Debbie Ngarewa-Packer backs split-vote strategy to drive Coalition Government out of Beehive

Video: Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is pushing a split-vote strategy to strengthen Māori representation and help oust the Coalition Government. (The Bradbury Group on Waatea News)

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says winning electorate seats while supporters give their party votes to Labour or the Greens is central to the party’s strategy to remove the Government at the 2026 general election.

Speaking on The Bradbury Group, Ngarewa-Packer outlined a campaign focused on securing candidate votes, increasing Māori representation and maintaining an independent Māori voice in Parliament.

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Host Martyn Bradbury asked whether the approach could produce an overhang that makes the difference between winning and losing the election.

“We have one goal, which is to get this government out and to get more Māori in Parliament,” Ngarewa-Packer said.

Under the Electoral Commission’s explanation of MMP, a party that wins more electorate seats than its party-vote share entitles it to keeps those additional seats, creating an overhang and increasing the size of Parliament. Other parties retain their seat allocations.

Ngarewa-Packer said supporters should give Te Pāti Māori their candidate vote and choose the party they believed deserved their party vote, naming the Greens and Labour as options. She described that approach as the best way the party could help secure the numbers to change the Government.

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Asked about the role of Māori youth, she said rangatahi would have a major part to play and expressed confidence in voters’ understanding of the choices before them.

“Our Māori voters have always been extremely strategic. They know what it is they want and don’t want,” she said.

The conversation also turned to unemployment and welfare, with Ngarewa-Packer saying the pressures facing young Māori were being felt across whānau already struggling to support them. She linked those difficulties to people leaving for Australia, saying New Zealand needed its young people to stay.

“We need a government that doesn’t see Māori and Māori rangatahi as a problem,” she said.

Asked about people losing welfare support, Ngarewa-Packer pointed to kaumātua unable to afford heating and families living week to week who were struggling to put food on the table. She accused the Government of pursuing policies that had become increasingly cruel towards ordinary New Zealanders.

Image: Debbie Ngarewa-Packer backs entrenching Te Tiriti, warning weaker protections could expose New Zealand to corporate exploitation. (The Bradbury Group)

Ngarewa-Packer also challenged the Government’s Treaty clause review, arguing that weakening Treaty protections would leave the country more exposed to corporate exploitation. The Government says its changes are intended to improve consistency and certainty without weakening Treaty obligations.

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She backed Te Pāti Māori’s policy to entrench Te Tiriti, saying those protections should be secured against future political interference.

“So that’s why we’re trying to do the complete opposite, which is entrench Te Tiriti,” she said.

Ngarewa-Packer welcomed the solidarity shown by protesters who arrived at Parliament on horseback, saying opposition to the Government’s approach extended to some conservative iwi and tangata Tiriti.

Asked how Te Pāti Māori would tackle child poverty, she pointed to taxing the wealthiest to fund public services and whānau support. She said revenue should be directed into education, health and employment, alongside tax relief for people on lower incomes.

“We need some radical change, some transformation and some hope,” Ngarewa-Packer said.

*Sponsored video brought to you by Waatea Digital, home of The Bradbury Group on Waatea News.

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