Te Pāti Māori leaders claim broken trust abruptly ended 'reset' media stand-up

Te Pāti Māori's co-leaders have defended abruptly ending a media conference at its promised party reset, claiming trust was broken by reporters.

After the party's much anticipated reset and the arrival of newest MP Oriini Kaipara, co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi sat down with Mata host Mihingārangi Forbes to discuss their priorities over the next year and who they would work with.

As well, the co-leaders responded to accusations made by Eru Kapa-Kingi over the party's leadership style and its relationship with the media.

The interview comes after the pair briefly fronted media on Thursday, but cut questions short, when a reporter asked about Kapa-Kingi's claims that the party had a "dictatorship model".

Waititi stood by the decision to walk away, saying the party wanted to reserve that space for celebration.

"Give us our time to celebrate Oriini coming into the House," he said. "Give us our time to be able to celebrate the reset of this waka and that is exactly what we said to the media, before that stand-up happened.

"When you break the trust of that, then we don't have too much more to say."

Ngarewa-Packer added: "We're here to talk to you about everything, but... we're not getting that respect back."

She also denied that Waititi had overstepped, when he pulled her away to stop the media conference.

"He's not pulling me aside, he's protecting me," she said. "This little brother would never ever push me aside or do anything, because I'd slap his ears.

"That's not our relationship... and he'll make sure that I get out there safely, because we have been badgered and I have been triggered."

Waititi said mainstream media focussed too much on conflict, claiming an "overreaction" to the unsanctioned haka at the end of Kaipara's maiden speech.

Offered another chance to respond to Kapa-Kingi's claims, Waititi said they were the views of one individual.

"Nobody else has come out."

Ngarewa-Packer said Kapa-Kingi was "sticking up for his māma".

"With leadership comes many allegations, but you actually just have to carry on and get on with the action," she said. "Our actions speak for ourselves."

She said the co-leaders were ultimately accountable to their electorates.

"We don't get cancelled out by individuals."

Asked whether they were open to repairing that relationship, Waititi said they had always been open to those discussions.

"We've already tacked back in."

He told Mata the party had been "in the weeds" recently, responding to attacks on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, wāhine, rainbow communities, unions and on the environment.

"When you're in the weeds, you lose sight of actually what is it that we're here to do." he said.

"Our job is to make sure that we hear the people, we reset and ensure that we continue the positive mahi that we have for our people, and that is to ensure that we get to the Aotearoa hou that we aspire to get to."

Next year, 18-19-year-olds wanting Jobseeker support or the equivalent emergency benefit will have to take a parental income test to see whether their parents can support them, instead of the taxpayer.

The policy announcement co-incides with a sharp drop in employment opportunities and a large number of New Zealanders moving to Australia to find work.

Ngarewa-Packer said the solution was to stop investing in the "top end" of the economy.

"This is a personal thing for me." she said.

"I have a 21-year-old getting ready to move over to Australia, because of the fact that, as a building apprentice, he's struggling to find mahi, and the quality of life that he thinks him and his partner should be having.

"We've talked about the redistribution of wealth, but also being able to invest in our small-to-medium-sized businesses, being able to invest, and be able to keep the resources and those of our entities here in Aotearoa, because this is the problem - we've sent everything offshore."

Waititi pointed to the party's 'Whānau First' policy - ensuring 25 percent of procurements go to Māori - as one way to alleviate Māori economic woes.

"Unfortunately, our people and our contractors are not getting those jobs," he said. "They are going to those who are in the 'who-you-know', not 'what-you-know' type process here."

"You can see construction happening everywhere, but our people are not in those particular jobs."

Pushed on how they planned to be part of a successful coalition after next year's election, Ngarewa-Packer said Te Pāti Māori had common ground with the opposition parties.

"I'm just going to tell you honestly, we didn't expect to be here until 2029. We didn't expect the growth we've had, so we've had to really grow up, even politically.

"We've had some really healthy discussions with Te Pāti Kākāriki [Green Party], we've met a few times with Labour and we've talked about our common ground. Clearly, there's common grounds in wealth tax, clearly there's common grounds in making sure no-one's left behind."

That's despite some friction between Te Pāti Māori and Labour, after MP Tākuta Ferris took offence to non-Māori campaigning for Labour's Peeni Henare during the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election.

While both co-leaders accepted the social media post may have upset many of their followers, their priority was ousting the coalition government.

"If we go back to the foreshore and seabed, that's the reason why we're here as Te Pāti Māori." Waititi said.

"We could easily go back and say, 'Well, we didn't agree with you there, how can we work with a party that was [responsible for] the biggest confiscation this country has ever seen?', but we've moved on down the track and found that there are some commonalities there."

Waititi also said former party whip Mariameno Kapa-Kingi was "not demoted", but instead shuffled around, after the death of Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp.

"[Kemp] was on the social services committee with us [and] that's where Oranga Tamariki sits. Mariameno has been the strongest advocate for mokopuna Māori in this house.

"It's very administrative - that particular job - and we've got a seat at Te Taitokerau that was marginal at the election. We want to make sure that we hold on to that seat for Te Pāti Māori and release Mariameno back into her community."

Losing the position of party whip means Kapa-Kingi will take a pay cut of roughly $20,000.

The full interview is available on the RNZ website.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.