Loyalty and betrayal: Inside the struggle between Matt McCarten and Willie Jackson

MUMA is one of the oldest and largest social service providers in South Auckland, with more than 110 staff and contracts with agencies such as Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Social Development.

McCarten is meanwhile making serious allegations about MUMA, including claims of widespread bullying by the CEO. And he has tried to draw Labour leader Chris Hipkins and Parliament Speaker Gerry Brownlee and the privileges committee into the dispute.

In fact, he has appealed to any political party leader or deputy who will support his claims that Jackson has improperly intervened in an employment dispute involving his wife and that he has betrayed his union principles.

So far, that approach has been unsuccessful. Hipkins has ignored McCarten. Brownlee has said it is not a matter for the privileges committee. And other party leaders have so far taken a hands-off approach to McCarten’s claims.

The longer McCarten has been ignored, the more intense his campaign has become. He told the Herald he plans to write to the more union-friendly MPs in the Labour and Green parties in a bid for them to put pressure on Jackson.

He has a history of creating publicity, including using fake chicken outfits in his Alliance days to shame Labour over something or other, and using a giant inflatable rat on previous union pickets.

Jackson has not commented on the allegation before today but on Herald NOW this morning said he was disgusted with McCarten.

“I’m very saddened by his allegation, I mean total lies against my wife,” he said.

“This has been a betrayal of her. My wife actually helped save this guy’s life and he has gone after her like that. It just disgusts me…”

Jackson said she and MUMA did magnificent work.

“She has been a mana wahine for our people out there.”

He thanked people who had been supporting her. “We are very proud of her and MUMA and the work they have been doing.”

“The only bully here is Matt McCarten. It is absolutely disgusting,” he said.

“Stop lying and also show some support for someone who saved your life Matt McCarten… This is a guy who lived with us for eight months. My wife gave him a job when he was out of luck and he comes up with a whole bunch of lies.”

Jackson rejected claims that he had been interfering in the marae and said the trespass order was passed by the marae committee.

McCarten responded, telling the Herald he did stay in a cottage on Jackson’s property when he had cancer but claimed he paid $200 a week rent for it.

“It was kind of Willie and Tania to offer their property for a modest rent. I will always be grateful. But any gratitude can’t mean I am required to ignore workers being mistreated,” he said today.

“Tania can be very kind. But I don’t recall Tania ever coming into the house when I was there, let alone nursing me. I wasn’t bedridden and I still worked during this period.

“I will always be grateful to my doctors and the NZ free public health system that saved my life.”

He said that in recognition of Jackson and Rangiheuea’s kindness, he had have given them nine months to resolve the serious matters raised by kaimahi.

“This act of goodwill has not worked in achieving a satisfactory outcome.”

Jackson says the cottage was rent-free for the first five months, and they paid the power and water and bought his groceries.

He started paying rent after about five months when his daughter came to live with him, Jackson said.

“We also said we would pay for his funeral …and he happily agreed to that.”

Until now, the MUMA board has not commented either. But in a statement to the Herald, the board has broken its silence to defend the organisation and its CEO.

“The board is fully satisfied that MUMA does not have a bullying problem,” it said.

“We reject recent false and defamatory allegations from former MUMA associates about MUMA’s culture.

“For more than 40 years, Manukau Urban Māori Authority (MUMA) has proudly served and supported our community.

“We continue to stand on the legacy of our founder, the late Dame Temuranga June Batley-Jackson, DNZM QSO, and remain steadfast in our kaupapa.

“The board is proud of our CEO, Tania Rangiheuea, a strong wahine toa, and her dedicated team.

“MUMA is an effective, collegial, and community-focused organisation. We are proud of our mahi, our kaupapa, and the decades of service we have given to whānau across South Auckland.

“We remain committed to our mission: uplifting whānau, advancing kaupapa Māori solutions, and continuing to serve our community with integrity and mana.”

Rangiheuea did not take over the MUMA CEO job after Jackson entered Parliament in 2017, as is sometimes claimed. She was leading both the Waatea School and Waatea early childhood centre until 2022.

She is a former lecturer in Māori studies and women’s studies at Victoria University and has been a treaty claims negotiator. She affiliates to Ngāti Awa, Tūhourangi and Te Arawa and is on the board of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatane. The Herald understands she feels deeply wounded by McCarten’s recent actions.

McCarten disputes claims he was given a job at MUMA because he was down on his luck. He told the Herald he was asked to work as a contractor to help sort out some employment problems then to come on full-time, and he always intended to stay for only a year. He had not asked or applied for the job, he claims, which was formally called Kaimahi Development Manager.

McCarten left in early February, on civil terms with Rangiheuea.

On the day he left, he sent an email to all staff in which he made special mention of Rangiheuea and set out his intention to return to union work, with an offer to provide advice and support.

