Green MP Darleen Tana has been under investigation. Photo / Supplied
Former Green MP Darleen Tana has broken her silence after being asked to resign from Parliament, saying natural justice has not been followed and she does not accept the findings of an independent investigation into allegations of migrant exploitation.
The Green Party asked Tana to resign from
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said Tana’s conduct had “fallen far short of the expectations Marama [Davidson, fellow co-leader] and I have of our caucus, and of the values the Green Party upholds”.
In a statement tonight, Tana said she had received a copy of the report on Saturday morning and attended a caucus meeting that day where it was discussed.
“I do not feel that natural justice has been followed during this process, and at Saturday’s hui it seemed clear that a pre-determined view had been formed prior to hearing from me.”
She confirmed she had subsequently resigned as a member of the Green Party.
“I want to make it clear that I do not accept the findings of the report and believe that it substantially misrepresents the level of my involvement in my husband’s business.”
She said the investigation focused on what I knew and should have disclosed to the party leadership.
“I am therefore deeply concerned by the party’s summary of the findings. The report does not say that migrant exploitation has occurred, let alone that I am responsible for it in any capacity.
“I have only had a short time to consider this report, and am taking some time to consider it before making any further comment.”
Tana was suspended from caucus in March after allegations she was linked to migrant exploitation at her husband Christian Hoff-Nielsen’s bicycle company Bikes and Beyond. Hoff-Nielsen denied all the exploitation allegations at the time and told the Herald: “This is not a news story, there is no news.”
Lawyers representing workers who had made claims against the business issued statements on behalf of their clients this afternoon.
“They feel vindicated and half the truth has been exposed,” said Alex Kersjes, who represented former bike shop workers Nick Scott and Charles Simpson.
“We hope that given the authority has found fault and now an independent investigator has found fault that they finally accept responsibility and pay our client what he’s owed and we can cease the liquidation proceedings.”
Kersjes said he hoped Tana “does the right thing and steps down”.
He said it was outrageous that a former small business spokeswoman did not appreciate the significant issues at play.
“But given they have failed to accept accountability at all during this process, we are not surprised she has not resigned and will be surprised if she does.”
Nathan Santesso, who advocated on behalf of Santiago Latour Palma, said his client was happy with the party’s investigation.
”He felt exonerated.”
Latour Palma believed the findings were fair and accurate, Santesso said:
“The investigation got a good conclusion and findings and it was quite accurate.”
He said both his clients had struggled through the investigation due to language barriers.
Santesso said Latour Palma did not think anything of Tana’s political consequences as “he is still focused on getting the money he’s owed”.
Swarbrick said Tana was not upfront with her and she felt “utterly betrayed”. She put the message out to Tana to “please resign”.
“It is our very strong view that she misled myself and Marama,” Swarbrick said.
“I am finding it really hard to reconcile somebody I thought I knew and loved with the behaviour that is outlined in this report.”
Hoff-Nielsen was not at the Newmarket bike shop today and a shop worker didn’t know where he was. He was also not answering his telephone.
The Green Party caucus reviewed and discussed the report from the independent investigation, which was received on July 5.
The following day, Tana was invited to an urgent caucus meeting to present her perspective alongside her lawyer and an additional support person, Swarbrick said.
“Following a careful reading of the report, it is clear to us that Darleen’s actions are completely at odds with our party’s values, policies and kaupapa.
“Darleen spoke to the caucus and was given the opportunity to answer questions from MPs. She then left the meeting to allow her colleagues to consider the report’s findings.”
Prior to that decision being made, Tana had written to the party secretary and the party’s parliamentary chief of staff, resigning from the party.
The party said its caucus was unanimous in agreeing to request her resignation from Parliament.
“As co-leaders, Marama and I have clear expectations that our MPs are guided by these values and maintain a high standard of behaviour in everything they do, both inside and outside of Parliament.”
Swarbrick said the report found Tana’s behaviour fell “far short” of the co-leaders’ expectations.
Swarbrick said their preference as co-leaders had always been for full transparency and the release of the report, but they also recognised “the need to follow good practice around privacy law”.
”The party has contacted all parties named in the executive summary of the report in relation to their privacy interests with the intention of releasing that as soon as practicably possible.”
Under the waka-jumping law, a specific process has to be followed for Tana to be kicked out of Parliament.
She has to cease to be a member of the Green Party, which requires one of two actions.
The first is for Tana to write to Speaker Gerry Brownlee, telling him she has resigned from the Green Party or wishes to be recognised as either an independent MP or a member of another political party.
The second is for either Swarbrick or fellow co-leader Davidson to write to Brownlee saying that Tana remaining in Parliament would distort its proportionality as determined at the election, after having given Tana notice of this with a 21-working day window to respond. The co-leaders would also need to have two-thirds support in the caucus.
Neither of these things happened when Meka Whaitiri jumped from Labour to Te Pāti Māori before the last election. Whaitiri stayed in Parliament as an independent MP under Standing Order 35.5, which states: “Any member who is not a member of a recognised party is treated as an Independent member for parliamentary purposes.”
Whaitiri told reporters last year that she had officially notified the Speaker she had resigned from Labour to join Te Pāti Māori, but Speaker Adrian Rurawhe said the legal requirements as set out in the law had not been fulfilled, so Whaitiri should remain as an independent MP.
There were “very specific events” that needed to happen, he said at the time, and “I can confirm to the House that those events have not happened”.
”I think it would be a dangerous situation for the Speaker of the House to start interpreting things that are clearly not being officially and submitted to me. Now, as I began my ruling, members can say whatever they like outside of this House but unless they inform me in the correct way by sending me a signed letter that is the case, I cannot act on it.”
Swarbrick has called on Tana to resign from Parliament. If that doesn’t happen, she or Davidson could consider writing a letter to Brownlee to trigger Tana being kicked out of Parliament, which would see the next candidate on the Greens’ party list - Benjamin Doyle - enter Parliament.
Davidson has said previously that the party was “deeply disappointed” that Tana had not been “forthcoming about very serious breaches of Green Party kaupapa, and has not acknowledged nor taken accountability for the impact of her behaviour on others”.
”We have a responsibility to uphold the integrity of the Green Party kaupapa. All our MPs agree to our collective values and standards and Darleen has clearly fallen short of them.”
The content of the report showed it was “crystal clear” Tana’s behaviour fell well short of expectations, Swarbrick said.
She said she had tried to contact Tana twice by phone this morning to advise her of today’s media stand-up.
Swarbrick said whether the party would “waka-jump” Tana had not been discussed.
On a police referrals, Swarbrick said she was not in a position to speak to that.
Swarbrick said “if I knew back then what I knew right now”, they would not have needed the investigation.
Throughout the investigation period, Tana was suspended for 116 days on full pay – more than half of her entire Parliamentary career.
In that time, MPs were given a sizeable, backdated pay rise taking her base salary to $168,600.
This means she will have earned over $40,000 during the more than three months of her suspension.
The Greens hired barrister Rachel Burt to look into the allegations.
The Resources Minister came to the select committee sporting a Make NZ Great Again hat.