May 01, 2017
Party vote campaign Labour priority
Labour MP Nanaia Mahuta says a strong party vote could bring as many as 12 Maori MPs into the Labour caucus in the next government.
Labour will release its party list today, and there will be a lot of attention on the placing of list only candidates like Willie Jackson and candidates with little chance of winning an electorate like Willow Jean Prime, Kiritapu Allen and Shanan Halbert.
Ms Mahuta says the decision of the six MPs holding Maori seats not to seek list positions creates the opportunity for new Maori talent to come through as a cohort in the Labour whanau.
"The real effort is going to be around getting party vote out because it is all academic if we don't get in to Government and we don't manage to get people out and motivated to vote. That's got to be the number one task if we want to bring through a strong team of potentially 12 Maori MPs into Government so it's not just about getting into parliament, it's about getting into Government, so we need a party vote campaign and we need a turnout campaign," she says.
Ms Mahuta says she's looking forward to refreshing her mandate in Hauraki Waikato.
FULL INTERVIEW WITH NANAIA MAHUTA
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