Greens' Darleen Tana saga: What does the waka-jumping law mean?

As the Greens push for under-fire MP Darleen Tana to leave Parliament, 1News looks at the party’s potential path to invoking the waka-jumping legislation.

List MP Darleen Tana has resigned from the Green Party following an independent investigation into allegations of migrant worker exploitation at Tana’s husband’s business.

The Greens are asking Tana to quit Parliament entirely following that investigation.

But if Tana chooses not to, the Green Party could look to invoke the waka-jumping rule.

The waka-jumping legislation is officially known by the far less catchy title of the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act.

The law was passed in September 2018 as part of Labour’s coalition agreement with NZ First. A similar law was passed in 2001, however, that expired in 2005.

The current law is supposed to stop MPs from leaving their party in the middle of a parliamentary term by ensuring they are dumped from Parliament if they do.

First, the MP must officially cease to be a member of the party for which they were elected. The Act spells out two ways in which this can happen.

The MP themselves can write to the Speaker to inform them they have resigned from the party or their party leader can write to the Speaker.

The party leader would need to tell the Speaker that the MP staying on as either an independent or as a member of another party would distort the proportionality of party representation in Parliament.

This declaration by the party leader needs to be supported by at least two-thirds of their parliamentary caucus.

Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick said the Greens’ caucus was unanimous in asking Darleen Tana to resign from Parliament, however it is not yet known if the Greens will invoke the waka-jumping rule. The party has not been a fan of the legislation in the past.

If an electoral MP is ejected from Parliament under the waka-jumping law, a by-election is held.

More on this topic

Darleen Tana: Green Party asks its under-fire MP to quit Parliament

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said: "Darleen's conduct has fallen far short of the expectations Marama and I have of our caucus, and of the values the Green Party upholds."

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July 8, 2024

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If a list MP is dumped, their seat goes to the next candidate on their party’s list.

Darleen Tana is a list MP, which means her spot would go to teacher and researcher Benjamin Doyle.