Chlöe Swarbrick is furious about Darleen Tana, and rightly so
Monday, 8 July 2024
Kelly Dennett is assistant editor of The Post, based in the Press Gallery at Parliament.
OPINION: The Greens really had no choice but to come down hard on embattled MP Darleen Tana, particularly when a months-long investigation into her conduct dragged on for an eyebrow-raisingly long time.
But co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s stake in the sand at a 45-minute press conference addressing Tana’s behaviour today hung the MP out to dry — on the surface deservedly so — while simultaneously, strenuously, and most importantly for the Greens, distancing the party from the behaviour itself.
The Greens would long have been tired of the regular questions about where their independent investigation into what Tana knew about migration exploitation claims at her husband’s business, if anything, and more than 100 days in was a distraction for the party trying to shake off the shambles that has been 2024.
Having learned a lesson or two in how to handle a scandal and when to front up, this morning the party informed media it would be having a press conference to address questions about Tana. Not long beforehand, it provided journalists with a summary of events as they occurred from late Friday night, when the party was informed of the conclusion of the investigation, and through Saturday when it held an urgent caucus meeting.
Swarbrick was at pains to detail this timeline to show the party had been proactive and swift to act, but as well as setting out to demonstrate it was taking the matter seriously, Swarbrick effectively sought to paint the party as the victim in Tana’s failures.
“All of this did not need to happen should we have received forthright and upfront engagement,” said Swarbrick, who agreed a review of its candidate vetting process was under way, but reiterated that Tana was the one at fault.
It’s been some time since a press conference with a party leader has been so unequivocal. It’s hard to recall such admonishments even when ex Green MP Golriz Ghahraman was revealed to have stolen from designer stores.
Tana had fallen “far, far short of expectations”, been “far from forthright or upfront”, Swarbrick felt “utterly betrayed”, and was “finding it really hard to reconcile somebody who I thought I knew and loved with the behaviour that is outlined in this report, which falls far short of expectations”.
According to Swarbrick, only Tana’s resignation from Parliament could ensure the minimisation of more “harm” and “collateral damage”.
Swarbrick went on: “We are dealing with a situation that the party has never been confronted with in terms of the severity of these allegations and the process we had to undertake as a result of that.”
The party was hoping “Darleen does the right thing”.
With no copy of the report itself, everyone outside the party will be reading between the lines as to what it contains. Swarbrick was careful not to get into the weeds of its findings, although she said Tana had breached the candidate’s code of conduct insofar as she had failed to conduct herself in a way which upholds the good name of the party, and hadn’t identified conflict with others when it arose or promptly disclosed any historical information which could bring the party into disrepute.
While the party is yet to release an executive summary of the investigation’s findings, Swarbrick said the length of time dedicated to the inquiry meant they had “robust evidence” that Tana should have made a declaration.
Tana, as of writing, has not confirmed if she will resign from Parliament, though she is certainly gone from the Greens.
Her next moves are set against the backdrop of Swarbrick’s slap down today, and Swarbrick appearing to suggest Tana had not taken her calls this morning.
Not resigning will look defiant, and potentially force the party into an uncomfortable position — whether to trigger the waka jumping rules the party opposed.