Barry Soper: Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent on Te Pāti Māori considering expelling rogue MPs

Te Pāti Māori has confirmed they're not  ruling out triggering two separate byelections by expelling controversial MPs.

Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer aren’t backing down from the party’s actions as it defers to Te Pāti Māori’s national council.

This comes as deliberations to oust Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris continue to take place.

Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper recapped what we know so far.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Very so, per senior political correspondence with Us haller Berry.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Good afternoon, hither I got the inside tip for the
Melbourne Drew I drew changing of the guard. There you go,
paying over one hundred dollars at the TP.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
You're going to be really rich if that comes in.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, at least I got into the sweep.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hey, so is the Maori Party finally feeding the White
feeding frenzy? Well, yes they are, which I finally talking
to the PARKI how media.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Now fascinating Whitey Tea, who of course has been overseas
recently in China with a cup of Harker Group. He
arrived at Parliament this morning alongside his father in law,
John Tammaherry, who happens to be the president of the party,
and his own wife Kurrie Tamahiri White t who's Tamahiri's

(00:47):
daughter who works for Whitey Tea or the party at Parliament.
So they were standing nearby White Tea when he talked
to the media. Talk to the media in English, which
was great because he's refused to up until now. It's
hardly surprising though that Ytt supports the position being taken
by his father in law, considering you're standing just almost

(01:09):
beside him. He wants Kapa, KINGI and Pharis expelled from
the party.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
I support all the sentiments laid out by John Tommyheday
in this post. We've been able to build this party
from no MPs and within one term to six MPs,
so we know what it takes, we know what the
work requires in order to build a movement, and we
will always be committed to ensuring that the our people
have a voice in this house. The thing is their
MPST you can't even invoke if you're if that's the
question you're asking about the waker jumping thing. Because they

(01:35):
are MPs of those particular interates. Their electrics will decide
whether they stay in the house or not come twenty
twenty six.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
So they'll be around for a while, but they could
be around his independent MPs if they're kicked out of
the party. Interestingly, a spokesperson for the National EWIS Chairs
Forum that will be considering the issue. The spokesperson, Braiden Barber,
has been quoted as saying Tamahry's social media post Yes Today,
which was where he said they were greedy, was the

(02:04):
one of the main faults. She said his comments were unhelpful.
Now there's been, of course a petition out to get
rid of Tamma Harry. So this is a mess.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
So Baden Barber and the EWEE Council co chairs, the
EWE Chairs Forum is actually meeting their meeting right now,
aren't they. I think yeah, I think the meeting right now. Anyway,
we're talking to Baden after half past six. What's going
on with the rough sleepers?

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Well?

Speaker 2 (02:30):
I found the line of questioning by Chris Hipkins in
the House today quite interesting. It was out of the
box and Parliament this afternoon. Literally that's what it would
mean for the rough sleepers in our city's CBDs if
it was true. That is, it came out of questions
fired by Labours Chris Hipkins to the man whose job

(02:52):
he wants, the Prime Minister, Chris Luxen, You judge, have
a listen.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
Is the government considering a law change to bean homeless
people from central business districts?

Speaker 1 (03:01):
There have been no cabinet decisions or discussion on that.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
Tommy supplementary question. If booting people out of emergency accommodation
has fixed the homelessness problem, why is the government now
considering changing the law to ban homeless people. This government
has delivered housing affordability for people who want to purchase
a house or to rent a house.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, well it's interesting. I've talked around the traps today.
Apparently Tama Poltuka, he's been talking to community housing providers
suggesting that a law is on the way. The providers
are meeting on Friday now they're probably considering what they've
been told. Who knows, but apparently banning homeless people from

(03:48):
the CBD will begin in Auckland and Simeon Brown, the
Minister for Auckland, has been talking with Wayne Brown about it.
Now that's as far as I know. I haven't been
able to get it confirmed, but certainly there's been talk
about it.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
How would it work practically? Would you designate what you considered.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
To the CD So where do they go? Do they
go then to the suburbs? Well, the Nimbies I think
would be a bit upset about that.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Well, I mean, are you suggesting this is a bad idea?

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Well, you know, I mean it's a bad idea having
anybody sleeping rough and what do you do about it? Well,
I suppose you can have emergency house And we saw
all of that that wasn't a great success by the
labor government. But what do you do with them?

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Okay, it's a question really, you know, very so, Senior
political correspondent. Thanks for that.

Speaker 4 (04:39):
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