Darleen Tana saga 'messy from the start' - commentator

A political commentator says the Darleen Tana saga has been "messy from the start" and questioned a delay into releasing the report into the now independent MP, saying its release would give the public confidence in the process.

Yesterday the Green Party held a press conference where co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick announced the party had the final investigation report - which took 116 days to be delivered and cost at least $43,000 - but would not yet release it publicly.

It follows allegations of migrant worker exploitation at Tana's husband's business, and questions around her level of involvement. The allegations are before the Employment Relations Authority. Tana has not been a director or shareholder of the company since 2019.

Swarbrick said the reason the report had not yet been released was in consideration for those named in the executive summary of the report, who the party had contacted with the intention of releasing the executive summary - but not the full report.

"Our preference as co-leaders has always been for full transparency and the release of the report, but we also recognise the need to follow good practice around privacy law,” she said yesterday.

“The party has contacted all parties named in the executive summary of the report in relation to their privacy interests with the intention of releasing that as soon as practicably possible.”

Swarbrick said the Greens had asked Tana to leave Parliament, and Tana had resigned from the Green Party. Swarbrick said in her view the report revealed Tana's behaviour had fallen short of what was expected of any MP.

Tana released a statement later yesterday saying she did not accept the findings of the report and felt the Green Party had pre-determined its position on it. She has not yet explicitly stated whether or not she will resign from Parliament.

Political commentator Dr Bryce Edwards told 1News the report could give the public more confidence in the process, given how dragged out it had been.

"The Greens really haven't front-footed this from the start. It's stretched out for reasons the public just don't know, and of course, it's been partly paid by the taxpayer ... there'll be a lot of demand, I think, for that independent report to be released."

The Green Party had cited privacy concerns for individuals named in the executive summary of the report as a reason to delay its release.

"They intend to release just the executive summary, and they're citing all sorts of natural justice and legal reasons. I think we should be suspicious of that. That's what politicians do when they don't want things released, so we shouldn't take that at face value.

"Yes, there are privacy issues, but you can redact things. You can release things through appropriate mechanisms, and that would give the public a bit more confidence in this process."

Edwards - a politics lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington - said there was likely a need for a better system to deal with MPs' integrity issues, where they are accused of wrongdoing.

"At the moment it's just all over the place, how different parties - National, Labour, New Zealand First, the Greens - deal with these things. There's no set process and they seem [to] have a lot shortcomings."

He said one solution was an "Integrity Commission" or a part of Parliament that set a default format for inquiries. The Privileges Committee could deal with things within Parliament, but issues outside of Parliament were a "wild west", Edwards said.

"We're supposed to just trust the parties that they are carrying out independent inquiries and we leave it up to them what of those inquiries they are willing to make public. It doesn't really seem to be satisfactory."

Edwards said the Tana issue had been "messy from the start".

"It's taken 116 days to get to this point, so the public's been in the dark. It's very hard for any political party that has to deal with an internal investigation but they really have been less than transparent on this one."

He said the Greens came out yesterday "firing, saying how disappointed they are" with Tana, making the party look "more convincing".

Edwards said the Greens asking Tana to resign sent a clear message the party had no confidence in her, but Tana could stay on as an independent MP if the Greens did not invoke so-called 'waka-jumping' legislation - a piece of law its MPs had campaigned against.

He said it was possible Tana could join another party, such as Te Pāti Māori, as well.

"That could be very messy."

Last year, when Elizabeth Kerekere left the Green Party, it did not invoke the legislation to remove her from Parliament, allowing her to remain as an independent MP until the end of the term. To invoke it, the party leaders would need to write to the Speaker, Gerry Brownlee, indicating Tana's departure from the Greens distorted the proportionality of the parliament.

Edwards said the waka-jumping legislation had always been controversial with parties, particularly on the left, which formed the view it gave party leaders the chance to "boot out MPs [who] underperform or rebel".

"The Greens have mostly always been quite strongly against the waka-jumping [law], so it would be quite a surprise if they then turned out to use it themselves. It would be quite hypocritical."

However, he said it appeared in yesterday's press conference the party was "leaving some chance" of them invoking it.

"They didn't seem to rule it out.

"They will be quite pained having Darleen Tana being in Parliament, not part of the team, being, even a loose cannon that they're responsible for."

He said some would want the Greens to use the legislation but he didn't believe the Greens were "really able to use" it due to prior criticism of it.

Edwards said it was likely in Tana's "best interests" to resign from Parliament.

"It's not easy for any human being to withstand the level of scrutiny from the media, your caucus, from the public.

"But of course sometimes MPs have their own confidence, maybe arrogance, to think, 'well, I'm here, I'm staying, and I'm on a good wicket here with the pay, why should I leave?' It's happened before ... I think it will be a sad outcome for all involved if that is the situation."