November 27, 2023
No mandate from Māori in coalition says Tamihere
Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere says the new Government seems determined to turn back 35 years of incremental Māori progress.
He says anti-Maori policies seem to be the only things binding the three coalition parties.
Te Pati Maori believes it has the mandate from Maori voters to oppose both in parliament and on the streets if necessary.
“Don’t ever tell me (David) Seymour is a Maori, Winston (Peters) is a Maori and therefore the Maori should listen to those two Maoris. They’re not. Their voter base were 90 percent non-Maori and out of the ugly, racist underbelly of this country,” Mr Tamihere says.
He says the slim majority held by the new coalition doesn’t justify the radical constitutional measures it wishes to enact, and it can expect some strong protest from Maori.