Debbie Ngarewa-Packer announces mother’s death during Te Tai Hauāuru campaign
The Te Pāti Māori co-leader had already scaled back campaigning while her mother, Colleen Ngarewa, was unwell.
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, the Te Pāti Māori co-leader and sitting MP for Te Tai Hauāuru, announced on Wednesday, 21 October, that her mother, Colleen Ngarewa, had died in Pātea, New Zealand, according to RNZ. Ngarewa-Packer had scaled back her election campaign while her mother was unwell.
In a social media post quoted by RNZ, the family said Colleen Ngarewa died surrounded by whānau and friends at her family home. A funeral notice gives her dates as 13 December 1947 to 21 October 2026.
How the illness affected the campaign
Ngarewa-Packer’s campaign team said in September that she would withdraw from upcoming debates and reduce campaign activity after her mother became very unwell, 1News reported at the time. The announcement had already changed her participation in the contest before the family’s latest news.
It was not immediately clear whether the bereavement would bring further changes to her campaign. RNZ identifies Labour’s Te Pūoho Katene and National’s Coral Raukawa as the other candidates contesting the seat.
The contest for Te Tai Hauāuru
Ngarewa-Packer won Te Tai Hauāuru for Te Pāti Māori in 2023 with 16,288 votes, against 7,126 for Labour’s Soraya Peke-Mason, according to RNZ. Labour nevertheless led the party vote in the electorate, with 41 percent to Te Pāti Māori’s 35 percent. RNZ expects a closer contest this year, though voting has yet to establish the result.
The electorate stretches from Porirua to Putāruru and from Ōpunake to Ohakune. It includes the home of the Rātana movement and areas associated with a range of iwi. Over the past two decades, its seat has passed between Labour and Te Pāti Māori: Dame Tariana Turia represented it for both parties, followed by Labour’s Adrian Rurawhe and then Ngarewa-Packer.
Rurawhe, a former Speaker of the House, died before this campaign. He had represented Te Tai Hauāuru from 2014 until 2023, when he stood only for the party list, and retired from Parliament on Waitangi Day 2026. RNZ reported that representatives of all six parties in Parliament attended his tangihanga at Whangaehu Marae.
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Sources and context
- Te Tai Hauāuru: A close race tinged with sadnessRNZ
- Colleen NgaweraRemembered; notice by Harding’s Funerals
- Debbie Ngarewa-Packer to scale back campaign as mum becomes unwell1News
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.