Election 2020: Win or lose, it's a Māori Party 'revolution' - former leader

Saturday, 17 October 2020

Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer takes to the stage with the Pātea Maori Club on election night.

A South Taranaki iwi leader may have lost in her bid to win a Parliamentary seat, but the party she leads is on the comeback trail, with its eyes firmly on the future.

On Saturday, Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was beaten by Labour’s Adrian Rurawhe in the race to win the Te Tai Hauāuru seat.

Rurawhe got 9431 votes, 1,121 more than Ngarewa-Packer.

However, the Māori Party could still win a place in Parliament through its Waiariki candidate Rawiri Waititi, who is ahead of Labour’s Tamati Coffey on 415 votes.

Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer with her husband, Neil Packer, at the election night party in Hāwera

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Dame Tariana Turia at the election night party in Hāwera

After the results were in, Ngarewa-Packer committed to standing in the Te Tai Hauāuru seat again in the 2023 general election and said she would stay on as Māori Party co-leader.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the campaign we’ve run that has released a series of transformative social and environmental policies, engaged with thousands of whānau across Te Tai Hauāuru and restored belief in our movement,” she said.

“We feel like we’ve won as we’ve fought back from absolute oblivion.

“We have been brave and unapologetically Māori.”

Labour MP for Te Tai Hauāuru Adrian Rurawhe is standing again for the seat, in what will be a electorate race to watch on Saturday night. (File photo.)

While she congratulated the success of Rurawhe and the Labour Government, Ngarewa-Packer was “thrilled” with the prospect of Waititi entering Parliament.

Former leader of the Māori Party, Dame Tariana Turia, said it was a time of “revolution” for the organisation.

Turia was among the 200 or so people who attended a Hāwera-based event for Ngarewa-Packer on Saturday night.

She had shoulder-tapped the Ngāti Ruanui iwi leader to step onto the national political stage in the first place.

“She understands all of the issues that impact on our people, and she’s not afraid to stand up for people,” Turia said of Ngarewa-Packer.

Turia said even if the party did not win a seat this election, she felt there was a strong platform being built for the future.

“If we get in it’s a plus, but if we don’t it’s the beginning of a revolution.”

Incumbent MP Adrian Rurawhe, of Labour, was in Ratana, near Whanganui, for election night.

Ahead of the polls officially closing on Saturday, Rurawhe said his team had been door-knocking, getting people out to vote.

He described the mood within the team as “very buoyant” and said they had been getting good feedback in terms of support.

“I’m really pleased with how our campaign’s gone,” he said.