Whānau Ora and Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka is asking Te Puni Kōkiri officials to urgently review a new advert encouraging Māori to sign up to the Māori roll.

Potaka is concerned about how the advert – which appears to be released by Whānau Ora – was funded, saying if the ad amounted to “electioneering” and was funded using public money, that would be “unacceptable”.

It is not yet clear how the ad was funded or if public money was used at all.

The 30-minute ad features activist and artist Tāme Iti (Ngāi Tūhoe) sitting on a chair in a dark room reading the names of more than 500 people who had joined the Māori roll.

Part-way through the reading, Iti leaves the room for a cup of tea as the camera stays in the dark, empty room.

It comes as a new set of commissioning agencies are set to take over Whānau Ora service provision in July.

The three original Whānau Ora commissioning agencies, including the John Tamihere-led North Island agency, all lost their decades-long contracts after a major contract overhaul in March.

Potaka told reporters at Parliament today that he had asked Māori development agency Te Puni Kōkiri, which manages funding for Whānau Ora, to review the ad and ensure public money had not been used for “electioneering”.

“If public funding which has been set up to help whānau in need has been used for electioneering, that is unacceptable.”

Labour MP Peeni Henare supported Potaka’s move to seek a review of the ad.

Te Puni Kōkiri chief executive Dave Samuels (left) and Māori Development and Whānau Ora Minister Tama Potaka during a Māori Affairs select committee hearing at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

NZ First Minister Shane Jones criticised the advert, telling RNZ’s Morning Report it aligned too closely with Te Pāti Māori. He said Whānau Ora had become “tainted” by its connection to Te Pāti Māori.

“Whānau Ora has been sadly tainted by the Māori Party ... I fear that this type of politicisation just shows that public taxpayer money historically has been used for ideological experiments,” he said.

Comment has been sought from Te Pāti Māori.

Chairwoman of the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, told Morning Report earlier today – before Potaka’s comments to reporters – that the Electoral Commission had also funded campaigns to try to get more people enrolled but that hadn’t happened in the past for Māori.

NZ First's Shane Jones and Act Party Leader David Seymour. Photo / Michael Cunningham

New Zealanders can enrol on the Māori (for people of Māori descent) or General roll (for everyone). There are currently seven Māori seats. Raukawa-Tait told Morning Report there were more than 120,000 Māori of voting age who were not on either roll “so it’s time for people to get off the couch”.

“If you’re going to go on the General roll, what you’re doing is you’re going into basically the mainstream parties. Māori issues never come to the fore in the mainstream parties ... so this is why it is necessary,” she said.

“If you’re concerned about the state of Māori right now and what it might be in the next 10 to 20 years then you must have your voice heard and you must be engaged in the democratic process.”

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.