Besieged former Green MP Darleen Tana claims she was "isolated" and “silenced” by her party only to be ambushed by the co-leaders at a caucus meeting that would ultimately decide her fate.
Tana sat down and spoke exclusively to 1News’ Political Editor Maiki Sherman, telling her side of the story that saw her quit the Green Party, and indicating when she will decide if she will resign from Parliament altogether.
It follows allegations of migrant worker exploitation, including unpaid wages, at Tana’s husband’s e-bike business which are currently before the Employment Relations Authority (ERA). Tana has not been a director or shareholder of the company since 2019.
The allegations came to light in February and Tana was suspended as an MP the following month while the Green Party instigated an independent investigation into what Tana knew and when, headed by lawyer Rachel Burt.
A week ago, the Green Party called a press conference announcing the investigation had concluded and, based on its findings, the caucus had agreed to ask Tana to resign as an MP.
At the time, Tana, a first-term list MP, released a brief written statement in response saying she did not accept the report’s findings. She did not address, in that statement, if she would quit Parliament.
But now she has spoken at length, telling 1News that given the public scrutiny and political pressure “the easiest thing may well be to step away” from her seat in Parliament, but it was a decision that required “quite some consideration”. She was taking advice from supporters, including iwi and hapū.
Asked what mandate she had to remain as an independent MP, Tana said she took her view from a "personal, te ao Māori perspective”.
"It's not so much about mandate, it's about the kaupapa," she said. “Many more people have reached out to me than not to actually continue to do that mahi.”
Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said last week that she felt “utterly betrayed” by Tana who she claimed had misled the party and was not fit to be an MP.
Asked what she made of Swarbrick’s comments, Tana she said she wanted to “look past any of the “hostilities” and find a way to “work together, collectively, for the betterment of all of our communities and the people of Aotearoa”. She said that was a “tikanga Māori perspective”.
“Chlöe also said she struggled to reconcile the Darleen that she thought she knew with who she was reading in the report - well hang on, that’s my line.
“I know who I am, and what I did and did not do.
“I didn’t exploit migrants and I hope that is clear for the New Zealand public that there is no findings that any migrant exploitation occurred.”
She said the Greens’ independent investigation was to find out her level of involvement in the allegations against her husband’s business.
Asked if she was completely upfront with the Green Party about that level of involvement, Tana said “I believe so, yes”.
The report had found she was not. Tana reiterated she disagreed with the findings in the report.
“Natural justice wasn’t served in that report, it was not comprehensive. It did not include the voices of key witnesses who were directly involved in the situations.
“Two of the people related to the initial complaints were not interviewed, even though one of those came forward two months later and said he wanted to be heard - the Green Party said no to the investigator.”
Tana said there were other people the investigator chose to interview who “did not have direct relationship to the events and could only offer hearsay”.
“All of these things together, for me, influenced the reliability of the findings of that report.”
She also believed the Green Party formed a pre-determined view on the report, something she found to be contrary to natural justice.
Of the report’s comments that her story seemed to change over time, she said she did not have a “photographic memory”.
Swarbrick said at its release that, for privacy reasons, the party only intended to make public the executive summary which, to date, has not occurred. The party said it needed permission from all individuals involved. The report has since leaked to media.
'I've been silenced, I've been isolated'
Tana said at the caucus meeting following the delivery of the final report the co-leaders opened with the statement that they sought to ask her to resign, before allowing Tana an opportunity to respond to the report.
Once she did speak to her colleagues, she said her “plea” was to “recall our charter and the values of our party”.
“I argued that our values had not actually been adhered to."
The Green Party charter states four main values: ecological wisdom, social responsibility, appropriate decision-making and non-violence, as well as acknowledging te Tiriti o Waitangi as the country’s founding document.
She said she contacted the co-leaders after receiving the draft report - a fortnight before the final report was delivered to the co-leaders on July 5.
Tana said she noted the draft report looked bad for her and the party, and asked if the co-leaders would speak with her to discuss next steps. She said they refused.
“I wasn’t looking for special care or attention… but that I don’t think we as a party lived into our own values.”
She said she was not opposed to the report’s public release, and while she was no longer a member of the Green Party she still “upheld” its values.
She had found the report’s process “frustrating” because she wanted to focus on protecting oceans.
“I’ve been silenced, I’ve been isolated, there’s been no duty of care from the party to me. And the taxpayer - 40-something thousand, hard-earned money has been wasted on an investigation which has ultimately found that I am married to my husband - for better or for worse.”
