Former Māori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell has called for a change of leadership in Te Pāti Māori – warning the party has "lost its way," and telling 1News it needs to balance protest with building relationships in Parliament.
It comes after infighting and the unlawful ousting of MP Mariameno Kapa Kingi.
Flavell, who served as co-leader from 2013 to 2017, said Māori haven't liked the division, personal attacks, or inability to uphold tikanga.
The former MP broke his silence in a social media post this morning while reflecting on the recent death of Whatarangi Winiata, the inaugural president of the Māori Party.
"At Whatarangi's tangi, I said openly that I believed that the current Māori Party was very different from the one that Whatarangi, with the rest of us, built," he wrote in a post.
"I said the party had lost its way. In my view, the party had moved away from the kaupapa, that is, how we conduct ourselves as Māori, how we would engage with others, and ultimately why we were there in the first place.
The High Court determined that Kapa-Kingi should be reinstated into the party. (Source: 1News)
"Our people have not liked the infighting, the personal attacks, the inability to uphold tikanga, poor leadership, the absence of whakaiti (humility) when needed, and the constant accusations directed at one another and others."
He said he had deliberately stayed out of the party's affairs since leaving Parliament, but the loss of Winiata and other kaumātua, alongside repeated approaches from conflicted supporters at tangi, had prompted him to speak.
Former Māori Party co-leader: 'I've lost faith'
Flavell was direct about his own position, speaking to 1News.
"I've lost faith in a style of leadership, and I've lost faith in an approach that I don't think is right for now," he told Māori Affairs Correspondent Te Aniwa Hurihanganui.
"Relationships are hugely important in Parliament, the ability to engage such that you can even if you had to make incremental changes in legislation.
"If you cannot work with other MPs and parties to get certain things over the line, then you're resigned to simply receiving everything all of the time with no improvements".
Asked whether his call for a leadership change was directed at president John Tamihere or the party's co-leaders, Flavell said it applied to "probably the whole lot".
"In terms of consideration about where they fit, because they are the leadership and everything is taken from the leadership pretty much."
Ngarewa-Packer: 'growing pains', focus on November
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, responding to Flavell's Facebook post, said she had "huge respect" for him and it was "really important to take feedback".
"We're a young movement, and we're going to have lots of growing pains, but our focus at the moment has to be solely on getting this Government out, and that has been our intent," she told media at Parliament.
"Things have really settled down from last year ... this is a taonga that we have inherited, and it's a taonga that we won't walk away from."
Put to her that Flavell had said the party had lost its way and was not where it once was, Ngarewa-Packer said the party had to stay focused on what its people wanted.
"I think again we have to stay focused on what it is that our people really want us to do, which is again stay focused on getting this Government out in November," she said.
Turmoil within the party has run for nearly a year. The national council expelled Kapa-Kingi and Ferris in November 2025, a decision Ferris called "plainly unconstitutional" and which the High Court partly overturned when it reinstated Kapa-Kingi's membership.
In May, Kapa-Kingi confirmed she would launch her own party to contest the election.
Leadership and approach both in question
Flavell told 1News the party's confrontational approach, including protest, needed to be balanced against the goal of exercising influence in government. He referenced the party's response to the Treaty Principles Bill, which attracted global attention at the time.
"There's a part to be played for protest, and there's a part to be played for speaking against pieces of legislation, and there's a time to be dramatic" he said.
It comes after Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke started a haka, challenging David Seymour on the day the Treaty Principles Bill was introduced to Parliament. (Source: 1News)
"There's a time to rip up pieces of paper — all of that is wonderful, but at the end of the day, the approach must be thinking about into the future: 'Do we want to be influential in the Parliament going forward?"
In November 2024, Te Pāti Māori MPs led a haka that disrupted the Treaty Principles Bill's first reading, with Parliament's Privileges Committee later finding Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer in contempt.
He credited Tamihere with a "major achievement" in the party's electoral performance.
"It was only fair to allow them to do their own thing, and, of course, the proof was in the pudding, in terms of the ability for president John Tamihere to pull six seats over the line at the last election, which was a major achievement," he said.
"But things have taken a turn, as they do in politics, and I felt it was appropriate to express the view, because we've got such a short time to the next election.
"If they heed it, so be it. If not, kei te pai."
In a letter, the former leaders said the turmoil has “tarnished our integrity”. (Source: 1News)
In his post, Flavell pointed to gains made during his own time in coalition with National, including Whānau Ora, arguing it came from building working relationships.
"When you're confined to opposition, it's clear you get nothing, no money, no policy gains, no traction, nothing. So, what's the point?" he told 1News.
"I think that's what our people are asking, they want to put their faith back in the Māori Party because they've seen that we can do that we can deliver, but it's got to be a change of approach and it's got to be a change of style.
"That's what I hear pretty much wherever I travel."
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