Te Pāti Māori have made their election strategy clear: give us your candidate vote to get more Māori in Parliament, and give your party vote to the left bloc.

Candidates, the party executive and supporters gathered at Te Poho o Rāwiri Marae in Gisborne for the formal launch of the party's election campaign and the campaign for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti candidate Haley Maxwell on Sunday.

Speaking to supporters and manuhiri, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer revealed the party's strategy.

"There's one plan, two votes; our plan has to be to focus on the candidate votes. We trust you with the party vote we trust and we see your love for our people, for our taiao. We trust that you will choose what is right," she said.

"The only way we're going to get this government out, get more Māori in Parliament, and continue to be the loudest, unapologetic, independent Māori voice is to focus on giving our votes to Te Pāti Māori candidates."

Ngārewa-Packer pointed to growing number of Māori on the Māori electoral roll as the force to roll the current coalition.

"You have the power to bring this government to its knees." she said.

"It's our whānau on the ground. It's not the corporate exploiters, it's not the Federated Farmers, it's not the Fonterras, it's not the BPs, it's not all the mates they're bending to - it's you," she said.

Fellow co-leader Rāwiri Waititi used the seat of Te Tai Tokerau - contested by Labour's Willow-Jean Prime, the Greens' Huhana Lyndon, the Te Tai Tokerau Party leader and former Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, and the party's own Aperehama Edwards - as an example.

"You give your candidate vote to Aperehama, [and] Willow-Jean Prime - who is at seven on her party list - and Huhana Lyndon - who is also on seven on her party list - you get three... and so on and so forth, and that's how you work it out," he said.

He said other parties asking for both candidate and party votes wanted "more votes for themselves".

"But it will not change the government. They will be sitting in opposition, and if you allow these... people another three years, they will entrench the harm and the destructive legislative policies that they've moved in this term - it will take us decades to undo," he said.

Speaking to media following the launch, Waititi said Māori understood how strategic their vote was.

Asked what party he suggested people give their party vote to, Waititi said that "suggestion is not ours to make".

"This is what true leadership looks like in a political space: is making a sacrifice. Te Pāti Māori is making an ultimate sacrifice here.

"The question will be how many of the other parties that want to make sure this is a one-term government are ready to make a sacrifice to ensure that we can change this government? Because giving all your votes to Labour is not going to change the government. Giving all your votes to Greens isn't going to get you over the line to make sure this is a one-term government."

He said the party's strategy could see up to 13 Māori MPs get into power.

Bit rich, Labour says

Speaking to RNZ, Senior Labour MP and Māori campaign chair Willie Jackson said there would be no "reciprocity" from Labour.

"No way at all," he said.

"I didn't think that they would ever give away their party vote - I want to thank them for that - but we certainly won't be reciprocating in terms of handing over our electorate vote to them."

Jackson said Labour would continue to run a two-tick campaign.

"We should be voting on policies, not on numbers and overhangs and all that type of thing. I understand what they're trying to do, and I wish them all the best with that.

"If they get across the line after the election, no doubt we'll be talking with them, and we may well be working with them... but right now our concentration will be on the party vote and the electoral vote," he said.

Asked if he agreed with the example of three MPs for Te Tai Tokerau given by Waititi at the campaign launch, Jackson said that message was "a bit rich" coming from Te Pāti Māori.

"I'm not trying to be disrespectful or anything... there's been splits, there's been divisions, and they haven't been able to convince a number of their own into Te Tai Tokerau, Te Tai Tonga, even in Tamaki Makaurau.

"It's a bit rich for them to think that Labour Party voters would vote for their party when they couldn't even convince many of their own to vote for their party," he said.

Asked what Labour's strategy for the Māori electorate seats was, Jackson said "jobs, health, homes" and pointed to Māori-specific Labour policies enacted under the previous government.

"We had Māori targeted funding of between 500 million and one billion dollars, we had record Māori joining up in terms of apprenticeships, Mana in Mahi, Māori trade training. We had record investment in Whānau Ora.

"That's a pretty easy and clear strategy that was successful before and will be successful again," he said.

Speaking to media, Ngārewa-Packer said Te Pāti Māori worked well with Labour's Māori caucus and had "some common ground".

"We all want to look after our workers, we all want to make sure that there's a better health system. But I think the difference is that we want to have an enduring systemic change - we want to entrench Te Tiriti.

"We don't want to restore where it was the minute before this coalition came in and the reason for that is that we've seen what happens when we don't entrench Te Tiriti, when we don't hold our own authority. Another government has a pendulum swing and we lose everything," she said.

Waititi said the party had a "plethora" of policies announcements due over the course of the election campaign.