Labour minister Meka Whaitiri defects to join Te Pāti Māori

Public Policy / news

The MP for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti may be automatically removed from her seat in Parliament

3rd May 23, 12:22pm by Dan Brunskill

Acting-Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the Labour Party would not take any action to remove Whaitiri from Parliament

The Labour Party has lost a minister, as Meka Whaitiri announced on Wednesday she would join the Māori Party and recontest her seat on the East Coast in the October general election.

It remains unclear whether she will be able to remain in Parliament or if her resignation has triggered a law which would automatically vacate her seat.

Whaitiri was the member of Parliament for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and the Minister of Customs, Food Safety, and Veterans — outside of Cabinet.

The MP was passed over for a seat at the Cabinet table when Prime Minister Chris Hipkins chose Willow Jean Prime, a lower ranked member, to fill the space vacated by Stuart Nash last month.

Whaitiri said she notified the Speaker on Wednesday morning that she had resigned from the Labour Party and was joining Te Pāti Māori, with little further explanation.

Doing so may automatically trigger a law known as the “waka jumping legislation” which forces an MP to vacate their seat if they leave the political party they were elected with.

However, acting-Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the Labour Party would not take any action to remove Whaitiri from Parliament.

It was now up to the member and the Speaker of the House to determine whether the waka jumping legislation had been invoked.

As the general election is less than six months away, a by-election can be skipped if 75% of Parliament agree to do so. Whaitiri has held Ikaroa-Rāwhiti for Labour since 2013 and would stand a good chance to win the seat again.

John Tamihere, president of the Māori Party, said there was no “catalyst” causing Whaitiri’s resignation, rather she was “coming home to her whakapapa”.

The party is very unlikely to form a coalition with the National and Act parties, and so Whaitiri could find herself back in government with Labour if a left-leaning coalition was elected.

Kieran McAnulty will take over as Acting Hawke's Bay Lead Minister for Cyclone Recovery and her other portfolios have been reassigned on a temporary basis.

“They and the people of Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti who are recovering and rebuilding from the damage of Cyclone Gabrielle remain our strong focus as we continue to support Kiwis through globally turbulent times,” Sepuloni said

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30 Comments

by nktokyo | 3rd May 23, 1:01pm 1683075704

Fissure lines appearing.

by OldSkoolEconomics | 3rd May 23, 3:00pm 1683082830

Yeah - major implosion in Labour is imminent.

Too many cracks starting to show.. not enough paper.

by Caughtinthemiddle | 3rd May 23, 1:20pm 1683076830

Only Maori broadcasting channels were allowed access to the Marae where she held a press conference.

by Grattaway | 3rd May 23, 1:41pm 1683078062

good way to annoy labour party people

by Foxglove. | 3rd May 23, 3:13pm 1683083611

So PM Hipkins is set to go to the electorate with a faction in his own party out of control, breaking ranks and jumping ship, with the added enticement of the Greens backstabbing and spitting out vitriol and the TPM that is welcoming all of that with bells on? If PM Hipkins had any sense of integrity, the good of the nation, he would neither countenance nor offer such a shambolic prospect as a government.

by Kate | 3rd May 23, 3:21pm 1683084096

It will end up a coalition of Labour and TOP. That's my bet.

by nigelh | 3rd May 23, 3:34pm 1683084866

Heaven forbid. Suspect TOP will have very little influence unless the pre-conditions are made public and TOP do not form a coalition because pre-conditions are not met. Not like Winston First who does not reveal his hand before at all.. This can be a good negotiating tactic but with Winston its only what he can get out of the deal for himself with a few other sops. Raf Manji may be salivating in this position and also not reveal his negotiating tactics either.

by Brendon | 3rd May 23, 4:03pm 1683086616

Or it could be TOP providing a moderating influence on an otherwise more right-wing National/ACT government.

by Kate | 3rd May 23, 4:16pm 1683087368

Yep, that's a possibility too. But TOPs tax proposals will be hard to see Nat/ACT going for. But you never know as they do have an element of flat tax in it.

by Dan Brunskill | 3rd May 23, 6:33pm 1683095625

This is not true.

