BREAKING: Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader accused of spray-tanning herself into cultural appropriation

In what may be the most bronze-laced political scandal of the decade, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, the Irish co-leader of Te Pāti Māori, is facing a bronzed backlash after her spray tan technician went rogue on Facebook with a bronzer bombshell.

According to the tell-all post by Wellington-based “glow artisan” SunKissedByShazza, Ngarewa-Packer was a regular visitor to her Thorndon home studio. "Like clockwork, every Thursday" wrote Shaz.

But it wasn’t the frequency that raised eyebrows. It was the alleged request.

"I would like my skin colour to match that of a Māori woman,"

Ngarewa-Packer reportedly said, holding up a colour swatch that suspiciously resembled a Bunnings test pot titled “Ngāti Bronze No.7”.

The technician claims Ngarewa-Packer admitted her Irish ancestry had left her melanin-deficient. “Some Irish don’t tan well,” she reportedly lamented. “And I’m one of them. But my fabricated whakapapa deserves at least a medium-dark glow.”

Te Pāti Māori has declined to comment, but sources say the party caucus has been urgently Googling "cultural authenticity vs contouring".

Opponents have seized on the scandal, with one anonymous MP calling it “identity politics meets JLo in 2003.”

Experts are divided. One political analyst stated, “If true, it raises important questions. Where does cultural identity end and cosmetic enhancement begin? And more importantly, who is her supplier, and do they do home visits?”

Meanwhile, social media is ablaze, with #TanTooFar trending on both Twitter and the popular tanning forum Glow Up Aotearoa.

As of publication, Shaz’s Facebook post has been taken down, reportedly due to backlash from both the tanning community and the Department of Internal Affairs, which has no official stance on ethnicity-based tanning but is now considering one.