Darleen Tana ‘in one part relieved’ to be booted out of Parliament
Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Darleen Tana has been kicked out of Parliament, but says she’s “in one part relieved” by the move.
The Speaker confirmed her seat had been vacated on Tuesday, after the Green Party wrote to him asking for her removal as an MP.
Tana was first suspended by the Green Party in March, following a Stuff investigation into her links with allegations of migrant worker exploitation.
Darleen Tana says she is “in one part relieved” to have been removed from Parliament, saying she stayed on for as long as she did “because fundamentally I didn’t do anything wrong”.
On Tuesday, Tana became the first MP to be kicked out of Parliament under the most recent waka jumping rule, which became law in 2018.
It has been a slow process to get here, which started back in March when Stuff revealed her links with allegations of migrant worker exploitation at her husband’s e-bike shop.
'The Speaker has this morning gazetted notice that Darleen Tana is no longer a member of Parliament,“ Green Party Co-Leader Chlöe Swarbrick said Tuesday.
Later speaking to 1 News, Tana responded, “My reaction to that? In one part relieved, but mostly just thankful - thankful to all of my supporters who've held me, thus far, and continue to hold me even now, who know that I'm not guilty of anything, that I've not done anything wrong.”
Tana said she respected the Speaker’s call to eject her from Parliament. “I'm also relieved somewhat that I no longer have to stand there and hold because … had I resigned, that would have, in one way, been an admission of guilt and … I wasn't guilty.'
Tana has repeatedly denied she has done anything wrong, and she wasn’t finished on the point with her former Green colleagues on Tuesday.
“The Green Party leaders have continued their mis- and disinformation campaign against me. This is a political expediency story more than anything,” the former MP said.
But Swarbrick said the Speaker’s decision “draws a line under this issue”, and said the ejection from Parliament was “well above and beyond the requirements in the legislation”.
“Last week 185 Green party delegates representing thousands of Green Party members across the country came to the unanimous consensus that we put the request for the use of the Electoral Integrity legislation to the Speaker,” Swarbrick said.
Despite the Green Party having previously campaigning against that rule, it decided at a meeting on Thursday to write to the Speaker asking that Tana be removed as an MP.
Tana criticised the party for not inviting her to that meeting, which was attended by about 185 party delegates. Tana said she wanted to “clear” her name and called the process “heartbreaking”.
Those delegates voted unanimously to push Tana out of Parliament, Swarbrick said. Some of the party’s most respected figures, including former co-leader Metiria Turei, joined the meeting to support the party using the “waka jumping” rule.
The so-called “waka jumping” or “party hopping” rule allows parties to force their ex-members to leave Parliament if they break away from the caucus. It is a controversial power, given fears about quashing dissent and free speech in Parliament.
In a formal notice issued on Tuesday, Brownlee confirmed he was removing Tana from Parliament.
That Gazette notice read: “I, Gerard Anthony Brownlee, Speaker of the House of Representatives, give notice that the seat of Darleen Tana has become vacant by reason of her ceasing to be a parliamentary member of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.”
Tana’s exit would make way for a new Green MP to enter Parliament. Benjamin Doyle, a former high school teacher from Hamilton, would enter as the newest list MP.
Tana has been an independent MP since July, after she spent three months suspended from the Green Party while it launched an investigation following Stuff’s reporting.
Former workers at thee-bike shop said they weren’t paid properly.
The first of those workers to speak publicly, Santiago Palma, alleged Tana remained involved in the business - even after becoming an MP and after she was removed as a director of the company.
In July, he told Stuff he was still waiting for the wages he said he was owed.
She has argued that the party’s investigation effectively condemned her for being her husband’s wife.
Following that investigation, she wrote to Green Party members, arguing her case to remain, and launched legal challenges against the party.
When her High Court case failed, she appealed it - going to the Court of Appeal at the start of last week. That appeal has not yet been heard, but Swarbrick said she was confident Tana would not succeed.