Poll shows support for using law to oust Darleen Tana from Parliament

A Greens co-leader isn't reading too much into a poll that found the majority of New Zealanders would support the party booting Darleen Tana out of Parliament.

However, she appeared to be preparing to mount a defence if the party were to use the legislation.

Tana was last month kicked out of the Green Party which is now consulting members on whether to use the waka-jumping law - which they have long opposed - to remove her as an MP altogether.

An independent investigation found the now-independent MP likely knew about allegations of worker exploitation at husband Christian Hoff-Nielsen's business and did not disclose them to the Greens until after last year's election

Co-leader Chloe Swarbrick told Morning Report polls were "like reading tea leaves".

Swarbrick conceded the waka-jumping legislation had a "vexed" history for the Greens.

But their concerns stemmed from it being used against people taking a principled stance, and regarded the concentration of power with party leadership.

She said Tana's case was not someone taking a principled stand, and the co-leaders would not make a decision without the support of the entire party.

"What I've just outlined to you are two pretty clear red lines; the first is someone taking a principled stance, I think it's pretty clear again as I've just said... that this is not a Member of Parliament taking a principled stance, in fact it seems quite the opposite.

"We've said, really clearly, that we are not going to use this legislation unless we have the backing of our party membership and that is a thorough process."

Read more on the saga:

• The issue of Darleen Tana dominated the party's recent AGM
• The e-bike business at the centre of the storm is in liquidation
• What the investigation into Darleen Tana found

What the poll indicated was that most people agreed with the party that Tana was not fit to be an MP, Swarbrick said.

"We continue to hold the view that the best way to minimise any further harm is for Darleen Tana to take responsibility and to resign here, but in lieu of that, we've set up this process and our party will be taking the requisite time to deliberate and make an informed values based decision."

The three Pasifika Green members who resigned over the issue were not the only Pacfiic members of the party, Swarbrick said.

62 percent think Greens should use waka-jumping law

The poll, conducted by Curia Market Research and released exclusively to RNZ, found 62 percent of the 1000 respondents agreed the Greens should use the waka-jumping law.

Only 16 percent were opposed and 23 percent were unsure.

When broken down by party vote, 59 percent of Green voters polled supported using the provision, 21 percent were opposed, and 19 percent were unsure.

The Green Party met at its AGM in Christchurch late last month where the co-leaders formally initiated the process to get their former colleague removed from Parliament.

Party delegates will reconvene on 1 September to decide whether to use the so-called waka jumping legislation against Tana. If a unanimous decision can't be reached by the party membership, a 75 percent threshold of delegates in favour would allow the party to trigger the provision and expel Tana from Parliament.

As part of that process, Tana has been given three weeks to respond to a letter asking the MP to resign from Parliament over accusations Tana knew about claims of worker exploitation at their husband's business.

If Tana doesn't resign by 18 August the Greens will go ahead and meet two weeks later to decide on whether to use the Electoral Act.

At the time of the AGM, Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said one worker, alleging migrant exploitation, was still owed $36,000.

Swarbrick told RNZ on Tuesday that "discussions are happening at branches and in provinces and networks all across the country" as to whether to use the Electoral Act to get rid of Tana.

She said there was "an immense amount of frustration amongst the membership and that's definitely coming out in some of the conversations", but the process is still in the early stages and delegates haven't been chosen yet.

As part of the Curia poll, respondents were provided context that Tana was elected to Parliament on the Green Party list, and is now an independent MP after resigning from the Greens, following an inquiry into allegations she misled the party about employment disputes in her husband's firm.

It went on to explain the Greens can remove Tana from Parliament, "which would result in a new Green MP off their party list, through a section of the Electoral Act (often called the waka jumping law) that allows parties to expel from Parliament an MP that has left the party they were elected on".

The question put to respondents asked, "would you support or oppose the Greens using the waka jumping law to remove Darleen Tana from Parliament?"

The 1000 respondents (800 by phone and 200 by online panel) were polled between Thursday 1 August and Monday 5 August and the margin of error is +/- 3.1 percent.