won two seats in the House of Representatives with Flavell serving alongside Marama Fox as co-leaders. Between October 2014 and October 2017, Flavell served as the Minister for Māori Development. During the , Flavell lost his seat to Labour candidate Tāmati Coffey. Fellow co-leader Fox also lost her seat, causing the Māori Party to lose its representation in Parliament. Following the party's defeat, Flavell announced his resignation from politics. Fox credited Flavell with successfully lobbying the New Zealand government into recognizing the New Zealand Wars, pardoning Rua Kenana, and ratifying the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Attitude towards Treaty settlement Speaking in Māori only at the first reading of the Ngāti Mutunga Treaty Settlement Bill in 2006, Flavell referred to the crown as thieves. He said that the thieves who had stolen the land had not returned its full value to the iwi and despite it being a legal full and final settlement invited the tribe to return to Parliament in the future to see if the loaf had got bigger. The tribe was returned $14.9 million and 10 areas of significant land to their 2000 members in addition to the various historical payments and the previous return of 24,000 acres. References |- |- |- Māori Party MPs 1955 births Living people New Zealand educators New Zealand MPs for Māori electorates Ngāti Rangiwewehi people Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Māori Party co-leaders People from Tokoroa 21st-century New Zealand politicians Unsuccessful candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election