Darleen Tana's maiden speech. Video / Parliament TV
It has been less than a year since former Green MP Elizabeth Kerekere resigned from the party in the middle of bullying allegations, which she denied.
And it has barely been three months since Golriz Ghahraman quit Parliament over allegations of shoplifting, which she pleaded guiltyto earlier this week.
Hoff-Nielsen denied all allegations, which involve unpaid wages, when approached by the Herald on Friday. He said he had not spoken to the worker at the centre of the allegations, Santiago Latour Palma, “at all”. Hoff-Nielsen said Palma had worked for him for “mere months”.
“He’s just pumping it up,” he said, insinuating the claims are a cash grab.
Christian Hoff-Nielsen, husband of Darleen Tana arrives at his e-bike shop in Newmarket. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The Greens have commissioned an independent review of the allegations and Tana’s management of them from lawyer Rachel Burt. It has no set report-back date but it is likely to take weeks, if not months.
Tana broke her silence yesterday afternoon, saying: “I welcome an investigation and intend to co-operate fully, and I will not be commenting further”.
The Greens have questions to answer beyond Tana. The issue, coming off the back of a number of scandals involving MPs, has raised questions about the quality of the party’s vetting of potential candidates. There are also questions around whether the caucus needs to be read the riot act over the importance of fronting up to the party hierarchy as soon as an MP becomes aware of a potential problem.
The worker has subsequently laid a complaint with the Employment Relations Authority. The Greens first became aware of the allegations on February 1 when Tana informed the then-co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw about a complaint laid against her husband’s e-bike business with the Employment Relations Authority (ERA). Tana once owned the business with her husband but she transferred full ownership of the business to him in 2019.
She was quietly suspended from her small business portfolio that day, though this was kept secret from the wider caucus and media.
On February 9, the Greens discovered a second complaint had been laid with the ERA. This time, they found out from another party, not Tana.
The Green Party caucus after last October's election. Photo / Mark Mitchell
While there has no decision yet on the truth of the allegations, Tana’s decision to be less than forthcoming about this second allegation was enough of a political transgression that the co-leaders saw it right to strip her of the small business portfolio permanently.
In other parties, this might have been notified publicly.
The Greens chose not to announce it, but it was incorporated into a reshuffle to reallocate Ghahraman’s portfolios. There was an expectation Shaw’s impending departure from Parliament would lead to another reshuffle and it might have been easier to allow the new co-leadership team to announce the new, permanent line-up all at once.
Darleen Tana Hoff-Nielsen has been suspended from the Green Party.
Just days after this, on February 14, Tana waxed lyrical about the business in her maiden speech. At this point, the rest of the caucus was aware Tana had been moved out of the small business portfolio but had no idea why.
A month later, on March 14, Stuff approached the Greens with further details about one of the complaints. As a result of those details, Tana was suspended and an investigation launched.
The fact she was stood down following this suggests the allegations that went to the Greens yesterday were different, or more serious than whatever went to the party on February 1 and 9. It also raises the question of whether Tana was completely forthcoming with the party last month.
If the ERA or the Burt inquiry find serious wrongdoing on Tana’s part, she will likely be asked to resign by the party.
The Greens, as they were at pains to point out on Friday, take a hard line on migrant exploitation and have done for years. A party that argues for tougher labour regulation, and higher taxes, cannot be associated with migrant exploitation and the non-payment or underpayment of staff. Should she decide to stay on despite the wishes of her party, she could be expelled from caucus, and wait out the next two and a bit years as an independent MP.
With strong denials coming from both Tana and her husband, this may not come to pass, and Tana would be returned to caucus, but damaged. If it is found she was not forthcoming with the party, her future in the Greens is likely to be irrevocably damaged.
The small mercy for the party is that Swarbrick seems to have survived her first real test as co-leader well: having a tough conversation with Tana when the allegations emerged on Thursday and deciding to act swiftly with a suspension and independent review.
Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.
