Reactions from across political parties in Parliament today suggest that there is no love lost in the wake of Meka Whaitiri's defection to the Māori Party.
This comes as Whaitiri entered Parliament today as a newly independent MP.
Whaitiri earlier today said she felt a sense of freedom in a party that "doesn’t censor wāhine Māori.”
Labour deputy leader Kelvin Davis rejected that and said the party had moved on.
“In our Māori caucus we are having discussions all the time. Everyone is open to speak.”
Peeni Henare echoed that sentiment before saying he has other areas to prioritise his focus.
“Meka has said what she has to say. The focus for me and my office is the issues that are important to our people. I support her and her family but in terms of her protest, we the Labour Party stand strong upon our accomplishments from throughout the years. So in saying that I will forever be committed to the Labour Party.”
Since Whaitiri announced her defection last week, there has been speculation that other Labour Māori caucus members may also follow suit and side with the Māori Party.
But Labour's Māori caucus co-chair Willie Jackson is confident that isn’t the case.
“Well, I was when I spoke to our caucus which was Friday when I chaired a meeting, in terms of the Māori caucus. And everyone was committed to Labour, and the kaupapa, and in terms of going forward.”
Kiri Allan says, “I have certainly reached out to her particularly in the last couple of days knowing she's coming back into the environment. Yeah, it’s a lot of deep reflection I think is very fair and among not just myself but probably all of us.”
Many of Labour's Māori caucus have extended an olive branch to Whaitiri and have attempted to initiate a tikanga Māori process to provide a clear passage for Whaitiri to leave Labour on good terms. Whaitiri has declined all attempts.
“Although I have asked to meet with her throughout last week, she has not replied to my request,” Henare said.
“We wanted to have some sort of tikanga process where we could get together and move on but she declined for her own reasons,” Davis said.
Instead, they will now come face to face with the newly independent MP Whaitiri, and her move will be put to the test at the general election.