Embattled MP Darleen Tana fronts media on return to House, says she will remain in Parliament

Embattled MP Darleen Tana has fronted media after returning to the House today, saying she will remain in Parliament “as long as this place allows me”.

She returned to the House today for the first time since resigning from the Green Party.

Asked when she would decide her future in Parliament, she said: “I’m here now and doing the mahi ... as long as this place allows me”.

Tana said she has not had any conversations with her former party since returning to Parliament.

Asked if she was involved in migrant exploitation, she said: “The report that came out was pretty clear, there was no migrant exploitation in that report, let alone that I was involved in it.

“What I can categorically say is we’ve spent so much money wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned money to find out that I am married to my husband for better or for worse.”

As she finished speaking to reporters, Tana said she needed to get back to the House because she was the “only person there and I don’t have anybody backing me up”.

Independent MP Darleen Tana returned to Parliament today and says she will continue working "as long as this place allows me". Photo / Mark Mitchell

Parliament has resumed after a long recess that included just one week of sitting since the Budget was delivered on May 30.

The question many had been asking was whether today’s session would see the return of Tana, who was suspended in March after allegations of migrant exploitation at her husband’s bike business.

She had not been seen in Parliament since. During that time, her conduct was reviewed by an independent lawyer and was found to be wanting. She resigned from the Green Party caucus before she would have been pushed.

Tana has been exiled to the part of the debating chamber colloquially known as “Siberia”. Situated in the far corner, “Siberia” was home to the likes of Jami-Lee Ross, Gaurav Sharma and Elizabeth Kerekere after they too fell out with their parties.

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Her seat was at the very back of the chamber, directly behind the Green Party.

As Te Pāti Māori MPs entered, they came and greeted her.

The Greens have called on Tana to quit Parliament – a call echoed today by Labour leader Chris Hipkins. So far, she has shown no signs of doing so.

Former Green list MP Darleen Tana in her seat in "Siberia", at the back of the debating chamber. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is back in the country after his trip to the Nato summit earlier this month, where he rubbed shoulders with world leaders. Luxon stayed out of the country last week, taking a holiday before returning at the weekend.

The focus in Question Time appears to be on finance and health, with the Government asking itself questions about the state of the Government’s books and healthcare, and the Opposition appearing to probe those issues too.

Labour’s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds will ask Finance Minister Nicola Willis whether she refused “any requests of funding for additional frontline services” at Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora. The question comes amid reports the Government is trimming funding for frontline health services by imposing a de facto hiring freeze.

On Monday, Health Minister Shane Reti denied that funding constraints had resulted in a hiring freeze.

“There hasn’t been a hiring freeze,” Reti said.

“Hundreds of nurses and doctors as well have been employed or taken up offers of employment in the past few months.”

But Labour health spokeswoman Ayesha Verrall said this was “completely at odds” with what she had heard from the frontline.

“They are saying that they see vacant roles in the department that were approved for funding being cut, [job] ads that were on the website disappearing, they’re hearing about maternity leave cover for their colleagues not being filled.”