Labour leader Andrew Little has further distanced Labour from the Maori Party while also dismissing Hone Harawira's Mana Movement as "irrelevant". The Maori Party had been "shackled" to the National Party for nine years, and National had failed Maori, he said. "Why the Mana Party would want to now shackle itself to the Maori Party is entirely up to them, but they are totally irrelevant." In a rare move, members of the Kingitanga movement walked onto the pa yesterday alongside the Maori Party and the Mana Movement. Flavell urged Ratana to back the Maori Party as the Kingitanga movement had, and called for a "One Maori" movement.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 23, 2017 23:03 UTC