Seven political parties have gone head to head in TVNZ’s Kaupapa Māori Debate, clashing over Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the cost of living, and the future of te reo Māori.

Labour’s Willie Jackson, National’s Tama Potaka, ACT’s Nicole McKee, Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, NZ First’s Shane Jones, Opportunity’s Eden Skipper, and Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi all took part in the debate last night.

New Zealanders go to the polls on November 7.

• READ MORE: Other NZ election reports
• Watch the full debate here

Jackson: This is ‘the most anti-Māori government of my lifetime’
Te Tiriti took centre stage at the start of the debate, with NZ First’s Shane Jones questioned over his party’s plans to abolish the Waitangi Tribunal.

Jones defended the policy, saying politics was “dynamic” and arguing that 50 years after the tribunal was established “it’s not an institution that should remain away from the pressures and the democratic process”.

Labour’s Willie Jackson hit back, describing the government as “the most anti-Māori government of my lifetime”.

Waititi: ‘Gangs have been politically manufactured’
The focus then quickly moved on to gangs — a hot topic in recent days.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said gangs had been “politically manufactured”.

“They are the product of state abuse of our people, church abuse of our people, through the 1970s and the 80s.”

Jackson was also quick to push back against claims his party supports gangs, pointing to campaign billboards linking Labour, Te Pāti Māori and the Greens with gangs.

“We do not support gangs … but we will always support whānau, we will always support communities.”

ACT ‘don’t support a Pak’n’Soviet’
The cost of living was a major topic, with parties keen to push their own solutions to grocery prices — and criticise others’ proposals.

Marama Davidson backed breaking up the supermarket duopoly, but said the Greens would go further with a publicly-owned supermarket focused on affordable prices.

ACT’s Nicole McKee rejected that approach.

“We don’t support a Pak’n’Soviet.”

She argued reducing bureaucracy and the costs involved in getting new supermarkets established would help increase competition, referencing a supermarket in Christchurch that had to spend years and millions of dollars just to get the doors open.

Rawiri Waititi pushed Te Pāti Māori’s plan to put more money into whānau pockets through tax changes and a food credit, alongside greater competition in the supermarket sector, including a Māori-owned supermarket.

Willie Jackson said Labour would target price gouging, accusing supermarkets of “ripping off the customers”.

Shane Jones hit back, saying he had been willing to take on the supermarket giants long before others.

“In 2014, there was only one politician who stood up and took on Countdown. That was Shane Jones.”

Opportunity weighs in on healthcare
As the debate turned to healthcare, Opportunity challenged the other parties to support a 10-year plan to address the problems in the system.

There was no definitive answer from any candidate on that challenge, except for Shane Jones, who asked why Eden Skipper — who is much younger than Jones — was questioning him, given Jones is his elder.

‘We’re going to mine’, says NZ First
Jobs were the next flashpoint in the debate, with Shane Jones challenged over high unemployment in Kaikohe.

Jones said: “It’s not government that generates jobs, it’s the private sector.”

He said creating well-paid jobs meant backing industry.

“We’re going to mine,” he announced.

That sparked pushback from Labour and the Greens, with Jones accusing his opponents of being “too scared to support industry” because of “woke” politics.

Greens and National clash over ‘Robin Hood politics’
As the debate turned to climate resilience and the role of marae during extreme weather events, Marama Davidson and Tama Potaka clashed over the Greens’ proposed $2.4 billion investment in marae.

Davidson said strong marae meant stronger communities, and said decisions over how that money was distributed should sit with Māori rather than government.

Potaka pointed to funding already provided to marae, arguing the government had delivered “results” rather than rhetoric.

“This is what we’re talking about, supporting marae, where suitable in a sustainable arrangement — not Robin Hood politics.”

Parties discuss future of te reo
The last major topic of the night was te reo, with the parties challenged over what they would do to grow and protect the language.

McKee pointed to Māori participation in charter schools, but said learning te reo should be a choice.

“One thing we won’t do is take it away, but we don’t want it being compulsory.”

Jones defended NZ First’s move to make English an official language when asked if “English was ever under threat” by moderators, and pointed to New Zealand’s changing demographics. He said migrants needed to know “this is an English-speaking country”.

Potaka was challenged over claims the government had removed or reduced te reo Māori across parts of the public sector.

He rejected that characterisation, saying the government had “reinforced our commitment” to te reo through initiatives including Te Matatini and Māori broadcasting.

Waititi said Māori should be prioritised for spaces in te reo Māori classes and went further, calling for the language to be compulsory.

“We need to make Māori compulsory. But we won’t strap you into it.”

He spoke about the punishment Māori ancestors faced for speaking their language, and said the aim was to create a bilingual country.

“We will treat you with a lot of kindness and welcome you to our language, but we won’t do what you did to our ancestors … to learn English.”

He said being a “true New Zealander” meant every New Zealander learning to speak te reo Māori.