Former broadcaster Oriini Kaipara, who has built her career around cultural identity roles while drawing salaries from the state, is putting her name forward for Te Pāti Māori’s candidacy in the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election.
This follows the death of MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp.
Kaipara’s career has centred on Māori-focused media and identity-based broadcasting, with most roles tied to publicly owned or culturally affiliated outlets, including Whakaata Māori and TVNZ.
She also worked as a presenter at the now-defunct Newshub. Her time there coincided with the network’s steady decline, culminating in its closure in 2024.
She also took up a taxpayer-funded cultural advisory role with the New Zealand Olympic Committee, guiding its “Te Ao Māori journey.”
In 2019, Kaipara made headlines as the first woman with a moko kauae to front a mainstream news broadcast.
Her campaign rhetoric leans heavily on identity-signalling, continuing a career trajectory rooted in cultural representation rather than policy experience.
She invokes “mana whenua” and “urban Māori,” pitching herself as part of “the movement.”
In the past, Kaipara has accused others of “profiting off her whakapapa” over unauthorised portraits featuring her moko kauae, one of which sold for $1,200. At the same time, her public image has celebrated and incorporated that whakapapa, both visibly and symbolically, in high-profile broadcasting roles and cultural recognition.
The party’s members will vote at a hui this Thursday to confirm the candidate.
Centrist Ltd.