The People Have Spoken: Oriini Kaipara Wins Tāmaki Makaurau with Overwhelming Mandate - Te Pāti Māori

The People Have Spoken: Oriini Kaipara Wins Tāmaki Makaurau with Overwhelming Mandate

Published by

September 17, 2025

Te Pāti Māori celebrates the official results today and extends heartfelt gratitude to all voters who supported Oriini Kaipara and Te Pāti Māori. These special votes seal a resounding victory that strengthens our mandate to serve tangata whenua and all communities in this vital electorate.

Following the counting of special votes, we can confirm that Te Pāti Māori has secured victory in Tāmaki Makaurau by 3,519 votes, winning 89% of all polling stations across the electorate.

“This victory belongs to every whānau, every community member, and every supporter who believed in our vision for Tāmaki Makaurau” said Te Pāti Māori Co-leader, Rawiri Waititi.

“Our people have spoken, and they want authentic representation that puts whānau first.”

The campaign’s success was built on a comprehensive grassroots strategy that maximized every sphere of influence available to the party. From face-to-face community hui to innovative social media engagement- Te Pāti Māori demonstrated that authentic connection with voters transcends traditional campaign resources.

“Our strategy proved that you don’t need the biggest budget, you need the biggest heart and the clearest vision” continued Te Pāti Māori Co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “We went directly to our people, listened to their concerns, and offered real solutions for the challenges facing our communities.”

Te Pāti Māori hopes this victory serves as inspiration to all communities and movements that may be under-resourced but are rich in hope, determination, and solutions for their people and prepared to take on an anti-Māori rhetoric.

“Oriini will continue to be a fierce advocate for Tāmaki Makaurau in Parliament, ensuring our communities’ needs are not just heard, but acted upon” said Ngarewa-Packer.

Te Pāti Māori commits to working tirelessly for all of Tāmaki Makaurau, advancing policies that addresses rangatahi homelessness, housing affordability, healthcare, education equity, and economic opportunities that deliver for our communities.

Fixing the Basics? Building a Future Without Māori Is Not a Future at All preview image

Fixing the Basics? Building a Future Without Māori Is Not a Future at All

Te Pāti Māori says Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s 2026 State of the Nation speech confirms exactly what Māori across the motu already know; this Government is building a future without us. Across thousands of words about the economy, law and order, education, defence and development, the Prime Minister never once mentioned Te Tiriti o Waitangi, tangata whenua, rangatiratanga, iwi, hapū, whānau, kaitiakitanga or mana motuhake. Not once. This is not an oversight. It is deliberate strategy. This Government is deliberately reshaping Aotearoa into a post-Treaty state, where Māori are erased from the nation’s future and reduced to a problem population in crime statistics. Luxon says National is “fixing the basics and building the future.”

“Hawke’s Bay Needs Investment in People, Not More Prison Beds” preview image

“Hawke’s Bay Needs Investment in People, Not More Prison Beds”

Te Pāti Māori says the Government’s plan to add 316 high-security prison beds in Hawke’s Bay shows why communities are calling for a new direction in 2026. Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the expansion highlights the gap between what whānau want and what the Government is delivering. “Whānau want early support and real opportunities for their rangatahi. More prison beds do not deliver that. Prevention does, and that is the direction Te Pāti Māori will take into 2026.”

“Te Pāti Māori: Dave Samuels Scrutiny Exposes Whānau Ora Smear Campaign” preview image

“Te Pāti Māori: Dave Samuels Scrutiny Exposes Whānau Ora Smear Campaign”

At Māori Affairs Select Committee yesterday, Te Puni Kōkiri Chief Executive Dave Samuels admitted the independent review found no misuse of funds by Whānau Ora commissioning agencies. Despite this, the Government had already torn up contracts and publicly damaged the reputations of Māori and Pasifika providers. Te Pāti Māori co leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer says the evidence confirms what providers knew all along. The Government ran a political smear campaign and worried about the facts later. Samuels repeated claims that Māori roll advertising “went too far,” even though the review confirms the spending sat within Whānau Ora rules. That narrative was used to justify dismantling a proven kaupapa and undermining community trust.

“Te Pāti Māori Warns: Regional Council Reforms Could Be One of the Biggest Power Grabs in Aotearoa Modern History” preview image

“Te Pāti Māori Warns: Regional Council Reforms Could Be One of the Biggest Power Grabs in Aotearoa Modern History”

Te Pāti Māori says if the Government follows through with its signalled regional council reforms, Aotearoa could face one of the most sweeping power grabs seen in decades, a move that would silence communities, sideline Māori, and clear the path for unchecked environmental destruction. Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says the proposed reforms, when combined with the Fast-Track Approvals Amendment Bill, point to a coordinated agenda that puts Ministers above local authority. “Let’s be clear if the Government pushes ahead, Ministers will gain enormous control over our regions, while councils, iwi, hapū and communities are pushed out of the way. This is centralisation on steroids,” said Ngarewa-Packer.

