Te Pāti Māori MPs told to stop publicly sniping at each other

Friday, 7 November 2025

Rawiri Waititi said earlier this week the two ‘rogue’ MPs in the party should leave.

The Iwi Chairs Forum has instituted a tentative ceasefire within Te Pāti Māori, with MPs seemingly holding their tongues ahead of a potential meeting next week.

But family members of MPs on both sides of the complex dispute have continued the fight online.

The public side of the dispute began with comments made by MP Tākuta Ferris in August but has spiralled considerably since then, with the co-leaders openly calling for Ferris and fellow MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi to leave the party earlier this week.

Bayden Barber has been attempting to bring the two sides together.

Ngāti Kahungunu chair Bayden Barber of the Iwi Chairs Forum told The Post that he had asked MPs on both sides of the dispute to stop sniping at each in the media and online.

“That was the first thing we put on the table. Keep it out of the media, keep out of throwing barbs at each other through Instagram or Facebook. We can only encourage that,” Barber said.

John Tamihere is president of the party and a frequent target of one faction.

“It's not helpful having daily barbs throwing over social media - they all have ammunition.”

The MPs within the party appear to have heeded this call, but their more vocal family members have not.

Eru Kapa-Kingi, the son of MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and one of the main protagonists in the conflict, posted a video to his Instagram on Friday calling for a totally refreshed leadership of the party - removing president John Tamihere from his role.

Eru Kapa-Kingi has not heeded the call for a ceasefire.

“This is a leadership beyond accountability, beyond integrity and beyond honesty, and we deserve better,” Eru Kapa-Kingi said.

Te Pāti Māori general manager Kiri Waititi-Tamihere, co-leader Rawiri Waititi’s wife, and president Tamihere’s daughter, took to Instagram to post several long monologues about the conflict, both within Te Pāti Māori and within the wider Toitu Te Tiriti movement - which publicly split off from the party as part of the ongoing spat.

Much of this conflict has concerned MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and her son Eru Kapa-Kingi, who was a leader in the Toitu Te Tiriti and worked for Te Pāti Māori.

The pair were the subject of a blistering unsigned email sent to party members which contained allegations Eru Kapa-Kingi said were defamatory.

He repeated on Friday that the allegations in the email were “lies” yet the party was standing by them.

Eru Kapa-Kingi’s position has generally been backed by Ferris’ electorate committee, who have started a “no confidence” petition in Tamihere. Ferris himself said that he was not happy about the letter sent to members about the Kapa-Kingis.

Barber said he would look to get the MPs in a room together first, and then bring in wider elements from around the party.

“The message to the parties - both sides of the factions - is calm the farm. Let's get into a room together, with MPs first, then the wider factions, and see if we can talk it out,” Barber said.

“You can’t be walking into Christmas with an imploded party. We have an election in 12 months.”