Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp (20 June 1975 â 26 June 2025) was a New Zealand politician, community health leader and hip hop dance director. She won the TÃÂmaki Makaurau electorate in the 2023 New Zealand general election and was a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for Te PÃÂti MÃÂori until her death.
Kemp was born on 20 June 1975. She came from the iwi (tribes) of NgàRauru, NgÃÂti Tuwharetoa, Ngàiwi o Mà Âkai PÃÂtea, NgÃÂti Tamakà Âpiri, NgÃÂti Whitikaupeka, NgÃÂi Te Ohuake, NgÃÂti Hauiti, NgÃÂti Hinemanu, and NgÃÂti Paki. She was the eldest child of Clark Karaka Kauika-Stevens and Ngaire Anne Te Hirata Kauika-Stevens (née Steedman). She was raised by her paternal grandparents at the Takirau marae in South Taranaki between the ages of seven and eleven. She was raised by her maternal grandfather from age 7 when she came back from Singapore where her father was stationed for the Corps of Royal New Zealand Engineers. She returned to her parents at age 11. After that, she lived in Palmerston North and Auckland. At the University of Auckland, she studied anthropology, health, education, and mÃÂtauranga MÃÂori.
She was named for her grandmother and had two children, Temanea Ereru Kauika-Quinlan in 1995 and Tania-Jade Waimarie Kauika-Fairbrother in 1997. National Party MP Tama Potaka was a relative.
Kemp developed the Rangatahi Mental Health Youth Hub with the University of Auckland and was its chief executive for 13 years. The program aimed to address high suicide rates in MÃÂori youth.
She was director of Hip Hop International, the organisation that arranges the qualifying event for New Zealand teams in the World Hip Hop Championship. She was a trustee and Auckland manager for Street Dance New Zealand.
She was also chief executive of the Manurewa Marae and a prominent community voice for vaccination for South Auckland during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours, Kemp was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to street dance and youth.
Kemp was selected by Te PÃÂti MÃÂori to contest the TÃÂmaki Makaurau seat at the . She was 6th on the party list. The official results, released on 3 November 2023, showed Kemp had won the TÃÂmaki Makaurau electorate by 4 votes. Kemp received 10,050 electorate votes while Labour's candidate, Peeni Henare, received 10,046. A recount was requested; once completed, Kemp retained the seat with a final margin of 42 votes.
Media reported that the Electoral Commission investigated complaints about voting at Manurewa Marae, which had been led by Kemp. The marae was used as a polling station, and according to video shown to Stuff, a Te PÃÂti MÃÂori campaign song was played on loudspeakers during voting, and food was available for voters. Other media said the Commission had received no complaints.
Kemp gave her maiden statement on 12 December 2023 and stated her intentions to protect te reo MÃÂori, tikanga and the environment. By mid-December 2023, Kemp had joined Parliament's social services and community select committee. She also became Te PÃÂti MÃÂori's spokesperson for social development, WhÃÂnau Ora, disabilities, communities and volunteers, statistics, family and sexual violence, mental health, kaumÃÂtua (MÃÂori elders), employment and training, workers' rights, and community affairs .
On 2 June 2024, the Sunday Star-Times reported that Statistics New Zealand was investigating several allegations by former staff at Manurewa Marae that Te PÃÂti MÃÂori had illegally used 2023 New Zealand census data to target voters in the TÃÂmaki Makaurau electorate during the 2023 election, and that participants were given supermarket vouchers, wellness packs, and food parcels to encourage them to fill out census forms and switch to the MÃÂori electoral roll. A whistleblower from the Ministry of Social Development had alerted Statistics New Zealand and the Police. Kemp was implicated in the allegations both as the party's candidate and as the former chief executive of the marae. Te PÃÂti MÃÂori leader John Tamihere denied the allegations and claimed that they were driven by disgruntled complainants. Tamihere did not permit Kemp to be interviewed but acknowledged that marae workers had given gifts to encourage people to participate in the census and to switch to the MÃÂori roll.
Retired MÃÂori academic Rawiri Taonui disputed the allegations against Manurewa Marae, Waipareira Trust and Te PÃÂti MÃÂori; arguing that photocopies of census data collected at Manurewa Maare were taken solely for verification purposes and destroyed, highlighting that Statistics New Zealand had clarified that none of Tamihere, the Waipareira Trust, and the WhÃÂnau Ora Commissioning Agency had access to their database, disputing that vouchers were used to encourage people to switch to the MÃÂori electoral roll, and denying that Te PÃÂti MÃÂori flyers were included in wellbeing packs. Taonui also claimed that the whistleblowers were connected to Destiny Church and had instigated the allegations against Manurewa Marae and Te PÃÂti MÃÂori following a failed attempt by the church to take over the marae.
On 22 January 2025, a Statistics New Zealand investigation cleared the WhÃÂnau Ora Commissioning Agency of data breaches during the census and referred allegations against Manurewa Marae to the Privacy Commissioner. The report also found no evidence that one of the alleged whistleblowers had attempted to contact Statistics NZ regarding allegations against the marae. On 11 February, The New Zealand Herald reported that a police inquiry into allegations regarding Te PÃÂti MÃÂori's misuse of census data and Covid-19 vaccination information at Manurewa Marae during the 2023 general election was underway. On 2 October, the Police and Serious Fraud Office (SFO) halted their investigation into the Manurewa Marae electoral misconduct allegations after they found insufficient evidence to establish "criminal culpability for corruption." The SFO and Privacy Commissioner are still investigating potential privacy breaches.
Kemp took six weeks of leave from Parliament to seek treatment for kidney disease from July 2024. When she returned to Parliament in September, she questioned the Minister of Health about patients being treated in corridors due to overcrowding and stated that she had been one of those patients. She celebrated her 50th birthday on 20 June 2025. Six days later, 1News reported she died at 2:00amthat morning in Auckland, having returned home after the previous day's parliamentary session where she had sat in Debbie Ngarewa-Packer's front bench seat. It was also reported she had been waiting for a kidney transplant.
Te PÃÂti MÃÂori posted an online tribute to Kemp, confirming her death, at about 9:30a.m. The party's co-leader Rawiri Waititi described her as the "calm in the [party's] storm." Other politicians, including Christopher Luxon, Chris Hipkins, David Seymour, and Winston Peters posted online tributes. A group of senior Labour Party MPs, including Kemp's former opponent in TÃÂmaki Makaurau Peeni Henare, appeared on TVNZ 1 to pay tribute. In several tributes, comparisons were made to Efeso Collins, another South Auckland-based MP who had died earlier the same term.
When the House of Representatives met that afternoon, senior MÃÂori politicians and party leaders acknowledged Kemp's passing. Kemp's relative, MÃÂori development minister Tama Potaka, led the speeches. Flowers, a hat, and a flag bearing Kemp's party logo adorned her vacant seat and members sang "Whakaaria Mai" before the House adjourned until its next scheduled sitting on 15 July. All flags on the parliamentary precinct were directed to fly at half mast for several days.
Kemp's tangihanga (funeral) took place over several days at different marae. Her body was first taken to Hoani Waititi Marae in Auckland on 27 June before being transferred to à Âpaea Marae, Taihape, to be laid in state from 28 June. Her nÃÂhu (burial service) was held at à Âpaea on 1 July 2025 and was livestreamed.