Te Tai Tonga is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was established for the 1996 general election, replacing Southern Maori. It covers all of the South Island, Stewart Island, the Chatham Islands, and parts of both Wellington City and the Hutt Valley. The current MP for Te Tai Tonga is Tākuta Ferris of Te Pāti Māori.
Chatham Islands farm
Eastbourne, Lower Hutt
Ōtākou marae, near Dunedin
In New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats, are a special category of electorate that give reserved positions to representatives of Māori in the New Zealand Parliament. Every area in New Zealand is covered by both a general and a Māori electorate; as of 2020, there are seven Māori electorates. Since 1967, candidates in Māori electorates have not needed to be Māori themselves, but to register as a voter in the Māori electorates people need to declare that they are of Māori descent.
Four long-standing representatives of the Māori electorates, pictured in the 1970s. From left to right: Koro Wētere (Western Maori), Matiu Rata (Northern Maori), Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan (Southern Maori) and Paraone Reweti (Eastern Maori).