‘PM gaslighting everyone at Koroneihana’

The coalition government has had a rough week, from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's “war on waste” to ACT leader David Seymour's callout of his partners on television and social media.

But Labour Party Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni says it's not going to get any better for the coalition government.

Te Koroneihana celebrations for Māori monarch King Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII were held this week with Luxon in attendance.

More than 300 leaders representing nations throughout the Pacific - including the King and Queen of Tonga, and the Cook Islands high chief - paid tribute to Kiingi Tuuheitia at Tuurangawaewae Marae.

The Pacific Leadership Forum (PLF), a union of sovereign Pacific organisations and leaders in New Zealand, led the contingent with their traditional gifts and performances, symbolising the deep cultural ties connecting Pasifika and Te Ao Māori.

From left, Christopher Luxon, Winston Peters, Carmel Sepuloni, and David Seymour. Photo/file

At Tūrangawaewae Marae, Māori leaders expressed their discontent mainly on the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority (MHA).

“You've [Luxon] thrown Māori under the bus and run them over,” former Te Pati Māori MP Tukoroirangi Morgan said.

Sepuloni said Luxon was gaslighting everyone at the Koroneihana after implementing policies such as disestablishing the MHA and repealing Oranga Tamariki’s Act 7aa and the Māori wards.

“It felt like he was gaslighting all of the people that were on the paepae on that day. No one in that space believed what the Prime Minister was saying,” Sepuloni told Pacific Mornings’ William Terite.

“We've seen it reflected in the way that Māori leaders have responded. They've walked out on the Prime Minister and his government ministers in recent weeks.

“And he's certainly got a respectful response at Te Koroneihana, but it wasn't the warm response that is indicative of a leader who is actually supporting Māori to make progress.”

Addressing the Local Government New Zealand Conference (LGNZ) in Wellington on Friday, Luxon told local councils to rein in their spending.

“It's a war on council waste, I think there is a lot of council spending, there is a lot of bureaucracy in the system that needs to be freed up to have a customer mindset to actually serve the ratepayers that are actually paying the bills.”

Watch Labour Party Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni's interview below.

But Sepuloni said local governments were under intense pressure and needed both financial and moral support.

She said it was the role of the government to step in and provide help when needed.

“Now, it's not always financial. Sometimes it's just that moral support, that backing, that what role do we have to play here? How can we support you to make things happen for your local government areas?

“But his message just is so detrimental to that relationship. And I am sure that local government will be seething over everything that he said.”

There is also trouble in paradise as Luxon's coalition mate, Seymour, aired his grievances with the PM over the National Party’s dismissal of the ACT leader’s controversial Treaty Principles Bill.

Seymore tweeted that National and New Zealand First should have waited to read the fully drafted bill before dismissing it.

He did not rule out potentially leaving the coalition over his treaty negotiations.

“That would be the respectful and democratic thing to do.”

Sepuloni said Seymour’s outburst reflected Luxon’s lack of experience in politics.

A group representing the Solomon Islands community at Tuurangawaewae. Photo/Candice Ama

“I think that it really reflects the Prime Minister's lack of experience politically. And there are things that he signed up to in those coalition agreements that he is now pulling away from.

“So of course it's causing issues for his coalition partnership. And now we have them contradicting each other consistently on matters that are of interest to the general public.”

NZ First leader Vaovasamanaia Winston Peters also told Terite Seymour wanted the bill but “we said, we don't back the bill.

“We don't back his legislation because we don't back the view that the Treaty of Waitangi has principles.

“I take the view of the famous scholar and all those Māori leaders of back then that it was a three-article agreement. But here's the point. We put in the coalition agreement that, well, you can go to a select committee, but that's it.

“Compared to 2017, 2020, in which I was in a coalition with Labour, this is the epitome of harmony. And it is.

“You won't believe how difficult it was with them, the other Labour Party. Not with some of them. Some were great to work with, but there were some who just couldn't get over the past their heads that they weren't the government, they were in a combined party organisation and they began to withhold information. That's unforgettable. Just unforgettable.”

Peters is leading a high-level New Zealand delegation on Saturday to the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting which starts on Monday in Tonga. Minister for Pacific Peoples, Shane Reti, is also accompanying Peters while. Luxon will arrive in Nuku’alofa on Tuesday.

Watch Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters' full interview below.