country to tell us that multiculturalism doesn't work," Tamihere responded, "I say sieg heil to that." After the debate, Tamihere initially denied using the term, then stated his comments were a criticism of Goff's decision to bar Canadian visitors Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern from using an Auckland Council venue for an event in 2018, calling Goff "a dictator". Also during the campaign, Tamihere made a complaint over three social media posts posted by Phil Goff, but the complaints were rejected by the Advertising Standards Authority. 2020 general election In 2020, Tamihere joined the Māori Party, and in April 2020 he was announced as the party's co-leader along with Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Tamihere has been confirmed as the Māori Party's candidate for the electorate of Tāmaki Makaurau and will be seventh on the party list. Tamihere said he will be voting yes in the 2020 New Zealand cannabis referendum to be held alongside the 2020 general election, but would rather cannabis was only decriminalised rather than legalised. He narrowly failed to unseat incumbent Labour MP for Tamaki Makaurau Peeni Henare and did not enter Parliament. His son-in-law Rawiri Waititi won Waiariki and, as the only Maori Party MP who successfully contested an electorate in 2020, automatically replaced him as male co-leader of the party. President of the Māori Party On 8 June 2022, Tamihere succeeded Che Wilson as president of the Māori Party. In late September 2022, Charities Services general manager Natasha Weight confirmed that the agency was investigating two charities headed by Tamihere, the Te Whānau Waipareira Trust and the National Urban Māori Authority, for financing his 2019 Auckland mayoral and 2020 general election campaigns. Under existing legislation, charities are banned from donating or endorsing political parties or candidates and allowing them to use their resources. According to the Charities Register, Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust Group had provided NZ$385,307 in interest free loans to support Tamihere's 2020 election campaign while the National Urban Māori Authority had paid NZ$70,833 to support his 2019 Auckland mayoral campaign and NZ$82,695 payment to support his 2020 election campaign and Māori Party aspirations. In response, Tamihere accused the Charities Services of discriminating against Māori causes and the Māori Party. Tamihere and the Māori Party also confirmed that they would litigate against the Charities Service if the agency ruled against them. In addition, Tamihere criticised The New Zealand Herald journalist Matt Nippert's coverage of the