Te Pāti Māori get slaughtered by the High Court

Justice Radich has just made the following rulings:

• The suspension of Kapa-Kingi as a member of Te Pāti Māori on 23 October 2025 was in breach of the Kawa (rules) and, therefore, was unlawful.
• The expulsion of Kapa-Kingi from Te Pāti Māori or to cancel her membership in Te Pāti Māori on 9 November 2025 was in breach of the Kawa and, therefore, was unlawful.
• They must now inform the Speaker that Ms Kapa-Kingi is reinstated to Te Pāti’s parliamentary membership

It is very rare for the judiciary to make rulings such as this, but the way TPM went about their decision making was so flawed, that the Judge felt he had to. This is a humiliating loss for Tamihere and his deputy co-leaders, especially the explicit instruction that she must be returned to caucus.

Some aspects of the ruling:

• The suspension decision was made at a meeting where no notice of it was given to anyone, key members were missing or excluded, the need for consensus was ignored, none of the process laid out in the rules was followed and tikanga principles were ignored.
• The expulsion was not referred to the Electorate Council or Disciplinary and Disputes Committee as required
• The National Council meeting that expelled her did not include all its members
• The process was not followed at all, “not even in a passing way”
• The decision was made without “even providing notice of it” and “would appear to be entirely at odds with the approach to decision-making that the Kawa prescribes”
• There have been fundamental errors of law and breaches of natural justice

In terms of not just finding the process flawed, but ordered she be returned to membership and caucus the judge noted:

The extent of the breaches of the Kawa in this case is such that in my view, it would be fundamentally unjust if I did not award relief . The respondents have not just breached the Kawa’s rules but the very essence of the tikanga principles that, expressly, underpin the rules.

Makes you wonder about the sincerity of their leadership who always go on about tikanga, when they so clearly ignore it in their own work.

Tamihere now needs to decide (let’s not kid ourselves anyone else is the decision maker) if he tried to expel her again. Also if they don’t try to expel her again, do they readmit Takuta Ferris to membership?

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