Mozzie voters likely to stay away

The election date has been set for September 23, and parties will be delving into the data to see where their votes could come from.

Labour leader Andrew Little and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene are heading to Sydney for a Waitangi celebration on Saturday before coming back for the official commemoration at Waitangi.

But Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell says despite the large number of Maori living across the Tasman, it's not likely to be a large source of votes.

Mr Flavell says the Maori Party can’t afford to do a lot of face to face campaigning in the lucky country, and it has found in the past the returns don’t justify the effort.

"A lot of the people that are over there have actually given up the right to vote back in Aotearoa because they had moved over permanently, I found that out at the last election, when I went over there and while I brought back a heap of enrolment forms, actually the vast majority of them couldn't get on the roll because they based themselves in Australia and hadn't been home for some time," he says.

Te Ururoa Flavell says he’ll attend the Iwi Chairs Forum and the Saturday kawe mate at Waitangi before returning to his Waiariki electorate to take part in Tuwharetoa’s Waitangi Day festival at Pukawa on the shores of Lake Taupo.

FULL INTERVIEW WITH TE URUROA FLAVELL

Follow us on &

Copyright © 2017, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com

RELATED NEWS

Media Release: Lizzie Marvelly appointed as Director, Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa Iwi key in demanding whale autopsies Heat on for Miranda to be Pukorokoro