Tamihere as president and Kapa-Kingi has been accused of overspending her parliamentary budget.

Rawiri Waititi, left, says he wouldn’t kick Tākuta Ferris, right, out of Parliament.

Tamihere accused the pair of attempting a leadership coup in July, an accusation Waititi said was true.

Waititi, who is Tamihere’s son-in-law, said he backed the entirety of Tamihere’s post.

“I support all the sentiments laid out by John Tamihere in his post,“ Waititi said.

The Iwi Chairs Forum is set to meet with the party after publicly calling for it to sort out its chaotic infighting.

Waititi said he welcomed the chance to talk to them.

Māori Party president John Tamihere says there has been no evidence put to him of dictatorial behaviour.

“It's good that the iwi chairs feel that they have some ownership of this movement,” Waititi said.

Labour’s co-chair of the Māori caucus, Willie Jackson, said his party was ready to fight in any by-elections necessary.

“If we go down that track, we will be ready in both electorates. We already have an outstanding candidate in the north with Willow-Jean Prime, and in Te Tai Tonga there’s a heck of a lot of interest,” Jackson said.

He said he was already talking to prospective candidates for the Māori seats.

Te Pāti Māori has been in some level of drama since before the September by-election, when Ferris made headlines by criticising non-Māori Labour volunteers campaigning in the by-election.

The issue snowballed when Kapa-Kingi was demoted from the whip and her son, Eru Kapa-Kingi, accused Tamihere of “dictatorial” behaviour.

After a “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.

Eru Kapa-Kingi said that email was defamatory.

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”.