The next steps of the Darleen Tana saga, explained
Friday, 19 July 2024
Where is Darleen Tana and what will she do next? After being shunned by the Green Party, Tana has so far refused to resign as an MP.
By refusing to leave, she is pushing the Green Party to make a tough decision: it must decide if it will use the waka jumping rule, a law it loathes.
It has been 126 days since Tana was suspended from the Green Party, pending the outcome of an investigation into her links with allegations of migrant worker exploitation.
That investigation concluded at the start of July, but Tana - while she is no longer a Green Party member - is refusing to give up her seat in Parliament.
Stuff understands Tana returned to Parliament on Wednesday, and staff from Parliamentary Service have relocated her office so that she no longer sits with the Green Party.
Despite Tana returning the capital, she has shed no light on her intentions to remain in or depart from Parliament.
Reporters spent hours on Wednesday waiting to speak to her, but she refused interview requests. In a message, she told Stuff she needed more time to “navigate terrain”.
What is the waka jumping law?
The law, praised and proposed by NZ First’s Winston Peters, arrived in 2018. It gave political parties the ability to force rogue MPs from Parliament.
But to do so, the parties would need to follow a specific process of alerting the Speaker of Parliament to concerns about the “proportionality” of representatives.
“Here’s the standard case, why there’s a need for the waka hopping legislation, right here, right now. And they’ve got no excuse at all to allow someone to get away with this,” Peters told The Post.
If the rule isn’t used, MPs who have separated from their parties can remain in Parliament as independent MPs.
How common is it for MPs to break away?
It’s actually fairly common for MPs to leave their parties.
In the previous term, there were three MPs who did so - Labour’s Gaurav Sharma and Meka Whaitiri, as well as the Greens’ Elizabeth Kerekere.
A few MPs tend to break away every term. Sometimes this is due to personal issues or scandal, as was the case with Tana, but sometimes MPs leave their parties over principle.
In 2004, Labour’s Tariana Turia crossed the floor and broke away from her party over the Foreshore and Seabed bill. The bill would take away the ability for Māori to argue in court for customary rights to seashore land.
Turia, who was elected in a Māori seat, left Labour to form the Māori Party.
The controversy over waka jumping
While Peters is pushing the Green Party to force Tana from Parliament, others have been more cautious over using the waka jumping provision.
The Green Party itself had rallied against the bill, saying it was an anti-democratic dead rat.
This week, ACT leader David Seymour echoed those concerns. He said Tana’s actions were deeply concerning, but warned against expelling her from Parliament.
“I have a very strong belief that the only people who should be able to drive an elected Member of Parliament out of Parliament is the voters on an election,” he said.
“As soon as you go down the track of allowing members of Parliament to push other members out of power, you can get to some very dark places.”
The National, Green and ACT parties have all campaigned against the waka jumping law.
But earlier this month, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith confirmed there were no plans to repeal the law.
What next?
MPs have been away from Parliament for three weeks, but will return on Tuesday.
That is effectively Tana’s deadline for confirming if she will stay or go.
With everyone back at Parliament, if Tana does decide to stay, the Green Party will be holding discussions about whether to re-swallow the dead rat and use the waka jumping law.
If the Greens do push Tana from Parliament, it won’t be a quick process. The process, including internal consultation amongst the party, will take weeks.