Chris Hipkins says Te Pāti Māori still not ready for Government

Monday, 10 November 2025

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Labour leader Chris Hipkins says Te Pāti Māori still isn’t ready for Government, as the party booted two of its MPs from its caucus this week.

And despite Te Pāti Māori co-leaders’ eagerness to talk up potential governing arrangements with Labour, Hipkins said he hadn’t met with them since before the September by-election which started the dispute.

Co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi announced the expulsion of two MPs from the party on Monday morning - Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. Both immediately said they would challenge this decision.

Waititi said on Monday morning the expulsion was needed to “stabilise the waka” after months of chaos within the party.

“We had to bring it to a close, and we have to just move on and make sure that we continue to ensure that this is a one term Government.”

Waititi said his party had begun “serious and constructive conversations“ with Labour and the Greens about how to potentially form a Government after the next election.

“Our people on the streets and in the polls have told us they want a Government led by our three parties at the helm,” Waititi said.

But Hipkins said the party had not met since prior to the September by-election.

“We haven't met with Te Pāti Māori since the by-election. We haven't had any conversations about a future governing arrangement that could involve them,” Hipkins said.

He said he had run into Te Pāti Māori figures around Parliament but had not had a serious chat to them about future governing arrangements.

Hipkins said that at this point, Te Pāti Māori did not appear ready for Government.

“As of today, they've still got a long way to go before they could be considered for any sort of partnership and any governing arrangement,” Hipkins said.

On current polling Labour could only govern with some kind of support from Te Pāti Māori.

Hipkins also said he would not meet with the two expelled MPs as he understood they were disputing the decision.

Asked what Te Pāti Māori could do to prove their readiness for Government, Hipkins said he was keen to see them show up to Parliament.

“I'd like to see Te Pāti Māori focused on representing the people who voted for them, showing up in Parliament, constructively participating in debates, coming up with some new ideas. I think those are all things that are opportunities available to them,” Hipkins said.

Hipkins ruled out electorate seat deals with anyone and said he would set out ahead of the election which parties Labour had common ground with.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has sought to tie Labour to Te Pāti Māori’s problems.

On Monday, Luxon said the party was “a joke” and “completely irrelevant” to Parliament.

Ructions, ‘reset’, rupture

The internal drama started when Ferris publicly criticised non-Māori Labour supporters campaigning for candidate Peeni Henare to win the Māori electorate seat, and then doubled down on the criticism after the party co-leaders apologised to Labour.

Kapa-Kingi was then demoted from party whip, which party president John Tamihere 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, four 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 Kapa-Kingi had been barred from Parliament after an incident with security staff. Eru Kapa-Kingi has described that email as defamatory.

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

Tamihere later alleged that the pair had attempted a caucus coup against the co-leaders, a suggestion Waititi backed.