Whaitiri has dodged phone calls from the Prime Minister over her decision, which blindsided him and other Labour colleagues when she announced it last week.
Whaitiri, who held the Customs, Cyclone Recovery, Veterans and Food Safety portfolios, was interviewed on TVNZ’s Breakfast show today.
Asked whether there was a policy within the Labour Party that had made her leave, Whaitiri continued to push her message that she simply needed to return to her roots.
Asked why she had not even called her boss - Hipkins - she said she prioritised who needed to know and that she went to her “trusted sources”.
Asked whether she didn’t trust the Prime Minister, she said “No, I trust my family.”
Whaitiri said she had been hurt while being in the Labour Party.
“I didn’t feel heard.”
Ultimately, she said the decision to move to Te Pāti Māori was a deeply personal one.
“It’s always been a calling of mine. It’s been my calling to return to an unapologetically Māori party,” Whaitiri said.
She said the timing was right for her and her whānau and so “here we are”.
She said the decision was “deep within my puku” to make the shift to Te Pāti Māori.
She said as a Māori, it was a beckoning to move.
Put to him that Whaitiri expressed she had not felt heard while in the Labour Party, Hipkins said: “I don’t agree with that. If she didn’t feel heard...I’m not sure what the message was because - I went back through my messages, thinking: ‘Gosh, have I missed anything from her’?
“And at no point did she reach out to me indicating that she had anything to say.
”Ultimately, it’s a personal decision by Meka,” Hipkins told TVNZ.
Hipkins said that was now all water under the bridge.
“She’s made her decision, she’s switched parties. Obviously I disagree with that decision, but I’ve got much more important things to be focused on at the moment,” Hipkins said.
Hipkins told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking that Meka Whaitiri had not spoken to him yet.
”I am aware she has made some public comments this morning.”
When asked about Whaitiri’s comment on her lack of trust in him, Hipkins said that was a “misrepresentation” and the clip was taken out of context.
From his understanding, she was asked who she had spoken to and who she trusted the most, to which the former labour minister answered her family.
”It is irrelevant anyway. It is up to her she can say whatever she likes, she is an independent MP now.”
Hipkins said he was disappointed to hear that Meka Whaitiri has spoken out to say she didn’t feel heard within the Labour Party.
”She hasn’t raised any concerns at any stage with me or with other leaders in the party, and we do create a lot of space for members of parliament and ministers to be heard,” Hipkins told AM.
”I’m sort of disappointed to hear that but ultimately it’s her decision.”
Asked if Labour MPs, especially Māori Labour MPs, felt comfortable speaking to him and raising issues with him, Hipkins said he has a “very open door”.
”I generally think I am a pretty approachable guy [and] I will generally give people a hearing to whatever issues they want to raise. Meka didn’t raise any issues with me,” he said.
Hipkins said he didn’t accept that his Māori MPs could not un-apologetically be Māori within the party.
”Labour's track record for delivery for Māori is a really proud one, I think our Māori members should be and a re very proud of the work we have done,” he said.
Hipkins said the ultimate verdict on whether Whaitiri made the right decision would be made at the next election by the voters of her electorate.
