Christopher Luxon, left, and Rawiri Waititi. Photo: RNZ
National leader Christopher Luxon has bluntly ruled out working with his party's former coalition partner should he lead the next government.
"I can't see a way in which we would be working with the Māori Party. You know, our values are just not aligned, we believe in very different things, they believe in a separate Parliament, they believe in the co-governance of public services and they have a much more separatist agenda, and that is just something that we don't, we're not aligned with," he told Morning Report.
Presenter Ingrid Hipkiss asked if he was ruling out working with them.
"Yes," he replied. "I can't see us working with the Māori Party going forward."
While the present Labour government has a cooperation agreement with the Greens, Te Pati Māori is part of the opposition. The last time it was in government was in partnership with National.
Luxon said that would not be happening again should he lead the next government, with National "under new management" since the John Key and Bill English days.
Te Pāti Māori was laughing off National's decision to rule out working with them after the election.
While Luxon said Te Pāti Māori was radical and separatist, party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said they took pride in being pro-Māori and mana motuhake focused.
"I think he has to grab his voters, they're all after the same voters, it's hard to differentiate between who is National and who is Labour at the moment but the reality is that we know who we are and we really have to focus on that."
Te Pāti Māori said it remained open to discussions with any party committed to a Tiriti-centric Aotearoa.
He labelled Te Pāti Māori's welcome in Parliament for their new candidate Meka Whaitiri as "incredibly disrespectful" because it occurred at the same time Parliament was paying tributes to the royal family, and he ruled out "any arrangement" with them post-election.
Tuesday saw Whaitiri return to the House for the first time since quitting the Labour Party and linking with Te Pāti Māori, for whom she will stand in the October general election.
Though not technically a Te Pāti Māori member yet, Whaitiri walked into Parliament with Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, a waiata ringing out.
Speaker of the House Adrian Rurawhe said afterwards he had been informed all parties had agreed to the whakawātea, but was later told that was not the case. He ejected Waititi and co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer from the House.
Just before that, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins had moved that Parliament "congratulate His Majesty the King on the occasion of his coronation". A few days earlier King Charles III, New Zealand's head of state, was crowned in a lavish ceremony in the UK.
Whaitiri then sought leave to "make a personal explanation", but was denied by the Speaker, who said they were "in the middle of a debate".
Luxon, who last week said a vote for Te Pāti Māori was also a vote for Labour and the Greens, told Morning Report on Wednesday "elements" of the whakawātea were "incredibly disrespectful".
"We were, you know, we were in the middle of announcing and making statements around the coronation of the king, and then they wanted to grandstand and make it about themselves. And I just didn't think that was appropriate."
Waititi later said they were "clearing a clear pathway for Meka to be able to sit in the opposite benches, clear everything spiritual and allow her to move there with the mind - in her own words - to be liberated and be what she needs to be for her people".
He called it a "customary and cultural" duty.
Meka Whaitiri. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
National MP Chris Bishop said Waititi told him it would be a "short karakia", not "grandstanding". Luxon said National was misled.
"I think we were supportive of a member making a statement, which is what we were led to believe it would be, and that's normal protocol to let members make statements like that.
"But look, what we saw yesterday was just a whole bunch of, you know, showmanship and distraction, and frankly, just illustrates again, a government falling apart. You know, we've got showmanship from Te Pati Māori, we've got personnel issues with the Greens, got personnel issues with Labour and it's genuinely a coalition of chaos, is what's emerging on that side of politics."
In a release later this morning, Luxon said the bridge between the two parties was now "too wide to close".
"Te Pāti Māori of 2023 is a very different party to the one National signed a confidence and supply agreement with three times from 2008."
He added: "National is deeply committed to improving outcomes for Māori, but doesn't believe separate systems is the best way to do this."
Whaitiri remains technically an independent MP. She voted with Te Pati Māori against the motion to congratulate the king. The Greens and their former MP Elizabeth Kerekere abstained, while the rest of Parliament voted aye.
'No philosophical alignment' - Luxon doubles down
Luxon offered some clarification to reporters at Parliament shortly before lunch.
"I want to be really clear so that you understand that - that I'm ruling them out hard. That's what we're doing," he said.
"I don't think that will be a big surprise to many because it's clear that there is a very wide gulf between our parties on important matters.
"There is just no philosophical alignment between the Māori Party and the National Party. We believe in one person, one vote. We believe that we are all equal citizens and equal under the law."
Under questioning, he elaborated on this ideological divide.
"We want to get outcomes delivered for Māori and for non-Māori across New Zealand, and yet the focus of this Māori Party at this time, in this generation is very much on constitutional arrangements and it's talking about having a separate Parliament, it's wanting separate voting rights, it's wanting not full and final Treaty settlement payments.
"We are one country. We have a single system for the delivery of public services. Those public services meet people on the basis of their needs, not their ethnicity.
"Whānau Ora's a great example of what we're talking about localism and devolution and it's a good example of why we worked so well with the Māori Party and its previous incarnation. That was a party that while we might have had slightly different outlooks had common alignment on values, pragmatism, localism and outcomes for Māori."
He also explained he had not given permission for Te Pāti Māori's welcome for Meka Whaitiri in Parliament yesterday, which co-leader Rawiri Waititi had said was cleared with all other parties.
"I think he called me for a minute to tell me that Meka was going to make a statement in the House at some point, and that was it. He didn't ask for my permission and I didn't give it, and I asked where was he going to be sitting, he told me where he would be sitting - and that was it.
"[Doing it] In the middle of a speech being made about King Charles and his Coronation, I thought it was disrespectful."
National's deputy leader Nicola Willis said National had come to this point after "a week of chaos in Parliament".
"Our books are in the red, people are really struggling, and when I go to the front page of the Māori Party website what's their number one issue? A petition to remove the royal family as head of state for New Zealand. They are not focused on the same priorities as National."
Luxon followed up on this.
"Chris Hipkins can sit there and say whatever he wants about what he's gonna do, he keeps sitting on the fence not making decisions.
"He's now got Labour personnel issues every single week, we've got challenges within the Green Party, we've got major issues as we saw yesterday with Te Pāti Māori.
"We've got a Reserve Bank saying in the next short while 22 percent of people's income is going to be paying just the interest on the debt that they've got. These are serious times that require serious government to solve serious problems."
He repeated his line from last week that a vote for any party on the left was a vote for them all.
"I do want to make clear to New Zealanders that a vote for Labour, a vote for the Greens, a vote for Te Pāti Maori is a vote for a coalition of chaos with more economic mismanagement."
National by contrast was "a united caucus, they are 100 percent behind me," he said.
