Waatea News: Māori Radio Station

New Zealand First deputy leader Shane Jones is once again proving he intends to be one of Election 2026’s most provocative campaigners, taking aim at industries, political institutions and opponents as NZ First fights to distinguish itself from the coalition partners it has governed alongside.

Jones has never been a politician known for carefully calibrated language.

But as the election campaign gathers momentum, the Northland-based MP is increasingly positioning himself as NZ First’s political attack dog — willing to say what others will not, challenge institutions he believes have overreached and force issues onto the campaign agenda.

Recent interventions have included explosive criticism of employment practices within the kiwifruit industry, continued challenges to the role and influence of the Waitangi Tribunal, and attacks on the direction of local and regional government reform.

The strategy guarantees headlines.

The bigger question is whether it also delivers votes.

Jones recently accused parts of the kiwifruit industry of labour practices he characterised using the language of slavery.

The accusation is exceptionally serious and should be understood as Jones’ political characterisation rather than an established finding about the industry.

But behind the inflammatory language sits a legitimate election issue: who benefits from the wealth generated by some of New Zealand’s most successful export industries, and what conditions are experienced by the workers who help create it?

For Māori, particularly across regions such as Te Moana-a-Toi, the debate has several dimensions.

Māori are orchard workers, contractors, landowners and increasingly participants in horticultural investment and export businesses.

That means the conversation cannot simply be reduced to an argument between growers and politicians.

It is also about wages, working conditions, seasonal labour, regional prosperity and whether economic growth translates into stronger households.

Jones’ language may divide opinion, but it has ensured those questions are being asked.

Jones has also continued his criticism of the Waitangi Tribunal, an institution that has become a significant political battleground during the current parliamentary term.

For many Māori, the Tribunal remains one of the few formal mechanisms through which alleged Crown breaches of Te Tiriti can be investigated and documented.

Critics, including senior figures within New Zealand First, have questioned whether its contemporary role has extended too far into matters of government policy and politics.

That creates a particularly sharp political divide.

To its supporters, the Tribunal is an essential part of holding the Crown accountable to its Treaty obligations.

To its critics, its role and influence require reassessment.

For Māori voters, the argument reaches well beyond the Tribunal itself.

It goes to the fundamental question of how Māori can hold the Crown accountable when they believe their Te Tiriti rights have been breached.

Jones occupies an unusual place within that debate.

He is a senior Māori politician with deep whakapapa connections to Te Tai Tokerau, yet he frequently challenges political positions and institutions strongly supported elsewhere within Māoridom.

That makes attempts to place him neatly within conventional Māori political camps difficult.

His politics often combine regional economic development, natural-resource extraction, employment, nationalism and a scepticism towards what he considers bureaucratic or institutional overreach.

That can put him directly at odds with environmental organisations, Māori political leaders, the Waitangi Tribunal and even other members of the coalition Government.

Jones appears entirely comfortable with that tension.

One consistent thread running through Jones’ politics is his emphasis on the regions.

Whether the subject is forestry, mining, fishing, energy, horticulture or infrastructure, his argument has repeatedly centred on using natural resources and economic development to create employment and wealth outside the largest cities.

For Māori communities, that argument has obvious relevance.

Much of the Māori asset base is connected to whenua, forestry, fisheries, horticulture, tourism and natural resources.

The question is how those assets can generate prosperity while maintaining environmental responsibility and ensuring benefits flow back to whānau.

That is where Jones’ development-first approach frequently collides with environmental and conservation advocates.

The political argument is therefore not simply jobs versus the environment.

It is about what responsible development looks like, who makes the decisions and who receives the economic benefits.

There is another complication heading towards Election 2026.

NZ First has governed alongside National and ACT.

Yet the three parties must now compete against one another for votes.

Jones has already demonstrated his willingness to criticise policies associated with National, including the direction of regional government reform.

That differentiation is politically necessary.

If NZ First simply campaigns as an extension of National, voters have less reason to give their party vote to Winston Peters and Jones.

NZ First therefore needs to remind voters that it has its own identity, priorities and political red lines.

Jones is ideally suited to that job.

But it also creates an obvious vulnerability.

