NZ politician reflects on her election defeat, the future of Labour and the Treaty principles bill

Nz politician Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was among those to perform a haka, at Parliament, after the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill, on 14 November, 2024. Photo: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ

Hauraki-Waikato’s former MP, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, won the seat in the 2023 election and recently performed a haka in the debating chamber during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill.

The Labour party has been emboldened to say it does stand for “Treaty-based decision making”, which would lead to a path of building “our sense of national identity and who we are as a country”. This approach is in contrast to other parties that want to turn the clock back and question the principles.

Labour’s Maipi-Clarke said, ‘There’s one thing doing the haka, there’s another thing delivering to her electorate.’ ‘The threshold of expectation is to deliver. It’s not what you say, it’s what you do.’

Labour’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke has been growing in a community of being positively and confidently Māori, Waikato, Ngāpuhi and everything that she can whakapapa too. That’s important, and that’s the generation that my kids are growing up in.

The important task ahead for Maipi-Clarke is to develop her skill set to ‘translate that into political capital that delivers to her people’. She should be given time to grow that talent.

Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was unseated by Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who recently performed a haka in the debating chamber during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill. Maipi-Clarke was young, and ‘her passion should be applauded to the extent that she is not defined by an opinion of what’s not right.’

Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke said while she was proud of Labour’s achievements, it might have tried to do too much in the period of time that we had the opportunity to govern. ‘We have to reflect on that. We have to show the constituents and the voters of New Zealand that, on questions like CGT, we’ve got to take people with us. So that’s our aim now, is to build the constituency of support to go forward.’

Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was among those to perform a haka, at Parliament, after the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill, on 14 November, 2024. Photo: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ

Over the past year, Labour has been more emboldened to say it does stand for ‘Treaty-based decision making’, which would lead to a path of building “our sense of national identity and who we are as a country”. This approach is in contrast to other parties that want to turn the clock back and question the principles.

Labour’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke has been growing in a community of being positively and confidently Māori, Waikato, Ngāpuhi and everything that she can whakapapa too. That’s important, and that’s the generation that my kids are growing up in.

The Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke said while she was proud of Labour’s achievements, it might have tried to do too much in the period of time that we had the opportunity to govern. ‘We have to reflect on that. We have to show the constituents and the voters of New Zealand that, on questions like CGT, we’ve got to take people with us. So that’s our aim now, is to build the constituency of support to go forward.’

Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was unseated by Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who recently performed a haka in the debating chamber during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill. Maipi-Clarke was young, and ‘her passion should be applauded to the extent that she is not defined by an opinion of what’s not right.’

Over the past year, Labour has been more emboldened to say it does stand for “Treaty-based decision making”, which would lead to a path of building “our sense of national identity and who we are as a country”. This approach is in contrast to other parties that want to turn the clock back and question the principles.

Labour’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke said while she was proud of Labour’s achievements, it might have tried to do too much in the period of time that we had the opportunity to govern. ‘We have to reflect on that. We have to show the constituents and the voters of New Zealand that, on questions like CGT, we’ve got to take people with us. So that’s our aim now, is to build the constituency of support to go forward.’

Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was unseated by Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who recently performed a haka in the debating chamber during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill. Maipi-Clarke was young, and ‘her passion should be applauded to the extent that she is not defined by an opinion of what’s not right.’

Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke has been growing in a community of being positively and confidently Māori, Waikato, Ngāpuhi and everything that she can whakapapa too. That’s important, and that’s the generation that my kids are growing up in.

The Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke said while she was proud of Labour’s achievements, it might have tried to do too much in the period of time that we had the opportunity to govern. ‘We have to reflect on that. We have to show the constituents and the voters of New Zealand that, on questions like CGT, we’ve got to take people with us. So that’s our aim now, is to build the constituency of support to go forward.’

The Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was unseated by Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who recently performed a haka in the debating chamber during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill. Maipi-Clarke was young, and ‘her passion should be applauded to the extent that she is not defined by an opinion of what’s not right.’

Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke has been growing in a community of being positively and confidently Māori, Waikato, Ngāpuhi and everything that she can whakapapa too. That’s important, and that’s the generation that my kids are growing up in.

The Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke said while she was proud of Labour’s achievements, it might have tried to do too much in the period of time that we had the opportunity to govern. ‘We have to reflect on that. We have to show the constituents and the voters of New Zealand that, on questions like CGT, we’ve got to take people with us. So that’s our aim now, is to build the constituency of support to go forward.’

The Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was unseated by Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who recently performed a haka in the debating chamber during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill. Maipi-Clarke was young, and ‘her passion should be applauded to the extent that she is not defined by an opinion of what’s not right.’

Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke has been growing in a community of being positively and confidently Māori, Waikato, Ngāpuhi and everything that she can whakapapa too. That’s important, and that’s the generation that my kids are growing up in.

The Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke said while she was proud of Labour’s achievements, it might have tried to do too much in the period of time that we had the opportunity to govern. ‘We have to reflect on that. We have to show the constituents and the voters of New Zealand that, on questions like CGT, we’ve got to take people with us. So that’s our aim now, is to build the constituency of support to go forward.’

The Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was unseated by Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who recently performed a haka in the debating chamber during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill. Maipi-Clarke was young, and ‘her passion should be applauded to the extent that she is not defined by an opinion of what’s not right.’

Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke has been growing in a community of being positively and confidently Māori, Waikato, Ngāpuhi and everything that she can whakapapa too. That’s important, and that’s the generation that my kids are growing up in.

The Labour party’s former MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was unseated by Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who recently performed a haka in the debating chamber during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill.