Will’s Word: The Te Pāti Māori fallout continues

Alright, let's talk Te Pāti Māori because the big drama this week and the week’s only really started: MPs Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Tākuta Ferris expelled, just like that.

Here's the thing, you've also got to acknowledge these two weren't sitting quietly at the back of the waka. In recent weeks they were openly criticising leadership and apparently plotting a takeover. Chaos, some would argue.

If the co-leaders didn't act, the party could have imploded from the inside, although arguably it already has. But expelling your own MPs? That is the nuclear button. It is messy, it looks bad and, dare I say, it risks turning two elected representatives into heroes for the party in crisis narrative.

Because they might be expelled, but ultimately Ferris and Kapa-Kingi are still in Parliament. They still represent their people. And now, they've got every reason to make the leadership look bad. Publicly, loudly. What else could the leadership do? Ignore it?

Hope it blows over? Not really an option. They were stuck between letting this linger or taking drastic action and ultimately, to no surprise, they chose drastic action. Does it fix everything? Nope. Far from it.

Maybe it stops the internal plotting. But there is no denying this looks brutal and the party looks more fractured than ever. Supporters, I've seen on social media in the past 24 hours, have turned on Te Pāti Māori.

Listen to Will’s Word on Facebook below.

The MPs are already talking appeals, calling the decision unconstitutional. Maybe it had to happen. Politics isn't polite. It's not a dinner party and when your own MPs are openly defying you and questioning your authority, some would say you've got to act, step in, set boundaries and so forth.

Try to keep the waka moving forward. It's messy and I don't actually take sides in this. Because I can see arguments on both sides here. I can see and acknowledge the viewpoint of Kapa-Kingi and Ferris. I can also see co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi being left with no choice really.

Maybe the only way to stop the whole thing from falling apart was the action that was taken. The real test now though, is that Te Pāti Māori has to try and rebuild trust, refocus on Māori issues, and show voters it's not an absolute circus of internal drama.

Politics isn't tidy, is it? Te Pati Māori just reminded us why.

That's Will's Word.