The MP was interviewed by 1News Political Editor Maiki Sherman, denying migrant exploitation at their husband’s business. (Source: 1News)
'Tea towel duty' delayed disclosure
One migrant worker told 1News he had contacted Tana asking her to speak to her husband about his wages and that Tana had turned him away.
Asked if this was true, Tana said: “What I can say is that any time any of my husband's employees have asked me for help, I have helped them.
“My track record over all my years of working alongside my husband's staff has been exactly that."
Asked in what way she helped in that case, she said she “did not say that”.
“I didn’t step in to help… because he did not ask me for help.
“I'm not saying that he's lying, but I am saying that if I had been asked, I help.”
Tana was asked if she was completely unaware of allegations from former staff that they were owed wages by her husband.
She said she first learned of “those ERA cases” on February 1 this year.
Tana advised the party of that “directly”, but when she learned of a second, on Waitangi Day, she waited a week to advise the party, and only then after it was raised with her by the party.
“I have no excuse except to say it was Waitangi week, I am haukaīnga (a local host) so I am on tea towel duty as much as being there as an MP for the first time… my mind was also taken up with responsibilities there.”
She said she knew about situations in her husband’s business “like in the normal ebb and flow of small, medium businesses”.
“When people have not received their wages because maybe it's a day late or somebody's forgot to press the button, those cases I knew about.
“And similarly, in situations where holiday pay needed to be regularised. My husband's employees reached out to me on those cases… when we came down to the serious end of things and there was an ERA case, that's where I did not know.”
She said she did not know about any ERA cases but if she had done she would have told the party.
“I did not know so I did not say anything. This is our reality in my whānau, in my relationship with my husband.”
She said there were “many personal reasons” why she and her husband separated business activities and home life.
Tana was rarely home, she said.
“For that short precious time that we are home together as a whānau, we're talking about whānau things. We're talking about our four children. We're not talking about our ups and downs or highs and lows.”
'I am built to manaaki'
Tana was also asked about an alleged incident where she approached one of the migrant workers at his new place of employment.
“There was an incident, absolutely, when I approached the second person.”
It has been alleged police were called to that incident.
“We had a discussion and I moved on," she said. “He then raised the police complaint, police report of the incident. The police called me, but the police chose not to advance anything further.
“It was a discussion, we had a disagreement and that was that.”
Tana said it was “wrong” of her and she “was extremely… sorry at the time, embarrassed at the time, of my own behaviour”.
“I wasn't approaching him about things such as wages. I was approaching him about how he was talking about the business online, on social media.”
She believed she had shown enough care for the situation the migrant workers were in.
“I believe so. I try to help people as much as I possibly can.
“I am built to manaaki (care). As a wahine Māori, it’s all I know how to do.”
Will Tana resign from Parliament?
While the Green Party has asked Tana to resign from Parliament, it does have a possible tool at its disposal to force her removal - using the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act - more commonly known as the “waka-jumping” law.
The party could write to the Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee stating Tana’s resignation from the Green Party distorted the proportionality of Parliament and thus she should be removed so the next Green Party list candidate can become an MP.
However, the Greens have a storied history with the legislation, and have vehemently opposed it in the past.
Tana said whether or not the party invoked the law was up to the party and its membership.
“I understand the whakapapa, the history, the reluctance.”
Asked how taxpayers might get value for money paying Tana’s salary as an independent MP - roughly $400,000 over the remainder of the term, Tana said that was part of her considerations in whether to stay or go.
“I went in there to push the dial for oceans protection… I am the only MP who is able to wrap the science, the matauranga Māori, and the business perspective to find a solution that works for everybody. I had gone in there to work across the House.
“I’ve heard Chlöe say no one person is above the kaupapa, but sometimes we need to be able to work right across the [House] to achieve the kaupapa.”
Tana said under the public scrutiny that came with the situation, she had “learned a lot” about herself.
“I’ve been surprised about how resilient we are.”
She said she didn’t see the idea of staying in Parliament as a fight.
“Maybe it’s my tikanga Māori perspective.”
She said she was currently in “limbo” as an effective independent MP, and “the ball, frankly, is in the Green Party’s court” - the exact phrase Swarbrick had used to describe Tana’s position last week.
So, when will Tana decide if she is in the House, or outside it?
“I will give that answer, that answer will come from me… shortly.”
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