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Takutai Moana Kemp

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Takutai Moana Kemp
ONZM MP
Kemp in 2023
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Tāmaki Makaurau
Incumbent
Assumed office
14 October 2023
Preceded byPeeni Henare
Majority42
Personal details
Political partyTe Pāti Māori

Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp ONZM is a New Zealand politician, chief executive and hiphop dance director. Kemp won the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate for the Māori Party by 42 votes in the official results of the 2023 New Zealand general election.

Early life

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Kemp comes from the iwi (tribes) of Ngā Rauru, Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngā iwi o Mōkai Pātea, Ngāti Tamakōpiri, Ngāti Whitikaupeka, Ngāi Te Ohuake, Ngāti Hauiti, Ngāti Hinemanu and Ngāti Paki.[1] She was raised by her paternal grandparents at the Takirau marae in South Taranaki between the ages of seven and eleven. After that, she lived in Palmerston North and Auckland. At the University of Auckland, she studied anthropology, health, education, and mātauranga Māori.[2]

She is named for her grandmother and has two children.[2]

Career

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Kemp developed the Rangatahi Mental Health Youth Hub with the University of Auckland and was its chief executive for 13 years. The program aimed to address high youth suicide rates in Māori youth.[2]

She was director of Hip Hop International, the organisation that arranges the qualifying event for New Zealand teams in the World Hip Hop Championship. She was a trustee and Auckland manager for Street Dance New Zealand.

She was also chief executive of the Manurewa Marae and a prominent community voice for vaccination for South Auckland during the COVID-19 pandemic.[3][4] In the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours, Kemp was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to street dance and youth.[5]

Political career

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New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2023–present 54th Tāmaki Makaurau 6 Te Pāti Māori

Kemp was selected by Te Pāti Māori to contest the Tāmaki Makaurau seat at the 2023 election. She was 6th on the party list.[1] The official results, released on 3 November 2023, showed Kemp had won the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate by 4 votes. Kemp received 10,050 electorate votes while Labour's candidate, Peeni Henare, received 10,046.[6][7] A recount was requested; once completed, Kemp retained the seat with a final margin of 42 votes.[8][9]

Media reported that the Electoral Commission investigated complaints about voting at Manurewa Marae, which is led by Kemp. The marae was used as a polling station, and according to video shown to Stuff, a Te Pāti Māori campaign song was played on loudspeakers during voting,[10] and food was available for voters.[11] Other media said the Commission had received no complaints.[12]

By mid-December 2023, Kemp had joined Parliament's social services and community select committee. She also assumed Te Pāti Māori's social development, Whānau Ora, disabilities, communities & volunteers, statistics, family & sexual violence, mental health, Kaumātua (Māori elders), employment & training, workers' rights and community affairs spokesperson portfolios.[13]

On 2 June 2024, the Sunday Star-Times reported that Statistics New Zealand was investigating several allegations by former staff at Manurewa Marae that Te Pāti Māori had illegally used 2023 New Zealand census data to target Māori electorate voters in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate during the 2023 election, and that participants were given supermarket vouchers, wellness packs and food parcels to encourage them to fill out census forms and switch to the Māori electoral roll. A whistleblower from the Ministry of Social Development had alerted Statistics NZ and the Police. In response, Te Pāti Māori leader John Tamihere denied the allegations and claimed that they were driven by disgruntled complainants. Tamihere did not permit Kemp to be interviewed but acknowledged that marae workers had given gifts to encourage people to participate in the 2023 Census and to switch to the Māori roll.[14]

Former Māori academic Rawiri Taonui has disputed the allegations against Manurewa Marae, Waipareira Trust and Te Pāti Māori; arguing that photocopies of census data collected at Manurewa Maare were taken solely for verification purposes and destroyed, highlighting that Statistics New Zealand had clarified that neither Tamihera, the Waipareira Trust and the Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency had access to their database, disputing that vouchers were used to encourage people to switch to the Māori electoral roll, and denying that Māori Party flyers were included in wellbeing packs.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b Joseph Los'e (4 November 2023). "Manurewa Marae CEO eyes future in national politics". NZ Herald. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Maiden statement". New Zealand Parliament. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Manurewa Marae CEO Takutai Moana Kemp to stand in Tāmaki Makaurau". Te Ao Māori News. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  4. ^ Trafford, Will (7 February 2023). "Manurewa Marae CEO Takutai Moana Kemp to stand in Tāmaki Makaurau". Te Ao Māori News. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  5. ^ "Queen's Birthday Honours 2021 – Citations for Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC)". 7 June 2021. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Te Pāti Māori claims victory in 6 of the 7 Māori electorates". Radio New Zealand. 3 November 2023. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  7. ^ "Tāmaki Makaurau – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  8. ^ Pearse, Adam (9 November 2023). "Applications for recounts in three electorates formally lodged". NZ Herald. Archived from the original on 8 November 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  9. ^ "Judicial recounts confirm Helen White and Takutai Tarsh Kemp as electorate MPs". RNZ. 15 November 2023. Archived from the original on 15 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  10. ^ McConnell, Glenn (14 November 2023). "Polling station played Te Pāti Māori waiata on election day". Stuff. Archived from the original on 15 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Electoral Commission probes concerns about voting at Te Pāti Māori candidate's marae". Radio New Zealand. 9 November 2023.
  12. ^ "Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp | Te Pāti Māori MP". Waatea News. 10 November 2023.
  13. ^ "Te Pāti Māori Portfolios List" (PDF). Waatea News. 14 December 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 February 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  14. ^ Vance, Andrea (2 June 2024). "Stats NZ investigating potential misuse of Māori census data". The Post. Archived from the original on 1 June 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  15. ^ Taonui, Rawiri (8 July 2024). "Data and Enrolment Allegations at Manurewa Marae". Waatea News. Archived from the original on 14 July 2024. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
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