RIP Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp

The Herald reports:

Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp has died aged 50 following kidney disease.

Condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. 50 is terribly young to die, and no doubt they are all devastated.

A by-election will now be triggered in the Māori seat of Tāmaki Makaurau, for which Kemp was the MP. The Governor-General must issue a writ to the Electoral Commission to begin making arrangements for a by-election on the advice of the prime minister. 

Kemp won the seat at the 2023 election over the incumbent, Labour’s Peeni Henare. Her margin of victory was just 42 votes.

The by-election could be very interesting. The two logical candidates for Labour are either Peeni Henare or Willie Jackson. And on the Te Pati Maori side., you could;d see John Tamihere decide to want to join the caucus and stand for his old seat? A Jackson vs Tamihere battle would be fascinating, as they are life long friends.

One complication for Labour though is Henare and Jackson are both List MPs, so if they won the by-election, then they would be replaced on the list by Georgie Dansey of Hamilton. TPM could argue that a vote for Labour will result in fewer Maori in Parliament.

Anyway the electoral side will become clearer with time. For now again condolences to those who were close to Kemp.

UPDATE: Dansey is Maori (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) so her coming in if Labour wins the seat, won’t change the number of Maori in Parliament.