Is the Labour Party losing the trust of Pacific communities?

History has shown that the Pacific people vote regularly for Labour, but with the 2023 New Zealand election seeing the party taking one of their worst results this loyalty has been called into question.

And despite the growing popularity of younger MPs like Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke and the Greens' Chlöe Swarbrick with Pacific Gen Zs, Labour list MP Willie Jackson says it's no time to panic.

“The latest Roy Morgan poll, which was released [28th May], which is not traditionally a poll that is particularly sympathetic to us shows we're averaging 30 per cent in the polls now. National is down to about 33, 34 [33 per cent] and we're only six months into this government.

“And so support is very significant for Labour. I know in terms of the Māori vote, that we've got a big vote still. We might have lost six Māori seats, but we've got 85,000 votes and won the list vote. And Pasifika is still backing Labour.”

Watch the full interview with Willie Jackson on Pacific Mornings:

Two nationwide protests against the current coalition government’s policies related to Māori have taken place since November 2023, with Te Pāti Māori at the forefront of driving these peaceful activations.

With these recent events in mind, Pacific Mornings’ William Terite asked Jackson why Labour haven’t organised any protests themselves.

“Well you know it's not really a normal thing for big parties to be organising mass protests, it's sort of unprecedented so it's a good question. What you'll find is the smaller parties, I was part of a smaller party too, years ago, you know, with respect, they're more protest parties.

“Our job is to hold the government to account in parliament and that's what we've been doing fully.”

But Jackson says it was still good to see so many standing up to the government given its recent decision to close down Te Aka Whai Ora (Māori Health Authority), cut funding to the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, while giving landlords a tax cut.

“$2.9 billion allocated for landlords, and you are seeing the cuts in our communities right across the board," he said.

“So I just say well done to the organisers and Māori caucus and members of Labour who join in at Parliament to support the progress.”