Anneke
Smith, Political reporter
Te Pāti
Māori’s newest MP Oriini Kaipara has swung in to support
her under-fire colleague Mariameno
Kapa-Kingi.
Kapa-Kingi’s future in the party is
uncertain, after Waatea News reported party members
voted to suspend
the Te Tai Tokerau MP at a National Council hui last
Thursday.
The Māori radio station reported the
resolution was passed by members from Tāmaki Makaurau,
Hauraki-Waikato, Waiariki, Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and Te Tai
Hauāuru, with Te Tai Tonga abstaining.
The party’s
newest MP for Tāmaki Makaurau – Oriini Kaipara – has gone
on to post on Facebook over the long weekend, expressing
public support for Kapa-Kingi.
“Our kuia are
important. They hold rank for reason,” she
wrote.
“Meno is a kuia my soul recognises and
gravitates toward without effort. She is a pou of Te Pāti
Māori and for me, being the newest member to our waka, I
see her, I believe her and in her, I support her.”
RNZ
has contacted Mariameno Kapa-Kingi for comment.
On
Monday, a party spokesperson told RNZ the matter was
currently before the National Council and remained an
internal party process.
“All proceedings are guided by
our Kawa (constitution) which was developed by the founders
of our movement. We await the outcome of the Council’s
proceedings and findings. No further comment will be made
while these processes are underway,” the spokesperson
said.
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The party’s National Council is comprised of the
party president John Tamihere, two co-vice presidents (one
male, one female), the two co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, all of its MPs, and up to four
council members selected by each electorate.
The
National Executive is the party president, the two co-vice
presidents and the two co-leaders.
The party currently
only has one vice-president, Fallyn Flavell, after Mariameno
Kapa-Kingi’s son and leader of the hīkoi movement Eru
stepped down from the role earlier this year.
Eru
Kapa-Kingi has been highly critical of the co-leaders
since stepping down from his role and has rejected their
claims he tailgated through security gates at the Beehive
and verbally abused security staff on Budget Day last
year.
Lance Norman, the party’s secretary and
treasurer, and party general manager Kiri Tamihere-Waititi
serve as ex officio members of the National Executive,
without voting rights.
All decisions made by the
National Executive need to be ratified by the National
Council at its next hui.
Last week, Kapa-Kingi hit
back against accusations she had overspent her office
budget.
The party released documents to members
suggesting Parliamentary Services had warned the MP she was
on track to overspend her budget by up to
$133,000.
Kapa-Kingi said her allocated budget had
been “adjusted” while she took on extra staff to support the
late Takutai Tarsh Kemp, the MP for Tāmaki
Makaurau.
She also criticised party leadership for
sharing the budget reallocation publicly without
context.
The MP also lost her job as party whip, after
the party decided she was not seen enough at huihuinga in
her electorate, and needed to focus on next year’s election
campaign.
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