Not all Māori want to be represented by one party any more than all Pākehā want a single Te Pāti Pākehā. Divisions have always existed within Māori politics: protest versus governing, bicultural reform (adapting Pākehā institutions) versus specifically Māori institutions.

For New Zealand First, just as Māori-led as Te Pāti Māori, the path is pragmatic. Shane Jones wants to get his infamous “nephs” off the couch by using resources, whether fisheries, land or minerals, to create development in the regions where Māori live. For TPM, a protest haka in parliament and a hīkoi to Wellington will wrest power into Māori hands, where the priority is more about who has power than what power is used for. Cutting across these divisions is a debate between rights derived from the Treaty, and special attention to disparities between Māori and non-Māori. They are not the same.

Today, some in New Zealand First and National see a New Zealand in which Māori and non-Māori are entwined. Some see the future in co-governance where power is divided, which is perhaps where Labour is headed.

I predict we are headed to a future in which we do what the Treaty says: Māori delivery, to those Māori who opt in, of schools, health care, social care, regional development.

As Mariameno Kapa-Kingi leaves Te Pāti Māori to start a Te Tai Tokelau party, Josie analyses strands in Māori politics.