Oops – Maipi-Clarke corrects what she boasted about her interest in corrections and blames a “wording error”Māori Party firebrand Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, responsible for
“The Haka Heard Around The World”, perhaps finds it challenging to communicate when she is not shouting her displeasure at the Government in the House of Representatives.
Centrist reports she has deleted a social media post “after appearing to claim that ‘65%’ of her work involved visiting rangatahi in ‘juvenile centres, correction centres or OT’.”
That’s the impression PoO gets from the post, pictured above, too, but:
Her office later told Chris Lynch Media the post contained a “wording error” and was meant to refer to time spent with rangatahi and youth in the electorate generally, not visits to correctional or youth justice facilities.
Questions had been raised about the visits to delinquents in juvenile centres, corrections centres and what have you.
MPs must obtain permission from the relevant minister before visiting facilities under that minister’s responsibility.
Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell’s office said records showed Maipi-Clarke had made one prison visit this year.
Children’s Minister Karen Chhour was more direct, saying there had been “zero emails to my office” and “zero visits to a youth justice centre”.
Broadcaster Michael Laws, on The Platform’s Michael Laws, has contrasted the lack of mainstream interest in Maipi-Clark’s claim with its coverage of Shane Jones’ travel spending.
He said Jones had gone “to a conference, which he actually went to, a conference that really existed with real people”.
The Centrist quoted Chhour, too.
She said she was “all for advocating for our most vulnerable,” but “to out and out tell porkies and tales” was another matter.
Then came the correcting of what Maipi-Clark said about her dealings with the country’s corrections system:
Maipi-Clarke’s office said the post had been misread and removed once the issue was raised.
“There was an error in the wording of the post,” the office said.
“The original post’s intention was to highlight spending 65% of time with Rangatahi / Youth in the electorate in general, not at correctional facilities.”
The office added that “common sense would have seen the post was a wording error” and said “a phone call would have solved the issue without any hassle”.
But National big-wig Chris Bishop recalled a 2023 incident in which Maipi-Clarke said during a debate that people “ram-raided” her home and “came into my house and threatened me”.
Police later said the incident had been incorrectly reported as a ram raid and was instead a theft.
“Police do not believe that the incidents have been racially motivated or coordinated,” Detective Inspector Darrell Harpur said at the time.Since Maipi-Clarke tripped on her keyboard, or did whatever caused her wording error, Stuff’s Glen McConnell
has drawn attention to another of her posts being questioned.
A Te Pāti Māori MP is again being accused of taking credit for work she hasn’t been involved in.
But this time, Stuff has been shown evidence the minister did engage with the MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke about the issue.
PoO is not so sure about what this evidence shows.
Maipi-Clark’s work on breast cancer screening is the issue this time.
Maipi-Clarke denies this. Her office has released an email showing the MPs discussing access to mammograms, the day before Maipi-Clarke made the post.
Under former health minister Shane Reti, the Government increased funding for breast screening so that women aged up to 74 would be able to access free screening. The funding was delivered mid-2024, with a gradual policy implementation starting in October 2025.
In mid-June, Maipi-Clarke posted a photo with Minister for Women Nicola Grigg saying she had been “supporting the minister for women in extending fully funded breast screening from age 69 to 74”.
Grigg told Stuff she had never spoken to Maipi-Clarke about the Government’s policy for breast screening.
However, the email did show she told Maipi-Clarke the Government had “made good on an election year commitment to extend the upper age”. In the post, Maipi-Clarke said she supported that.
She is pushing for the Government to lower the screening age, from 45 to 40 years old.
Some matters need clarifying.
Does Maipi-Clarke’s email “show the MPs discussing access to mammograms”? Or does it simply show them together discussing….who knows?
PoO staffers who have looked at the picture have no idea what’s under discussion.
Furthermore, according to the Stuff report:
Grigg said she posed with Maipi-Clarke after the Pāti Māori MP asked for a photo, but she didn’t know what it was going to be used for.
“I can confirm neither me nor my office have ever had any contact from Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke on extending the breast screening programme,” Grigg said.
“Hana contacted me about having a photo taken, but she did not specify what it was for.”A spokesperson for Health Minister Simeon Brown said Maipi-Clarke had never been in touch with his office to discuss extending the breast-screening programme.
The article noted that Grigg and Brown are the third and fourth coalition ministers to question Maipi-Clarke’s clams to voters, claiming credit for work they say she hasn’t been involved with.
It was illustrated by the picture at the top of this article.
Stuff approached Maipi-Clarke for comment on both of these posts, but she hadn’t responded at time of publication.
According to Hansard, the record of Parliament’s debates, Maipi-Clarke has never discussed breast cancer screening in the House.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
