'I want Te Tai Tonga to reach its political potential': Mananui Ramsden on winning country's largest electorate

Labour's Mananui Ramsden says he wants to unlock the political potential of Te Tai Tonga after reclaiming the country's largest electorate.

Ramsden has defeated independent incumbent Takuta Ferris, returning the seat to Labour after Ferris won it in 2023.

The electorate spans the entire South Island, Wellington and Rekohu (the Chatham Islands), making it the largest in the country.

The electorate encompasses much of the whenua connected to Ramsden's whakapapa, something he told Morning Report shaped his understanding of the responsibility that came with representing it.

"It's actually a footprint of my own whakapapa. So when you look at it like that, you walk with an understanding of what your tīpuna have done and where they've done it."

Ramsden said campaigning across such a vast rohe meant giving himself plenty of time to travel.

"You take it easy and you just try and do laps of a takiwā, man. That simple."

He said he had travelled around the electorate several times throughout the campaign, describing being elected to Parliament as a privilege.

Ramsden said his decision to enter politics came from a lifetime of service to his whānau, hapū and iwi.

"I've come from a whānau and a hapū and an iwi of service.

"So when you put your hand up to do something like this, you've got to really mean it and you've got to walk the talk."

Before entering Parliament, Ramsden held several governance roles within Kāi Tahu, including chairing Te Rūnaka o Koukourārata.

He said his experiences working alongside iwi to advance the needs of their communities helped motivate him to stand for Labour.

"What I've seen in the last three years is not who we are as a nation," he said.

"Every step of the way, when we were trying to advance the needs of our people ... the coalition got in the way."

Ramsden pointed to changes to freshwater management as one example, particularly provisions affecting Māori interests in freshwater and customary food gathering.

Drawing on his career working with freshwater systems and communities, he said the challenges facing rivers, lakes and wetlands across the country were tangible.

"If you go to Canterbury, you go to Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere), you go to these rivers, you go to these lakes, you go to these wetlands, it's real, the issues that we're facing."

He said the issue was not about pointing fingers, but acknowledging the challenges and finding people willing to work together to address them.

"Every step of the way, we found barriers. We did not find people willing to work with us. So yeah, I put my hand up."

Te Pāti Māori reclaimed five of the seven Māori electorates, with the outcome in Te Tai Tokerau still to be determined at the time of the interview.

Asked whether he was surprised Labour had not won more Māori seats, Ramsden said he viewed the political landscape as one with several options for Māori voters.

"I think what we're dealing with at the moment is a smorgasbord of options for Ngāi Māori."

He also acknowledged the work of his Labour colleague Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, who retained Ikaroa-Rāwhiti.

"For me, personally speaking, she's the benchmark. I try and run myself off the type of leader that she is and the way in which she turns up for her people."

Ramsden said one of his priorities is strengthening connections across the vast electorate and ensuring its communities could work together.

"I want Te Tai Tonga to reach its political potential," he told Morning Report.

"And I want Labour to play a role in that. I see this as hapu, iwi interconnectivity. There are 23 general electorates in Te Tai Tonga."

"And what I'm trying to do is unlock the potential of the 23 to act on behalf of the iwi that is Te Tai Tonga. Really excited to be here."