The Labour leader says he is concerned about the accusations. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Chris Hipkins says it is unclear how many Māori Parties there are, after it emailed accusations against one of its own MPs to members.
The missive - pitched as providing "clarity and transparency" - claims Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi overspent office funds to the tune of $133,000, primarily for employing her son Eru Kapa-Kingi, whose contract was later terminated for "serious misconduct".
He is also accused of abusing Parliament staff after "tailgating" through security gates, shouting "you are just a piece of s...", "f... you c..." and "I will f..... knock you out".
Mariameno Kapa-Kingi was also demoted from her role as party whip, the email said, because she had failed to show up at meetings in Northland.
The revelations on Tuesday morning prompted Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to call for Labour's leader to rule out any governing arrangement that included Te Pāti Māori.
"It's Chris Hipkins that wants to work with that chaos. I don't. I think he should come out and say he's not going to work with them... just rule them out," he said.
Having only seen a few details of the accusations that morning, Hipkins said Luxon was not in a position to lecture anyone on coalition partners, and again promised to set out which parties Labour would and would not work with closer to the election.
With details filtering out, he was more willing to criticise his potential governing partner by the afternoon.
"At the moment it's not clear how many Māori Parties there are," he said. "It seems that there are a number of different segments to the Māori Party and it's unclear whether they actually form a cohesive whole at this point."
He said he was concerned about the accusations, "particularly about the incidents that have happened here at Parliament which I find utterly unacceptable - they would be unacceptable in any workplace".
If it had been Labour he "would have taken it very very seriously", he said.
"My MPs are under no illusions that they have to manage within their budgets, that they have to manage the behaviour of any people that they have as guests here at Parliament and I would take a very very firm view on any transgressions against that.
"We're not dealing with that, because we manage those things very carefully."
The late-night email alleged "major overspending issues" by Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Hipkins said his job between now and the election was simply to grow Labour's vote as much as possible, and the party would be "vigourously contesting all seven Māori seats at the next election and we'll be aiming to win them".
"My message to Māori voters up and down the country is if you want a voice around the Cabinet table, if you want to make progress for Māori, then vote Labour."
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the situation may "look a bit messy right now" and it was for Te Pāti Māori to work out.
"I'm worried about my own party and I'm really proud that we are continuing to prioritise and focus on getting rid of the government with corporate wealth and interests at the heart of their work.
"I haven't seen the allegations myself, but absolutely all of our staff, all of our communities need to be safe from violence. That is something for Te Pāti Māori to answer to.
"We have worked with Te Pāti Māori and Labour in the past, we know we can get back to working with [them], parties across the house have issues from time to time."
Te Pāti Māori's media contact, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, president John Tamihere, and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi have all been approached by RNZ for comment.
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