He said this message fell short of the sections in the Electoral Act that would see Whaitiri booted out of Parliament under the waka-jumping rule.
For an MP to trigger that part of the legislation they need to write a signed note to the Speaker resigning from the Labour Party.
Rurawhe said this had not happened, despite Whaitiri suggesting that it had earlier on Wednesday. When Whaitiri quit the Labour Party on Wednesday in favour of Te Pāti Māori, she said she had “officially notified the Speaker that I have resigned from the New Zealand Labour Party and have joined Te Pāti Māori effective immediately”.
Rurawhe told MPs that like them, he had ”seen media coverage stating that the Hon Meka Whaitiri intended to leave one party and join another”.
“But those statements themselves do not cause the member’s seat to become vacant,” he said.
What followed implied that what had transpired was quite different to what Whaitiri had said when she announced she was changing parties.
Instead of receiving a notice triggering the waka-jumping rule, Rurawhe said he had “received a message from Hon Meka Whaitiri that her vote would no longer be cast with the Labour Party and that she wished to be seated in the chamber with Te Pāti Māori”.
“It is therefore not a written notice that complies with 55b,” Rurawhe said, citing the section of the Electoral Act that sets out how the waka-jumping rule is triggered.
After some debate, it was clarified that Whaitiri remained a Labour MP under the Electoral Act, but under Standing Orders, the rules that govern Parliament, she was now an independent.
Rurawhe was forced to clarify his decision on Thursday after his first explanation for why the waka-jumping rule was not triggered left many MPs scratching their heads.
Before Question Time on Wednesday, Rurawhe surprised MPs by telling them Whaitiri would sit as an independent MP, rather than being ejected from Parliament under the waka-jumping rule.
He said there were “some very specific events that need to happen” for Whaitiri to have triggered the waka-jumping law.
Rurawhe said Whaitiri had not notified him of her leaving the Labour Party in such a way that would trigger the law. Instead, she had only told him that “her proxy vote is not with the Labour Party”.
In Rurawhe’s book, that meant “she is regarded as an independent member of Parliament”, rather than being booted from Parliament completely.
Rurawhe’s version of events puzzled MPs and led to them debating the events for more than 20 minutes, before Rurawhe called an end to matters.
“For parliamentary purposes, the Hon Meka Whaitiri being an independent MP is a determination under Standing Orders. She has not told me that she is an independent MP, but for the purposes of Parliament, I have notified the House that she has asked me and informed me that she has withdrawn her proxy from the Labour Party and she wishes to sit somewhere else. That’s it,” he said.
But that was not enough for National and Act, who wanted further clarity and are keen for Rurawhe to release correspondence with Whaitiri.
1 News also reported on Wednesday night that another letter had been sent to the Speaker and it may have been withdrawn.
