At a time when many Māori feel particularly aggrieved by the government, parliament and politics more broadly, can Te Pāti Māori find its purpose and recapture its momentum? When the Ngātiwai leader Aperahama Edwards was announced as a Te Pāti Māori candidate for Te Tai Tokerau last week, it brought new energy to a party that has spent much of the past year locked in something of a death spiral, lurching from conflict to conflict. In the press release announcing the candidacy, Edwards said he came “with a deep conviction and belief in the foundations of what Te Pāti Māori stands for, which is a party that centres Māori”.