After three years in government, NZ First cannot easily campaign as though it has been an observer of decisions made by the coalition.

Where government policy has succeeded, NZ First can claim influence.

Where it has failed, opponents will argue the party must share responsibility.

There is a wider theme connecting many of Jones’ recent interventions.

He is increasingly presenting himself as willing to challenge powerful institutions.

Sometimes that means an industry.

Sometimes it means local government.

Sometimes it means environmental organisations.

Sometimes it means the Waitangi Tribunal.

And sometimes it means challenging his own coalition partners.

For supporters, that is precisely the attraction of Shane Jones — a politician willing to confront organisations and political orthodoxies others may avoid.

For critics, the concern is whether inflammatory rhetoric risks overwhelming the substance of legitimate policy debates.

Both interpretations are likely to feature heavily throughout the campaign.

Election 2026 is also shaping up as a contest between very different visions of Māori political representation.

Te Pāti Māori is placing Te Tiriti, tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake at the centre of its political programme.

Labour is increasingly emphasising jobs, homes, health and economic security while attempting to rebuild support in the Māori electorates.

The Greens continue to connect Māori rights with environmental protection, social inequality and climate policy.

Jones and NZ First offer something markedly different.

Their pitch combines Māori economic development and regional prosperity with opposition to co-governance and scepticism towards some of the institutions and policies other Māori political leaders consider fundamental to advancing Te Tiriti.

That makes Jones one of the most interesting — and controversial — Māori political figures in the election.

There is little indication Shane Jones intends to moderate his approach between now and polling day.

If anything, the opposite appears more likely.

His political brand has always depended on being memorable, provocative and willing to enter arguments others avoid.

But beneath the headlines are substantive questions Election 2026 will need to confront.

What should the future role of the Waitangi Tribunal be?

How should Māori communities balance economic development with kaitiakitanga?

Are workers receiving a fair share of the wealth generated by New Zealand’s export industries?

How much power should sit with central government, regional institutions and Māori?

And after three years inside the coalition, what does NZ First believe still needs to change?

Shane Jones may not always ask those questions quietly.

But as Election 2026 gathers pace, he appears determined to make sure they are asked.

#ShaneJones #NZFirst #Election2026 #WinstonPeters #WaitangiTribunal #TeTiriti #MaoriPolitics #MaoriVote #TeTaiTokerau #Kiwifruit #WorkersRights #RegionalDevelopment #MaoriEconomy #Kaitiakitanga #TinoRangatiratanga #ManaMotuhake #RegionalNZ #EconomicDevelopment #NaturalResources #CoalitionGovernment #NZPolitics #TeAoMaori #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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Katahi te rangahau hou nā Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko ka puta, e whakamārama ana i ngā wheako o te Māori e pā ana ki ngā take inihua, ā, ko te utu tētahi o ngā tino tauārai mō ngā whānau.

E ai ki te Pou Ahuarea o Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko, ki a Jacob De Berry, kei te pēhia ngā whānau e utu nui. Ko ētahi e mate ana ki te kōwhiri i waenga i te utu i ā rātou inihua, me te utu i ngā pire o te kāinga.

The post Jacob De Berry | E raru ana ngā whānau Māori i te nui o ngā utu inihua. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

I puta i te Rōpū Kākāriki tā rātou kaupapa here hou, kia whakahokia, kia whakawhānuitia, kia whakapūmau hoki i te pūtea mō te kaupapa tina i ngā kura, arā, ko Ka Ora, Ka Ako.

Ko tētahi o ngā wāhanga o te kaupapa here nei, ko te whakawhānui i te kaupapa ki ngā kura 400 atu anō, mā tērā e horapa ai te kai ki ngā tamariki 150 mano.

E ai ki te Kaiarataki Takirua o te Rōpū Kākāriki, e ai ki a Marama Davidson, ka tautoko hoki te kaupapa nei i ngā kaiwhakarato kai me ngā tūranga mahi ā-rohe.

