Greens plead with Darleen Tana to resign, after damning worker exploitation investigation

Monday, 8 July 2024

A Stuff investigation, revealed links between Darlene Tana and migrant exploitation allegations at her husband’s bike shop.

Stuff understands the executive summary supports evidence given by multiple workers of the issues at the bike stores around pay and conditions.

Since Tana’s suspension in March, she has been on full pay.

The Green Party has been left pleading with its now-ex member, Darleen Tana, to resign from Parliament after an elongated investigation into the MP’s links with migrant exploitation claims.

A Stuff investigation, published in March, revealed links between Tana and migrant exploitation allegations at her husband’s bike shop. Stuff also revealed Tana had been directly involved in the hiring of migrant workers who claimed to have been exploited while working for her husband Christian Hoff-Nielsen.

But Tana said, late Monday, she did not accept the review’s findings and was considering her next steps. She said the party had a “pre-determined” view.

The executive summary of the report has been released to those involved before it is made public.

Stuff understands it supports the evidence given by multiple workers of the issues at the bike stores around pay and conditions, and is damming of both Hoff-Nielsen and Tana and states clearly that Tana was involved in the business long after her official resignation in 2019, and that she ought to have informed the Greens much earlier and much more fully than she did.

It’s understood the report says she never declared any potential conflict of interest between her Parliamentary duties and the business.

During an extraordinary press conference on Monday, 115 days after Tana was suspended as a Green MP, the party’s co-leader, Chlöe Swarbrick, called for Tana to resign as an MP.

While she wouldn’t detail the findings of the investigation, she said it was “crystal clear” that Tana was in the wrong, both in terms of her lack of transparency but also her actions.

Swarbrick confirmed Tana was no longer a Green member, but remained an MP - a position which Swarbrick argued Tana was unfit to hold.

Why it matters

The Green Party commissioned a barrister, Rachel Burt, to investigate what Tana knew of the allegations - and whether she’d broken party rules in failing to disclose that with the party.

Swarbrick said the findings of that investigation finally arrived at 9:30pm Friday, and the Green MPs met the following day. Tana, alongside her lawyer and a support person, spoke to the caucus on Saturday, Swarbrick said. The caucus then unanimously voted to expel her.

Since Tana’s suspension in March, she has been on full pay - receiving about $53,000 before tax.

While Tana was no longer a Green member, it was unclear on Monday if she would resign as an MP altogether.

Who said what

Swarbrick, speaking to reporters on Monday, said the full investigation would be released - but not until named parties had been consulted.

She urged Tana to quit Parliament.

“The ball is in her court as to whether she accepts that request for her resignation,” Swarbrick said.

“I would actually ask Darleen, to please resign to minimise the collateral damage and the harm to the Green Party kaupapa.”

Swarbrick said Tana had tried to hide her connection to the migrant exploitation claims.

“For example, this is really serious and it goes to the core of who we are and everything that we have long campaigned on,” Swarbrick said.

“I'm finding it really hard to reconcile somebody who I thought I knew and loved with the behaviour that is outlined in this report.”

In a statement, Tana did not say whether she would stay on as an independent MP.

“I want to make it clear that I do not accept the findings of the report and believe that it substantially misrepresents the level of my involvement in my husband’s business,” she said.

“This was an investigation into what I knew and should have disclosed to my party leadership. I am therefore deeply concerned by the party’s summary of the findings. The report does not say that migrant exploitation has occurred, let alone that I am responsible for it in any capacity.”

She said she was consdering her options.

Swarbrick and Teanau Tuiono, the head of the Green Māori and Pasifika caucus, said Tana had not responded to them since the Saturday caucus meeting.

Swarbrick said she had asked Tana to respond by midday Sunday as to whether she would resign as an MP.

What next?

If Tana refuses to resign as an MP, the Green Party would have to decide whether to use the so-called Waka Jumping provision to force her out of Parliament. The Greens had campaigned against this power, saying it was undemocratic.