A surging Te Pāti Māori is warning Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Labour they won’t be calling all the shots come election day in response to his ruling out a wealth and/or capital gains tax.

The comments come as the party officially launches its election campaign at a Matariki Māori New Year festival Thursday evening in Henderson, West Auckland.

Support for the party is nearing 4 per cent, according to the Herald’s poll of polls, which means that provided they win at least one Māori electorate would give them five to six seats. The poll gives the Green Party 8.3 per cent support.

Both parties, which Labour would need to have any possibility of forming a Government come October 14, have been critical of Labour’s ruling out of wealth redistribution policies - just this week Hipkins ruled out both a wealth and/or capital gains tax.

Te Pati Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said concepts like “wealth tax” and “capital gains tax” are “not our kupu”, but the party’s tax policy to be released soon would have a major focus on redistributing wealth.

“We are focused on ending poverty,” she told the Herald.

“The Prime Minister’s thinking is short-sighted, more about him reacting to the next three months [before the election].

“I think the Prime Minister will not have the luxury to be deciding what they will or won’t do [after the election].”

The campaign launch is at an annual Matariki event organised by Whānau Waipareira, whose chief executive is Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere.

Te Pati Maori supporters wave flags at the campaign launch at Matairiki Ki Waipareira in Henderson tonight. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

The party will be taking the stage with all eight of its candidates, where it is expected they could unveil part of the party list. Key questions will be around where Labour defector Meka Whaitiri sits, along with new talent like 20-year-old Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke.

The event, which is taking over an entire street, will also feature live performances from Annie Crummer, Tiki Taane and Katchafire.

“[Matariki] is a period for us to be able to reflect on the past, mihi atu to those we have lost, but also to be really reflective and visionary on the goals and what we want to achieve,” Ngarewa-Packer said.

She said it was “humbling” to return to West Auckland having launched the 2020 campaign there, which saw them go from being on “life support” outside Parliament to her and co-leader Rawiri Waititi leading a resurgence for the party.

She said they were running a “two ticks campaign” for 2023 in all seven Māori electorates along with the Rotorua general seat, asking for both party and electorate votes.

Te Pati Maori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

The campaign launch comes off the back of a two-week road trip around the motu, where Ngarewa-Packer said they were at times greeted by crowds in the thousands.

She said the theme of their campaign was “Aotearoa hou”, or in English, “New New Zealand”.

“It is a Tiriti-centric Aotearoa, like coming on to a marae, where everybody is loved, everyone is fed, everyone is welcome, equally made to feel like we belong.”

She said it was what an Aotearoa would look like “uninterrupted by colonisation”.

Key policy planks would be around protecting the environment, oranga whenua, and the people, oranga tāngata.

The party has already been pushing specific policies to remove GST from food and to ban seabed mining, with more policies to be revealed over the coming months.

Ngarewa-Packer believed their surge in support was because of their focus on Māori and tangata whenua solutions and “staunch” environmental kaupapa.

Indeed the party has even called out Green Party co-leader James Shaw, who is Climate Change Minister, over climate policies the Government culled, saying he was responsible. Although Shaw himself is a minister he was not involved in the decisions to ditch the policies because he is not inside Cabinet.

“People want to see solutions and see things that make them feel good about being Māori,” Ngarewa-Packer said.

“No one wants to be living in a nation where the rich are getting richer and those who are struggling, are struggling more.

“Nobody wants to see the homelessness and the displacement that we’re seeing, no one wants to see our environment being threatened and at risk.

“Te Pāti Māori is a party for everyone, it is not only Māori who have been left behind.”

Ngarewa-Packer said the party might not necessarily be in a coalition after the election, indicating if the opportunity arose they could choose the cross benches - a loosely defined position to support a government in certain critical areas but not others - or something else entirely.

The party was also targeting younger voters, with the median Māori age in the mid-20s compared with late-30s for non-Māori.

Ngarewa-Packer said this was why they had such a strong presence on social media.

“Part of that is demystifying what goes on in politics, and what goes on and movements like ourselves, and so our strategy is to be as transparent, to be as real, and to be as natural around the way that we think and act.”

Their party list was mainly wāhine, reflecting the intergenerational nature of many Māori homes, she said.

Ngarewa-Packer said she thought they had a chance in all seven Māori electorates and Rotorua.

Pundits expect co-leader Rawiri Waititi to reclaim Waiariki and Ngarewa-Packer is the favourite for Te Tai Hauāuru. Whaitiri also has a good chance to retain her seat in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, although questions remain over how her supporters feel about her leaving the Labour Party.

Ngarewa-Packer was also certain Maipihi-Clarke would make it into Parliament.

“Hana is exciting, at 20 she will be the youngest we will ever have in the House.”