Ratana faithful have been told the Labour Party's "love" for them is not true by Prime Minister John Key.
He outlined National's Maori-focused initiatives in a strongly worded speech at Ratana Pa, near Whanganui, on Thursday as part of annual celebrations of the birthday of church founder TW Ratana.
Mr Key followed speeches by Labour leader David Shearer and Greens co-leader Metiria Turei - both of whom received endorsements from a Ratana leader.
Mr Key said while Ratana has historic links with Labour, the movement's members should consider the gains National governments had delivered them.
Those include historic National government state housing building in the area, and the current government spending $2.7 million to upgrade homes with heating, insulation and new roofing.
"They can turn up here at Ratana and tell you they love you, but they didn't love you enough to fix up your 113 houses," Mr Key said.
He said National also reached significantly more Treaty settlements in the past four years than the last Labour government did in nine.
It was a strong message to the Ratana movement, which just an hour earlier gave Mr Shearer one of the strongest endorsements of his leadership so far.
During a powhiri, senior Ratana Church spokesman Ruia Aperahama said the writing was on the wall for Labour to become the next government, noting a swing of Maori voters toward the Green Party because of the public scrap between the Maori Party and Mana - whom he urged to settle their differences.
"Mr Shearer, I hope that in 12 months' time that you and your government will be successful with a strong coalition that represents the various and varied viewpoints of Maoridom," Mr Aperahama said.
Mr Shearer thanked Ratana for its renewed engagement with Labour, with the two sides holding numerous meetings over the past year.
Ms Turei outlined her party's new housing package, including a rent-to-buy scheme for Labour's proposal to build 100,000 new entry-level houses.
