Debbie Ngarewa-Packer

Ngarewa-Packer grew up in Pātea and attended New Plymouth Girls' High School.[7]

Ngarewa-Packer is a former deputy mayor of South Taranaki.[8][9] She was first elected to the South Taranaki District Council in the 2007 local elections, representing the Pātea ward, having also unsuccessfully contested the mayoralty.[10][11] However, new mayor Ross Dunlop named her as his deputy mayor.[12] She held that role until 2010, when she did not seek re-election and was replaced by Alex Ballantyne.[13]

Ngarewa-Packer was elected co-leader of the Māori Party in April 2020, along with John Tamihere. Both ran uncontested.[3][4][14] She had previously been selected to be the Māori Party's candidate for the Te Tai Hauāuru electorate for the 2020 election in October 2019, and was the first electoral candidate announced by the party for that election.[5] Ngarewa-Packer and Tamihere were the first party leaders elected since the Māori Party lost its parliament seats in the 2017 election, after which its previous leaders stepped down.[14] Ngarewa-Packer had the party's number one list position for the 2020 election.[15]

Ngarewa-Packer was generally considered to be the Māori Party's best chance at returning to Parliament; with polls showing the party below the 5 percent threshold, it would need to win at least one electorate seat to enter. However, a poll released in late September 2020 showed that Labour's candidate for Te Tai Hauāuru, Adrian Rurawhe, as having greater support than Ngarewa-Packer, though there was a large number of undecided voters in the poll. In response to the poll, Ngarewa-Packer said she was buoyed by the number of undecided voters and called the electorate “winnable”.[16][17]

At the 2020 election, she was elected as a Member of Parliament. Preliminary results showed that she had come second in the electorate of Te Tai Hauāuru,[18] (which was confirmed by the final results)[19] while fellow Māori Party candidate Rawiri Waititi had unseated Labour MP Tamati Coffey in the Waiariki Māori electorate, and the Māori Party itself received 1.0% of the vote. With those results, the Māori Party would be entitled to enter Parliament because of Waititi's electorate win, but have just one seat, filled by Waititi. However, the final count confirmed Waititi's electorate win, and showed the party had received 1.2% of the party vote, making it entitled to two seats and allowing Ngarewa-Packer to join Waititi in Parliament.[20][21]

Since the Māori party constitution states that co-leaders must be first drawn from its parliamentary caucus, Waititi replaced Tamihere as male co-leader following his entry to Parliament, as he was the only member of the parliamentary caucus meaning to do so.[22] On 16 November 2020, Ngarewa-Packer became the Māori Party's parliamentary whip, or matarau.[23] On 26 November, Ngarewa-Packer and Waititi walked out of Parliament after the Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard declined Waititi's motion that the Māori Party be allowed to speak for 15 minutes on the grounds that MPs from smaller parties were not scheduled to deliver their maiden speeches until the following week. Ngarewa-Packer criticised Mallard's decision as "another example of the Māori voice being silenced and ignored."[24]

Ngarewa-Packer is chief executive of the Ngāti Ruanui iwi.[3] She is also kaiarataki of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui, which runs healthcare centres in Hāwera and Pātea.[25]

Ngarewa-Packer has been advocating for Māori health and the environment at a grassroots level for many years.[14] She has campaigned against iron sands mining off the Taranaki coast.[5] In April 2020, the Court of Appeal found that the Environmental Protection Authority's decision in 2017 to grant a marine discharge consent to a mining company was not consistent with the law to protect the environment from harmful substances.[26] However, the company behind the plan is seeking leave from the Supreme Court to appeal.[27] On the appeal, Ngarewa-Packer said "We’re annoyed that we may have to go to court for a fourth time as right now our efforts are focused on protecting our community from Covid-19. But we are undeterred in our resolve and we will oppose TTR’s application for yet another appeal."[14]

In 2004, she rallied more than 250 Taranaki people to join with the foreshore and seabed hikoi on its way to Wellington.[5]

In 2011, she joined a 10-member independent panel set up by the Government to identify ways to raise the rate of return on Maori-owned assets, and grow Maori contribution to New Zealand's economy.[9]

Regarding the Covid-19 response, The Spinoff described Ngarewa-Packer as "a key voice in the Covid-19 iwi response, not only in analysing and mitigating risks in her own rohe, but in keeping applied pressure on local and central government to include Māori in their risk assessment."[14]

Ngarewa-Packer is of Ngāti Ruahine, Ngāruahine, and Ngā Rauru iwi.[14] She is a descendant of Tutange Waionui of Ngati Ruanui, who fought alongside Titokowaru during the New Zealand Land Wars and claimed credit for killing Austrian mercenary Gustavus von Tempsky.[28] Ngarewa-Packer was a nominee for the Taranaki Daily News person of the year in 2018.[5][29]