“As many of you know I come from a trade union background supporting workers,” his email said. “I will return to that mahi with renewed passion.

“It has been an honour and a privilege to work alongside you over the past year. I have made many special friends, and I thank Tania for the opportunity to work with you and gain an understanding of the important and amazing contribution MUMA makes to the many, many people in need.

“Some of you have asked for my contacts. Feel free to reach out to me for advice, support or just a catch up.”

McCarten claims he then accumulated a few cases from MUMA over several months, some about bullying, some about wages. He says he decided it would be better for MUMA employees to go for a collective contract and re-registered his union, One Union.

The trespass order was issued in July, on a day McCarten was visiting the site in support of a worker over a disciplinary matter.

The meeting between one of the managers, Mike Tukaki, and the worker was taking place in the Tangaroa wharenui.

The trespass order was made by Jackson in his capacity as chairman of the Nga Whare Waatea Marae, which hosts a variety of enterprises, including an early childhood centre, a school, a food bank, a radio station, a driving school, Jackson’s electorate office, as well as most offices of MUMA. Jackson has no formal relationship with MUMA.

Jackson’s letter to the union outlining the trespass order says: “This action is being taken due to repeated breach of tikanga and kaupapa Maori by Matt McCarten at Ngā Whare Waatea Marae, and the threat his presence poses to the integrity, purpose, and mana of the marae community.

“Matt McCarten initiated a process for bargaining for a collective agreement without consultation, consent, or any regard for the tikanga, kawa or mana of our marae.

“This conduct represents… an act of disruption and dishonour toward our mana whenua and kaitiaki responsibilities.”

It was right after that meeting that McCarten surprised MUMA management with formal documents titled “Authorisation to Enter Workplaces,” and “Initiation of Bargaining for a Collective Employment Agreement”.

McCarten told the Herald he has taken three personal grievance cases (PGs) this year and in his opinion, 16 more cases would have made the threshold of personal grievances if he had chosen to lodge them.

“But that would have been irresponsible and less effective than negotiating a union collective agreement” he said.

The Herald understands that of the three PGs, one was settled after mediation and two remain unresolved.

A podcast wrongly reported this week that McCarten was about to lodge 19 PGs at the Employment Relations Authority.

However MUMA did lodge an application at the ERA this week against McCarten, claiming he has breached confidentiality in publicly discussing the settled case - and is seeking censure of him.

McCarten, in his letter to the Speaker, addressed Jackson’s sense of betrayal and added, “I assure you, I feel even more betrayed and more upset at his behaviour.”

“Both of us have had a lifetime of defending workers against abuse. I can’t and won’t look away from victims, no matter my personal relationships.”

It is evident in all the letters that McCarten has written about the saga that his preference as a union official is to sit down informally with management to hammer out a settlement. It is clear, however, that this saga is headed to court.

McCarten on Wednesday filed an application to the Employment Relations Authority to have the trespass order overturned, claiming it was issued by Jackson in contravention of the Employment Relations Act to stop him from organising on the site. He has asked the authority to rescind the trespass order and to order MUMA to engage in bargaining.

In support of his application to the ERA he included a list of what he believes are 16 legitimate complaints in addition to the three PGs. The Herald has seen this list.

The dispute, however, is wider than just McCarten’s bid to start a collective contract at MUMA. It involves Rangiheuea, the MUMA board, the former board chairman, Mike Hinton, a couple of former Labour advisers, and it goes back to February.

Besides fighting the trespass order, in which few of the facts are disputed, McCarten has been making other allegations related to MUMA, which are strongly disputed by key players and the board.

McCarten’s first serious allegation is that a review conducted this year by the two former Labour operatives, Deborah Mahuta-Coyle, who was an adviser to Labour deputy Kelvin Davis, and Mike Tukaki, a former adviser to Jackson who is now MUMA deputy CEO, found widespread bullying by the CEO and they believed she should go.

But Mahuta-Coyle says it was McCarten himself who made the bullying claims, not her.

Mahuta-Coyle, a Wellington-based consultant, says she and Tukaki were asked by Rangiheuea to undertake a review of the organisation in anticipation of possible funding cuts.

In the course of that work, Mahuta-Coyle says she became aware that McCarten claimed to have 13 personal grievances ready to lodge at the Employment Relations Authority and then board chair Mike Hinton claimed to have five formal complaints he planned to raise with other members of the board. McCarten and Hinton both deny this.

Hinton, a former soldier who previously worked closely at MUMA with June Jackson, is based in Wellington running a community housing provider. Mahuta-Coyle and Tukaki, who were also working from Wellington, say they had gone to his office on The Terrace to discuss the possibility of using one of his offices when the discussion turned to allegations against the CEO.

