Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere. Photo: RNZ / MARK PAPALII
Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere says the party's leadership will "very shortly" consider whether to expel its MPs Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Tākuta Ferris.
Iwi leaders will meet with Te Pāti Māori leadership at Parliament on Tuesday in an effort to put a stop to extraordinary infighting.
It comes after Tamihere publicly called for MPs Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Tākuta Ferris to quit politics, accusing the pair of conspiring to overthrow the leadership. Ferris' Te Tai Tonga electorate has separately called for Tamihere to stand down.
Kapa-Kingi last night told RNZ said had no plans to leave politics.
"JT [Tamihere] doesn't speak for Tai Tokerau - only people of Tai Tokerau do. The people voted me as an electorate member I'm proud to say, and therefore I'm not going anywhere. I have a job to do and I plan to continue to do it the best way I know how - show up, prepare and remember who you represent."
Ferris has not made a public comment yet, saying only that his electorate's executive would be sending out a statement "in due course".
Appearing on RNZ's Morning Report, Tamihere said he did not know what issues the two MPs had.
"At no time have the Kapa-Kingis or Ferris ever put their gripe or their problem on the table. This is despite a whole range of meetings," Tamihere said.
"We have been deeply constrained because we have to follow our constitution and our tikanga. So, as a consequence, we've not been able to go to the media until very recently."
When asked directly if he still wanted the two MPs in the party, Tamihere said: "Not if they continue to be rogue."
Tamihere said the party's national council would be having a conversation "very shortly" about whether to expel the two MPs, but he reiterated his call for them to go of their own accord.
"If you haven't got the numbers to change the leadership in the caucus, you haven't got the numbers to change the leadership in the electorates. You should do the honourable thing, understand that, and go and do a Hone Harawira."
Harawira quit the Māori Party and Parliament in 2011 and then won his way back in during the by-election as leader of the new Mana Party.
In response to calls for his own resignation, Tamihere said he would not still be in the position if there were widespread calls in the party for him to go.
"I'm not overly worried about that [petition]. That's just the people's choice. And it's not running as hot as it should," he said. "Where's the revolution?"
He refused to respond to the MPs' claims that he was running a dictatorship, saying they should first provide evidence of that.
"In any caucus, it's about being disciplined. It's about being organised. It's about having some form of teamwork."
Ngāti Kahungunu chairman Bayden Barber is among a handful of iwi representatives that will sit down with the party's co-leaders and president on Tuesday to work out what, if anything, can be salvaged from here.
"We're going to try. We're going to give it our best shot. There's a lot at stake in terms of an upcoming election. We've been challenged like no other generation from this government.
"That's why we see it as really important to offer an opportunity for reconciliation between both parts of the party and hopefully find a solution going forward.
"Those posts that came out [on Monday] from both sides were unhelpful and unnecessary."
Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Barber said the Iwi Chairs Forum wanted to meet with Kapa-Kingi and Ferris too, with the ultimate goal to get everyone together for a hui at a marae in Wellington "sometime in the near future".
The forum wanted the party to focus on policy, he said.
"We have a government that has attacked us from every front the last couple of years, so having the only kaupapa Māori party imploding is not helpful to the cause of iwi and aspirations that we're trying to achieve for our people.
"At the moment, there's a big distraction and it's been caused by the in-fighting in the party at this time, and we felt it's important to try and get that back on track because we have a vested interest.
"This isn't just about Te Pāti Māori supporters, this is about Māori community right around the country all feeling a bit disappointed and overwhelmed by all the tit-for-tat happening on social media.
"So we're trying to reach out to build a bridge and find some common ground and reconcile hopefully the relationships, but the longer this goes on, the harder that is going to be."
Labour leader Chris Hipkins told Morning Report Te Pāti Māori had "major issues" it needed to sort out, but added it's not uncommon for political parties to have internal turmoil.
He did not rule out working with the party after the election.
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