Newsletter

“THE WHARE IS ROTTEN: WHY TE PĀTI MĀORI MUST DECOLONISE ITSELF” - 23 December 2025

THE GHOST OF TINO RANGATIRATANGA

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Ltn

23 Dec 2025 — 7 min read

The hīkoi to Parliament in late 2024 was a tidal wave of mana. It was indigenous sovereignty in motion, powered by whānau, hapū, and iwi.

But the vessel claiming to steer that tide—Te Pāti Māori—has hit the rocks, and the captains are looting the wreckage.

We are watching a tragedy of “neoliberal capture” wearing a korowai. My diagnosis is brutal but surgically precise:

drop the “dreaming grifters” and the “structure,” or the movement dies.

The current leadership claims they were “blindsided” by the chaos of 2025 RNZ. This is a lie. You cannot be blindsided by a fire you lit yourself. The rot in Te Pāti Māori is not “personality politics”; it is a structural failure designed to protect a fiefdom at the expense of the kaupapa.

BACKGROUND: THE ARCHITECTURE OF CAPTURE

To understand why I call them “grifters,” follow the pūtea.

For years, the party has been financially umbilically corded to the Waipareira Trust, run by Party President John Tamihere. Between 2019 and 2024, Waipareira funnelled hundreds of thousands of dollars into political campaigns via “loans” and “donations,” triggering multiple investigations by Charities Services NZ Herald.

This is not just “fundraising.” It is capture. When the President of the party is also the CEO of its primary creditor, the Co-leaders (Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi) cease to be rangatira; they become middle managers in a corporate franchise.

The “dreaming” part? Co-leaders insisting “there is no left bloc without Te Pāti Māori” RNZ while they expel their own MPs, alienate their base, and poll in the gutter.

This is the delusion of executives who think they own the votes of Māori.

ANALYSIS: 5 HIDDEN CONNECTIONS VERIFIED

The rot is deeper than bad headlines. Here are five structural failures depleting the mauri of the movement.

1. The “Presidential” Veto is a Colonial Construct

In a tikanga-based rōpū, mana flows up from the flax roots. In Te Pāti Māori, power flows down from the President. The Party Constitution places the President in charge of the “fundamental running” of the Pāti Elections NZ.

This structure allowed the National Council to expel MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi while excluding her own electorate (Tai Tokerau) from the vote RNZ. That is not rangatiratanga; that is gerrymandering. The President sits above the MPs, insulated from accountability. When asked if Tamihere should resign to save the party, Ngarewa-Packer confirmed “absolutely no consideration” was given RNZ. The structure protects the King, not the people.

2. The Weaponization of Pākehā Law against Tikanga

The leadership cries “Tino Rangatiratanga” on the streets but uses the Pākehā High Court to crush internal dissent. The dispute with Mariameno Kapa-Kingi is now set for a hearing in February 2026 RNZ.

True movements settle disputes on the marae, kanohi ki te kanohi. Mariameno herself called for this: “If it takes longer than 20 minutes in a caucus, then it takes longer than 20 minutes” RNZ. Instead, the party uses “lawfare” funded by resources that should be fighting the Government. This depletes the mauri of the entire collective.

3. Pūtea as a Tool of Compliance

The “screaming cat emoji” text message regarding a $45k transfer isn’t just gossip; it reveals a transactional culture. Kapa-Kingi was accused of budget blowouts, but the counter-claim is that resources were being weaponized to enforce loyalty.

When a party relies on “loans” from a charitable trust that the President controls Teaonews, MPs who ask questions about money become liabilities. This creates a culture of silence. You cannot bite the hand that signs the cheques.

This chart shows the flow of charitable funds from Waipareira Trust (headed by John Tamihere) to political campaigns between 2019-2023. Despite being a registered charity, Waipareira funneled approximately $785,000 into campaigns where Tamihere was either the candidate or party president—triggering multiple Charities Services investigations and an impending deregistration decision

4. The “Co-Leader” Human Shields

Debbie and Rawiri are talented politicians, but they have allowed themselves to become human shields for the President. They claim “the mana doesn’t sit with Debbie and I” RNZ, yet they actively enforce the President’s will, justifying the exclusion of electorates and the expulsion of colleagues.

