The Hapu Party believed that because of poorer Māori health outcomes, and therefore reduced life expectancy, Māori should be eligible for the pension at age 56. It planned to introduce a flat 18% rate for personal tax and GST. It sought to have Treaty of Waitangi settlement monies allocated directly to hapū and marae,[1] and to allow Treaty claims to be made over private land.[2]
The Hapu Party had hoped to have candidates in all seven Māori electorates for the 2008 election,[1] but stood only one candidate. David Rankin, a leader of the Matarahurahu hapū of Northland and the party leader, stood in Te Tai Tokerau and received 202 votes[3] (1% of the total in the electorate). The party did not run in the 2011 election.
Leadership
David Rankin, the party leader, became involved in a number of controversies, including attempting to ban Māori Party MP Hone Harawira and his mother Titewhai Harawira from Waitangi Day commemorations in 2007.[4] Later he called for Harawira's resignation following Harawira's allegations of racism towards the Australian prime minister.[5] Rankin became involved in the question of authenticity surrounding the auction of a piece of the famous Kororāreka flagpole cut down in Russell in 1844 as an act of defiance against British authority, by his great great uncle Hōne Heke.[6]
