Te Tai Tokerau: Meet the candidates vying for the northern seat

Four candidates are vying for the northern Māori seat of Te Tai Tokerau in what is being touted as must-watch electorate race between experienced politicians and iwi leaders.

Te Tai Tokerau stretches from the Far North through to Whāngārei, West Auckland to the North Shore, and is home to Ngāpuhi, the largest iwi in Aotearoa. More than 46,000 people are enrolled to vote on the Māori roll.

In 2023, nearly 30,000 votes were cast with turnout at just over 69%. Mariameno Kapa-Kingi won the seat for Te Pāti Māori by just 517 votes over Labour’s Kelvin Davis.

This election, she is running again, but this time under a new banner for Te Tai Tokerau Party. She is joined by Willow-Jean Prime for Labour, Hūhana Lyndon for Green, and Te Pāti Māori's new candidate Aperahama Edwards in contesting the seat. Last week, they all appeared on TVNZ's Marae in a live debate hosted by Scotty Morrison to talk about what voters can expect them to deliver if they win the seat.

In the past 18 months, incumbent MP Kapa-Kingi has faced a myriad of challenges, including a threat of suspension following an expulsion from Te Pāti Māori; taking the party to court, winning and being reinstated; leaving the party altogether and launching a new one named for the electorate she serves.

In response to the question about her achievements in the last three years, she said her reputation, work and record started before she became an MP. She said more than 45 years in health and social justice meant she brought capability into the house.

"I'm made for big work, I'm made for big jobs. I am, as you can see, unafraid, trustworthy and I'm unafraid to lead. I know how to take conversations straight on, and I know how to make relationships across the house. So I've achieved that."

Prime based her pitch on being a representative for Te Tai Tokerau who would have influence in a Labour-led government.

"I have been in parliament for nine years and I have been a former cabinet minister, and I believe Te Tai Tokerau needs an MP who can influence the decisions being made at the cabinet table and deliver outcomes for our rohe and I believe that person is me."

Lyndon said she used the last three years as a Green Party list MP to gain a "deep understanding" of the challenges Te Tai Tokerau constituents face.

"Te Rōpū Kākāriki have strong policies and plans and we need bold leadership in a future government, and that's what Te Rōpū Kākāriki brings in both supporting me as a list MP to have been connected, visible in the kāinga, but also, to bring those Tai Tokerau issues back into Parliament.”

Edwards said he has had the privilege to “carry the voice” of Te Tai Tokerau on “many fronts”, and has demonstrated his commitment to uphold the mana of the region.

"My focus remains on which Te Pati Māori was founded. Te Pāti Māori was, yes, borne of our struggles, but it was inspired by our hopes, dreams and aspirations, and I don't think we require our voice to be ushered under another political agenda."

Candidates were asked whether they were campaigning for one or two votes this election. All three women said they were seeking two – the candidate and party vote.

Prime rolled out what seems to be the Labour Party candidates’ catch-cry of “two ticks for 2026”, saying she’s looking for a party vote to change the government, and a candidate vote for the mandate to represent.

Kapa-Kingi claimed that a candidate and party vote combo for her and Te Tai Tokerau Party will add value by pulling in Kyla Campbell-Kamariera off her party’s list.

She said her strategy could potentially see a line-up of “four powerful wāhine” from the north in Parliament – herself, Campbell-Kamariera, as well as Prime and Lyndon who both sit at 7 on their respective lists.

“Who in their right Māori Tai Tokerau mind wouldn't want that? That's a power position. So, the four we're already in because [Prime and Lyndon] on either side of me right now, are already going back.”

Lyndon said she has the support of her party behind her and is dedicated to focusing on the northern electorate. She said a party vote would ensure a "strong Green spine" in a future government.

"Our plans are bold, they are courageous, but they are listening and they reflect the needs of our kāinga. So that's what I'd bring in representation.”

Edwards, an outlier in terms of his voting strategy and being the only male candidate, said there was a lot at stake for Māori. He said this election was “bigger than any of us” in regards to the harm experienced by whānau, the environment, and “our taonga”, as well as the “blatant attack to our rangatiratanga”.

"We're naturally a strategic people. Te Pati Māori are encouraging our whānau to vote strategically. We're seeking the candidate vote and we're encouraging our whānau to cast their party vote to either of the parties on the left," he said, further specifying the Labour and Green Party.

Kapa-Kingi challenged the strategy, questioning where Māori motuhake lay in voting for mainstream political parties.

Edwards argued it was about getting the numbers to “dismantle” the government and ensure more kaupapa Māori-centred, Māori voices into parliament.

Morrison put the same question to Lyndon and Prime on whether mana motuhake was not about giving the party vote to a mainstream party.

Lyndon said Te Rōpū Kākāriki were committed to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and He Whakaputanga, with Te Tiriti embedded in the party’s constitution, and their policies support tino rangatiratanga and ōritetanga (equality).

“That's something that I believe Aotearoa can really benefit from, is seeing a genuine waka hourua (‘double-hulled canoe’ approach) in the way that we mahi tahi (work together) – that supports all of us.”

Prime said she was proud of what her party achieved in the six years Labour was in government, pouring “huge amounts” of funding into kaupapa Māori.

Kapa-Kingi pointed out she did not need to “embed” anything as a “mokopuna of Te Tai Tokerau” with her own party.

“That's why I named it Te Tai Tokerau Party, and I only have to think about te rohe o Te Tai Tokerau. He mea nui tēnā (That’s significant).”

