So given the original Māori Party was formed in 2004, would we call it a success? 

A party for Māori. What have they achieved? 

Have they done more damage than good? Do we differentiate between Māori and "Māori". By that I mean Māori who aren't as angsty as some and are perfectly happy on the general roll. 

Is the Māori movement generally just for the agitators? And as such, you have people with very specific agendas, and those agendas are almost certain to clash. 

I have no doubt the Māori Party in their current iteration will implode this election. I think everyone does. I have little doubt Labour will scoop most of the support back up. 

The same Labour Party that got trounced last election because the Māori Party 2.0 was the repository of so much hope and promise. 

The history of Māori roll voting is mad. They were Labour forever, until they went with NZ First, and then Labour, until Māori Party Part One came along, and then Labour, and then NZ First, until the Māori Party Part Two came along. 

Is the Māori vote a cheap date-type affair? Flash a bit of bling, say something random, and you can reel them in. How else to explain the wild gyrations in direction? 

On a broader question, just what exactly have the Māori seats delivered, specifically, ever, under any party, for anyone? 

Is the mistake the race bit? 

Pita Sharples is not Rawiri Waititi. Tariana Turia is not Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, or Dover Samuels, or Tu Wylie, or Tuku Morgan. But because they all happen to be Māori they should all, apparently, be the same. 

Is that the mistake? Race is first, second and third. Ideas, policies and visions come a long way down the list. After you have all arrived as Māori you suddenly realise you don’t actually have a lot in common and as a result you fall out. 

Because that is the undeniable outworking of the Māori vote and the Māori parties. 

The vote swings wildly, and quality and delivery even more wildly, then you get someone like Kapa-Kingi who is but another sad chapter we have seen before. 

It all ends the same way, in a great big shambolic mess. 

So 20 years and counting – what's the point? 

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