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The head of far north iwi Te Rarawa, Haami Piripi, isn’t expecting much benefit for the region’s Maori if New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is elected in Saturday’s Northland by-election.
Mr Peters has left Nationals’ Mark Osborne in the dust of his campaign bus as he has swept through the electorate telling voters the Government needs to be sent a message.
The latest 3 News-Reid Research poll put him on 54 per cent, 20 points ahead of Mr Osborne, after they were neck and neck three weeks ago.
But Mr Piripi is one of the 48 percent of Nortland voters who say they don’t trust Mr Peters.
"He’s been a constant critic of Maori issues and of Maori communities and Maori organisations for decades now, so I wouldn't put him in the Maori MP category, he may have Maori ancestry. And also his party is the party that tried to introduce legislation to remove all references to the Treaty of Waitangi from New Zealand legislation so I don't think it's true to say he represents in any shape or form a Maori perspective," he says.
Haami Piripi says as an MP from a minor party in opposition it’s hard to see that Mr Peters could do more for the people in the north than a Government MP could.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH HAAMI PIRIPI CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=Mjc1Nzg=
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