What Stuart Nash’s gaffe means for NZ First; something’s cooking in Te Pāti Māori

A perfect fit for NZ First

Nash’s employers believe it is serious enough to undertake a formal review of the behaviour. But it was also evident from the tone of Peters’ reprimand later in the day that Nash’s deviation from good taste would have the same effect on Nash’s future with NZ First as the Hollywood Access tapes had on Donald Trump’s 2016 bid to become US president – none.

Nash is too valuable, despite his propensity for trouble, for Peters to get too hung up on this week’s misjudgment. Nash personifies the key NZ First strategy for next year’s election – to draw blue-collar voters away from Labour and the left. His narrative about “woke” Labour is simpatico with the culture wars that Peters and Shane Jones prosecute about Labour. In a word, he is gold to them, though not necessarily 24 karat. With his obvious imperfections and similar worldview, he is a perfect fit for NZ First.

Nash was fired as a Labour cabinet minister in 2023 by Chris Hipkins for revealing confidential cabinet discussions in an email to former donors, and decided not to seek re-election in Napier. He has been flirting publicly with NZ First ever since.

Nash, of course, does not depict his new allegiance as a defection but as martyrdom. Labour apparently abandoned him, not the other way round, as the saying goes. And apparently, Hipkins should not have sacked him because they were friends: “The thing that really disappointed me was the guy I thought had my back, was a good mate, actually didn’t,” Nash said on Sunday.

After Nash’s speech to the NZ First convention, Peters said it would be a “seamless” move for Nash to become part of NZ First.

Something’s cooking in Te Pāti Māori

It appears the MP for the southern Māori seat of Te Tai Tonga, Tākuta Ferris, has gone rogue on his own leaders. He has repeated offensive remarks made last week in defiance of his party’s leadership, who apologised for one of his Instagram posts and told him to remove it. It shows a rift in the party that was not evident until now. If Ferris does not accept the authority of his own party leadership, he will be on the way to a permanent rift and deselection.

During the Tāmaki Makaurau byelection, he criticised Labour for using non-Māori campaigners, in reference to a photo of a group of people supporting Peeni Henare: “This blows my mind. Indians, Asians, Black and Pākeha campaigning to take a Māori seat from Māori.” A bit odd given that Henare is Māori. It is a dangerous sentiment; separatist, not in the party’s interests and a distortion of tino rangatiratanga.

The party leadership acted swiftly to apologise. But on Tuesday night, Ferris posted again, saying the image was “homogenising Māori as a minority” and “erasing Māori”. The whole saga is being used by the Government to beat up not just Te Pāti Māori, but Labour as well, because Hipkins would not describe the original post as racist.

It has taken the gloss off the byelection results, in which Te Pāti Māori’s Oriini Kaipara thrashed Henare.

A world in turmoil

There’s always turmoil somewhere in the world, but it feels as though it has stepped up in the past week, with Russia’s drone incursions into Poland, riots all over France, and the bombing by Israel of a building in Doha, where it believed Hamas leaders were present.

The bombing is especially disturbing. It was an attack on diplomacy because Hamas was in Doha for US-led negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire. It was the first attack by Israel on a Gulf state and one that is an important US ally. With Donald Trump distracted by the Epstein files and today’s assassination of a young ally, Charlie Kirk, it serves to reinforce the lack of leadership and influence by the US to end the conflict in Europe and the Middle East.

New Zealand joined the global condemnation, although in muted tones, with Winston Peters saying the strikes in Doha “violate Qatar’s sovereignty, risk escalation, and undermine efforts by Qatar and the US to end the conflict”.

Peters is off to New York in 10 days to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he will announce whether New Zealand will join other friends in the West to recognise Palestinian statehood. Cabinet is expected to make an in-principle decision next Monday, which may or may not be tweaked between then and when he delivers his speech to the UN.

Speaking on Herald NOW this morning, international expert Professor Anthony Glees from the UK was concerned about Europe. He warned that while world wars happened incrementally and not overnight, “only a complete idiot could fail to see that the big steps in that descent into a world war have already been taken, and unless something serious and effective and immediate is done by Europe to stop Putin encroaching evermore on European security, I fear we may see world war three”.

By the way…

• Wrong, Simeon: National minister Simeon Brown persisted with the party line yesterday that Labour’s Peeni Henare had been the favourite to win the Tāmaki Makaurau byelection. “Everyone expected Labour to win this byelection,” he told RNZ. Not quite. In this newsletter last week, I said I’d be surprised if Henare won.

• Familiar face: If John Robertson, the Waitomo Mayor, who has been commenting this week on the Tom Phillips case, looks familiar, there’s a good reason. He is a former National MP for Papakura and, in fact, succeeded Merv Wellington in 1990. He was one of five MPs who left their party in 1995 to form United NZ. He was Mayor of Papakura for a term.

• Still saving the world: At age 83, former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer is still going strong and last night launched another book, How to Save Democracy in Aotearoa New Zealand, a series of essays challenging ordinary citizens to revitalise democracy through civic engagement.

Quote unquote

“I cannot believe in 2025 I have to stand in the House today and give this speech to address the concerning actions of Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March, who wrote an official letter of support for someone convicted of vandalising MP electorate offices. What a disgrace in 2025. That member used his official MP letterhead to write a character reference for Hannah Swedlund, a lawyer who systematically vandalised MP electorate offices across Auckland. This included the offices of Christopher Luxon, Judith Collins, Simon Watts, Paul Goldsmith, Melissa Lee, Dan Bidois, and a sign belonging to Act leader David Seymour.” – Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford in yesterday’s general debate.

Micro quiz

The Prime Minister is attending the Pacific Islands Forum this week. Where is it being held? (Answer at the bottom of this article.)

Brickbat

Winston Peters and Stuart Nash at NZ First’s annual conference in Palmerston North on Saturday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Goes to Stuart Nash for his definition of a woman, mitigated marginally by his unreserved apology.

Bouquet

Labour’s Barbara Edmonds. Photo / Marty Melville

Goes to Labour finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds, who has finally decided to reveal some political fangs in Question Time.

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