Mana leader Hone Harawira promises not to fade away quietly

Mana leader Hone Harawira. Photo / Christine Cornege

Mana leader Hone Harawira has said goodbye to Parliament with a promise that he will not fade away quietly.

Mr Harawira spoke in public for the first time since his election defeat in Te Tai Tokerau two weeks ago, accompanied by his wife Hilda and surrounded by black-clad supporters.

"Believe me when I say Mana will not be going gently into the night," he told a large crowd in the former Maori Affairs Select Committee room inside Parliament.

He said his farewell was not a sad one and he was leaving "in good heart".

"Our meetings have not been the sombre and tearful farewell tour for Hone Harawira that others may have hoped for, but rather a joyous and uplifting revival tour for a movement that takes up the challenge of being the conscience of the nation."

He responded to critics who celebrated his departure after he made a deal to campaign with the Kim Dotcom-backed Internet Party.

"I hear the mean-spirited and ugly voices of those who are desperately keen to see me go, but I don't have time to respond because we're too busy focusing on the tasks ahead."

Mr Harawira only briefly referred to Mana's election partners the internet Party when he read out a letter from a sympathetic National Party supporter who said he "made a bad call with partners this election".

Leaders of the Mana and internet parties have not yet met since the election defeat to discuss what went wrong.

Mr Harawira also laid down a challenge to Opposition parties to continue fighting against poverty and homelessness.

He urged an MP to pick up his Feed the Kids Bill, which remained at the top of the Order Paper after repeated delays to its first reading during the last Parliamentary term.

"This is not my bill. This is a bill for the children. And I call on this Parliament to pass it as a show of faith in our own future."

He said Mana was making plans through iwi and community hubs to open up marae to homeless people, to organise internet camps for young Maori, and to develop community job programmes.

He was proud of what Mana had achieved in Parliament since it splintered from the Maori Party over disagreements about foreshore and seabed laws.

After his speech, Mr Harawira refused to speak to media, saying he was waiting until the election results were confirmed this weekend.

Supporters came from as far afield as Dunedin and Kaitaia to farewell him from Wellington and join a bus trip to the Far North.

"We've come to take Hone home," said Mana's deputy leader Annette Sykes, who said she would return to her work as a lawyer in Rotorua.

After photographs on the Parliament steps, Mr Harawira shouted to supporters: "Come on Te Tai Tokerai, on the bus. Mana's going home."