Willie Jackson

William Wakatere Jackson (born 1961) is a New Zealand politician and former broadcaster and Urban Māori chief executive.

Jackson was born in 1961 to June Jackson and Bob Jackson.

He has both Māori and Pākehā ancestry.

He grew up in Porirua and Māngere.

In his teenage years Jackson attended Mangere College.

He has worked in a number of jobs, including trade union organiser, record company executive, broadcaster, talkback radio host and urban Māori advocate.

He worked at Aotearoa Radio as Radio Host.

He was also the manager for the ground-breaking band 'Moana and the Moahunters' throughout the 1980s and '90s.

In 1995, Jackson joined the Mana Motuhake party, a Māori party which formed part of the Alliance.

In the 1996 election, he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament.

He was an Alliance MP from 1999 to 2002, and in 2017 was elected as a Labour MP.

In the 1999 election, however, he was elected as an Alliance list MP.

In 2001, Jackson successfully challenged Mana Motuhake leader Sandra Lee for the leadership of the party.

Jackson served as the leader of the Mana Motuhake party from 2001 to 2003 when he resigned citing that he wished to avoid compromising his other obligations as the manager of two radio stations.

Most of the party's membership then became part of the Māori party and Mana Motuhake disestablished.

When the Alliance began to collapse in 2002, Jackson sided with the faction led by Laila Harré and Matt McCarten, and remained with the party when Jim Anderton established his breakaway group.

In the 2002 election, Jackson became Deputy Leader of the Alliance under Harré's leadership, but the Alliance failed to win any seats.

Shortly after the 2002 election, Mana Motuhake left the Alliance and Jackson worked on setting up a new pan-tribal independent Māori party.

He then supported Tariana Turia when she quit the Labour Party and founded the new Māori Party where Jackson and McCarten played supporting roles.

He served as a community chief executive with the Manukau Urban Māori Authority and worked as a broadcaster.

Jackson had considered standing for the Mana Movement in Tāmaki Makaurau at the 2011 election, but declined to run.

Despite the controversy that arose out of the Roast Busters scandal, Jackson and Tamihere won the prestigious North Island Whānau Ora contract in 2014 with their National Urban Māori Authority.

It is the biggest independent contract that has been allocated to Māori (over $14 million per annum).

Their work in the communities of South Auckland and West Auckland with Māori was seen as the primary reason for them winning the contract according to Whānau Ora Minister, Tariana Turia.

Politically, Jackson is seen as someone who supports and advises Māori candidates right across the political spectrum.

He has been a vocal supporter of Tariana Turia (from the Māori Party), Pita Sharples (from the Māori Party), Rangi McLean (from the Māori Party), Claudette Hauiti (from the National Party), Winston Peters (from New Zealand First),

His return to politics instead came in 2017 and with the Labour Party.

Jackson stood down from his high-profile talkback show on Radio Live where he had been host for 10 years and from his political commentary role on TVNZ's Marae television series to be a list candidate and Māori campaign director for the party, at the request of then-leader Andrew Little.

Labour polled well at the 2017 general election.

Jackson was elected as a Labour Party list candidate and the party won all seven Māori electorates.

Following the election, Jackson resigned from his position as chief executive of the Manukau Urban Māori Authority, chairman of Te Whakaruruhau o Nga Reo Irirangi Māori, the Māori radio network and chairman of the National Urban Māori Authority.

Following post-election negotiations between Labour, New Zealand First and the Greens and the formation of a coalition government, Jackson was appointed the Minister of Employment and Associate Minister for Māori Development (outside Cabinet).

During the 2020 general election, Jackson was re-elected to Parliament on the Labour Party list.

In early November 2020, he was elevated to the Cabinet as Minister for Māori Development and given the associate portfolios for the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and justice.

In late November 2021, Jackson apologised to the Moriori on behalf of Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga for his ancestors' role in the Moriori genocide.

This apology accompanied the passage of the Moriori Claims Settlements Bill, which formalised the New Zealand Government's financial compensation settlement to the Moriori within the framework of the Treaty of Waitangi apologised.

In early December 2021, Jackson was ejected from the New Zealand Parliament debating chamber for refusing to apologise after National Party MP Maureen Pugh had objected to him calling the ACT party "right-wing fascists."

Jackson had made these remarks during a debate on a bill to include two Ngāi Tahu representatives on the Canterbury Regional Council after the 2022 New Zealand local elections.

In a June 2022 reshuffle, Jackson was also appointed Minister of Broadcasting and Media.

As Broadcasting Minister, Jackson introduced draft legislation to merge the public broadcasters Radio New Zealand and TVNZ into a new non-profit autonomous Crown entity called Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media (ANZPM), which is expected to come into existence in March 2023.