Analysis: Last night's debate was fluently, confidently Māori, but it will be up to the voters to decide who can actually deliver for them within the constraints of MMP, writes Don Rowe.
Three months out from the last election, Winston Peters famously hopped on Twitter to respond to a bit of sledging from David Seymour, who had cautioned Peters against cutting immigration when he himself may soon need an aged care worker.
"I reckon you'd last 10 seconds in the ring with me," Peters wrote.
Then, in a follow up: "There'd be three hits — you hitting me, me hitting you, and the ambulance hitting 100. Thank your lucky stars I'm not into physical violence."
Peters was absent from last night's TVNZ Kaupapa Māori Debate, but the threat of his martial prowess remained.
When Labour's Willie Jackson criticised New Zealand First's "fear mongering" around co-governance, deputy leader Shane Jones warned with a laugh that Winston could still "send [him] back to Hawaiki".
There were tussles over co-governance and crime at TVNZ's third debate. (Source: 1News)
It was a funny moment in a debate that was fluently, confidently Māori.
Moderator Maiki Sherman opened with a recognition that the candidates were speaking between the realm of Tū, the god of war, and Rongo, the god of peace.
There was talk of Kupe, of iwi, hapū and tikanga. Should wāhine have speaking rights on the marae, and should Māori Language Week last for a month? There was even a waiata duet led by the Greens' Marama Davidson.
Debating the issues
There were plenty of mentions of kai, but no bread and butter.
Labour's promise to take GST off fruit and vegetables, said National candidate Tama Potaka, amounted to "beans, carrots, a couple of cents". Later it was "carrots and beans, broccoli and brussels sprouts".
Asked what National's $4.15 a week could buy — the tax relief forecasted for someone on the median Māori income — Potaka estimated "a couple of protein bars. A lot of rice".
Crime and justice featured prominently. Pressed on Labour's policy to make ram-raids a specific crime, which Attorney-General David Parker criticised as inconsistent with the Bill of Rights, Jackson conceded it was "one of the toughest things we ever did".
The move deeply affected then-Minister of Justice Kiritapu Allan, he said, and had disappointed whanaunga in the Green Party.
Each candidate had to give a concise answer, not easy for a politician. (Source: 1News)
Meanwhile, Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere said Labour had been spooked by the polls and the "incessant demonisation of our people by the politics of the right".
The parties on stage, he said, were compromised by their Pākehā colleagues.
For her part, Davidson called out the opposition for obsessing over property damage at the expense of crimes of sexual and domestic violence.
On co-governance, Jackson and Davidson were emphatic: it works, it's nothing to be afraid of, and besides it's a process that began under National.
Tamihere called it a halfway house between Māori and what is rightfully theirs, and ACT's Karen Chhour said she still wasn't sure what it meant.
Chhour was always going to struggle to advocate for ACT surrounded by experienced and confident kaikōrero and activists.
It didn't help that she held no position on whether Māori ceded sovereignty under Te Tiriti — a central constitutional issue — or that she seemed confused about what Te Matatini is, despite pledging to continue funding the competition at its current level.
Chhour admitted she had grown up without understanding parts of her heritage, a very real challenge that many Māori face, but the reaction of her fellow debaters bordered on incredulous.
Keeping clear of culture wars
Unlike the Young Voters' Debate, which had allegations of wokeism on one side and transphobia on the other, the Kaupapa Māori debate steered mostly clear of culture war issues.
Only Jones got his feet wet, decrying the "altar of climate hysteria" and vowing "a million years will pass before any politician will cancel Matua Shane Jones".
But as Sherman pointed out, nobody has been cancelled, he was right there on stage.
For all the kupu Māori sprinkled in conversation, though, and all the rhetorical tricks, nothing particularly illuminating or revolutionary was said last night.
Te ao Māori is filled with eloquent, charismatic and articulate speakers, and it will be up to voters to decide who can actually deliver for them within the constraints of MMP.
Don Rowe (Ngāi Tahu) is a freelance writer and law student.
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