Te Pati Māori's Oriini Kaipara says she was surprised by her decisive victory over Labour's Peeni Henare as the "new kid on the block" in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Kaipara scored a decisive win over the Labour list MP in yesterday's by-election, with the candidate retaining around 64% of votes and a 2900-vote lead in a preliminary count.
The candidate spoke to TVNZ's Marae this morning, alongside party co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, about the party's retention of the seat.
"I went up against Labour, and not just anybody — Peeni Henare. I know I'm the new kid on the block. I'm not a kid, but you know, I have no political experience, but I am absolutely political. I have a voice, and I have a face, and I have an awesome team."
The MP elected at the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election speaks alongside party co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi. (Source: Marae)
The former broadcaster said she was surprised because her party was "the poor cousins, with no money but a lot of energy, a lot of passion and a lot of belief in te ao Māori".
"It's just a surprise, because politicking is what it is, and we were up against the giants. The surprise really is in the result, the amounts, the margins."
Ngarewa-Packer, who appeared alongside Kaipara, attributed the victory to voters wanting transformation rather than incremental change.
"What we have seen is a confidence and an assertion that we want to be achieving transformation," the party co-leader said. "We don't want to be incrementally advancing when there's so much crisis, but also so much opportunity in te ao Māori.'
Kaipara added that voters felt like they were being "assaulted" by the coalition government, "and they feel it personally. I think that is also what we saw in the results."
The MP-elect said she wanted to write a private member's bill to focus on a "blueprint" for ending homelessness for rangatahi.
The Electoral Commission confirmed that 9377 ordinary votes were counted on election night, according to a preliminary count. There are still an estimated 2621 special votes to be counted, expected to account for around 22% of total votes.
1News Political Editor Maiki Sherman analyses the results, how Te Pāti Māori's social media game has encouraged people to go out and vote, and what it could mean for Labour ahead of next year's election. (Source: Q and A)
Henare conceded last night, saying he had run a "inclusive and positive campaign" and that he was proud of all of his volunteers.
"Some might slander and some might denigrate them, but I want to be very clear. In this waka, you are all welcome — all shapes, all sizes, all races, all creeds."
He urged supporters to "remain positive" and to focus their efforts on defeating the Government at the general election next year.
"We made it clear from the start that it would take all of us to beat them. And guess what? We've still got an opportunity to do that."
TPM vote lead will shock Labour faithful – Sherman
Speaking to Q+A, 1News Political Editor Maiki Sherman said the margin between Kaipara and Henare came as a shock to those gathered at Labour's election night event.
Last day of polling wasn’t helped by spring showers and cool winds across the city. (Source: 1News)
"She really dominated him in those results. I was with the Labour Party last night. They were hurt by those results. They were shocked by those results," she said.
"[Peeni Henare] was hurting last night. You could see that," Sherman added.
"Willie Jackson was there. He was shocked by the results. He runs a lot of the campaign — the strategy for the Māori caucus for the Labour Party — [he] said that they would need to come up with a new strategy heading into next year."
Multiple reporters, including from 1News, were not allowed to report from inside Te Pāti Māori's election night event yesterday.
Te Pāti Māori had been highly visible campaigners against the coalition, including amid last year's national hikoi against the Treaty Principles Bill, Sherman said.
Candidacy ceremonially affirms with korowai bestowed by the late Takutai Tash Kemp’s son. (Source: 1News)
"They have definitely capitalised off that and people were getting in behind them."
She added that Kaipara represented a unique kind of authenticity that her party had seized on in its messaging to voters, often through social media.
"There is strength in social media and social media does help, perhaps, to get people out to vote, because that's where Te Pati Māori focuses a lot of its energy."
She added: "For the Labour Party, this was a litmus test for the Māori seats, which they need to wrestle back. It looks like that's going to be a very hard job to do next year."
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