Darleen Tana could fight to stay an MP, despite being expelled from Green Party

Tuesday, 9 July 2024

The Green Party has made a plea for MP Darleen Tana to resign but she is digging in and refusing to quit.

She’s been shunned by the Green Party and hasn’t been seen at Parliament for more than 115 days, but Darleen Tana is so far refusing to resign as an MP.

Tana has been living in political purgatory since March, when Stuff revealed links between herself and alleged migrant worker exploitation. At the time, the Green Party suspended her - on full pay - while a lawyer investigated whether she had acted inappropriately or failed to flag the issue while seeking candidacy.

The migrant worker exploitation allegations were made at the Employment Relations Authority, with a worker saying he was owed $25,000.

Tana and the Green Party received the results of barrister Rachel Burt’s investigation on Friday. It led to the Green Party caucus meeting on Saturday, and voting to expel Tana. She resigned as a party member, but not as an MP.

While the report wasn’t released on Monday, Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said it had raised further allegations and said its findings proved Tana had “betrayed” the party.

However, Tana denied wrongdoing in a statement and said the party had “a pre-determined view” ahead of Saturday’s meeting.

But she has ignored Stuff’s questions, on the phone and over email, asking if she would resign or attempt to stay on as an independent MP. When Stuff visited her Waiheke home, a pizza delivery arrived - but answers to key questions still haven’t arrived.

Darleen Tana has left the Green Party, but has not resigned as an MP.

How can Darleen Tana remain an MP?

A similar situation played out for the Greens last year, when Elizabeth Kerekere left the party amid bullying allegations after she messaged the group chat seemingly calling Swarbrick a “crybaby”.

As the Green Party had vehemently opposed the “waka jumping” rule, which can force out rogue MPs who have left their parties, co-leader James Shaw said they wouldn’t fight to remove Kerekere from Parliament.

That meant Kerekere was an independent MP.

Swarbrick, on Monday, said she had informed the Speaker that Tana was no longer a Green member.

Green co-leader Chloe Swarbrick has urged Darleen Tana to resign.

She refused to say if the party would look to invoke the waka jumping provision to try and force Tana from Parliament. Instead, she issued a plea to Tana: “Please resign to minimize the collateral damage”.

What happens next?

If Tana chooses to try and stay in Parliament, Swarbrick said the party would meet to decide whether to invoke the ‘waka jumping law’ and push her from Parliament.

Meka Whaitiri (left) and Elizabeth Kerekere both left their parties last year, but remained in Parliament.

“We are dealing with a situation that the party has never been confronted with in terms of the severity of these allegations,” Swarbrick said.

“So as far as next steps go, I can tell you very clearly that we are hoping that Darleen does the right thing and resigns as a Member of Parliament.”

What would Tana do as an independent MP?

When Kerekere became an independent, Parliament was into its final year before an election.

In May, while the investigation continued, Tana changed her social media branding from Green Party to Toitū Te Tiriti posters - used by Te Pāti Māori.

On Monday, a Te Pāti Māori spokesperson said “everyone’s welcome to join the pāti” but said there had not been conversations between Tana and the party.

Last year, Labour minister Meka Whaitiri crossed the floor to join Te Pāti Māori. While she moved offices to be with Te Pāti Māori, then Speaker Adrian Rurawhe said an MP could not join another party - so she was counted an an independent MP.

Swarbrick calls on Tana to agree to report being released

Swarbrick was asked on TVNZ’s Breakfast on Tuesday what involvement Tana had in her husband’s business, given Tana’s statement that she did not accept the report’s findings, and believed it substantially misrepresented the level of her involvement in her husband’s business.

Swarbrick said that for now she could not comment on what was in the report. She would be able to if all parties named in the report gave their consent.

“I’d just make the clear point that if Darlene is interested in disputing the facts of this finding of that report, then she can give her consent to its release, and we can have this debate in the public arena.”

Tana’s response to the report had been “rather in line with absolutely everything we’ve encountered over the past four-plus months”.

The independent expert investigation would not have been needed “had Darlene Tana been upfront with us from the get-go”, Swarbrick said.

The Green Party has a long-standing opposition to the waka jumping law, and the caucus and party had not yet discussed whether it would consider using the legislation, if Tana wouldn’t resign from Parliament.

Asked about the Greens’ vetting process, given the allegations against Tana related mostly to events before her time as an MP, Swarbrick said the party had largely relied on candidates being honest and declaring things that may potentially bring the party into disrepute, including things involving their families and people they knew.

“We have it really clearly on the record that there are multiple instances where such things were not declared over the last few years,” Swarbrick said.