“Given what I believed to be a serious issue for the organisation, I wanted to take action,” Mahuta-Coyle said in a statement.

When Mahuta-Coyle believed there could be as many as 18 complaints, she thought the organisation could be at risk and drew up a secret action plan on two possible eventualities: of the CEO stepping aside pending an investigation, and the CEO resigning.

But as she looked further, she found no evidence of complaints against the CEO.

Mahuta-Coyle told the Herald she took the time to review the HR complaints process to look for any formal complaints.

“I spoke with managers and to the CE,” she said.

“I could not find any evidence to support Mr McCarten’s or Mr Hinton’s allegations. When pressed, Mr McCarten could not produce copies of the written complaints. He had officially received none.

“I later confirmed, following direct questioning, that the board chair also had not received any formal written complaints either, nor did he have agreement from any staff to lay complaints.

“I withdrew from the situation and stopped communicating with Mr Hinton and Mr McCarten.”

The board sent a legal letter to The Platform on December 4 after McCarten had spoken to host Michael Laws alleging there was a report about bullying.

“There is no such report and no such finding,” the letter said.

Hinton declined to comment to the Herald but McCarten represents him.

McCarten strongly disputes Mahuta-Coyle’s version, saying she had phoned him in late February expressing concern at the feedback she was receiving from managers, and he told her she should contact Hinton as the board chair. She had not met Hinton before and McCarten passed on his contact details to her and the meeting was set up.

McCarten said that when he left MUMA in early February, there were no outstanding complaints, “so there was nothing to share with Deborah”.

The other allegation by McCarten is that Willie Jackson orchestrated the sacking of Hinton as chairman of the MUMA board in March through his connections on the board - again a claim strongly disputed by the board.

Besides the differences between whether the allegations were first raised by McCarten and Hinton or Mahuta-Coyle and Tukaki, there seems to be general agreement about what happened next.

Hinton had told the board in March he had heard allegations about the CEO that he believed needed investigating.

The board, which employs the CEO, was concerned that proper processes should be followed and that any allegations needed to be substantiated.

The board agreed that Hinton and deputy chair Dr Pauline Kingi should meet with Rangiheuea to express its support for her, but also to find out if there was a problem and to discuss the way forward.

By all accounts, the meeting did not go well.

Rangiheuea claims she was not given any prior indication that the meeting related to the way she was doing her job. When Hinton started talking about allegations, Rangiheuea felt ambushed, and the meeting ended abruptly.

The Herald understands she sought advice from Jackson, a former union organiser, and they agreed he would represent her. McCarten is now representing Hinton.

According to McCarten, Jackson met with Hinton about the meeting, and Jackson demanded an apology to his wife. McCarten claims he was told that if he did not apologise, he would be removed.

A few days later, the board had met to discuss matters concerning the CEO. The board wanted Hinton to apologise to Rangiheuea and the board, on the basis they believed he had not taken the approach they had agreed - which included supporting their CEO. He refused, believing he had nothing to apologise for, and his board colleagues passed a motion of no confidence in him as chair. He was later voted off the board altogether.

McCarten’s letter to Hipkins said he was seeking compensation for Hinton.

Hinton is now being sued by the MUMA board for sharing confidential board documents with McCarten and some media.

When asked why it had removed Mike Hinton, the MUMA board said in a statement, “because he acted in a manner contrary to the board’s instructions and direction”.

It continued: “In November 2025, the MUMA Board issued proceedings against that former interim chair for breach of duty. As the matter is before the High Court, MUMA has no further comment.”

The board also rejected McCarten’s claim that the board had been influenced by Willie Jackson.

“Willie Jackson has no influence over the MUMA Board. During his eight years in Parliament, he has not attended any MUMA board meetings.”

So who is on the board?

At the time of the bust-up, the board comprised Hinton, Kingi, Martin Cooper, board secretary Frances Smiler-Edwards and Rangi McLean, who is also the Nga Whare Waatea Marae kaumatua and cultural adviser.

Since then, others to join the board are academic Ella Henry, and Labour activists Jerome Mika and Kiri Skipworth.

In a statement, McLean told the Herald that while the trespass order against McCarten was issued in the name of Jackson, “this was a unanimous decision from the marae board trustees as the board saw Matt’s actions as a serious breach of tikanga Māori, including failure to uphold manaakitanga, whanaungatanga and rangatiratanga”.

The marae board had been advised legally that it could not stop One Union from entering, but it could trespass individuals.

“We accept this advice,” he said.

“Matt McCarten has been informed multiple times since the order was issued that any member of One Union apart from him can enter the marae.”

This story has been updated since first publication with comment from Jackson and further response from McCarten

Audrey Young is the NZ Herald’s senior political correspondent. She was Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards in 2023, 2020 and 2018. She was political editor from 2003 to 2021.