They were saying…

"A lot of Maori voted Labour because they had this idea 'John Key is bad news'. And that was a campaign against John, and we were stupid enough, our people, to follow.
Look at what he’s given Maori people and tell me why you say he’s bad.
John Key is just an ordinary man with a Government and he’s doing his best – and he sees a way for Maori to get benefits. And he’s done that. So for him to be blanketly labelled as a reason for not voting for the Maori Party seems really, really ludicrous."

…

"We, the Maori Party, started our campaign far too late.
We should’ve had our candidates out there the year before last, building a presence in all the towns and suburbs, because I know that, for many Maori, they still have not understood the goods that can be got, and were got, at Parliament for the Maori people – both in the laws and programmes and money.
And they passed up a really good opportunity to put in more people who could be sitting at the table."

Pita Sharples – on Waatea’s "Te Mahanga Parakuihi"

 

"Our meetings have not been the sombre and tearful tour for Hone Harawira that others may have hoped for, but rather a joyous and uplifting revival tour for a movement that takes up the challenge of being the conscience of the nation.
I hear the mean-spirited and ugly voices of those who are desperately keen to see me go, but I don’t have time to respond, because we’re too busy focusing on the tasks ahead."

Hone Harawira – on his last day in Parliament.

 

"There’s always been legal corruption in this country. If it wasn’t so, we wouldn’t be before the Waitangi Tribunal trying to pull back the injustices.
But what’s been ironic about this election is the illegal corruption – the Judith Collins stuff that saw her getting sacked, and the revelations in the Nicky Hager book, and the rest of it."

…

"The Maori Party, having gone with National, from their inception, have said it’s better to be at the tepu.
Our people get that. But there’s a table and the table is called the Cabinet table – and the people with the power sit at that table.
But, from the time the Maori Party came to power, our people have never sat at that table.
They might argue that they can lobby, and knock on the Prime Minister’s door, and be on the right committee. But that’s not what the Cabinet table is all about.
And I think that most Maori who’ve voted for the Maori Party have done so because they believed that’s where they were allowed through the door. But they weren’t."

Sandra Lee – on Waatea's "Paaki Waha"

 

"Here in Te Tai Tonga, National secured 14 percent of the party vote. But that is the highest polling by far. Nowhere else is National even in the top three.
What I struggle with when it comes to the result is what the Maori voters were actually voting for.
I do understand the legacy factor.
Since the days of Ratana, Maori have traditionally voted left, based on many factors. Part of that is a blind loyalty to particular leadership figures.
Another is the working class camaraderie that grew during the Depression and the years following, through to World War II.
But the world has turned many times since then. Maori owe Labour nothing any more."

Tahu Potiki – in his Christchurch Press column

 

"What a change in Maori politics. It feels that Labour won six of the Maori seats almost by default, because of the Kim Dotcom stuff and the disorganisation and the inability of the Maori Party and Mana to come together. And it doesn’t seem right.
Add up the votes between Mana and the Maori Party, and the seats would’ve gone the other way. The leaders of the two Maori parties were masters of their own demise."

Willie Jackson – on Waatea’s "Paaki Waha"

 

"There’s no guaranteed monopoly or mortgage on the Maori seats for the Labour Party – and they’re going to have to get themselves re-organised.
If Mana and the Maori Party do settle their differences or if Mana fades away – and then there’s just a single party – there’s potential, under the right leadership, for a united Maori party to regain some of those seats."

…

"I’ve been analysing the results from 2008 (when the Maori Party had five seats) and from this election, when we’re down to one independent Maori seat.
In 2008, 77,000 Maori in Maori electorates, cast candidate votes for the Maori Party. And, in this election, about 56,000 people voted either for Mana or for Maori Party candidates.
But between the two elections, about 10,000 Maori just stopped voting.
They haven’t swung to Labour or to anyone else. There are 10,000 people who are supporters of the idea of an independent Maori party who probably got hoha with the fighting between Mana and the Maori Party."

Rawiri Taonui – on Waatea’s "Paaki Waha"