Summarised by Centrist

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has been reselected as the party’s candidate for Te Tai Hauāuru in the November 7 election.

Ngarewa-Packer entered Parliament as a list MP in 2020 after narrowly losing the electorate to Labour’s Adrian Rurawhe. She won the seat in 2023 by more than 9000 votes, although Labour retained the larger party vote in the electorate.

She cited solar projects in Māori communities, encouraging opposition to government Treaty changes and resisting seabed mining off the South Taranaki coast among her achievements.

Ngarewa-Packer said healthcare, housing and the cost of living, including energy affordability, were the electorate’s three biggest concerns.

She wants a Māori health commissioning agency restored, tax settings rebalanced and Te Tiriti entrenched to give Māori “uninterrupted kaitiakitanga” over land and water.

“One thing across Te Tai Hauāuru that has been really loud is the harm that this coalition has created,” she said.

Ngarewa-Packer said Te Pāti Māori had grown considerably since returning to Parliament in 2020 and was pursuing long-term influence rather than focusing on one election at a time.

“Going into 2026, we have proven what it is that we can do,” she said.

She is campaigning for both the electorate and party votes and wants more Māori to move onto the Māori roll and participate in the election.

Ngarewa-Packer will face Labour’s Te Pūoho Katene and National’s Coral Raukawa.

Editor’s note: Ngarewa-Packer’s achievements listed in the Herald article are principally examples of campaigning and opposition. Her member’s bill seeking a nationwide ban on seabed mining was defeated at its first reading in 2023.

Her parliamentary record also includes unusually high expenditure. Between April and June 2024, Parliamentary Service recorded $60,990 in accommodation and travel expenses for Ngarewa-Packer, including $39,209 in air travel. It was the largest total in that quarter’s members’ disclosure table. The disclosure does not establish that any rules were broken or provide an itemised explanation for every trip.

In June 2025, Ngarewa-Packer and co-leader Rawiri Waititi were suspended from Parliament for 21 days after the Privileges Committee found their conduct during a haka could have intimidated other MPs. Despite the suspension vote being postponed so they could participate in the Budget debate, both co-leaders were absent anyway.

Her party’s record under the present leadership has also included serious internal dysfunction. Te Pāti Māori expelled two of its six electorate MPs in November 2025, reducing its caucus to four. In March 2026, the High Court ruled Mariameno Kapa-Kingi’s suspension and expulsion unlawful. Kapa-Kingi subsequently left and formed the Te Tai Tokerau Party.

Ngarewa-Packer has meanwhile accused the coalition of racism, “systemic genocide” and said it was “practising white supremacy”. She and Waititi also sought action against Winston Peters for what they described as a “calculated, blatant, racist assault”.

In January 2026, however, she said Te Pāti Māori could enter government with Labour, the Greens and Peters’ New Zealand First, arguing that “on certain kaupapa, you have to work together”.

Read more over at The NZ Herald

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