Newshub, TVNZ, and RNZ were all there. Not sure about others, as it was short notice.

by Waikatohome | 3rd May 23, 2:41pm 1683081685

Perhaps Kerekere and Davidson could defect to TPM too. Then we have an environment focussed Green Party and a stronger Maori voice, giving true choice to the electorate.

by Richardfromauckland | 3rd May 23, 5:32pm 1683091960

You see (hear?) Davidson as a voice of Maori? That's interesting. I do find that the social justice angle that she represents in the party has helped in the dilution of the Green message, but I have never really seen her as a champion of Maori focused issues.

by Waikatohome | 3rd May 23, 7:01pm 1683097307

by Kohukohunui | 3rd May 23, 10:56pm 1683111366

Well she's certainly not a champion of anything to do with the environment.

by Foxglove. | 4th May 23, 7:22am 1683141757

Recall during the Clark government Mahuta muttered similar separatist threats? Watch now to see if Labour is held to ransom by others in their Maori caucus, “I’ll go too if this doesn’t happen.” Ardern couldn’t handle Mahuta & co , now let’s see if Hipkins can.

by GV 27 | 3rd May 23, 2:54pm 1683082446

We've ended up with the most predictable outcome - that despite the bragging about having resigned as a member of the Labour Party, she's now apparently done no such thing - apparently not to the extent that it would trigger the Waka Jumping rules to kick her out of parliament.

How convenient. For the sake of electoral transparency, this needs to be made public immediately. Either she had a big stand-up and lied about her status as an MP, or she has done what she said she did and the Waka Jumping rules apply. If they don't the public needs to know why. You cannot be both an independent MP and a Labour MP at once.

by Kate | 3rd May 23, 3:18pm 1683083939

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300868454/meka-whaitiri-to-remain-an-mp-after-ditching-labour-for-mori-party

So disingenuous on her part.

by solardb | 3rd May 23, 3:31pm 1683084676

Mori party???

by kiwikidsnz | 3rd May 23, 3:40pm 1683085216

You're sounding surprised ? Meka has long form on being economical with the truth Official report into Meka Whaitiri incident released | RNZ News

by Kate | 3rd May 23, 4:13pm 1683087191

No, just stating it is disingenuous. And yes, I'm familiar with that incident - and I wouldn't be surprised if there is more in the background yet to come out regards this resignation. Could be a poison chalice.

by nzforall | 3rd May 23, 3:02pm 1683082966

Did she ever do anything positive while she was a minister- other than drawing her salary

by Brendon | 3rd May 23, 4:06pm 1683086804

She certainly will not be working hard to help Hawke's Bay recover from Cyclone Gabriel.

by DD62 | 3rd May 23, 4:17pm 1683087439

Wasn't she the same MP that beat up a staff member? The one that the head muppet of the time refused to sack for same?

I smell a huge rat here. I think despite the bluster this was all pre-orchestrated. Labour are desperate to get back in at the election. By bolstering the chances of TPM gaining another seat it will make it easier for Labour to form a three way coalition if the vote is tight. Now that Labour have refused to kick her out of parliament and she didn't give the speaker a signed letter of resignation just reinforces my theory.

As much as I hate to admit this, National and Act may need Winnie!

by Von Metternich | 3rd May 23, 4:33pm 1683088400

Propping up Maori seats to build coalition members. Labour firming their support for what they expect to lose.

by Tangata_Pono | 3rd May 23, 6:15pm 1683094509

Very embarassing for Dippy Chippy. But she is low IQ and no loss. Nothing to see here, move on.

by sit23 | 3rd May 23, 6:25pm 1683095117

That's one gone from the Maori Caucus in government. The Nats have to force Chippy to enforce the Waka jumping rule. If they have anyone capable of doing so. I wonder how big the Labour Government Maori Caucus will be post election.

by nigelh | 3rd May 23, 6:31pm 1683095475

I'm oblivious of the following:-

"She's now been removed as a minister but appears to have hung onto her job as an MP by a technicality"

What is the technicality?

""I have officially notified the Speaker that I have resigned from the New Zealand Labour Party and have joined Te Pāti Māori effective immediately," Whaitiri said"

So what? Is this just a formality with no further implications.

Furthermore, related to the technicality?

"The Labour Party had an option to kick Whaitiri out of Parliament.

Sepuloni said Labour wouldn't waka-jump Whaitiri out of Parliament.

"We don't feel the need to invoke that.""

Something smells here, I just don't know what

by solardb | 3rd May 23, 11:18pm 1683112726

She won an electoral seat, not a list one. So she is still the elected Mp for that electorate. I would say the waka jumping bill is intended to deal with list MP's jumping ship.

by GV 27 | 4th May 23, 6:10am 1683137457

Doesn't matter, it's the law and she voted for it. And if she has resigned as a Labour MP then she is gone. It's that simple. It's not something Labour gets to decide to enforce. If they don't like it then maybe they shouldn't have proposed it and maybe she shouldn't have voted for it. As soon as she sent it, it got triggered.

This stinks. All correspondence between Labour, Whaitiri and the Speaker needs to be released into the public immediately. The integrity of parliament itself is now in question, this is no longer a simple party-hopping issue.

by Shaft | 3rd May 23, 7:04pm 1683097457

There is a simple solution to stop the crazy Te Pati Maori gaining any coalition control...

Both Chris's just have to say... "We wil not do any deals with TPM"... but we know that they both have no moral fotitude and thus NZ will become a racially divided back water.