Edwards responded: “At the end of the day… it's our people that have to live with the outcome, and so we must be strategic. The last three years have been unbearable for our whānau and Te Pati Māori believe wholeheartedly in the strategy. We are uncompromising in terms of our position of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, it is a bottom line to entrench the Crown's obligation to entrench Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”

Ngāpuhi, the northern-based and largest iwi in the country, has yet to settle their Treaty grievances with the Crown. With over a hundred hapū under the iwi, establishing a mandate for a single, centralised authority over its treaty interests has been an ongoing contentious struggle.

NZ First MP Shane Jones has proposed to force the iwi into a single commercial settlement as part of a plan that his party would introduce in the first 100 days of a new government.

All four Te Tai Tokerau candidates were in consensus against the proposal.

Kapa-Kingi said Ngāpuhi hapū were getting organised with the expectation of engaging with the Crown. “Unless you really know and understand the context of that and the way in how that's getting organised, then you fail.”

She said it was shameful for someone to think it was OK to apologise to a group of people by forcing them to be ready to receive the apology, and on the terms of the one apologising.

Lyndon said they were “very clear” in the north that hapū were in charge.

“I've heard again and again, ‘mā ngā hapū anō ngā hapū e kōkiri ēnei momo kaupapa mā runga i te whānaungatanga me te kotahitanga (only hapū themselves may lead these kinds of kaupapa on the basis of relationships and unity)’.”

She said barriers to a settlement will remain until the issues identified by the Waitangi Tribunal’s Stage 1 report are addressed.

“The Tribunal affirmed Ngāpuhi hapū did not cede sovereignty to the Crown. So that's one thing that needs to be a pathway to be addressed. But further, the single commercial Ngāpuhi settlement is a particular point that many hapū will not agree to.

"So these are barriers and challenges which need appropriate wānanga – the first 100 days, you can't force it," she said.

Edwards said the process is disingenuous and “quite appalling”.

“For too long Ngāpuhi uri have disproportionately represented all those negative disparity indicators, and that's been used as a leverage to force Ngāpuhi into a process that compromises our position on our rangatiratanga. That goes to the heart of the concern.”

He said the needs were “very real” and redress was required, but not at 2.5% or less, and then to “pretend” that the economic future of the north, and the solution to disparities that exist, sits within that.

Prime said the Crown should not dictate how Ngāpuhi should settle.

“It should not be for the Crown to say what its preference is for Ngāpuhi settlement in terms of a commercial settlement. Mā ngā hapu anō ngā hapū e kōrero. If this were to be rushed through in a hundred days, what you would get is more grievances into the future.”

Lyndon added there was an opportunity for the Crown to sit with iwi as “honourable kāwanatanga” to address the Stage 1 report to help deal with “blockages” to settlement. Instead, it is being forced through “the red book policy of the Crown”.

Edwards said the “full and final settlement” model does not work for Ngāpuhi, but a ‘sui generis’ (of its own kind) model should apply.

Candidates were asked what they would cut first to alleviate the cost of living for constituents of Te Tai Tokerau.

Prime said: “When talking to whānau we know that they're having to make the choice between putting kai on the table and whether they can go to the doctors, whether they can afford their prescriptions.”

She added that GPs in Whangārei told her whānau could not afford the $19-$26 fee for a visit and a local chemist said there were prescriptions that have been unclaimed for three weeks because whānau cannot afford the prescription fees.

She referenced Labour’s health policies of three free GP visits; removing prescription fees; free maternity scans and cervical screening as helping to alleviate health and financial pressures on whānau. “We are putting a lot of money into health because we want our whānau to be able to access that healthcare early.”

Edwards said Te Pāti Māori were focused on urgent relief for whānau as well as an enduring response.

“In terms of the here and now, it's about strengthening incomes, it's about reducing the cost of the basics, and those of our whānau that are on benefits, it's to ensure that they are able to live with a sense of dignity.”

And the enduring response to the persistent struggles which have amplified over the last three years lies in constitutional transformation, he said, because it will shape the reality mokopuna inherit.

“Our whānau aren't experiencing these things just due to a lack of economic growth. We can't economic growth our way out of these things."

Lyndon listed a raft of Green Party policies that would address power, kai, housing, and employment pressures, as well as putting a focus on rangatahi.

“We have a plan and it's a plan that unlocks opportunity but also centralises whānau wellbeing and protecting te taiao. And of course we've got marae resiliency, we've got roads, we've got infrastructure, we've got marine and rail that all need to be worked on.”

Kapa-Kingi said whānau needed kai, describing a whānau in Kaitaia who had to resort to “eating out of rubbish bins”.

“No one should tolerate that reality,” she said.

The party wants to bring back the concept of the ‘backyard economy’.

“Whānau being able to do their own kai, have their own chookies. But have their own economy right in their own hands and in their own backyards. That's an immediate outcome right there for whānau.”

As customary of these debates, candidates were asked for their bottom lines.

Prime said rangatahi in Moerewa told her the biggest issue was jobs, and as Labour’s spokesperson for social development and employment, as well as associate education, she wants to ensure there are jobs for rangatahi.

“I don't want them moving to Australia because they can't find mahi. Labour's policies on apprenticeship boosts, on Māori trades training are policies that I know will deliver outcomes for our rangatahi in Te Tai Tokerau.”

Lyndon said she was excited by her party’s recent policy announcements which have focused on jobs, development and investing in people.

Edwards said entrenching Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a “non-negotiable” bottom line for Te Pāti Māori and it’s important for Te Tai Tokerau as the birthplace of Te Tiriti and He Whakaputanga.

For Kapa-Kingi and Te Tai Tokerau Party, a mokopuna focus is what they are about.

“Ensuring that all the big decisions will have centred mokopuna in that process. So, are they going to be better off now and will the mokopuna kei te haere, those yet to come, will they be better off with the decisions that we make today? [Ko ngā] mokopuna te mea nui (Mokopuna are what’s most important).”