Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere says the party is pursuing an ambitious agenda linking constitutional transformation, Treaty-based governance and economic self-determination as it heads towards Election 2026.
At the centre of the party’s platform is a push to give Te Tiriti o Waitangi greater constitutional force. Its recently announced policy includes a $220 million Mātike Mai Fund over four years, an independent Te Tiriti Commission and making Waitangi Tribunal recommendations binding.
Tamihere argues constitutional reform cannot be separated from the everyday economic challenges confronting whānau. His position is that political authority has limited value without greater Māori control over resources, investment and the institutions that influence economic outcomes.
That philosophy is also reflected in the party’s new Energy Sovereignty policy.
Te Pāti Māori is proposing a $1 billion Energy Sovereignty Fund to support Māori and community-owned energy assets, including renewable generation, batteries, microgrids and energy infrastructure on Māori land. It wants whānau, marae, hapū and iwi to become producers and owners of energy rather than simply consumers.
The policy also proposes stronger regulatory powers over excessive electricity prices and profits, a national energy plan and a pathway towards what the party describes as energy sovereignty by 2035.
For Tamihere, the different policies form part of the same political argument — that mana motuhake must include economic power as well as political representation.
With the election approaching, Te Pāti Māori is therefore asking voters to consider not only who governs Aotearoa, but how political, constitutional and economic power should be shared in the decades ahead.
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