Ousted Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi challenges 'purported expulsion'

Ousted Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi has taken the fight against her expulsion to court just days before the party's annual general meeting.

Kapa-Kingi was expelled from the party, alongside Tākuta Ferris, in early November after a period of internal conflict.

The party's co-leaders said the decision had been make in response to "serious breaches" of the party's constitution.

Both MPs have fiercely disputed their expulsions, with Kapa-Kingi signalling she intended to appeal hers in every respect.

She has now applied for a temporary court order to reinstate her into the party and remove party president John Tamihere, which was heard by Justice Paul Radich in the High Court at Wellington on Thursday morning.

The judge reserved his decision about any reinstatement before this weekend's AGM in Rotorua until 4pm on Friday, setting a more substantial hearing down for 2 February 2026.

Kapa-Kingi's case

Kapa-Kingi's lawyer Mike Colson KC said his client disputed how Te Pāti Māori's constitution had been applied to two primary issues that had come to a head in recent months: a projected overspend on the Te Tai Tokerau budget and public statements made by her son Eru Kapa-Kingi.

"She's immediately seeking clarification as to how the constitution has been applied," he said.

Colson's submissions were dense but focused on the party's constitution and the step-by-step processes followed - or not followed - for the expulson of Kapa-Kingi.

He submitted the national council meeting in which the decision to expel Kapa-Kingi was made wasn't legitimate because her electorate was excluded from the hui.

Only four of the seven electorate chairs had voted on the decision, with Te Tai Tokerau not there and Te Tai Tonga (Ferris) and Hauraki Waikato (Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke) abstaining, the court heard.

On the decision itself, Colson said it had myriad issues, including the national council having no power to suspend or expel a member, the parliamentary funds in question not being party funds, there being no misuse of the funds (including for personal gain) and that a natural justice process had not been followed.

"Apart from that, it was a flawless decision."

It was clear the national council's role should have been "a passive one", with the constitution clearly showing that the issues raised in Kapa-Kingi's expulsion should have been dealt with through a disciplinary disputes committee, he said.

On the projected overspend, Colson told the court one of the reasons for this was due to Kapa-Kingi taking over the duties of Takutai Tarsh Kemp, who died earlier this year.

"What happened here is there was a projected overspend. So there was no actual overspend, it was a projected one. Steps were taken to remedy that and it was signed off by one of the co-leaders."

It was highly unusual for a party to approve a budgeting process and then turn around and accuse someone of misusing the funds, he said.

The tikanga of the party's constitution had been breached and Kapa-Kingi's mana significantly affected by the public allegations, Colson said.

He said his client had been reluctant to go to court over her expulsion as she would much rather have had face-to-face discussions.

Kapa-Kingi wanted to continue "the spirit and intent of Te Pāti Māori" and to "stand for what is pono and tika", he said.

"Her preference is a safe and mediated space kanohi ki te kanohi, and seeks a de-escalation.

"We say she's been denied this, so that's why she's in court today."

Looking to the party's AGM in Rotorua this weekend, Colson KC said Kapa-Kingi had received an "insulting" offer of being allowed to attend for the first two hours of the hui.

He told the court Te Pāti Māori was already advertising for another candidate for the Te Tai Tokerau contest next year and that Kapa-Kingi needed to be reinstated into the party so she could work towards the 2026 election.

The lawyer, who is representing Kapa-Kingi pro bono, said one of the primary issues for Kapa-Kingi was the "power and influence exerted by Mr Tamihere" in the explusion process.

Tamihere's response

Tamihere's lawyer Davey Salmon KC said there had been limitations on what Tamihere's response could be to the allegations as the application had emerged at at time when he had been in transit.

The court heard Tamihere, who has been abroad, had recently returned to Wellington and signed an affidavit related to the proceedings.

Kapa-Kingi's assertion her case for legal intervention against her expulsion was "overwhelming" was was not borne out by the facts, Salmon said.

On the constitution, he said the national council did have authority to expel Kapa-Kingi as it was the "primary heavy lifter of hard decisions in this context".

The constitution did not provide for a member to get a special disciplinary hearing and this was common practice used by other political parties, he said.

Salmon submitted there had been a quorum for the decision to expel Kapa-Kingi and that it was not relevant to suggest the funds in question were parliamentary funds, not party ones.

Allegations of misuse of funds were a "red rag to a bull" to certain media outlets and political opponents, and Te Pāti Māori had been determined to deal with them quickly, he said.

"There was and is a very real concern about these issues exploding into mainstream news when the party's focus is on dealing with them in a harmonious, internal way."

He told the court Kemp was clearly not happy with Kapa-Kingi's use of her electorate's funds and this was evidenced by a text message she had sent before her death about the use of the funds that included a sad face emoji.

On Kapa-Kingi's apparent exclusion from key hui, Salmon said correspondence actually showed the MP had chosen to disengage with the party and focus on her electorate.

Kapa-Kingi's negative, public comments about the party, and comments her son had made, had occurred after the president sent her a letter about her budget, he said.

While this might be politics, it was at odds with Kapa-Kingi's obligations under her contract with Te Pāti Māori MP, Salmon said.

There were no grounds to remove Tamihere as president and argued there were very few sitting days between now and the hearing in early February for there to warrant Kapa-Kingi being reinstated to the party, he submitted.

There was "very little upside" to Kapa-Kingi rejoining the Te Pāti Māori's caucus and questioned why she wanted to go to this weekend's AGM in the first place, he added.

"My client considers that [Kapa-Kingi] is no longer a member that's why she shouldn't be at that meeting."

Kapa-Kingi sat in the public gallery with supporters this morning, with several people who work with Ferris also present.

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