Māori politics is at a particularly significant point right now. With the general election less than two months away, the usual question of who will form the next government is being joined by a much bigger one: what should the relationship between Māori and the Crown actually look like?
That question has sat underneath much of New Zealand politics over the past few years, and it is not going away.
The Treaty Principles Bill may have been defeated in Parliament, but the debate it created continues. The current Government is reviewing how Te Tiriti o Waitangi is referred to across legislation, with 19 Acts identified for changes to Treaty references. For many Māori, the concern is not simply about wording. It is about whether Te Tiriti obligations can be changed by whichever government happens to be in power.
Te Pāti Māori has taken the opposite approach. Last week, the party launched a policy to entrench Te Tiriti, including an independent Te Tiriti Commission, a $220 million Mātike Mai fund and making Waitangi Tribunal recommendations binding.
While the Government is looking at how Treaty obligations are written into law, Te Pāti Māori is arguing that those obligations should be much harder for future governments to remove or ignore.
Then there is the question of representation.
The Māori electorates are once again part of the political debate. The seats themselves have existed since 1867, but their future remains politically contested, with the Greens supporting entrenchment and NZ First calling for their abolition.
Māori politics is also not simply Te Pāti Māori versus the Government. Māori MPs sit across National, Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, while iwi, hapū and Māori organisations continue to exercise political influence outside Parliament.
That can sometimes get lost in the way Māori politics is covered. Māori are not one political bloc. There are disagreements over strategy, representation, constitutional change, economic development and what tino rangatiratanga should look like in practice.
At the same time, Māori political and economic development continues outside the parliamentary spotlight. Just this month, the Crown settled historic claims with Ngāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana, including the addition of around 12,000 hectares to Te Urewera and $24 million in financial and commercial redress.
So where does that leave us?
Māori politics in 2026 is not one debate. It is a wider conversation about representation, resources, whenua, language, Te Tiriti and, ultimately, who gets to make decisions about Aotearoa’s future.
With an election coming up on 7 November, Māori voters will have a say in where that conversation goes next.
For young Māori, that future is ours too. Being enrolled and turning up to vote is one way we can make sure we are not just watching the decisions being made about our future, but taking part in making them.
