The Green Party is giving rogue former MP Darleen Tana one last chance to resign before it asks members to consider using the party-hopping legislation to remove her from Parliament.
The disgraced MP is being given three weeks to respond to a letter asking them to resign from Parliament over accusations that they knew about claims of worker exploitation at their husband's business.
"Yesterday Green MPs discussed a pathway forward with our party around the issue of a former Green member of Parliament who we believe is not fit to hold the position of a member of Parliament, yet refuses to resign," Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick told media on Sunday morning.
If Tana does not resign, the Green Party's membership will meet on 1 September 2024 to decide whether to invoke the waka-jumping legislation, which the party has previously opposed.
"Today, Marama Davidson and I 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 as determined at the last general election," Swarbrick said.
The party told Tana they had 21 days to respond, Swarbrick said, though her preference would be for Tana to resign "in the best interests of all involved".
"Sending notice to Darleen Tana is, as you all know, one of the requirements under the legislation. but I want to make it clear that we will not be taking further and the final step of writing to the Speaker to trigger the party-hopping provisions unless we have the clear backing of our party to do so."
Swarbrick said party members would have enough time by September's meeting to "thoroughly consider" the issue and Tana's response, if they file one.
She said Davidson had "once again tried multiple times via phone, text and email to engage directly with Darleen Tana to ask for their resignation" this week, but got no response.
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick with Te Mātāwaka caucus chairperson Teanau Tuiono and musterer Ricardo Menéndez March at a press conference on 28 July, 2024. Photo: RNZ / Giles Dexter
Although the Greens have been historically opposed to the party-hopping legislation, the caucus has made it clear Tana's actions were unbecoming of an MP and wanted her gone from Parliament.
"Any decision to use the party-hopping provisions of the Electoral Act will require in-depth discussions not only by our caucus, but the broader Green Party… our party's long-recorded concerns with this legislation have been the potential for concentration of immense power in political party leadership.
"As you can see, the process that we are following here is based on extensive engagement with the flax roots of our membership… we will only progress with the use of the law with the backing of our Green MPs and our party. We have not come to the decision to use this process lightly."
The caucus and members discussed the matter behind closed doors on Saturday.
Tana was ousted by the Greens and asked to quit politics altogether this month after an independent investigation found the MP likely knew about allegations of worker exploitation at husband Christian Hoff-Nielsen's business, and did not disclose them to the party until after last year's election.
Swarbrick said on Sunday one worker was still owed $36,000.
She said if a unanimous decision from the party membership could not be reached, a 75 percent threshold of delegates in favour would allow the party to trigger the party-hopping provision and expel Tana from Parliament.
Tana will not be invited to any Green Party meetings on the matter, Swarbrick said, as they were no longer a member of the party.
Darleen Tana. Photo: Green Party NZ
Asked why the party did not seem to be getting punished at the polls after a string of high-profile scandals, Swarbricks said it was because the party was "relentlessly focused on the issues that really matter to people".
"While I completely appreciate that there is a lot of interest in particularly this constitution issue here… our caucus has continued to be relentlessly focused on people and the planet, and punching well above our weight in Parliament to hold the government to account on those issues as well…
"While I think much of the commentary coming into [the AGM] was this would somehow dominate, it was just an item on the agenda… This sucks, this is not a situation that any one of us or our party wanted to be confronted with, but we have been, so we're dealing with it."
Elizabeth Kerekere resigned as an MP last year amid bullying allegations, and Golriz Ghahraman resigned after being caught shoplifting.
Asked about Tana's new seating arrangement with Te Pāti Māori, Swarbrick said the Greens did not care about "musical chairs".
Appearing with Swarbrick were Green MPs Teanau Tuiono and Ricardo Menéndez March.