A former Māori Party leader says he can't make sense of MP Tākuta Ferris' controversial race comments.

Ferris posted a photo of Labour volunteers stating their ethnicities and wrote they were campaigning to take a Māori seat from Māori in the Tamaki Makaurau by-election.

The party apologised, but Ferris stood by his comments in a second social media video. 

Te Ururoa Flavell says the party has a history of inclusivity and explained many of their candidates in the general sense weren't Māori - being Pasifika, Chinese and Korean.

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