He described Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori as pushing a separatist agenda.<\/p>\n
“I’m ruling them out, hard,” he said, in a separate briefing to reporters before lunch. “There is just no philosophical alignment between the M\u0101ori Party and the National Party. We believe in one person, one vote. We believe that we are all equal citizens and equal under the law.”<\/p>\n
![\"Christopher](\"https:\/\/rnz-ressh.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/s--YRZsXSJZ--\/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050\/v1683679380\/4L988H9_Luxon_Pati_3_jpg\")
<\/p>\nNational leader Christopher Luxon\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It was a more unequivocal statement than the previous week, when he described Labour, the Greens and Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori as being aligned in one bloc. The latter’s co-leader Rawiri Waititi said today was “a great day for te iwi M\u0101ori”.<\/p>\n “What he’s done is confirmed that he’s not interested in creating a Tiriti-centric Aotearoa, so he’s made that quite clear today, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry – and if we don’t deal with seabed mining we’ll have no fish to fry,” he said, referring to the party’s bill to ban the practice.<\/p>\n Waititi said Luxon’s line about being for a one-person-one-vote system was mere dog-whistling.<\/p>\n “It’s dog-whistling because you don’t [get one vote under MMP] – it’s not one person one vote, it’s one person two votes, and so you get a vote for a candidate and you get a vote for a party. So maybe somebody should give a civics education to Chris Luxon and his mates.”<\/p>\n The party’s other co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer agreed.<\/p>\n “He said we’re separatists… we take real pride in being pro-M\u0101ori and mana motuhake-focused and we are an indigenous party – we’ve never ever been shy about that – and we’ll continue to be that unapologetic M\u0101ori voice in this House.”<\/p>\n Debbie Ngarewa-Packer\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n His announcement was, she said, nothing new and an attempt to get more publicity.<\/p>\n “You’ve said this nearly every week for the last so many months, so I guess this is about National trying to get some space and some airtime and headlines on something they’ve already said before.<\/p>\n “They’re all after the same voters, it’s hard to differentiate between who’s Labour and who’s National at the moment, but the reality is we know who we are and we have to really focus on that.”<\/p>\n The Greens were similarly dismissive, with co-leader Marama Davidson outright rejecting the claim Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori was radical or separatist.<\/p>\n “No, not at all, and if he wants to talk about chaos using some lazy, dog-whistling racism is pretty chaotic – and it’s a sign that they’ve got no actual substance and just want to pick up that racism.<\/p>\n “He knows very well that not only does every person in Aotearoa have two votes – one for party, one for electorate – but also he knows that homeowners, property owners, for example, have more than one vote. He knows what he’s saying. It’s intentional, it’s lazy and chaotic.”<\/p>\n James Shaw and Marama Davidson\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Green co-leader James Shaw had no qualms about the Greens’ ability to work with Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n “Yes, we could. We have a whole election to go and we’ll see about that.”<\/p>\n He also served the coalition chaos critique back towards National and their most likely coalition partner.<\/p>\n “Ultimately, they are going to be relying on the ACT Party for votes and if you look at the ACT Party’s policies they are a recipe for chaos in this country.”<\/p>\n “I think if you wanted chaos you need look no further than the National party over the last few years.”<\/p>\n Labour leader Chris Hipkins had a similar – if less strident – message than those other leaders.<\/p>\n “He ruled them out, then he ruled them in, then he’s ruled them out. I mean, the record is actually pretty clear: The M\u0101ori Party have only been in government once, and that was in the nine years that National was in government.<\/p>\n Labour leader and Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “The M\u0101ori electorates do operate on the principle of one person, one vote and I think those who suggest otherwise need to really consider what the message is they’re trying to convey.”<\/p>\n But his deputy Carmel Sepuloni, recently returned from Auckland’s flooding, agreed with the label.<\/p>\n “Oh yeah, that is totally dog whistling.”<\/p>\n Hipkins would also not rule out working with Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n “I’ve worked with Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori in the past, I’ve got a relatively constructive working relationship with them at the moment. It’s a relatively limited one given the nature of our current government which is a majority government.<\/p>\n “In terms of who we would and won’t work for, we’ll make that clearer towards the election in terms of areas where we see we have issues in common with parties and areas where we think we would struggle to work with them.”<\/p>\n ACT leader David Seymour said he was surprised Luxon had not made the move earlier.<\/p>\n “Chris Luxon should have ruled out the M\u0101ori Party on principle a year ago, he should rule out New Zealand First and the Greens, for that matter, now,” he said.<\/p>\n ACT leader David Seymour\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “It’s not as though Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori’s principles have changed, it’s not as thought hey haven’t grandstood in Parliament before.”<\/p>\n He did not see the need to make the same move himself, however.<\/p>\n “You always assume with them always ruling us out and us having diametrically opposed policies and criticising them for those policies, people already assumed it wasn’t going to happen.”<\/p>\n![\"Debbie](\"https:\/\/rnz-ressh.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/s--HbKhol6G--\/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050\/v1679967005\/4LBFUGH_Bridge_5_jpg\")
![\"James](\"https:\/\/rnz-ressh.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/s--iJi0AI3f--\/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050\/v1683600368\/4L99WVE_230509_8_jpg\")
![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/rnz-ressh.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/s--iGxifJul--\/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050\/v1679957383\/4LBG5GE_Caucus_3_jpg\")
![\"David](\"https:\/\/rnz-ressh.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/s--JXm0Us21--\/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050\/v1683082449\/4L9L12I_May_3_1_jpg\")
‘I gave a very definitive answer’ – Luxon<\/h3>\n
![\"Shane](\"https:\/\/rnz-ressh.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/s--nAzY6Qk1--\/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050\/v1680567833\/4LB2ZW5_Caucus_9_jpg\")
<\/p>\n