Labour’s Willie Jackson says Te Pāti Māori needs to compromise and focus on the main issues facing New Zealanders, like health and housing, following three MPs’ sanctioning in Parliament this week.

He’s also responded to comments from Kiri Tamihere-Waititi, the partner of Te Pati Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi and the daughter of the party’s president, John Tamihere.

In a social media video yesterday, she accused Jackson and Labour MP Adrian Rurawhe of being “conditioned big-time into trying to appease the Pākehā”. She was critical of them for suggesting there may be value in Te Pāti Māori apologising for some of their recent conduct.

“You’re doing that for the sake of peace and the peace of the rules and the rules which have been crafted by colonisers to continue to oppress and assimilate,” she said.

After being shown part of the video on Q+A this morning, Jackson responded by saying he had known Tamihere-Waititi for a long time and thought she was inspiring young people.

“We have to agree to learn how to disagree. We are going to have differences sometimes,” he said.

“I don’t want a war with the Māori Party, and I don’t think we should be fighting or warring. The main problem here is the Government. We have to get this Government out. We have to work together. Jobs, health, homes, that’s the kaupapa for us in Labour.

“When I’m out there, nobody comes up to me and says, ‘I’m not happy about the tikanga in Parliament. They come up to me and they say, ‘it’s really tough, we can’t build homes, it’s hard in the health area, we can’t get jobs’. That has to be the priority for us and has to be the priority for the Māori Party.”

Labour MP Willie Jackson says Parliament is a place of compromise. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The interview follows Parliament voting this week to suspend Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Waititi for disrupting a vote on the Treaty Principles Bill last year by engaging in a haka and approaching Act MPs.

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During a debate on the sanctions recommended by the Privileges Committee, both Jackson and Rurawhe opposed the lengthy penalties put forward, but suggested there was a need for compromise and Te Pāti Māori to consider what its strategy was.

“I know it’s hard to apologise, but I want to say to you Te Pāti Māori that not every single Māori in the country supports you and they don’t support some of the strategy. They love you, I love you, but some of the stuff is not going down well,” Jackson said.

He said Māori culture should be brought into the Westminster system, but “I don’t think the kōrero [discussion] so far is going to help with the partnership”.

Rurawhe, a former Speaker, implored Te Pāti Māori to think about Jackson’s comments as apologising “might go a long way”.

He also said by entering Parliament, Te Pāti Māori had agreed to its rules and it “can’t have it both ways”. He said the party could use the mechanisms of Parliament to change the rules.

Jackson told Q+A “there’s nothing wrong with saying sorry”.

“We’re within the system. I think I’ve upset them a little bit by saying apologise. But you compromise when you come into Parliament.”

He said the parties needed to use the system “to get better results for our people”, including in health, housing and jobs.

“Those have to be the priorities. With respect, not the haka,” Jackson said.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi holds up a noose in Parliament during the debate on the haka sanctions. Photo / Jamie Ensor

Asked about Labour’s ability to work with Te Pāti Māori in a potential future government arrangement (current polls show Labour would need Te Pāti Māori’s support to have any chance at power), Jackson said he thought the two parties “can work things out” and make a deal.

“I want to sit down with Kiri and Te Pāti Māori. I know they get upset. I know their strategy is never back off, never compromise. But that’s a generation. There’s a lot of Māori who are proud of them who want progress, who actually want to be pro-Māori, but they don’t want to fight on every kapa haka, tikanga issue.”

He said Labour hadn’t had any conversations with Te Pāti Māori about potential future governing options.

“We have a healthy relationship with them. Not too good over the last week,” he said.

As the Herald revealed last week, Tamihere went to a party hosted by Labour on Budget night where he told attendees that he understood it had to do its things its way, while Te Pāti Māori would do things its own way.

In her speech on Thursday, Maipi-Clarke said that following the haka last year, she told the Speaker she recognised she disrupted the vote.

“I took accountability. I apologised directly to the Speaker, accepted the consequences made that day, which was a 24-hour suspension, docked pay, and being named. But I will not apologise for my actions.”

Ngarewa-Packer and Waititi later told the Herald the Privileges Committee never asked them to apologise.

“Unlike Willie Jackson and Adrian Rurawhe, who work in a majority Pākehā party, we don’t have those constraints. We are not chained by party politics. We are chained by our people,’ said Waititi.

According to the Privileges Committee report, in Waititi’s written submission to the committee, he said he “would not apologise for the haka”.

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.