Te Ao Māori

Harawira wins Tirikatene's support

19:14 pm on 29 January 2014

Labour MP Rino Tirikatene is standing shoulder to shoulder with the Mana Party leader Hone Harawira over his time away from Parliament.

Prime Minister John Key has criticised Mr Harawira's 68 days of approved leave from the House.

But his absence is winning support from Mr Tirikatene, the MP for Te Tai Tonga, who says

Mr Harawira is a hard-working Maori electorate MP and a one-man band.

Mr Tirikatene says Maori electorates are vast, and he can fit four European countries into his.