The voice of MANA leader Hone Harawira will no longer be heard in mainstream politics.
Speaking to Newshub, Mr Harawira said Te Tai Tokerau's decision to elect Labour's Kelvin Davis has been "a sad day for Māoridom".
Mr Harawira entered Parliament in 2005 and served three terms, but has spent his entire life at the forefront of Māori activism.
Bastion Point, the 1981 Springbok tour, the foreshore and the seabed hikoi - he was there.
"That voice will never be the Labour Party," he said, citing the foreshore and seabed.
But while Māori no longer have a party inside the Beehive, the fight isn't over for the next generation.
"If we want to practice true tino rangatirotanga, let's become independent away from this Government," Mr Harawira said.
He will no longer try to change things through politics at a national level. He's now a community advocate fighting for better homes and more jobs in the far north.
"I'm feeling really buoyant about where we go from here," Mr Harawira said.
At 62, Mr Harawira is a whānau man and has mellowed somewhat.
"I've no intention of conceding. It's not in my nature, it's not in my upbringing. The fight goes on," he said.
Newshub.
