Maverick MP not backing down

Hone Harawira. Photo / Richard Robinson

A defiant Hone Harawira last night said he would not resign from the Maori Party - and suggested co-leaders Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples were acting like "mainstream thinkers rather than Maori leaders".

The Te Tai Tokerau MP has been under intense scrutiny since visiting Paris with his wife during a taxpayer-funded trip and then railing against "white motherf*****s" in an expletive-strewn email to former Waitangi Tribunal director Buddy Mikaere.

"I affirm my commitment to the Tai Tokerau and to the Maori Party and state my intention to be in Parliament for quite some time yet," said Harawira, who insisted he still had his party's support. "Not one member has asked me to resign, so I think that tells you where the real problem lies."

Harawira criticised as destructive brinkmanship Turia and Sharples' decision to offer him an ultimatum to quit or be sacked. "I think that they've either been getting bad advice, or perhaps become mainstream thinkers rather than Maori leaders, or that they have turned inwards and shut themselves off from the membership all over the country."

He said he had not heard from Sharples or Turia since Thursday.

Turia said on Friday: "This is not just about a jaunt to Paris or bad language. It's been an ongoing issue and it's reached its end, very sadly."

But Harawira said he did not know why he had been asked to resign."They haven't been clear on what these 'issues' are."

He said part of the conflict with Turia and Sharples, and in caucus meetings, concerned the party's ties to National.

"I want us to be at the top table after every election, whether the tablecloth is blue or red. But apart from the issues we've brought to the table I don't see anything to suggest that National has the needs of Maori, and of those less fortunate, as a priority."

A party hui had been planned for today to discuss the crisis, but Harawira said the process was in chaos. "I've been advised by my electorate chair that they've called off the hui and instead are going to hold a teleconference. It's a bloody shambles."

As the dispute deepens, a senior figure in Maoridom predicted that the conflict would destroy the fledgling party.

Willie Jackson, who helped form the party, said any split with Harawira could prove terminal and allow Labour to retake the Maori seats. "It reminds me of what happened with the Alliance. Once these parties start splitting it's the beginning of the end."

Jackson doubted that bridges would be mended. "It does look like it's all over."

Labour MP for Ikaroa-Rawhiti, Parakura Horomia, acknowledged that a Maori Party meltdown would help Labour.

"It's a sad state of affairs, and the whole thing seems like a mess," he said.

Harawira said he still saw a future with the party and was not responsible for escalating the situation.

"The party leadership have came out and said 'jump or be pushed' - that's the nuclear option," he said. "I've tried the United Nations way.

"I'm not innocent of everything, but I'm innocent of taking this to the brink."