Green co-leader Marama Davidson said National's comments that Te Pāti Māori are radical and separatist amount to "lazy, dog-whistling racism".
Earlier today National leader Christopher Luxon ruled out working with Te Pāti Māori in any post-election negotiations, saying the two parties were not philosophically aligned.
He said Te Pāti Māori was "separatist" and "radical", and he felt a Te Pāti Māori whakawātea for defected former Labour minister Meka Whaitiri yesterday was "disrespectful".
Luxon said he wanted to be clear with voters that a vote for Labour, Green or Te Pāti Māori was a vote for a "coalition of chaos" and National believed in "one person, one vote".
This afternoon, Davidson said she did not agree with Luxon's characterisation of Te Pāti Māori.
"If he wants to talk about chaos, using some lazy dog-whistling racism is pretty chaotic and it's a sign they've got no actual substance and just want to kick up that racism.
"He knows what he's saying, it's intentional."
"Dog-whistling" refers to pointed phrasing which means something to one group but is coded to appear innocuous to others - as a dog whistle is only heard by dogs.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said her reaction to National's announcement that it would not work with her party was to ask "what else is new?"
"This is about National trying to get some space and some airtime and headlines. [Luxon] has to grab his voters, they're all after the same voters, it's hard to differentiate between who's Labour and who's National at the moment.
"I think he said we're separatist and... racist. We take real pride in being pro-Māori and mana motuhake-focused and we are an indigenous party, we've never ever been shy about that, and we'll continue to be that unapologetic Māori voice in this House.
"It's not for non-Māori to tell us, as Māori, how we're allowed to act and think and be politically."
Luxon did not say Te Pāti Māori were "racist" but he did say it was "radical".
Co-leader Rawiri Waititi said Te Pāti Māori was a "rights-based party not a race-based party".
"We will not be used in a narrative that allows us to be pushed into a space where a colonial narrative is pushed onto indigenous peoples, we will not accept that."
Regarding Luxon's comments it believed in "one person, one vote", Waititi said Luxon didn't understand the democratic system.
"It's actually one person, two votes, you get one vote for your candidate, one for your party. And people like Christopher Luxon who owns more than one house in separate regions gets more votes than anybody else, we all know that too."
Waititi was referring to the ability of ratepayers who own properties in territorial local authorities they don't live in to vote in local elections in those areas as well as the one they reside in.
"It's dog-whistling... maybe someone should give civics education to Chris Luxon and his mates."
Asked whether Te Pāti Māori would work with Labour, Waititi said the party would work with anybody who was "committed to creating a te Tiriti-centric Aotearoa".
That meant "a constitutional transformation that's rooted in te Tiriti o Aotearoa, it's fair, just, equal for everyone".
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