National’s Te Tai Hauāuru candidate sidesteps questions on Government’s Maori policies

National’s newest Māori candidate won’t say whether she agrees with the Government’s policies affecting Māori.

But Coral Raukawa did question the Government’s decision to require local councils with a Māori ward to hold a referendum on the issue – which will effectively push her out of her job.

Raukawa was announced as the party’s candidate in the Māori seat of Te Tai Hauāuru late last month, becoming only the third candidate to run for National in a Māori seat in nearly 20 years.

Having spent many years running education and training programmes, Raukawa’s also a current Rangitīkei District councillor in a Māori ward seat.

At last year’s local body elections, councils that had earlier voted to install Māori wards were required by the Government to hold a referendum on the issue.

Then-Local Government Minister Simeon Brown shepherded the change, saying it should be a decision for local communities.

In Rangitīkei, the district narrowly voted in favour of abolishing the two wards, disestablishing Raukawa’s council seat from the next election.

Raukawa told Newstalk ZB the decision on whether to keep the wards should have been up to local councils.
“It gave us a chance to talk about our Māori wards. I was absolutely fine with talking about Māori wards and why we should have Māori wards,” Raukawa said.

“Was I comfortable with being told we had to [have a referendum]? I believe it should have been up to us, to decide as a council whether we wanted it.

“What happens, do you stand up and say no? I don’t know.

“All I can say is he [then-Local Government Minister Simeon Brown] was the Minister, in the Government of the day. What he said goes.”

Other Government policies have been labelled “anti-Maori” by parties on the left, including Labour and Te Pāti Māori.

Those include the Government’s move to disestablish the Māori Health Authority, require English names before te reo for Government departments, as well as the forced referendums on Māori wards.

Raukawa was initially uncertain when asked if she was comfortable with those policies.

Asked again, Raukawa responded: “Does it worry me? Does it need a conversation? Do we need to be sitting at the table and saying, ‘Hey’? It’s already happened.

“Our people have spoken up, and I guess they’ll speak at the polls too.”

She stressed that National does have Maori interests at heart - and she feels heard in the party.

Raukawa said she joined National in 2023, serving on the Te Tai Hauauru electorate committee and assisting that year’s candidate Harete Hipango-Brownlie.

Hipango-Brownlie was the first National candidate in a Māori seat in nearly 20 years, but has since left the party and joined NZ First where she’ll run in the Whanganui seat.

Raukawa said her time campaigning for National proved Māori voices are welcome in the party.

“I believe that the National Party is where a Māori voice can be heard, and influence policy and change”.

“They’re focused on getting the country up and going, getting the economy growing, creating jobs. They get things done – and they back the Māori seats.”

National’s had a chequered history with the Māori seats.

The seats have historically been dominated by Labour, with NZ First taking control of all six in 1996.

In 2003, then-leader Bill English said time’s up for the seats, and the party campaigned on abolishing them in 2005 under Don Brash.

John Key also campaigned on abolishing them once all treaty settlements were complete – but backtracked in Government, saying it would lead to “hikoi from hell”.

Current leader Christopher Luxon said in 2023 that the seats don’t “make a lot of sense”, but they are a feature of our democracy and won’t be going away.

In 2023, the party stood a candidate in both Te Tai Hauauru and Tamaki Makaurau.

So far, only Raukawa has been announced as running in a Maori seat.

She will face incumbent Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of Te Pati Maori, as well as Labour’s candidate Te Pūoho Katene.

Asked if the party intended to stand further candidates this year, a National spokesperson said the Tamaki Makaurau committee hopes to select a candidate shortly.

Ethan Griffiths is a political reporter with Newstalk ZB, based in the Parliamentary Press Gallery. He joined NZME as a print journalist in 2020, previously working as an Open Justice reporter in the Bay of Plenty and Wellington, and as a general reporter in Whanganui.