Māori Party's Marama Fox

The Māori Party has been a vocal advocate for addressing inequalities in the health system’s treatment of Māori.

Producer Mack spoke to co-leader Marama Fox about her priorities in the area, what she would do about cannabis reform, and a candidate caught up in a controversy over election bribes.

Following their partnership with the One Pacific Party, the Māori Party are proposing a new visa category for climate change refugees from the Pacific.

The Māori Party announced the policy last week, alongside an one-off amnesty for Pacific overstayers.

The new refugee status stands alongside the party’s other climate change policies of planting 100,000 hectares of forest over 10 years and subsidising solar panels in the regions and poorer communities.

Co-leader Marama Fox told reporter Mack Smith the threat of climate change was no longer on the horizon.

With two Green MPs rebelling from the party, reporter Mack Smith spoke to to Maori co-leader Marama Fox about her thoughts and reactions on the recent backlash directed at Green co-leader Metiria Turei’s admission that she lied to Work and Income.

The Māori Party says the government is failing to address the issue of homelessness.

The comments come after a Yale University study placed New Zealand at the top of a list of developed countries with the most homeless.

Social Housing Minister Amy Adams told RNZ the 40,000 homeless found in the study weren’t accurate because measurements varied from country to country and she placed the number at closer to 4,000.

However, Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox says New Zealand’s own figures support the Yale study and show 24,000 homeless in Auckland alone.