Govt Puberty Blockers Ban is State-Sanctioned Harm Against Trans Rangatahi preview image

Govt Puberty Blockers Ban is State-Sanctioned Harm Against Trans Rangatahi

Te Pāti Māori condemns the Government’s decision to halt new prescriptions of puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria. This is state-sanctioned harm against some of the most vulnerable rangatahi in Aotearoa. “Gender- affirming healthcare saves lives. Health experts have been clear that puberty blockers, prescribed carefully and in line with clinical guidelines, are a safe and reversible part of gender-affirming care. Cutting off access will increase distress, depression, anxiety, and suicidality for trans and gender diverse young people and their whānau” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “At a time when our rangatahi are already facing a mental health crisis, this Government has chosen to take away an essential tool that helps our young people survive. That is cruel, not “precautionary”.

Te Pāti Māori backs Iwi Chairs Forum call to protect Te Tiriti in education preview image

Te Pāti Māori backs Iwi Chairs Forum call to protect Te Tiriti in education

Te Pāti Māori backs Iwi Chairs Forum call to protect Te Tiriti in education Te Pāti Māori stands in full support of the National Iwi Chairs Forum petition calling on the Prime Minister and Minister of Education to immediately reverse the amendment to section 127(2)(e) of the Education and Training Act and to retain the requirement for school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. “Te Tiriti o Waitangi is not an optional extra in our education system, it is the foundation of how we live together in this country,” says Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader Rawiri Waititi. “Removing Te Tiriti from the core objectives for school boards is not a technical tidy up. It is a deliberate step backwards that undermines the relationship between tāngata whenua and tāngata Tiriti and abandons our tamariki in the very place where Te Tiriti should be lived and learned every day.” “Our education policy is clear: we will require te reo Māori and Māori history to be core curriculum subjects, ensure Māori medium education is funded on an equitable basis with mainstream, and redirect at least 25 percent of the education budget into Māori models of delivery and pastoral care so that all tamariki can thrive as who they are.”

“Te Pāti Māori Calls On Aotearoa To Stand As The Moral Compass” preview image

“Te Pāti Māori Calls On Aotearoa To Stand As The Moral Compass”

Te Pāti Māori is calling on the Government to act after a credible, multi-source Situation Report from the State of Palestine confirmed that killings, aid blockages, and human rights abuse are continuing 38 days into a ceasefire. The report draws on independent evidence from B’Tselem, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, UNOCHA, UNRWA, MSF, ITV and The Guardian. Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says, “Aotearoa cannot stay silent”.

“Te Pāti Māori: Fast Track Amendment Bill Reveals Government’s Real Intent” preview image

“Te Pāti Māori: Fast Track Amendment Bill Reveals Government’s Real Intent”

Te Pāti Māori says the Fast Track Amendment Bill shows the Governments relentless attacks on Tiriti protections and community safeguards by pretending it is about grocery competition. Co Leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer says the grocery justification is a political cover that hides the Bill’s true impact. “Every week in Parliament Shane Jones yells about seabed mining as if destroying our whenua and moana is a national strategy. The Fast Track Amendment Bill is being driven by that same obsession. They have wrapped it in the language of grocery competition, but it is a smokescreen. The real purpose is to speed up extraction projects by cutting Māori and community voices out of the way.”

Te Pāti Māori backs kura, NZEI, and iwi defending Te Tiriti in education preview image

Te Pāti Māori backs kura, NZEI, and iwi defending Te Tiriti in education

Te Pāti Māori stands in solidarity with NZEI Te Riu Roa, the National Iwi Chairs Forum, and kura across Aotearoa who have made it clear that Te Tiriti o Waitangi will not be erased from our classrooms. Te Pāti Māori will restore Te Tiriti protections to education law within the first 100 days when in government. This Government has torn Te Tiriti from our education law. “It is an act of ideological vandalism and a deliberate choice to silence the Māori Crown relationship in the one place every child passes through: our schools,” said Co-Leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer Invited to Speak in Hawaiʻi on Indigenous Sovereignty and Climate Action preview image

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer Invited to Speak in Hawaiʻi on Indigenous Sovereignty and Climate Action

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, has been invited by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Kamehameha Schools to deliver a keynote address in Honolulu as part of the prestigious Better Tomorrow Speaker Series. The invitation was extended by Associate Professor Robert Perkinson and Dr. Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, two leading Kanaka Maoli and global Indigenous scholars. The series brings together internationally recognised leaders, Pacific activists, and Indigenous academics to explore the intersections of climate justice, Indigenous rights, and ocean protection in the face of colonial and corporate exploitation. “This invitation is both an honour and a responsibility,” said Ngarewa-Packer. “It is about standing alongside our Pacific whanaunga as we face the shared legacies of colonisation and climate injustice and affirming that Māori, like all Indigenous peoples, hold the solutions through our whakapapa, tikanga, and rangatiratanga.”