Te Pāti Māori candidate Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke has won the Hauraki Waikato electorate, making her the youngest elected Member of Parliament in Aotearoa since 1853.
Her victory marks the beginning of a political career for the 21-year-old, and the end for Nanaia Mahuta, who held the Hauraki Waikato electorate for eight terms and was the country’s longest-serving female MP.
Maipi-Clarke (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Porou, Te Atiawa, Ngāi Tahu) comes from a strong background of kaupapa Māori activism. “We are here again and never will we be oppressed again,” she told Te Ao Māori News.
Maipi-Clarke is the daughter of Māori broadcaster Potaka Maipi, and granddaughter of Taitimu Maipi, whose activism contributed to the removal of the Captain John Hamilton statue in Hamilton’s Civic Square.
She is also mokopuna of Hana Te Hemara, a Māori language activist who delivered the Māori language petition on the steps of Parliament in 1972 and called for Te Reo to be taught in schools. Wiremu Katene, the first Māori MP to be appointed to the Executive Council in 1872, was her great-great-great-great-grandfather.
Maipi-Clarke received her education at Te Wharekura o Rākaumangamanga in Huntly, and when she was 17, she published a book, Maahina, about māramataka – the Māori lunar calendar.
“Plant trees you’ll never see. Rangatahi are the future, and we need to be at the decision-making tables to make sure the trees are being planted from the ground up,” Maipi-Clarke said.
“This movement is intergenerational. The decisions we make affect our uri whakaheke. This is why I’m standing.”
Mahuta conceded and congratulated her opponent, following a tight race between the two candidates throughout election night on Saturday, October 14.
Mahuta is a senior member of the Labour Party who became the first woman to hold the Foreign Affairs portfolio in 2020. She was also Minister of Local Government, and associate minister for Māori Development.
Despite her seniority, she decided not to go on the party list which means she will not be returning to Parliament.
During the campaign, Maipi-Clarke was subject to alleged home invasions, which Te Pāti Māori referred to as politically motivated. An elderly man alleged to be a well-known National Party campaigner was issued a trespass notice by police.