The post Marama Davidson | Ka whai hā anō a Ka ora, Ka ako. appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Tama Potaka is the Minister for Māori Development and Associate Housing Minister, and joins us following the Government’s announcement that its Housing Flexible Fund will deliver more than 820 new social and affordable homes across the country

The post Tama Potaka | Minister of Māori Development appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Talia Rikihana is the Kaihautū of Whāriki Te Tai Tokerau, supporting Māori businesses, entrepreneurs and leaders across the North through initiatives that strengthen economic resilience, governance capability and community development.

The post Talia Rikihana | Kaihautū of Whāriki Te Tai Tokerau appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Te Aho o Te Rangi Pihama is a director of RŌA Consulting and co-author of the new Māori Home Ownership and Housing Capital report, which examines how 100 years of policy, whenua, finance and urbanisation have shaped Māori housing security and home ownership pathways.

The post Te Aho o Te Rangi Pihama | Director of RŌA Consulting appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Dr ‘Etuini Ma’u is a researcher in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland and lead author of new modelling showing that reducing dementia risk factors could significantly ease future pressure on New Zealand’s aged care system while improving health equity.

The post Dr Etuini Ma’u | Researcher in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland appeared first on Waatea News: Māori Radio Station.

Lady Tureiti Moxon is a long-time Māori health advocate, Waitangi Tribunal claimant and co-claimant in the Wai 2575 health inquiry, who is challenging Labour to clarify its commitment to Māori health self-determination following comments that cast doubt on reinstating Te Aka Whai Ora.

Labour’s Willie Jackson is facing a growing political backlash following a bruising television interview on Māori policy, with Winston Peters seizing on the debate over co-governance while prominent Māori voices question whether Labour has clearly articulated what it stands for heading into Election 2026.

Jackson, Labour’s Māori campaign chair and co-chair of its Māori caucus, appeared on TVNZ’s Q+A as Labour launched its campaign to recapture the Māori electorates it lost to Te Pāti Māori in 2023. The interview traversed Māori health, employment, education, Te Tiriti, co-governance and Labour’s strategy for winning Māori voters back.

But instead of giving Labour a clean platform to reset its Māori campaign, the appearance has ignited a much wider argument about the party’s direction.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has responded by targeting Jackson over co-governance.

Peters says Jackson suggested that because the term co-governance frightens some voters, it could potentially be given another name.

Peters responded by offering his own descriptions of co-governance, using the politically explosive terms separatist, racist and apartheid, before reiterating New Zealand First’s opposition to the model and its long-standing one-law-for-all position.

The language is consistent with Peters’ established campaigning against co-governance. He has previously characterised co-governance as incompatible with democracy and repeatedly framed the issue in terms of separatism, race and equal citizenship.

The intervention ensures the debate will not remain confined to Labour’s Māori campaign.

It has instead reopened one of the most divisive political arguments of recent years: what partnership and shared decision-making under Te Tiriti should look like in practice.

Jackson’s position on Te Aka Whai Ora, the former Māori Health Authority, has also attracted significant attention.

When repeatedly questioned about whether Labour would restore the authority if it returned to government, Jackson eventually confirmed that his personal preference was not to recreate the former structure.

His argument was that Māori health providers have emphasised the need for greater funding, resources and devolution, and that those outcomes could potentially be achieved without rebuilding Te Aka Whai Ora in precisely its previous form.

That is potentially a significant shift.

Te Aka Whai Ora was one of the former Labour Government’s flagship Māori health reforms before being abolished by the National-led coalition.

Jackson’s comments therefore leave Labour facing an obvious question: if Te Aka Whai Ora is not coming back, what will replace it?

Greater direct commissioning and devolved funding to Māori health providers may be one answer, but Labour will need to explain where Māori authority over decision-making sits within any replacement model.

The controversy also exposes a broader strategic repositioning by Labour.

Jackson has been emphasising jobs, health and homes as the foundation of Labour’s Māori election campaign.

Reporting following Labour’s Māori campaign launch suggests Jackson wants economic and social issues placed ahead of making Te Tiriti the centrepiece of the campaign, while maintaining that Labour continues to support Treaty-related kaupapa.

There is a clear political calculation behind that strategy.

Māori households are dealing with housing pressure, unemployment, health inequities and the cost of living. Labour appears determined to argue that delivering tangible improvements in those areas should be the test of its Māori policy.

