After leaving Labour earlier this year, Meka Whaitiri is in the fight of her political life as she seeks to keep hold of the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti seat 10 years after winning it for the first time.
She is facing political newbie Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, who, with the Labour Party machine behind her, has hit the ground running since her nomination in June. Vision NZ has also put up a candidate, Ata Tuhakaraina.
A flight delay has meant the debate will start later on Whakaata Maori, with a new start time of 8pm. Both candidates will be putting their best case forward to voters and will respond live to poll results canvassing the electorate.
They have been travelling the length and breadth of the eastern North Island electorate, from the northern suburbs of Lower Hutt to the top of the East Cape and including Gisborne, Wairoa, Napier, Hastings, Central Hawke’s Bay, Tararua, Masterton, Wairarapa, Upper Hutt, Wainuiomata and parts of Lower Hutt.
Whaitiri, then a Labour MP, last won the seat in 2020 with a majority of 6,075 over Heather Te Au-Skipworth, ironically the person she has replaced in Te Pāti Māori.
She has experienced the highs and lows of Parliament, holding ministerial warrants following the 2017 election but being sacked in 2018 after allegations of assault against a staff member.
Tough fight
She worked her way back into the good books of the party’s leaders to be reappointed as the customs minister in 2020 and became the lead cyclone recovery minister for Hawke’s Bay in 2023, shortly before switching allegiance to Te Pāti Māori.
While Tangaere-Manuel is a new face in national politics, she is not new to the rough and tumble of governance and leadership positions. After a career as a journalist and broadcaster, she turned her hand to administration and has served on boards of kura kaupapa Māori, iwi radio and the NZ Amateur Sports Association.
She is also the former chief executive of Ngāti Porou East Coast Rugby Union, the first wāhine to hold that position, and oversaw the development and growth of the sport on the East Coast before joining the NZ Rugby Union as the Māori rugby programme manager.
From the capital to the East Cape, can the Labour stronghold of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti be shaken? Or will the sun shine on a new contender?
Join Tina Wickliffe tonight at the later time of 8pm on Whakaata Māori, MĀORI+ and on teaonews.co.nz
