Signs of change in Waiariki

  • 01/10/2017

It's been a week since the nation cast their votes in the General Election, which saw the Māori Party ousted from Parliament.

While many are still surprised co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell was unable to hold the seat of Waiariki, former Mana Party candidate for Waiariki Annette Sykes says there were signs the tide was turning against the Māori Party.

"I think everybody underestimated the mood for change.

"Jacinda-mania you cannot underestimate the impact of her influence on the youth vote; the second thing was the absence of the Māori Party on the ground at the usual Māori events, rugby, netball."

Talking to Three's The Hui, Ms Sykes also said strategic work of the Labour Party in Waiariki has gone almost unacknowledged.  

"There had been some co-option going on by the Labour Party who placed key leadership in Waiariki in the last three years. Michael Cullen has been assisting Tuwharetoa with their negotiations, and Michael Cullen of course is a member of one of the boards of the Tuhoe peoples and he's quietly respected by them, so maybe there were signs of forgiveness."

This month marks the 10th anniversary of the Tuhoe raids. In light of this, Dr Moana Jackson says the new Labour leadership need to remember their party's past actions.

"I think it would be wrong for anyone in the Labour Party to see the swing many Māori as a forgiving and forgetting - I thinks it's a challenge to them to make amends, to go some way to alleviating the harm that their policies from the for shore to the Tuhoe raids and many other things caused."

The Hui