But that creates another challenge.

For many Māori, Te Tiriti, rangatiratanga and economic and social outcomes are not separate issues.

The debate over Māori health commissioning, for example, is simultaneously a debate about health outcomes and who gets to make decisions about Māori health.

The response within Māori political and media circles has also been sharp.

Former Cabinet Minister Nanaia Mahuta has publicly engaged with criticism of the interview, while Lady Tureiti Moxon has also weighed into the debate.

Waatea has reviewed dozens of public comments responding to the interview and spoken with Māori leaders across the motu. A recurring criticism has been that the appearance was unhelpful to Labour’s Māori campaign, with some describing it as a political disaster.

Those reactions are perspectives rather than a scientific measure of Māori public opinion, but they demonstrate the immediate political difficulty Labour now faces.

Instead of discussing the policies it wanted to campaign on, the party is being forced to explain what it means by co-governance, whether Te Aka Whai Ora should return and how strongly Te Tiriti will feature in its programme for government.

For Peters, the controversy provides an opportunity to return to political territory New Zealand First knows well.

The party has campaigned against co-governance for years, and Peters was again describing the previous Labour Government’s approach as racist co-governance during an election speech only days ago.

His latest intervention is therefore not simply an attack on Jackson.

It is an attempt to frame the election choice itself.

New Zealand First wants voters to see co-governance as race-based political separation. Supporters of Māori-Crown partnership models instead argue that recognising tangata whenua rights and Te Tiriti obligations is fundamentally different from racial separation.

Those competing interpretations are likely to collide repeatedly before polling day.

Labour lost six of the seven Māori electorates in 2023 and is now campaigning to win them back. Jackson is leading that effort.

That makes clarity particularly important.

Labour is attempting to persuade Māori voters that it remains the best vehicle for improving Māori lives while simultaneously distinguishing itself from Te Pāti Māori and convincing the wider electorate that its previous Māori policy agenda will not simply be recreated.

That is a difficult political balancing act.

There is nothing inherently contradictory about reviewing whether an institution such as Te Aka Whai Ora was the best mechanism for delivering Māori health outcomes.

Nor is there anything unusual about a political party reassessing policies after losing an election.

But if Labour intends to change the structures while retaining the objectives, it will need to explain that distinction clearly.

Otherwise its opponents will define the change for it.

The political fight sparked by Jackson’s interview ultimately reaches beyond one television appearance.

It asks what co-governance actually means, whether the terminology has become politically toxic, what Labour now believes about Māori decision-making, and whether greater devolution to Māori providers can deliver rangatiratanga without recreating institutions such as Te Aka Whai Ora.

Peters has already supplied New Zealand First’s answer.

Te Pāti Māori has a substantially different one, including proposals to strengthen the constitutional position of Te Tiriti and make Waitangi Tribunal recommendations binding on the Crown. Jackson has previously said Labour would not support the latter proposal.

Now Labour needs to make its own position unmistakable.

Because with Māori electorates firmly in play and Election 2026 approaching, the argument is rapidly becoming about much more than terminology.

It is becoming an argument about who holds power, how Māori exercise rangatiratanga, and what the relationship between Māori and the Crown should look like under the next Government.

#WillieJackson #WinstonPeters #NanaiaMahuta #LadyTureitiMoxon #Labour #NZFirst #Election2026 #CoGovernance #TeTiriti #TeAkaWhaiOra #MaoriHealth #HauoraMaori #Rangatiratanga #ManaMotuhake #MaoriPolitics #MaoriElectorates #MaoriVote #QandA #NZPolitics #TeAoMaori #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea

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Mark Pirikahu joins us to remember the life and legacy of the late Rauru Broughton, a respected Ngā Rauru kaumātua, pioneering Māori broadcaster, te reo Māori advocate and tireless champion of iwi radio whose influence helped shape generations of speakers and leaders.

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Norm Hill is hosting the inaugural Endangered Species National Hui in Kirikiriroa, bringing together iwi, scientists, conservation groups, rangatahi and community leaders to tackle the growing crisis facing Aotearoa’s threatened species and ecosystems.

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