William Wakatere Jackson (born 1961) is a New Zealand politician and former broadcaster and Urban Māori chief executive. He was an Alliance MP from 1999 to 2002, and in 2017 was elected as a Labour MP. Early life Jackson was born in 1961 to June Jackson and Bob Jackson. He has both Māori and Pākehā ancestry. He grew up in Porirua and Mangere. 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. Political life 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. 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 2004 when 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. Life between politics 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 currently works as a community Chief Executive with the Manukau Urban Māori Authority. He is also a broadcaster and a political commentator. Since 2003, Jackson has run a nationwide Māori current affairs show 'Paakiwaha' on Radio Waatea. Between 2004 and 2009 he was the host of the award-winning Eye to Eye, a weekly Television New Zealand political debate series with emphasis on political issues facing Māori. In 2007 Jackson and former Labour MP John Tamihere fronted a Television New Zealand (TVNZ) show pertaining to wider New Zealand views