Ratana leader wants Ratana to ditch Labour

Stuff reports:

The chairman of the Rātana Church executive has called for the return of its own political party, rather than continuing to align with Labour.

If the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the electoral system had been followed (which was scrap Maori seats but have a lower threshold for Maori parties) then this would be a viable idea. A Ratana party that got 1.2% if the vote would get two MPs.

He said it was time for Rātana to reinstate its political independence again.

“We have lost our grip and our way and our own political legacy, that being the Rātana Independent Party, [and] the time should come again that the Rātana Independent Party be reinstated so it is no longer suffocated under the history of Labour and the tendency to silence the Māori voice for the sake of the mainstream.”

But hey Labour make Kelvin Deputy Leader even though they don’t trust him to be Deputy PM.