Shane Jones has said the nationwide protests supported by Te Pāti Māori are "trampling on democracy".
On Tuesday morning, demonstrators hit streets around the country, protesting the new government's policies on co-governance and the Treaty of Waitangi.
Jones is the Deputy Leader of New Zealand First and sits in the new government's Cabinet, and was interviewed on AM.
"A lot of the people that voted for the Māori Party, aren't even Māori," Jones said.
"A number of them are people I know who are Pākehā, and they're horrified that this level of disruptiveness is going to be visited upon motorways and other places where the Māori party is threatening to make their displeasure felt."
While Jones hadn't spoken to anyone within Te Pāti Māori about the protests, he said they "are all well known to me".
"At the end of the day we're professional politicians and I'm just very disappointed that they are trampling on democracy, and I really want them not only to keep the knowledge of our te reo intact, but also to learn a Greek word, and that word is democracy."
Jones said that "The Māori Party seems to believe that democracy doesn't count for anything".
Asked whether democracy included the right to protest, Jones said: "To pretend that the Māori Party are the guardians of the Treaty of Waitangi and other people of Māori descent in politics have no legitimacy is something I utterly reject".
He then went on to criticise the advertisement for the protests that had been circulating.
"It's deeply objectionable that they have advertised today's protest with two cocked pistols.
"That particular advertisement is not only very dangerous in light of the spread of the gangs in the Māori community, but I feel they’ve been given a cultural pass for far too long."
Jones also lamented that the media have been "afraid to take them on and point out that these excesses are foreign to the political culture of New Zealand".
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi later appeared on AM and responded to Jones' statement that his party has Pākehā supporters and doesn't represent the voice of all Māori.
Waititi said, "100 percent of my voters were Māori in the electorate," referring to his electorate on the Māori roll, Waiariki.
"Those who gave their party vote to us believe in a by Māori for all type approach, so I'm not too worried about Shane, he would have many less Māori voting for him."
Waititi went on to say, "At the end of the day, it's not about that. We're here representing our people and we will continue to do that".
Waititi was adamant that "this is not a protest; this is an activation".
"This is an opportunity for us to come together. It's te tiriti led and the focus is for our mokopuna, for the future," he said.
Asked what the protests were against specifically, Waititi said, "This is about our activation, this is about our people coming together, this is about Aotearoa coming together for an Aotearoa Hou.
"We don't need divisive policies, what we need are progressive policies, policies that lift people out of poverty."
On Monday, Newshub obtained a leaked Cabinet paper about the Coalition Government's plans to repeal Fair Pay Agreements.
It reveals the move would disproportionately impact women, Māori and Pasifika and young people and shows that Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden is at odds with official advice.
