Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi is issuing a blunt warning to whānau Māori ahead of Election 2026 — enrol, turn up and vote, or risk returning a Government he believes has continued to undermine Māori rights, institutions and wellbeing.
Waititi says Māori cannot afford to sit this election out, with major political battles now emerging over Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the future of the Waitangi Tribunal, public services and the economic pressures facing whānau.
His warning is direct — without Māori participation at the ballot box, the country could end up with these clowns again.
It is characteristically uncompromising language from the Te Pāti Māori co-leader, but behind it is a serious political message: Māori electoral participation matters, and every vote will count on 7 November.
WAITANGI TRIBUNAL BECOMES AN ELECTION BATTLEGROUND
Waititi’s concern comes as ACT leader David Seymour proposes one of the most significant changes to the Waitangi Tribunal since it was established.
ACT wants to end the Tribunal’s jurisdiction over contemporary Crown policy and conduct, restrict its work to eligible historical claims lodged by 1 September 2008, and ultimately disestablish the Tribunal once those claims are completed.
The proposal would mean Māori could no longer take new contemporary claims to the Tribunal alleging current Crown actions breach Treaty principles.
ACT argues elected governments and Parliament should determine public policy, with future rights disputes dealt with through the ordinary courts and legal system.
For Waititi, however, the policy forms part of a much wider political pattern.
He is concerned Government parties continue to denigrate Māori and challenge institutions and mechanisms that provide Māori with a voice in the relationship between tangata whenua and the Crown.
The argument is therefore bigger than the future of one institution.
It goes directly to competing visions of Te Tiriti, tino rangatiratanga, Māori political power and the constitutional future of Aotearoa.
WHY ENROLMENT MATTERS
Waititi’s message to whānau is that anger alone will not determine the next Government.
Votes will.
For Te Pāti Māori, mobilising Māori voters will be critical both in the seven Māori electorates and through the party vote.
Waititi is effectively challenging whānau who disagree with the direction of the Government to translate that opposition into political participation.
Because regardless of protests, social media engagement or public debate, Parliament is ultimately determined by the people who enrol and cast a ballot.
That makes turnout a political weapon.
MSD FAILURE ADDS ANOTHER FRONT
Waititi has also turned his attention to the major failures revealed inside the Ministry of Social Development.
An internal review found 16,270 New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension clients had Winter Energy Payments wrongly suspended.
The first internal query about the problem was raised on 30 April, just two days after Winter Energy Payments began, yet senior leadership was not made aware of the full issue until 13 August.
The same review found serious problems with the Confirming Your Circumstances process.
MSD had underestimated the amount of work required. Only around 46 percent of reviews were submitted digitally and about 80 percent required staff assessment or processing, contributing to a backlog that resulted in some people having payments suspended before MSD had processed information they had already supplied.
MSD subsequently identified 2,460 main-benefit clients and 11,990 supplementary-assistance clients affected by processing delays, although there is overlap between those groups and the figures cannot simply be added together.
Estimated arrears reached $850,000 for main benefits and $1.7 million for supplementary assistance.
WHEN WELLINGTON FAILS, WHĀNAU FEEL IT
For Waititi, failures such as MSD’s are not abstract administrative problems.
When government systems fail, the consequences arrive directly in households.
A suspended payment can mean less money for kai, electricity, petrol, medication or housing at a time when many whānau are already struggling with the cost of living.
MSD has restored entitlements, paid arrears and apologised to affected clients. Its own review acknowledged that some people did everything required of them and still had their payments suspended.
That adds another dimension to Waititi’s election message.
The debate is not only about constitutional issues and Te Tiriti.
It is also about whether the machinery of government works for ordinary whānau.
ELECTION 2026 BECOMES A REFERENDUM ON DIRECTION
The competing political positions could hardly be clearer.
ACT is campaigning to dramatically reduce the future role of the Waitangi Tribunal and ultimately close it once qualifying historical claims are completed.
Te Pāti Māori is campaigning for greater Māori political power, tino rangatiratanga and a stronger place for Te Tiriti in the constitutional future of Aotearoa.
Waititi’s argument is that whānau cannot simply watch that contest unfold.
They have to participate in it.
His language may be provocative, but the underlying arithmetic of an election is simple.
If whānau want a different Government, they first have to enrol — and then they have to vote.
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