‘I’m not the future’ – Kelvin Davis calls time

Senior Labour MP and former Corrections, Children, and Māori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis is quitting politics with his last day at Waitangi on February 6.

Davis entered Parliament in 2008, was knocked out at the 2011 election, and then returned in May 2014 via the Labour Party list after Shane Jones’ resignation opened a spot in the caucus.

At the election a few months later in September Davis won the seat of Te Tai Tokerau, which he held until this year when he was beaten by Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi.

Before the election Davis had indicated he would quit politics if he didn’t win the seat as he would have lost the mandate of his people.

On Tuesday Davis told his caucus colleagues his plans to retire, and his intention is to make his valedictory speech at the start of February and officially vacate his list spot at Waitangi on February 6.

“I considered not coming back [next year] but just taking advice from people I know and trust and they said, no you actually need to give a valedictory, particularly around Māori Crown relations and in light of the way things are going at the moment, and you need to go up still a member of Parliament to Waitangi and just say thank you to Te Tai Tokerau properly, instead of just slinking off.

“I thought about it and decided that was the right thing to do.”

Davis became a grandfather for the first time on election night and says he plans to return to the North where he can spend more time at home with family, but also travel with a new job he has in the works.

He was reluctant to share who the job is with but told Newsroom he was excited about the opportunities it would create.

Reflecting on his time as a minister between 2017 and 2023, Davis said he knew for a fact that Māori Crown relations had improved with the creation of the agency Te Arawhiti, which he oversaw.

“One of the things people are saying is, how do you know Māori Crown relations has improved in the last six years?”

Davis says in response to that, “there’s one surefire way and that’s to remove Te Arawhiti, take it away, and see things collapse, and that will be a perfect measure of how far we’ve come in the six years”.

Lawyers have often told Davis that it is difficult to litigate against the Crown in the Treaty space because of that new relationship.

“I would say Te Arawhiti has saved the Government hundreds of millions of dollars because there was no litigation – so it’s sort of hard to prove something that hasn’t happened.”

Davis is keen to finish his time in politics at Waitangi because the way events now run in the North is one of his proudest achievements.

“We all remember the craziness before we became government and I just said politicians have to take responsibility for the mayhem that was going on up there … we’d made politicians the focus of Waitangi, we’re not the focus and we’re just not important at all, the issue is Te Tiriti.

“Because of what we did as politicians pre our government it just turned to chaos and Ngāpuhi was getting the blame with people saying, these guys can’t organise anything.”

Davis said that all changed “as soon as we as a government took control and said to political parties for two hours of the year, behave and put our differences aside, and go on as a Parliament.”

In February this year, Te Pāti Māori broke away from that new tradition and went on separately after the rest of Parliament had received their pōwhiri, which Davis wasn’t happy about.

“They made it about themselves, I thought that was really bad form.”

Davis told Newsroom the Prime Minister, whichever party they represent, is important and should sit in the front and be heard, and he hopes Christopher Luxon has that opportunity and takes it.

“The reality is I hope Waitangi isn’t a shambles because all the hard work we’ve done over the past six years will have just gone to waste,” he said.

“The dignity of Ngāpuhi I’m worried is at stake this time if politicians make it go pear-shaped.”

On why he was leaving now, Davis told Newsroom he was never going to stand in 2026 so the time was right to make room for new MPs.

“I’m not the future of the Parliamentary Labour Party any more so I’m stepping aside to let others come in.

“It’s an opportunity in these three years to allow others to step up,” he said.

On his highlights as a minister, Davis said Te Arawhiti is a big one and the transfer of decision-making and resources to communities within Oranga Tamariki and the reduction of Māori children in care.

“I can’t talk about Corrections without saying the low point there was the riot in Waikeria and also whenever a child dies you just really take it personally and to heart.”

Davis said he was worried about how much of his and the last government’s work would be undone by the new National-led Government and said the unwillingness to have Māori names in public places and on ministry buildings was a “nonsense”.

Leaving his ministerial staff will be the thing he misses most and the friendships he’s made in Parliament.

The former deputy leader of the party will be replaced in the caucus by Tracey McLellan, who served as an MP last term but didn’t make it back at the election.