Dr Michael John Schmidt: Unity Was Never the Starting Pointxxx

If Māori leaders want to build something lasting, they’ll need to change their attitudes and allegiances. They’ll need to build trust between hapū – not override it. And they’ll need to engage with history

On Sunday, 9 November 2025, Te Pāti Māori expelled two of its own MPs – Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Tākuta Ferris – after weeks of internal tension between the party’s elected representatives and its unelected leadership. Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer cited ‘serious breaches’ of the party’s constitution and ‘irreconcilable differences’. The vote was unanimous but here’s the unusual part: Kapa-Kingi’s electorate (Te Tai Tokerau) was excluded from the meeting and Ferris’s electorate (Te Tai Tonga) didn’t vote. That’s not just a procedural quirk – it raises real questions about how representative the process was.