They are burning their own mana to protect a structure that is failing. By refusing to acknowledge the “Presidential Problem,” they have become complicit in the grift.

5. “Brand” over “Whakapapa”

Ngarewa-Packer refers to the “brand” the party put forward RNZ. This is corporate language. When you treat a movement as a “brand,” you protect its image rather than its integrity.

Mauri-Depleting: Hiding the truth about finances to “protect the brand.”
Mauri-Enhancing: Exposing the wound to clean it (as Mariameno calls for a “real reset”).

This table exposes the structural rot in Te Pāti Māori's governance. The current Presidential model concentrates power in a corporate structure where the President controls both the party machinery and its financial lifeline through Waipareira Trust. A tikanga-based reset would return mana to electorates, establish real accountability, and eliminate conflicts of interest that have triggered years of regulatory investigations

IMPLICATIONS: THE COST OF EGO

If Te Pāti Māori does not restructure:

Political Isolation: Labour and the Greens will bypass them. Waititi’s threat (”You will not be Prime Minister without Te Pāti Māori”) is empty if his party is radioactive.
Whānau Disengagement: The “rough times” predicted for 2026 RNZ will be self-inflicted. Whānau will return to the flax roots and leave the “party” behind.
The “Grifter” Legacy: The party will be remembered not for the Hīkoi, but for the hustle.

A REAL RESET OR A SLOW DEATH

I am right. The “two dreaming grifters” (the Co-leaders operating in this delusion) and the “current structure” (the Tamihere Presidency) must go.

The Solution:

Resignation of the President: The conflict of interest between Waipareira and TPM is terminal.
Constitutional Overhaul: Power must return to the Electorates, with a recall mechanism for leadership that doesn’t require High Court judges.
The “Real Reset”: As Mariameno said, “not a pretend reset” RNZ.

Te Pāti Māori claims to fight for Mana Motuhake. It’s time they applied that to their own house.

Koha Consideration

Three pathways exist:

For those who wish to support this mahi directly with a koha (voluntary contribution), please visit the Koha platform:

Koha—Support - https://app.koha.kiwi/events/the-maori-green-lantern-fighting-misinformation-and-disinformation-ivor-jones

For those who wish to receive essays directly and support through subscription, join the Substack community:

Subscribe to the Māori Green Lantern on Substack - https://themaorigreenlantern.substack.com/subscribe

For those who prefer direct bank transfer, account details are: HTDM, account number 03-1546-0415173-000.

Every koha signals that whānau are ready to fund the accountability that Crown and corporate structures will not provide. It signals that rangatiratanga includes the power to fund our own truth tellers.

Kia kaha, whānau. Stay vigilant. Stay connected. And if you are able, consider a koha to ensure this voice continues.

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern Fighting Misinformation And Disinformation From The Far Right

RESEARCH PROCESS & TRANSPARENCY

Tools Used: search_web (Constitutional verification, financial history), get_url_content (RNZ article analysis).
Sources Consulted: RNZ, NZ Herald, Teaonews, Elections NZ (Constitution/Returns), Charities Services reports.
Date of Research: December 23, 2025.
Verification: All quotes from the provided PDF were cross-referenced with the text. Financial claims regarding Waipareira/Tamihere are based on historical Charities Services investigations (2019-2024).

"How Winston Peters Wraps Corporate Plunder in the Language of Liberation — and Has Been Doing It for Forty Years" - 23 March 2026

"THE SULU AND THE SWORD: How Christopher Luxon Wore Our Pacific Family's Dignity Like a Costume While His Budget Burned Their Villages to the Waterline" - 23 March 2026

"HE PĀTIKI KEI RARO I TE REPO — The Flounder in the Mud: How Damien Grant's Selective Conscience Exposes the Rotting Heart of Pākehā Media Power" - 22 March 2026

"THE CROWN'S DIGITAL TOHU: How a Rogue Neoliberal Government Sold the Whakapapa of a Nation to the Highest Unvetted Bidder" - 22 March 2026