Why the Greens’ waka-hopping process takes so long

Tuesday, 30 July 2024

Chlöe Swarbrick, flanked by MPs Ricardo Menéndez March and Teanau Tuiono, addresses media at the Green Party conference in Christchurch.

ANALYSIS: It’s not easy being Green — nor is it easy getting through the party’s hefty rule book.

It has been 137 days — or 19 weeks, or four and a half months, or 37% of 2024 — since the Stuff investigation revealed migrant exploitation allegations at Darleen Tana’s husband’s business.

Tana is still in Parliament now as an independent MP and the Greens are still grappling with what to do.

Despite internal rifts regarding how the party has gone about it, leadership took the first step over the weekend to begin the waka-hopping process that could potentially kick the now-independent MP out of Parliament.

Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018.

Under the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act, a statement must be made from the party leader to the person concerned, stating the leader believes the MP acted in a way that has and will distort the proportionality of Parliament.

Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said on Sunday morning she and Marama Davidson “wrote to Darleen Tana to inform them that it is our view that by resigning from the Green Party but refusing to resign from Parliament, they have acted in a way that has distorted, and is likely to continue to distort, the proportionality of political party representation”.

Under the law, Tana has 21 days to respond.

Darleen Tana returned to Parliament after quitting the Green Party. Despite calls for her resignation, she plans to stay. The Greens consider using Waka Jumping legislation to remove her.

In addition, the Greens need sign off from the party.

The party has scheduled a special meeting on September 1 for delegates to vote on whether or not the party-hopping provisions should be enacted. They need at least 75% agreement.

“Scheduling the Special General Meeting a few weeks away will mean our membership has the time to thoroughly consider this issue and discuss it throughout the branches, provinces and networks,” Swarbrick said on Sunday.

“It also means that they will have Darleen Tana’s response, if they choose to respond, to inform our party's decision making.

Former Green MP Darleen Tana is back in the House as an independent MP.

“Under the legislation, even if somebody wanted us to use it tomorrow, we couldn't, we still have to give that 21 working days’ notice, hence the reason that the letter is going at the same time that we're offering the Special General Meeting notice,” Swarbrick said.

The Green Party constitution says the minimum seven days’ notice for special general meetings should only be taken in exceptional circumstances, and it should be called with the “maximum practicable notice”.

Should the delegates vote to use the party-hopping provision, the Greens leaders then need to write to Speaker Gerry Brownlee.

Then we enter relatively unknown waters. It goes into the hands of the Speaker, but from there it may not be a quick decision.

When the original waka-jumping law — pre its return in 2018 — was used against former ACT MP Donna Awatere Huata, it ended in the Supreme Court in 2004. But, as Professor Andrew Geddis wrote on RNZ, “it concluded that where an MP ceased to be a member of a party, that fact in and of itself justified the party leader having the MP removed from Parliament”.