Harete Hipango has been selected as National’s candidate in Te Tai Hauāuru - the first time the party has run in a Māori electorate since 2002.

Scandal-prone Hipango will be up against it, however, with the seat not having voted for National since the party was formed.

The seat is currently held by Labour’s Adrian Rurawhe, who as Speaker of the House decided to go list-only at this year’s election.

Labour MP Soraya Peke-Mason has been selected as her party’s candidate and, like Rurawhe, has strong connections to the Rātana Church, a key part of the electorate.

Many pundits, however, regard Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer as the favourite.

In 2020, Ngarewa-Packer lost to Rurawhe by just 1053 votes, and since then has raised her profile significantly both nationally and domestically as an MP.

Hipango this year withdrew from selection for the Whanganui electorate, which she held from 2017 to 2020.

Carl Bates has been selected as National’s candidate in Whanganui for the 2023 general election.

Given the low chance of winning Te Tai Hauāuru, Hipango’s best chance of re-entering Parliament is by securing a good position on the party list.

“It’s an honour to have the opportunity to campaign for a National Government in Te Tai Hauāuru, the people and place I whakapapa with and have a profound connection to,” said Hipango, who is party spokeswoman for Whānau Ora and Children/Oranga Tamariki.

Standing in Māori seats meant National could better connect with whānau about plans to address “the issues that matter most to them”, she said.

“Like lowering the cost of living, making our communities safer, and delivering better health and education so our communities can not only survive but to also thrive.”

National has not run a candidate in a Māori seat since 2002 and the party even actively campaigned to abolish them. Former leader John Key pulled back on the policy but the party didn’t decide to run in any of the electorates until current leader Christopher Luxon indicated a change in approach.

On the party vote in Te Tai Hauāuru, National is especially unpopular, in 2020 receiving just 786 or 3 per cent of the votes.

The electorate’s Rātana roots make it quite the Labour stronghold, receiving 62 per cent in 2020 with the traditional Māori faith in behind Rurawhe’s campaign.

In second was Te Pāti Māori at 15.7 per cent, which also has strong connections to the electorate. Founder Dame Tariana Turia held the seat from 2002 until 2014, although much of her first term was for Labour prior to the foreshore and seabed controversy and her splitting off to start her new party.

National is also planning to run in the Auckland Māori electorate Tāmaki Makaurau, with applications for candidates there closing near the end of April.

Hipango is Whanganui-based and has affiliations with Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Apa and Ngā Rauru.

She faced allegations of inappropriate spending in the last Parliament.

Sources inside the National Party told the Chronicle that a staff member of the MP flagged a concern in the last term of Parliament, alleging items of furniture were bought out of the MP’s taxpayer funds but did not appear in the office.

Little comment was made about the matter at the time. Then-National leader Judith Collins said “there’s very little in it and actually the information she has provided to me was that everything she purchased she purchased correctly or she paid for herself once she was alerted to the fact it had been wrongly coded”.

Hipango also appeared at multiple anti-vaccination protests, contrary to the National Party’s pro-vaccination stance.

Luxon was forced to clarify his party’s position on vaccination after Hipango posted a picture of herself at the rally.

Last year, Hipango admitted to asking a staffer to edit her Wikipedia page. The staffer removed a section detailing a lengthy list of her controversies.

Hipango later said she regretted the request.

The Wikipedia edit saga now features on Hipango’s Wikipedia page.